Meet Kimberly Inez Mays, a digital marketing enthusiast that hails from the vibrant city of New York. With a passion for simplifying the complex and mastering technology, Kimberly’s entrepreneurial journey has been as dynamic as the city she calls home. From her early days crafting websites to honing her skills in email marketing and web development, Kimberly’s trajectory led her to embark on her own entrepreneurial venture in 2016.
Today, she is a sought-after expert in marketing automation, helping coaches and speakers build out their sales and marketing strategies to attract more leads and close more sales. Her unique perspective and dedication to empowering businesses have not only earned her acclaim but also inspired her to pen her latest book, ‘Perfectly Persuasive – Marketing to Both Humans and Cats in the Digital Age,’ where she parallels the art of marketing with the nuances of training cats, offering a new spin on timeless marketing principles.
In an exclusive interview with the nation’s premier faith-based and professional newspaper for winners, Anointed News Journal, Kimberly explains her marketing philosophy.
Collins II:
Who is Kimberly Inez Mays?
Mays:
So I am a digital marketing enthusiast and a puzzle solver. And I really love making complex things simple and demystifying technology. What I do for coaches and speakers is help them build out their sales and marketing automation to attract more people, generate more leads, and close more sales. And I just love giving people aha moments when it comes to different ways they can run their business.
Collins II:
And so you live in New York, is that where you were born and raised?
Mays:
Yes.
Collins II:
What was it like growing up in New York City? I mean, you can’t grow up in any more of a city environment in America than New York City.
Mays:
Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been around, you know, I’ve seen the changes, the 80s, 90s, 2000s. So it has evolved quite a bit. As a child, you just kind of know your own neighborhood, your own blocks. You don’t have that awareness of the larger city you have. You have your block, your friends, and you don’t know what you have or don’t have. You’re just kind of there. In the summer times, I would go up to Catskill, go camping and things like that. So that was a lot of fun. That’s how I developed my love of nature and just being outside in general. But, in my teenage-hood and my young adulthood, it was actually pretty cool because there were so many resources available to us. If you wanted to go somewhere or try different food, it was just right there, available for you. So I got spoiled in that sense, you know? Having things fast, like transportation, kind of always running and things of that nature. And I kind of stayed in New York City one because my family is still here, and number two is just because of the opportunities with different companies. And I just love the fast pace of it all, but I do enjoy traveling to other places as well.
Collins II:
And so being that you said you’re a digital marketing enthusiast. Yes. What has been your entrepreneurship journey? Like, how did you get into that and what’s been the journey in total?
Mays:
So how I got into it was, I’ve always been kind of teetering or toying with the idea for years, even decades. You know, when I was in high school in the late nineties, I would create webpages and websites. So back then it wasn’t a common skill, especially in my circles for people to know how to do that. And people were always saying, “oh, you should build sites for companies.” And I thought about it and I kind of shelved it.
So throughout my years in corporate America, I worked for digital marketing companies, specifically with email marketing, and I’ve learned a whole lot. So I was able to use some of my coding skills. I was an email marketer. I actually built and coded emails. I was a web developer for a while, a database developer. And then a project manager . So throughout all that, in 2016, I kind of got the fever to create something that was mine, which was a business. And so I said, I’m already good at this web design thing, let me do that. So I did web design for about a couple of years until I decided that, a lot of these clients that I’m building websites for don’t have a backend system to their site. I’d build a website, but most people don’t return back to websites. And I tell people that it’s actually kind of like jarring.
It’s more for the owner than it is for anyone else, because the owner will go over and over to the site but most people won’t. And so there needs to be a way to capture the information of people who actually go to websites who actually, are interested. And so that’s when I started building out funnels and started building out landing pages, lead magnets and things like that, because it’s really in the repetition and the messaging do people begin to know, like, and trust the brand. So that in and of itself, I had to kind of wait until 2020 to execute on that, because I was still working at the marketing job that I was at . So right now, that is my passion. I still do web design, but I do it mostly on like a single landing page, type of level because I just decided that landing pages are very, effective and useful for conversions. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since. And now what I do is I speak and teach and coach on the same topics. So I’m actually, doing less fulfillment and more of the teaching side of things.
Collins II:
Great. What is your take on entrepreneurship these days?
