Asheville Business Summit with Brett Hulsey

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs, brought to you by Action Coach Growth Partners. I'm your host, Bill Gilliland, and in this podcast, you'll find three things.

0:46You're going to hear real stories from real entrepreneurs that will help you along your entrepreneurial journey. You're also going to get business tips to help you scale up faster, and you're going to get actual coaching to help you get better real world results to be the best entrepreneur you can be. Hey, and if you like the podcast, remember to subscribe. And now, enjoy the show. Hey there, I hope you're having a great week. This is Bill Gilliland with the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast. And today we're going to talk to Brett Holsey of Holsey Media Group. And we're going to be talking all things Asheville Business Summit.

1:27So welcome to the show, Brett. Yeah, thanks. Glad to be here. Yeah, so tell us a little bit. You've been on the show before, but just tell us. I mean, Holsey Media is way more than just the W &C Business Magazine. That's the one that we've been involved in mostly. But you've got a pretty wide stretch of products and services that you offer. Yeah, just kind of a real quick overview. Wholesale Media consists of a variety of local publications that are targeted to different niche sectors of the economy, different industries that really are the biggest industries here in the area, what makes up the economy in Western North Carolina.

2:05And our variety of publications are targeted towards mostly outside of the business magazine, WNC Business, mostly towards consumers who are looking for information about certain things here in the area. and the uh the their free resource guides and magazines that are very prominently distributed throughout western north carolina about a thousand locations across nine different counties and they they reach a variety of people who are looking for certain things uh whether it's information about health care in the area through our health care resources of wnc magazine looking for real estate here in the ashville hendersonville and surrounding areas through the real estate book will be published they're looking for breweries in ashville or around and beyond the ashville Lail Trail is the product for that.

2:48Hendersonville Magazine, another product we do. So we do a variety of different things that are built towards different niches of the industries here. A new acquisition we just announced a few weeks ago is we are now the purchasers or the publishers of the Laurel of Asheville magazine. And that one is a really prominent lifestyle arts and culture publication. It's been around for about 20 years now. We're very excited to be carrying it forward. There's a great team that was already in place for that magazine. We're glad that they're working with us. Very excited to continue that publication on.

3:19That is a monthly magazine that's available throughout Asheville and surrounding areas. So outside of the business to business type marketing offerings we have, you know, those are a lot of the things we do that are more consumer focused, specifically with the Asheville Business Summit that's coming up. WNC Business Magazine, which we launched about two years ago now, is very excited to be a partner again and premier media sponsor of this event. And we're looking forward to it. It's interesting in the magazine business. I mean, even when the magazine's aimed at the end of consumer, I mean, everyone's an end consumer.

3:53But you also serve the advertisers in the magazine by helping to build their businesses. So why did you decide, hey, all right, we want to be the media sponsor for the Asheville Business Summit? What was your thinking on that? Yeah, I mean, just as you alluded to, with every publication we do, that what we're doing is we're making a connection between marketing partners that we work with in the community to help them reach the consumers they want to reach or the other businesses they want to reach, their target audience. That's where we come in is we're really the connection point in the middle of that.

4:27And so from a B2B marketing standpoint here locally, WNC Business is very aligned with what the Asheville Business Summit is doing in terms of aggregating a group of business leaders and decision makers, really the movers and shakers from the local business community, coming together to network, to learn, to take their business to the next level. So that absolutely aligns with our mission, which is to connect, inform, and inspire the local business community through WNC Business Magazine, through our WNC Business Today daily email newsletter, through our social media platforms, and our website at WNCBusiness .com.

5:02Connect, inform, inspire. I love that. Yeah, that's a great mission. Yeah, I mean, you know, our mission is to, so the missions align. I mean, our mission here at Action Coach Business Growth Partners is to bring world-class, life-changing business education and coaching to Western North Carolina. And, you know, we make no bones about it. We're in the business of changing lives. And I think that's a nice connection. And from the start, when we started WNC Business Magazine a few years ago, we we knew we wanted it to be more than just business news. Business news is certainly a part of it. What's happening kind of from a factual standpoint here in the business community.

