“A world where people pursue their dreams is a better world” is what Hayley Bohan believes as she paves a path towards her dreams, helping entrepreneurs to do the same with her venture Marketing On Purpose.
Hayley is impacting the marketing world by teaching small business owners how to build their unique brand-worth-loving marketing strategies that result in revenue growth. Her dedication to small businesses proves to be paramount in building brands that customers can fall in love with.
Insights Success caught up with Hayley to know how her contributions turn the tides to lay the foundation of a thriving business.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Marketing On Purpose. What challenges you have to overcome to reach where you are today?
I’ve been marketing my entire career. About nine years ago, I was in what I thought would be my dream job, traveling for commercial shoots, radio records, and focus groups. But I was really conflicted. My children were young, and I was missing them, so I quit after much discussion with my husband. I was so happy to have more time with my children but felt a part of my identity was gone. After a few months, I started working from home for a friend who owned a small technology company. This was one of the first times I worked with a small business, and I really liked the agility and flexible work schedule. After about four years, I ventured into entrepreneurship for myself. I started Marketing On Purpose at the end of 2017 to help small business owners create brand and marketing strategies to level up their businesses.
Tell us something more about Marketing On Purpose Inc, its mission, and vision.
I’ve always wanted what I did to matter and to make a positive impact in the world, so when I started Marketing On Purpose, I built that positive impact into the fiber of the business. My vision is for more businesses to step up and create more positive change in their communities, in society, or in the world. Entrepreneurs are the doers; they are brave, they are inspiring, and I believe they can truly change things for the better. So, I built a process for them to build a brand strategy that includes a strong purpose beyond their product or service- weaving positive change into their businesses as well. My goal is to be the catalyst for waves of positive change with every business we work with.
Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the marketing niche through your expertise in the market.
I was at a conference about a year ago, and the speaker asks a room of entrepreneurs if they think marketing is “sleazy.” I looked around, and everyone, except me, raised their hand. I was surprised and sad, considering I spent my whole adult life as a marketer. But at that moment, I knew I needed to change the way entrepreneurs looked at marketing, and I needed to become a bigger advocate for more integrity, transparency, accountability, and authenticity in marketing. I’ve added education about how to market with integrity, and I’ve built the brand-worth-loving process to include making brands matter more and being more real, Of course, if a business owner thinks marketing is a bad thing, they won’t do it, and sadly, no marketing often means they don’t reach their goals. And, if they don’t reach their goals, it will impact their ability to do good in their communities and in society.
Enlighten us on how you are making an impact for small businesses with your marketing expertise.
Many small business owners cannot afford to hire senior-level marketing professionals to help define the brand and marketing strategies for their businesses. They often hire one-off services like “build me a website,” or they try it on their own. I am trying to educate small business owners so they have a strong brand strategy and overall marketing strategy that they can execute themselves or outsource. I work with them on the strategic foundation of their marketing so they can stop winging it. When business owners start with the full picture and have a stronger understanding of their customers and brand, their marketing will be easier, and they will get better results.
If given a chance, what change would you like to bring in the economic development?
Small businesses can really help fuel economic growth in communities, but the stats are not in their favor. Many fail in the first year. I’d love to see more support for small business owners. In New Brunswick, where I live, there are many opportunities for support and non-repayable funding. It would be great to see more of that. The first level of support small business owners need from a marketing perspective is strategic. Let’s teach the owners about building their brands, really understanding their customers and their overall marketing strategy before we use all the available resources and grants on execution. The strategy must come first in order for the execution to be effective. That’s the change I’d like to see.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals for Marketing On Purpose?
I’d love to get the Brand-Worth-Loving method out to more and more business owners. Not only will it help them be more effective in their marketing efforts because they will be working from a place of clarity, but a Brand-Worth-Loving requires an authentic connection to a greater good that the business owner wants to work towards outside of the product or service they offer, and a commitment to follow-through. As more business owners adopt this type of brand strategy for their businesses, the more positive impact we will create in a world that could use it. I have a DIY course coming out later this year so I can help more business owners both thrive and create positive changes in their communities and society.
