CEO Marketing Insight Interviews: Carissa Reiniger

Currently in transition to an on-line business model, Silver Lining Limited is dedicated to making small business owners more successful through the SLAP (Silver Lining Action Plan) method. The SLAP method is a proven revenue growth model for small businesses.  It keeps business development on your mind and part of your day, even amid the chaos of entrepreneurship.

It was more than a year ago that I was introduced to Carissa Reiniger, Silver Lining Limited’s CEO, as she was entering into the New York market. I sat in a West Village restaurant, having coffee with an under-30 ball of energy, a brilliant strategist who wowed me.

Still not yet 30, her accomplishments to date are more than most realize in a lifetime and she is only just getting started. Her goals for her foray into the New York and US market and the building of her business are as impressive as any that I have seen and even with my 20-something years in business for myself, I knew that I was about to have my eyes opened to exciting ways of building a business.

Carissa started out on her own at age 22 in Toronto, Canada. She launched Silver Lining Limited with just a few thousand dollars in the bank and in less than two years opened a second office and was hitting revenues that brought her to the $1 million mark. As more offices opened, she changed her business model to include franchise options and wrote and published her first book, Inspiring Entrepreneurs: How to Build Your Business to Its First Million.

Carissa is one of the busiest people I have ever met as she has multiple business ventures, is actively involved in professional organizations, and runs a charity as well. Word has it that for her 30^th birthday next year she will be flying around the world, so yes, she is also training to get her pilot’s license.

We are excited to bring you this interview with Carissa, a young woman who understands the power of marketing as a process that when done well—pursued seriously and measured regularly—delivers remarkable results.

Mardy Sitzer: Are you using or planning on using marketing this year to grow your business?

Carissa Reiniger: Yes! We have a director of marketing and are bringing on a marketing manager as well as an intern to focus on marketing. We are doing a combination of activities including:

• Online marketing by activating our blog, The SLAP Shot, using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter; activating email marketing through our affiliate partners; and playing with things like HARO ads, PPC, Google Adwords, etc.
• Events are important in our efforts and we are creating a series of events in partnership with our affiliate partners, with initial plans of one per month. At each doing a SLAP Session where we will train attendees on the SLAP.
• We are engaging a publicist to work on media and general press coverage.
• We are building marketing materials such as an infographic and demo video for our software.
• We are creating an ambassador program with our top 100 people in our network to activate them to send us referrals.

MS: Why?

CR: We are launching a new product and need to increase awareness through multiple channels so that we can hit the mass reach we need in order to drive sales. Our business model has shifted from a relationship/high value sale to a more mass-market sale.

MS: What marketing efforts do you expect your sales growth to come from?

CR: We see our high growth coming from our ambassadors and through our affiliate emails, as well as from our events.

I know that the activities that activate people who already believe in us will be the most effective. But building our brand and building general awareness builds credibility and that is important to keep our believers motivated.

MS: Would you like to offer a tip or lesson learned to other entrepreneurs?

CR: Measure activity like crazy and make sure all of the marketing time being invested is actually creating results.