Today we’d like to introduce you to Yewande Odusanwo.
Yewande, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have always been an entrepreneur at heart. I think the entrepreneurial bug caught me when I was young. My Aunt Ellezora was a master at crocheting. It’s hard to truly understand what I mean by this without seeing her work. You may not realize it, but there are people who crochet and people who really crochet and she was one of those who REALLY crocheted. It was like an art form. She crocheted everything from stuffed animals, to potholders, to afghans. You put a pattern in front of her and she could whip it out. She made lots of “products.” My grandmother and I would sell her items at the annual church bazaar. And let me just say, the demand for her items was high. At one of those bazaars was the moment that I caught the entrepreneurial bug. There were ideas that came up here and there since that time, but I didn’t act on any of them. Until 2016, when I founded Zora Digital. I must admit the name was inspired by my aunt who originally inspired the spirit in me, but the name Zora also means dawn — the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise. “We’re in the Zora of digital marketing’s new golden age.”
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Whenever you’re starting anything from scratch it’s never a smooth road. It takes time to gain traction and enough grit to tough it out in the slow and difficult times. One of the biggest struggles for any business is gaining awareness and being the choice for your target customers in a competitive environment. There are many choices out there, but there are few that do it well. We are positioning ourselves as one of the few digital marketing companies that do it well. Another struggle is having the investment or cash needed to get the business started: money for your website, advertising, marketing collateral, and hiring the right people and team in order to scale the business. I’m currently boot strapping the company and that makes growth slower. But, I’ve been able to steadily improve the company’s revenue, build a team, and gain traction.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Zora Digital story. Tell us more about the business.
Zora Digital provides online strategy, social and paid media solutions for healthy lifestyle products and service. We work with companies that are improving people’s lives with healthy products and services – whether it be in the beauty, fitness, apparel, nutrition, or travel industries. We help our clients connect with their customers, increase revenue, and elevate brand awareness.
We achieve this by developing social media strategies using creative marketing campaigns, paid advertising engagement programs, and e-commerce solutions to increase our client’s sales and online brand presence.
We have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in incremental revenue for our clients.
We drove a 3x increase in revenue from social channels with Facebook ads for a sugar-free candy client.
We used paid search ads to drive over 2 thousand conversions for an online yoga client.
We optimize marketing budgets for our clients by keeping tabs on the space and knowing the key players to watch.
We understand healthy lifestyle markets, what works and what doesn’t. That’s why we are passionate about helping healthy lifestyle products and services grow.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I think luck plays a huge part in both business and life, but I don’t know if I’d call it “luck.” I think a big part of it is preparation and being in the right place at the right time. My grandmother used to tell me, “Opportunity knocks but once.” and “Be ready for when the door swings open.” She was essentially saying you have to prepare so that when your opportunity comes, you’re ready to capture it. To me, that is what luck is.
Because of this, I’m constantly looking at how can I prepare my company so that when that large opportunity presents itself, Zora Digital is ready to capture it and deliver a high-level output with outstanding customer service.
Today, we take advantage of each opportunity we have and know that each customer is adding a piece to our credibility as a business. We aim to exceed expectations on every project we have the opportunity to work on – knowing that each opportunity is further establishing Zora Digital as a leading service provider in the space. This way we are there and ready when luck meets opportunity.
Contact Info:
- Address: 20 W. Kinzie Street, Office 13029, Chicago, IL 60654
- Website: https://www.zora.digital
- Phone: (872) 216-ZORA (9672)
- Email: info@zora.digital
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zora.digital/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoradigital/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZoraDigital/status/966346357333266432
Image Credit:
Photography: Jay Melendez (image of candy bag being photographed)
Graphic Design: Michelle Orack (12 Flavors) and Pamela Krikorian (Sweet & Spicy, RX to Pure Happiness), Jay Melendez (Cyber Monday)
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
