Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Briggs
Hi Shannon, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started my freelancing journey many years ago in 2009. At the time, I was working a full-time day job that I loved for a company that I equally loved. I would spend 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. working behind a desk doing all things marketing, events, and communication. Then, I would head home, pet the fur babies, grab some coffee, and get to work on the side hustle. This is a familiar scene to many, especially as Americans lean more into the self-employed economy as the years go by.
My first freelance gig was for a local massage company. I was introduced to the owner by one of the leaders at my day job. She said they could use the help and thought I would be great at it. I never had plans to start my own business. I thought of my side gigs as a way to earn a little extra income to help me travel and do things I love. Fast-forward four years, my freelancing had grown so much through word of mouth that I was working two full-time jobs. Through a lot of encouragement from friends and family, and a giant leap of faith, little ‘ol risk averse me took the plunge into self-employment full-time on November 6, 2015.
I have never looked back.
It’s one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I am thankful every day that I get to do what I do. Since that day, life has certainly been full of its ups and downs. But mostly, it has trended upward since the beginning. In this span, I have worked with nearly 100 organizations on their marketing, igniting creativity for community-focused organizations. I’ve grown from a journey of one to a talented, hard-working, passionate, and overall fun team of fifteen. I’ve been a part of multiple award-winning projects and have won marketing awards for them, too. I have built a life that I love, thanks to the freedom and flexibility of my schedule.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Has any entrepreneurial road ever been completely smooth? Of course not. Starting a business is hard. You come into the work with a skill that you can market, and now all of a sudden you have to learn even more new skills. Running a business now includes knowing about finance and budgets, insurance, management, and every other department. That was a huge learning curve for me.
Just when I thought I knew the basics of running a business and managing a team, we were scaling. It turns out, scaling is even harder than starting a business. It’s a new set of challenges to learn how to set yourself up for success for years to come.
Each new phase comes with a new set of learning and new set of problem-solving. I love it though. I get bored easily and am always looking for a challenge.
We’ve been impressed with Campfire Collective, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We could have easily been Briggs Marketing or 901 Marketing, but that just doesn’t feel true to the core of our company. We want to be the opposite of generic!
After many brainstorming meetings, we finally landed on the idea of gathering around a campfire. We love the community feel and warmth that image conveys. Our approach to our clients is friendly, focused, and empathetic. We have fun doing our jobs, and we want our clients to have fun with us. Our meetings are laid-back, even as we strategically tackle important campaign goals. As a group of personable, relatable, and flexible personalities, we understand that no two campaigns are alike, just like no two clients are alike. And we don’t treat them that way. Each campaign is ignited and burns in a different fashion, and often in a different setting.
Like a fire, our work is consistent, reliable, and steady. We light a match, watch the campaign rise, and then tend to it carefully so it continues to shimmer and shine. And we do it all as a collective. A neighborly team of hardworking, passionate individuals who have partnered with equally passionate clients.
At Campfire Collective, our goal is to let our clients shine. We work collaboratively to provide social media campaigns that burn consistently bright, creative marketing strategies that direct companies to their goals, email marketing campaigns that guide readers through announcements, and polished, clear public relations that spotlight clients in what they do best.
Why Campfire Collective? No other image conveys who we are quite so well. We invite you to sit with us and discover how we can help fan the flames of creativity for you.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Our industry is always changing. Again, it’s one of the pieces of the job I love the most. Just when we think we have the marketing and digital world figured out, the algorithms change, new social media platforms become popular, and new trends pop up.
The rise of LinkedIn surprised me and many others in 2023, and I see this platform growing and expanding even more in the future. Its current user-interface is limited, and people are clamoring for more creativity, ability, and connection through it. I anticipate major changes coming to LinkedIn to grow and scale with their user base, and I am interested to see what their future will bring!
I also anticipate a general change in how businesses approach social media. Authentic and relatable content performs better every time, so I can foresee more content about connecting on a human level and less about putting content in every corner of the internet each day.
In addition to the return of casual and personable social media content, I also see a rise in partnerships that give audiences a stronger sense of community. More collaboration posts will show people just how small the world can truly be and allow them to take part in more niches. The trick will be knowing what opportunities make sense for each influencer or business. All parties involved need to have aligned core values and a deeper purpose for their connection aside from just checking a collaboration box, because the people being targeted will look right through that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.buildacampfire.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildacampfire/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildacampfire
- Twitter: https://x.com/buildacampfire
- Other: https://buildacampfire.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1041481da2fd3baad7cfeb9f8&id=66dc942193
