Project Overview
Marlo Richardson is known as a dynamic leader, business professional, and a serial entrepreneur who has made a significant impact across a variety of industries. She is a regular disrupter, often carrying the title “First African American Woman to…”. Marlo has been a Keynote Speaker, business advisor, and is often invited to speak with local business groups and universities regarding her personal story and experiences in the business world.
After working in law enforcement, Richardson decided she wanted more financial freedom and decided to become her own boss. She transitioned out of working a traditional 9-5 career, overcoming various hurdles in the process and took a leap of faith into entrepreneurship.
Since that time, Richardson has owned business franchises, restaurants, a home health care agency, a real estate investment company, insurance agency, retail clothing, travel agency, security company, production company, distribution company, manufacturing company, marketing company, and has created several successful brands. Currently, she focuses on real estate, crypto, is one of the few license holders to grow and operate a cannabis grow op, and is a financial expert advisor.
Richardson is also the founder of Business Bullish, a website and resource that seeks to train people in the areas of financial literacy and entrepreneurship. She is a dynamic business woman, leader, keynote speaker, and business advisor who shares her success stories with local businesses in the hopes that they can replicate her growth.
Richardson initially sought out Otter PR to create a strategic cohesive brand identity that ties together all her ventures into a few concise key messages. She is passionate about sharing her wealth of business and entrepreneurial knowledge and teaching financial advice to regular working class people.
The Problem
Richardson possessed an array of brands and businesses, yet struggled to cohesively bind them together in a way that also helped to demonstrate her personal brand as a thought leader. During talks with our team, she expressed a strong desire to garner awareness and visibility for several of her businesses and the products they offer.
The Strategy
Our goal was to balance Richardson’s branding across an array of audiences, while showcasing her personal brand’s identity as a thought leader to build her credibility in each niche space. Otter PR branded Marlo as a financial and business expert and thought leader, as well as an emerging female cannabis executive breaking barriers in a highly-regulated industry. We began pitching her story and key strengths to a broad number of audiences who could most benefit from her personal brand, knowledge, and business advice.
Our most successful placements for Richardson arose through bringing her personal brand together more cohesively and strategically. This was accomplished by sharing news of her launching new business ventures while assuring that each pitch we sent complimented her insight and niche expertise of each industry she operates in.
Business Impact (results)
As a result of how Otter PR was able to position Richardson to our media network, her click-through rate has grown exponentially on both her website and podcast, resulting in higher online traffic to each of her digital platforms. Likewise, the guest pieces, bylines, expert quotes, and interviews our team was able to secure for her have greatly increased her online presence and engagement rates — both of which continue to grow.
Since partnering with Otter PR, Richardson has gone on to successfully launch her cannabis brand with an well-established reputation as a Black, female business owner and entrepreneur, which allowed her to align her professional and personal brand with other credible figures in the field, which has directly translated into increased sales for her products and services. Furthermore, many outlets and top-tier publications continue to look to her as a reliable and credible source of entrepreneurial inspiration and professional business education.
