GWBC LACE Awards 2023: Sharon Goldmacher with C21PR

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for ABC Radio’s Open for business. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:18] Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from the Georgia Aquarium Oceans Ballroom for the 2023 GWBC Lace Awards Gala, Ladies Achieving Continuous Excellence. And one of those ladies is here tonight Sharon Goldmacher with Communications 21. Welcome.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:00:36] Hi, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:37] So for the folks who don’t know, tell us a little bit about communications 21.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:00:41] Absolutely. We are a digital marketing and PR firm based here in Atlanta. We have clients across the country. We do a wide range of services, including creation of websites. We manage all social media. We do email marketing, anything digital and online that we can measure. We typically do, including videos. We love to work with folks like yourselves to get the word out. We do traditional PR as well event planning and execution, media relations, executive media training, and more.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:17] And full disclosure, one of your clients is GW.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:01:20] They are one of our best clients.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:22] And then talk about an event like this. How does this fit into someone’s kind of marketing plan?

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:01:27] Well, this is the culmination of an entire year of events and programing for Greater Women’s Business Council, in part because they are crowning the achievements of both corporate partners and women business enterprises that they work very hard with all year. And we’re happy to be a small part of it in terms of promoting it on social media, doing videos as part of the program, and really and we’re also actually honored because we are entered for a Trailblazer Award this year. So we’re excited about that. But yeah, it’s Roz Lewis and her team work very hard to both increase the number of women owned businesses in our region, and then honor those people who have worked really hard to achieve the mission of WBC.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:15] Now. Any advice for the maybe the women business owners that are listening here on how to, if they can’t afford their own PR firm like yours? What is some of the low hanging fruit they can do to help them get the word out?

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:02:28] Social media is a very powerful tool. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn those are great ways to self publish and really get their expertise out there. In addition, going to their local newspapers and magazines and just saying, hey, you should know that I do this and I may be the only person in town that does this, and I’d be happy to talk to you. So what we do and what I tell my team is what we do is not rocket science, but we love doing it. And there are many of our clients who just don’t have time to do it and don’t really know where to begin. So we try to make it easy for them and give them advice.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:10] Now, when you’re saying to reach out to local media that’s in their area, that means to actually reach out and build a relationship, right? Like this isn’t something you just spam them with emails about, hey, you know, I’m doing this thing right? You’re right. Really. Invest in relationship. That’s the only way that this really works for any length of time in our.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:03:30] Industry, it’s called media relations. And that’s why it’s called building a relationship with media.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:35] It’s a key component to that.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:03:36] It is the component. Absolutely. So, you know, understanding what a reporter writes about and what interests them is also really important because you can’t just, as you said, spam them with information that they have no clue or it doesn’t make sense to their audience. So you have to know who you’re talking to and then make it relevant to them.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:57] Now for what’s kind of your elevator pitch for WBC. Like, how would you kind of synopsize what they do for people who aren’t familiar.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:04:07] They educate and empower women business owners.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:12] And then any women business owners should seriously consider being certified. For what reasons?

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:04:18] It really does get you in front of a large audience of corporations and businesses that are looking to meet their supplier diversity goals, and they know that with the certification from Webbank and WBC, that you already meet the gold standard for doing business with them. So they’re not going to waste your time because you’ve gone through and done the hard work to get certified.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:46] And then the amount of money that’s available for women owned businesses or minority owned businesses or veteran owned businesses, can you give them the listener an idea of the quantity of money that’s out there? It’s it’s not just it’s in the millions.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:05:01] If not more. Yeah, there’s a very intentional focus on trying to lift up women owned businesses as well as minorities and veterans. But it’s a maze to really understand how to access that. And organizations like GW, BC and Webbank work hard to simplify that for women owned businesses because they build the relationships with the corporations like BMW or Truist, who are looking to meet those supplier diversity goals. And they rely on GW, bc to make those relationships happen.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:41] Right. And they’re kind of the bridge between a lot of these enterprise level companies and these small businesses.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:05:47] Yes, they are the bridge. Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:50] So if somebody wants to learn more about your PR firm, what’s the website?

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:05:54] Our website is C 21 pr.com. And you can find us on the web and on social media. And we’d love to talk to anybody who is interested.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:04] Well, Sharon, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Sharon Goldmacher: [00:06:08] Thanks, Lee. You as well. We appreciate Business RadioX. Thanks.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:12] All right. This is Lee Kantor back in a few at the 2023 GW BC Lace Awards Gala.