Strategic Business Influencer: Building a Brand with a Small Budget

Don’t just follow trends--become a leader who shapes them.

As traditional marketing tactics continue to falter in today’s business landscape, simply amassing followers and leading with a corporate logo is no longer enough. This essential guide offers a new, seven-step approach to brand building and provides the tools for any leader to compete with giants by showing them how to amplify what most already do best: teaching and relationship building as a way to build trust in a way corporations cannot.

Strategic Business Influencers may not be as famous as the mainstream celebrities the word ＂influencer＂ usually evokes, but they are converting the intangible benefits of influence into significant impact on their revenue and profits.

In an increasingly skeptical environment, these leaders build trust and credibility previously reserved for big-name CEOs and target precisely the right audience to build strong, scalable relationships with their customers, investors, employees, and partners.

Zilker Media CEO Paige Velasquez Budde, a veteran marketer, entrepreneur, and speaker, walks leaders through her seven-step process for aspiring Strategic Business Influencers, offering them a powerful, unified strategy to build big brands, even with small budgets. Entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and aspiring business owners alike will gain the tools to transform their professional image, discovering how to:

Reinvent their brand by creating a compelling ＂Influencer ID＂ and evaluating their current market image to ensure they stand outEnhance their relationship management by developing high-touch relationships with customers and stakeholders to convert them into loyal advocatesLeverage today’s digital tools by mastering the art of generating buzz through PR and content creation using the many free or low-cost tools now available

Drawing on case studies from diverse industries--from regional banking to subfloor manufacturing, women’s undergarments to tech software development--becoming a Strategic Business Influencer builds undeniable leverage for a brand, no matter the industry or business size.

Paige Velasquez Budde is a veteran marketer, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker. She is a co-founding partner and the CEO of Zilker Media, an Austin-based agency that builds people-driven brands. During her tenure as CEO, the Austin Business Journalhas named Zilker one of the city’s fastest growing companies as well as one of its best places to work, two years in a row. It has also been listed on Austin Inno’s list of ＂Coolest Companies.＂ Paige is passionate about community involvement and volunteers her time with several organizations. One is Texas Tower, a collegiate publicity organization for her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, where Paige teaches students about the PR and marketing industry. She is also a member of Entrepreneurs Organization, Women Presidents Organization, C12 and Renegade Global. She resides in Austin with her husband, Jordan, and her son, Landry.