5:47We definitely put a spotlight on that. But we go beyond that by providing information people can use news you can use. as one reader told us early on, they wanted this publication and they found that it is this for them. They want to be smarter after they've read it. They want to learn something, not kind of see what's going on, but something they can take away that's going to help them with their business. And also inspirational stories of how other people have done it, how they've achieved success and what they're doing. And so what we do from a content standpoint, I think mirrors what you're doing with Asheville Business Summit.

6:24Now, because you've got such great partners or marketing partners, as you call them, advertisers, I mean, all your magazines are free, right? That is correct. They are all free to pick up. And Deputy City Business specifically is mostly subscription and direct mail based, reaching out and sending directly to business owners and decision makers. But it is a free subscription. So people can simply sign up for it and get on the list and We'll mail it to them. But that is the business model there. And our partners, marketing partners, help make that possible to deliver that. Yeah, no, it's an amazing service on all the magazines.

7:00Now, you also have a pretty robust digital presence. Yeah, everything we do from a magazine brand has a digital component to it. So there's a lot of use of that with people, you know, with WNC Business, for example, publishing once a quarter in print. but online every day. We're posting new content to WNCbusiness.com pretty much daily and also sharing that through WNC Business Today, our email newsletter, and then sharing that across multiple social media platforms, specifically through LinkedIn. People are using the Asheville Ale Trail from outside the area to plan their trips to Asheville, which breweries they want to visit while they're here.

7:34So it's amazing how far people plan that in advance, but we've had people email us that they're coming to Asheville sometime in the next eight, nine months, and they're looking now at where they're going to go drink beer. Yeah, I guess we're spoiled here. We just go. We'll just go down to whatever brewery. Let's just have it. Let's go have some to eat. There's some dedicated folks who take the planning seriously. Yeah, I mean, it's one of the draws of Asheville. It's awesome. I mean, our vision for the Business Summit is this is not a one-off event. I mean, we did it two years ago and we did and we're going to start making this a yearly event.

8:14So, you know, our goal is to bring, like I said, the world class speakers in this. This year's topic is one of the topics is management versus leadership. So, I mean, this is really for everybody in business, because if you're a manager and everybody needs to be a leader. So we want to have every we want to have everybody there. So tell us a little bit about what you're planning for your participation in the event. Yeah, well, part of it is we're certainly working with your team. It's been great to work with just to help spread the word about this event through our platforms that we can provide to connect with business owners and business people throughout the area.

8:49So we've been doing that over the last few months and specifically as we're leading up to the event. I know we'll have a lot of people who are partners with us, whether they're advertisers or readers of our publications there. So we're looking forward to connecting with them there at the community networking events that are part of the summit. One, what we'll be doing, of course, is we'll have several different kind of things going on in terms of some special giveaways that we'll be providing for the attendees of the event, some special offers that everyone there could take advantage of. We're actually going to be participating in two ways.

9:21WNC Business as a brand is the official media sponsor of the Asheville Business Summit. And then Wholesale Media as a whole will be there really to represent all the other publications that we do that might be more business to consumer focused. So there are people there who might have a certain type of segment of the market that they're looking to reach, whether that is, you know, affluent households and certain zip codes or whatever it may be, or people who are actively looking for information such as real estate or home improvement, health care, senior living, et cetera. Holsey Media will have those opportunities represented and we'll have some giveaways and special offers for attendees to participate and to be able to utilize what we do to help them with the market.

10:05Yeah, I've been super impressed and proud watching you because I know, you know, I met you early days of Holsey Media. I mean, when you had just purchased, I think, two magazines. Right. And, you know, now it's grown to the whole portfolio and still growing and adding. And, you know, a lot of people, you know, would would say, well, OK, you know, print media is dead, but it's not. I mean, print media is more alive than ever. It's so nice to be able to hold something in your hands and be able to go to the to get something on the Internet if you need it. So, yeah. Yeah. How'd you like to learn from the best?

