The Challenge
Anna Rembold, owner of Anna Marie Events (AME) launched her event planning business in 2012 having recently left her role as Director of Administration for a boutique private equity firm. After a year trying to land leads and grow the AME business, she knew she needed a professional “marketing leg up”. Through her networks, she was introduced to LeapUp to relaunch the business and reach her ambitious growth objectives.
Leapup Leaps In
Leapup developed a strategic foundation for the Anna Marie Events brand, researching competitive event planning agencies, identifying a unique selling proposition, creating brand messaging, claims and proof points and identifying a new platform for first differentiating the brand locally, with flexibility to go national. The LeapUp team developed a new brand logo and website design with features and functionality to highlight visually the events produced for Anna Marie Event’s clients. Collateral was produced to allow Anna to consistently present the brand to multiple audiences including business papers, power point presentation, custom videos telling the brand story and emphasizing the differentiating aspects of the AME brand. In 2015, the company was re-positioned to focus on corporate events and in 2016 expanded into large scale company meetings and conferences.
Business development consulting assistance was provided by LeapUp to identify and refine opportunities among target segments of clients and networking opportunities where Anna could expand awareness about her company. Social media engagement expanded the company’s reach and conversations online. An editorial calendar mapping out her content strategy for the year was created tied to her blog and social media syndication. A pay per click campaign was revised and enhanced and an email marketing strategy was developed to increase the size of the company’s e-list and leverage existing client relationships for upselling and remarketing.
LeapUp’s Leverage
Anna Marie Event’s leads in terms of prospective client business increased 5x. Site traffic increased 12-fold and the company saw a steady stream of high quality leads extending the brand’s reach outside of San Francisco, to Napa/North Bay and the East Bay, the Peninsula (South Bay) and the Silicon Valley corporate event market. In 2018, Anna Marie Events was listed as the 4th fastest growing Bay Area private business on the San Francisco Business Times FAST100 list. In 2019, the company was #403 on the Inc500 List of fastest growing private companies in the U.S.
“The work Annie has done for Anna Marie Events more than doubled my business in one year, and it’s on trend to at least double again (possibly triple) this year. In fact, my investment in her marketing paid for itself within six weeks. That’s something to celebrate! The boost Annie’s efforts gave to my business have so far exceeded my expectations, I find myself touting the virtues of marketing to everyone I know. It’s been an amazing experience working with her. She is efficient, intelligent, very easy to work with, always on point and never wastes a precious second. I cannot say enough positive things about her as a person and marketing professional. Hire Annie now!”
– Anna Rembold, Owner – Anna Marie Events
Post Script
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Anna Rembold decided to pivot to extend her brand into technology, creating a new brand and technology platform, “Metavent”, which designs and delivers experiential hybrid and virtual events for corporate clients. Leapup continued to assist with the new brand positioning and relaunch.