Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittney Borowicz Keller.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Prior to my current role as the Vice President of Marketing for Grid Connect, I realized my affinity for all things media and marketing while working in radio and television. I graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism and one of my greatest college experiences was working for a local, student-led radio station. Following graduation, I quickly got my first job in the real world as a newscast director for a CBS-affiliate in Rockford, Illinois.
Realizing radio and television wasn’t as glamorous as I had imagined it to be, I struggled to find what I wanted to do with my career. I thought back to a couple of marketing internships I had while in college and decided to make the move away from the television. Pretty quickly, I was given several wonderful opportunities and began working for a couple of small marketing agencies in Chicago where the majority of my clients were start-ups and solo entrepreneurs while doing some freelance work on the side. It was during this time in 2014 when I was introduced to Grid Connect, Inc.
At the time, Grid Connect was about 11 years old and had never had a dedicated marketing person before. In addition to the successful manufacturing services and product distribution they were already doing, Grid Connect had just announced a new, smart home, consumer brand named ConnectSense.
In the four years since I joined the Grid Connect team, I contributed to building and managing the previously nonexistent marketing department by implementing standard operating procedures, introducing new and improved marketing initiatives and strategies, and providing creative solutions to difficult industry marketing challenges.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A lot of the initial struggle of getting to where I am today was the uncertainty that I had about changing my whole career path. It was intimidating knowing that other than a couple of internships I had in college, I did not have any formal education in marketing. Therefore what I knew came from reading blogs, following other marketers on Twitter, attending free webinars and conferences, and taking as many opportunities as I could to learn from other marketers already secure in their careers. I also learned how I could take the skills I acquired while earning my Broadcast Journalism degree and apply them to marketing.
Navigating through the marketing world continued to be intimidating because there is so much competition and there are so many talented marketers out there already. Early on in my career, I had some marketer “friends” tell me I could never make it because I was too old to be getting into marketing for the first time and that I didn’t have the proper schooling to be successful. Luckily, some of my early mentors felt differently.
After a couple of years working in agencies and meeting Grid Connect, I made the decision to move from the agency side of marketing to an in-house employee. Because Grid Connect had been operating for about 11 years without a dedicated marketing person, starting almost everything from scratch proved to be difficult. Basic standard operating procedures had to be put in place, marketing platforms had to be established, and strategies had to be conceptualized for both the B2B side of the business (Grid Connect) and its new B2C line of products (ConnectSense).
Early on, I was implementing all of this as a one-woman-band with the support of my immediate boss and several other colleagues. A lot of our initial marketing was completely reactionary to what was happening in the market(s) at the time due to lack of time and resources. As the company continued to embrace these marketing strategies and the team grew, we have established ourselves as a true smart home contender in both products and as a complete, in-house solution for others trying to connect their products to the Internet of Things.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Grid Connect – what should we know?
Grid Connect is a leader in high-quality networking product manufacturing, distribution and support. In addition to being ISO 9001:2015 certified, Grid Connect makes many of the products they sell, offering customized solutions to best fit client and consumer needs. By utilizing its available hardware, software and cloud capabilities, Grid Connect is able to quickly turn around customized engineering and OEM projects.
In November 2013, Grid Connect introduced the ConnectSense line of Wi-Fi and cloud-based sensors to the Internet of Things marketplace.
These sensors are designed to offer peace-of-mind through the do-it-yourself home and business automation. The newest product to be integrated into the ConnectSense family is the Smart Outlet. With previous success of the sensors and Smart Outlet, we are now scheduled to release some brand new, and second-generation products later this year.
In addition, we have recently introduced our IoT 80/20 service to companies looking to get their products connected to the IoT quickly and affordable. The combination of hardware, software and cloud solutions from ConnectSense provides a full end-to-end solution to meet consumer and business needs and connect devices to the Internet of Things. There are other companies who do parts of this, but we are one of the only, if not the only, who provides a one-stop-shop solution.
In addition to our products and services, Grid Connect is very proud of our workplace culture. We have daily ping-pong matches, annual bags and ping-pong tournaments, company happy hours and outings, and weekly chair massages. We also offer employees unlimited vacation time and flexible work schedules to encourage a happy work-life balance.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I feel that one of the most important characteristics a person can have to be successful is being a good communicator to many people, in many different situations. Broadcast Journalism truly taught me how to talk to people from all walks of life, whereas I had previously been pretty introverted.
This translated to better interviews in the job hunting process, better relationship building with mentors and other industry professionals, and better marketing skills. Not only am I able to better connect with my colleagues through clear and confident directions, decisions, and actions, but I am able to better disseminate information and build trust with the businesses and consumers that I market to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gridconnect.com
- Phone: (630) 245-1445
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