10:46How'd you like to network with the best? How'd you like to be the best? Well, the key to being the best is to hang around with the best and to learn from the best. And we're going to make that possible for you this August in Asheville at the Asheville Business Summit. I want you to stay tuned. We're bringing in speakers from outside. We've got a lot of good events planned. It's going to be amazing. We got more information coming, but if you'd like more info on how you can be involved, how you can attend, or how you can be a sponsor for this event, it's going to be over 350 entrepreneurs in one place right here in Western North Carolina in Asheville.

11:28For more info or to be a sponsor, I want you to reach out directly to Beth Limmel, that's L-E-M-M-E-L, at actioncoach.com. That's Beth Limmel at actioncoach.com. We look forward to seeing you there. It's going to be amazing. Yeah, we have our own dedicated team of people who distribute our magazines for us. They work directly for us, and that team is growing, and they are busy out there every day going somewhere throughout western North Carolina and into upstate South Carolina also with a couple of products we have there. And their job is to constantly keep racks filled so that people can find the information they're looking for.

12:04And that is a big challenge and really an important – It's really one of the most important functions in our entire company because that's how what we do works. You know, we have to get it out there for the right people to find the right places so that there is that connection between the advertisers and the consumers of our products. So it's a big task. My experience, we've talked about this some before, Bill, with my background really being on the digital marketing side of local media for a good 10, 12 years or so. up until about 2013 when we made the decision to purchase Hendersonville Magazine and Healthcare Resources Magazine here in the area, it had been all kind of a digital focus for me.

12:43And I was hearing the same things then about what would the future of print be. The difference, as I've mentioned before, I think very specifically with what we do, because it is very niche and focused, covering a variety of topics people are actively seeking out information on and looking for, and because we kind of know where to put them in the right places to reach the right people. We have a network now of distribution channels where we can get more things out to a bigger audience. All that's what fuels that and makes it work. And you're right. We've had to increase the printing of copies that we do to keep up with the demand here in the market over the years as the market has grown.

13:19So there is no slowdown of that. Yeah. I mean, particularly if you're visiting or thinking about moving to the area or maybe you're already here and you're just looking for a resource. I mean, it's so nice to just have it in a magazine format where it's a lot easier for most people than to scroll through a phone. And yeah, but you can get it on the phone. So it's kind of, I mean, if you prefer that, you can get it that way. So I just, you know, I love the model and I know that you're innovative and we'll continue to measure those things and figure out what the right mix is, both from digital and from actual print.

14:03And there's something for everything we do is going to have a digital component to it. And outside of that, even we do offer digital marketing service to our clients. We help with websites, social media, targeted online advertising, this kind of thing. We've got a lot of clients doing that with us right now, and it's working well for them. And it is part of their mix with us of what they do between having a presence in some of our custom publications, helping them with some targeted online marketing, as well as mixing in some targeted direct mail marketing. That's kind of a third component of how we help them reach the market with their own messaging combined with what we do through our magazines and through our online brands.

14:41Yeah, it's great you brought that up. And we have a concept called 10 by 10. And the idea is to develop. You don't do it all at once. You develop it one by one, 10 different marketing strategies with the idea, you know, you test and measure and get it working and get it delegated and get it systemized so that you're not dependent on one marketing channel. And so I think it's wise to have print and website and direct mail marketing and email marketing and SEO and, you know, on and on and on. you know whatever works for you you got to figure out the mix for you but to develop those 10 and the idea would be that you you know in a perfect world you'd be getting 10 percent from 10 places and then if if you're if one of them stopped working great you only lost 10 percent of that those leads and then you can figure out how to build them back so i love that you've diversified and are providing these services to to our clients so yeah i think at the end of the day that the the success to marketing is going to be, you know, one, reaching the right audience, two, having the right message for them.

