Welcome to another impactful episode of Spark & Ignite Your Marketing! I’m your host, Beverly Cornell, and today we will learn more about effective communication in legislative advocacy with a true expert. Danielle Gross, co-owner of ClearPoint Communications, joins us to share her 20+ years of experience in influencing lawmakers and making significant changes in Pennsylvania. Danielle’s journey from a first-generation college student to a business owner is inspiring and filled with actionable insights.
One of the most significant challenges in the advocacy industry is the lack of resources for groups that need the most help. Danielle discusses how some groups struggle to coordinate and gather the necessary resources to make a significant impact. This decentralization often leads to slower progress.
Episode Highlights:
- Danielle’s inspiring journey from a first-generation college student to a business owner
- The unique aspects of ClearPoint Communications and their approach to external lobbying
- Practical advice for entrepreneurs on building a reputation and maintaining integrity
Danielle shares invaluable insights on the evolution of advocacy tools, the importance of local relationships, and how to navigate the challenges in the industry. Her story is not only inspiring but also filled with actionable tips for anyone looking to make an impact in their community.
Follow Danielle:
[email protected]
Danielle Gross | LinkedIn
Clear Point Communications
Watch on YouTube
Transcript:
Beverly: 0:09
Did you know that effective communication with elected officials can make or break legislative advocacy efforts? Welcome to another insightful episode of Spark and Ignite Your Marketing and I’m your host, Beverly Cornell. And today we’re thrilled to introduce Daniel Grossa seasoned communications and advocacy expert with over 20 years of experience, Danielle is the co owner of ClearPoint Communications, a firm specializing in influencing lawnmakers on crucial issues. Her journey from working in communications to owning a business is both inspiring and informative. Danielle, it’s wonderful to finally have you on my podcast.
Danielle: 0:44
Thank you, Beverly. I’m excited to be a guest. I’ve, Listened to the podcast from the beginning. So
Beverly: 0:50
I appreciate that. I, and your support is always very much appreciated when you start a new project. So thank you. So let’s start with how share the business’s origin story. Like here, tell me about those moments where you first entered into the entrepreneur world
Danielle: 1:06
I accidentally stumbled into it. I am a, I was a 1st generation college student. My family was all blue collar, basically workers in Western Pennsylvania 5 generations of railroaders. And so I never really had a model of someone who owned their own business. And I didn’t really expect that to happen for me. I went to Shippensburg university and majored in public relations and I stumbled into communications and advocacy.
I got my first job in Harrisburg right out of college working in a different lobbying firm, doing basically the 2004 edition of what I do today. Which of course then didn’t include social media. I was still sending faxes to newsrooms and we created one of the first, in that job, we created one of the first blogs around an issue that I’m aware of in Pennsylvania when they were talking about selling the state was considering selling FIA, the Pennsylvania higher education assistance agency to Sally May at that time. The work has evolved along with all the other tools that have grown to be at our disposal around advocacy. And I never really saw owning a business in my future until I think it was, what is time? When I came. To my now firm ClearPoint Communications, which then was called Shelly Lyons. And that was before the pandemic.
And I had always envisioned, returning back to the broader world of advocacy, thinking that I would go be a president of an association or something. In Harrisburg, and when the pandemic happened, and I saw all the instability and things that what I thought for a long time was a really stable industry. I saw that happen. And then my mentor, my longtime mentor who hired me at my 1st job hired me. At clear point and him and his partner, Charlie sat down and said, Hey, what do you think about ever buying the business, some of the business?
And I was like that sounds good now that, where I thought I was going has changed. And we finished that in September and that’s been really exciting and also hilarious. Like I said my, the partner who I bought out Was my mentor and my first boss. So it was really funny, like in December when I was like, here’s son, here’s your bonus check. I think you’ve got a feature in this business.
Beverly: 3:31
Full circle moment there. Yes. Yes.
Danielle: 3:33
Yeah. My partner now, Charlie was it was really important to them to keep the firm going. There’s a lot of churn right now in Harrisburg in our industry as folks, are thinking about retirement. A lot of the people who have been leaders in the field for, 40 plus years. And it was really important to them what we do. We’re a very center left firm, which meaning we work on a lot of moderate or democratic type left leaning issues public school funding public sector unions labor issues, things like that. And it was really important to them to not just Sell the firm to the highest bidder, but it was important to hand it off to folks who would be continuing that legacy and continuing to work in that vein. And that’s what, my partner and I I, my I have 2 partners, but the partner and I, who bought into the business, that’s what, we really strive to do is to continue to be that that Center left kind of voice in Harrisburg.