Mays:
I think it’s worthwhile for everybody to at least try something. It’s nothing like having your own stream of income, even if it’s just a little bit, even if it’s just a side thing. I believe people are most satisfied when they create and when they have something that they can truly call theirs. I think a lot of people get stuck in jobs. There’s nothing wrong with jobs of course, but sometimes people really get stuck there and they make that their identity day in and day out. Whereas if you say, “what can I contribute?” Even if it’s just a hobby. “What can I contribute? What can I own? Or what can I create?” That’s truly my brainchild that no one can take from me? No one can dictate the terms. And I feel like it’s refreshing now because the barriers of entry are lower than ever. You know, with all the information out there, all the coaching groups, it’s just so easy to get into. I think what is the downside is that it’s too easy to get into. And now, people do need to kind of sit with themselves, and think, what value can I bring to a market? And who is ready to receive what I have and who should I be targeting? So, I think those are some of the questions people should ask. But overall, I think it’s a very positive thing that a lot of people are moving in this direction.
Collins II:
So to piggyback off of that, what words of encouragement do you have for people who are looking to get into entrepreneurship, or for the ones who aren’t doing too well with it? They’ve tried some things that haven’t really worked. Do you have any words of encouragement for them?
Mays:
Yeah, my words of encouragement are the roads and the journeys are going to be different from person to person. The worst thing you can do to self-sabotage yourself is to watch someone else’s journey and expect yours to be the same. You don’t really know what someone else has going on behind the scenes. So I would encourage people to realize that it’s not linear. It’s kind of like up and down. There are going to be days up, days down, or years up, years down. I do believe that it’s usually an upward trajectory. I do think that people should keep going and then realize too that it’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to pivot. It’s okay to do something different if it’s no longer working. Cause I’ve done that a couple of times and I had to think about it like, okay, that really wasn’t a setback. It was just more like I evolved from that situation and now I’m doing something else.
Collins II:
Right. And as you mentioned, you are available for coaching and speaking engagements.
Mays:
Yes, I’m available for coaching, speaking, and implementation as well.
Collins II:
And so how can people reach you?
Mays:
Yeah, so the easiest way is to reach out to me through various channels, but you can find me at Kimberly Inez Mays, one word, on all platforms except for Twitter, where it’s Kim Inez Mays. But, yeah, you can find me there, friend request me, Messenger is the fastest way, or you can send me an email at [email protected] and then we can definitely schedule something from there.
Collins II:
What are a few of your tips to digital marketing success?
Mays:
So my tips are:
- Find your strategy before you invest in software or even somebody to build it for you. It’s really important as the owner to have your vision written out. And, you know, it says make it plain. I actually make it plain. I draw boxes and I draw like step one, then draw another box and then draw step two. And just having that will have the person avoid a lot of shiny objects in a lot of different directions.
- Build an email list, however that may look. You can collect an email address in any situation, whether it is a lead magnet, a webinar, even an event. Even if you’re vending at a table, always have some way to contact them back, because most people don’t revisit websites. They just don’t.
- When you feel like you are overwhelmed with repetitive tasks, definitely look into marketing automation. This can be as simple as sending email follow-ups to people you haven’t engaged with in a while, or just sending emails to people who have engaged, who have reached out or downloaded something.
So, you know, I would encourage people to think about what it would look like for their business and to reach out to somebody who can help them out.
Collins II:
And then you mentioned your book. Can you go into the details of your book?
Mays:
It’s called, ‘Perfectly Persuasive, Marketing to both Humans and Cats in the Digital Age. And it’s really about the parallels between owning a cat and training a cat and getting that cat to do what you want. And doing the same for humans with marketing. And I always say, because unlike a dog, a cat won’t roll over to ask for a belly rub. Their time, attention and trust need to be earned just like humans. And it’s a very simple take on evergreen marketing principles presented in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming and stressful. So I go through several marketing philosophies and I parallel that with stories of when I had certain cats; stories of like, me training them, frustrations, and adoptions that didn’t work out. And I blend all of that together to make a complex thing kind of simple.
Collins II:
In a final word, what would you like to say to the readers of the Anointed?
Mays:
I would like to say that it took me a while to get where I am. And I’m not saying it from a financial success perspective, I’m talking about as a human being. You know, when we first start, like I said before, it’s really hard when you’re watching other people, when you’re using other people’s metrics and definitions of success. And I think, whatever anyone’s faith is, it’s important to have a partnership with God in your business because it’s so hard to do it without. It’s like something I didn’t tap into until maybe a year ago, and I think everything has changed. I’m not saying that everything has gone the way that I wanted it to go, but I’m at peace and I found a peace that I didn’t have before. So that’s what I would encourage everybody to do. Just find your peace and define your own success, whatever that looks like.
The nation’s premier faith-based and professional newspaper for winners, Anointed News Journal wishes Kimberly Inez Mays the best as she continues to climb as an entrepreneur and digital marketing expert. Her success is a testament to embracing innovation and authenticity in business. You can find her book, ‘Perfectly Persuasive, Marketing to both Humans and Cats in the Digital Age, on Amazon.
By Christopher Collins II
https://www.purrrfectlypersuasive.com/
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