15:53The channels that you deliver that through play into that, but really the channels of how you reach them aren't as important as who you're reaching, what you're reaching to, what you're reaching, what you're saying to them, and also when you're reaching them. That is kind of an important factor to think of. It lines up with how our publications and our websites and other things are used and our direct mail, how it's delivered is when you're reaching someone, what are they doing when they're looking for this information? Are they actively making the purchase decision? Are they trying to gain more knowledge about something?

16:24And that's really where what we do comes in because it catches them at that right time when they're kind of leaning forward, so to speak, as a consumer to discover something because they need help with something or trying to find something. And so, you know, you could reach the right people but not have the right message. That wouldn't work. You could have a great message and reach the wrong audience. It really isn't your target. That wouldn't help you either. So those two things are really more important than how we deliver it. But I think the way we deliver it does play into connecting with those very niche audiences that individual industries will benefit from reaching.

16:57Some of our things are so niche and so focused, they're not necessarily for everyone because they would reach the wrong market if you try to use it as a marketing channel. So we're very aware of that as a sales and marketing team to help our clients align what we do with who they're trying to reach and what they're trying to get across. Yeah, it's the right target, right message, right time, right place. Yeah. And all those add up, which is another reason you have multiple channels because some people prefer to get it in a magazine. Some people prefer to get it on their phone. Some people prefer to get it on their computer.

17:32Some people, you know, prefer to consume it some other way. So, you know, Google. So, I mean, there's, I love it. I think that, you know, it's marketing. In some ways, marketing has gotten more simple. In other ways, it's gotten more challenging because people have gotten better at it. So, it's super awesome. So, the Asheville Business Summit, August 20th in Asheville, downtown Asheville at the Embassy Suites. The website is wncsummit.com. That's WNC Summit. You can go out there. You can get your tickets. You can see all the information. You can make sure it's the right thing for you at the right time with the right message.

18:16But I think if you're in management or leadership or in business in any way, shape, or form, sales doesn't matter. I think it's right for you. You're going to want to be there. There's going to be 300 plus other people in the room. That is a great environment to have some transformation. So people want to get a hold of you, Brett, or Wholesal Media. How do they do that? Yeah, to learn about our company as a whole, wholesalemedia.com, specifically for WNC Business, wncbusiness.com, where you will find information about the Business Summit as well. And we're certainly very much looking forward to being part of the event.

18:51We did this event with you a couple of years ago as we were launching Devonacy Business Magazine. It was great timing for that. Glad to see this back again late this summer. And definitely looking forward to having our team there to represent the different things we do and to connect with the community. And, of course, the excitement is building up to the event and the day of the event itself. But we'll also have a lot of, you know, kind of some recap coverage of, you know, things that were discussed and tips that were shared and a lot of photos of people who were there that day. and videos of activities happening.

19:22So we'll kind of be talking this after the fact too of what's happened. But certainly we're excited to help bring as many business people in the community that we can reach together to come in for this event. It's a great reminder. Holsey Media is going to be swamped after this thing with people wanting to do business with them. So if you're on the fence, what you're going to want to do is reach out now and get on their calendar to get an appointment to talk about how Holsey Media can help you build your business. Absolutely. We've got a busy third and fourth quarter coming up for sure. Yeah, it's going to be – but it's not going to be boring.

19:57It's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah. So thanks for being on here, Brett. We really appreciate it. All right. Thanks, Bill. We're looking forward to it. Hey, remember, subscribe to the podcast. Register yourself for the summit at WNCSummit.com. And until next time, all the best. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast. podcasts, here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you.

20:33Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgillilland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best. hey thanks for listening to the epic entrepreneurs podcast here's three things that you can do number one remember to subscribe to the podcast it takes very little effort on your part it's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs plus you you guys know how it works the more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you.

21:37Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best.