Ashley Stanford: The Shades of Entrepreneurship

Ashley's entrepreneurial journey @ 0:00

Ashley has been doing digital marketing for 17 years, working both as an entrepreneur and intrapreneur within companies. She has a range of entrepreneurial endeavors, including her current role as Co-Founder and VP of Ice Cream Social, a ticket widget that incentivizes word-of-mouth marketing for event organizers.

The Ice Cream Social solution @ 1:55

Ice Cream Social was born out of Ashley's work at Ticket Socket, where she helped clients sell more tickets without spending more on marketing. The widget gamifies word-of-mouth marketing, turning every customer into an influencer by offering incentives like refunding a ticket for getting a certain number of friends to buy tickets.

The importance of strategic planning @ 4:10

Ashley emphasizes the importance of having a strategic marketing plan before diving into tactics. This involves understanding your target audience, setting clear business goals, and aligning your marketing efforts to support those objectives. Without a strategic foundation, it's difficult to effectively pivot or troubleshoot when marketing campaigns underperform.

Leveraging digital marketing @ 20:14

Ashley primarily uses digital marketing channels like Facebook, Instagram, email, and SMS to reach and engage her target customers. She highlights the importance of taking an integrated, multi-channel approach rather than relying on a single platform. Tracking performance and understanding customer behavior cycles is also crucial for optimizing digital marketing efforts.

The future of Ice Cream Social @ 33:00

With a recent investment from NBC Sports Comcast, Ice Cream Social plans to continue expanding and evolving its product to further gamify word-of-mouth marketing. The goal is to create a marketplace where people can find and share cool offers and incentives, bridging the gap between customers and brands.