Beverly: 4:38
So what makes ClearPoint communications unique in the advocacy and communications industry? Tell me a little bit about that process and what that looks like too.
Danielle: 4:46
Sure. So technically in Pennsylvania, we’re considered a lobbying firm, but we’re not a lobbying firm in the sense of what people think of taking lawmakers to dinner and smoking cigars and things like that. We do mostly what is called external lobbying. So that is things like. At anything that is intended to gain lawmakers or voters attention around an issue at the state house. So that’s things like social media posts, press conferences, whether they’re in person or on zoom Did I say social?
I said social media. Just advertising marketing like letter email, all those things you see where it’s click here and either email your lawmaker or call your lawmaker rallies. All kinds of things. I once organized a rally when I was working at a different firm around the puppy mill bill in Pennsylvania. And I led a rally of a thousand dogs and people around the state Capitol. And that was an issue that was crazy because Oprah did an episode on puppy mills. And that was still the era when everyone had blackberries.
So when Like the Oprah folks put out a push for people to contact their lawmakers. Their system had every email, send 253 emails and the lawmakers would be on the floor and it would break their, it would literally like brick their blackberries, which is not what you want to do. So in, in our job and one of the things that, that we are very well known for is for our strong relationships with the local press in a lot of the things that we do, since we’re trying to influence the state house it’s more important for us. To get our clients a placement in like the Harrisburg Patriot News versus the New York Times. Which is a little different when you think about communications and what like defines success in a lot of other fields.
Beverly: 6:39
So what you do is really hyper local, it sounds
Danielle: 6:43
yes. And, sometimes, a lot of times, depending on the issue it’s more important for us and it’s more important to have an impact for people to contact their lawmaker than it is to get, 700 emails in to like from random people who don’t live in the district. So it is very centralized. It is very hyperlocal. And. It’s a lot of fun. We, sometimes we go into issues that are brand new to us. And you don’t really know what’s going on and you don’t know the jargon. And I really love the light bulb moment that happens when you’re like, Oh, I get it now. And that’s one of the things that I love best at my job is that I’m learning new things all the time, constantly, not just about tools and tactics. But also You know, just, it really satisfies my like constant curiosity to be, learning about how different industries work all the time.
Beverly: 7:40
It affects you personally, cause you live and work in the area that you are focused on, which I think matters. One thing that you and I have know each other because of our kids are in school together and how active you are with the. The school and our kids. And if I want to know something, I know where to go. It’s Danielle. She’s going to know what’s happening and give me information. But that’s a
Danielle: 8:03
great marriage of my my. nosiness as well as marrying my professional skills with, my, my personal network. And it’s a lot of fun and it’s really really like satisfying work to, make sure that My neighbors, our neighbors know what’s going on at the school district.
Beverly: 8:25
So did, when you were graduating from college, did you think this was something that was even a possibility like this where you’ve landed and be perfected and get in now? Is this like what you’re like, you thought you would be doing exactly?
Danielle: 8:37
In college do you remember the truth foundation? I’m not sure if they’re still around, but they used to be like cigarettes. Bad, they’d be like, Ooh, the cigarette, they’d be like, it’s so cool to not smoke. It came out of all this cigarette the nicotine, the cigarette settlement money and they had a a program where they founded a little small scholarship at all the state schools and they were trying to get people to apply for the scholarship and then run some smoking cessation programs on their campus. smoking cessation awareness, tobacco addiction awareness, that kind of thing. And I had that, got that scholarship. And that’s where I realized that, public relations wasn’t just all around consumer goods.
It could be around ideas instead. And I really liked that. And I met My mentor and my one of my first colleagues at a job fair at Shippensburg University, where I went and I told them that and I, sometimes, you tell someone something and you can just see the hook, sick and they’re like, wow, that’s really cool. And I basically because that was the end of May and our busiest time is May, June. Early July, usually because of the state budget deadline. And I I had this great interview with them and I got to meet them and they were super interested. And they’re like, oh, we’ll definitely call you and they never called. So I, like a good elder millennial picked up the telephone made myself pick up the telephone. And call them until they called me back.
And it was actually funny because I was supposed to start a different internship, but that was at the Carlisle car show. Which was a great, it would have been a great internship and a really great exposure, but I really was more, much more interested in this other. Realm and I couldn’t really see myself working in the car industry for my whole life, but I could see myself doing this. And I followed my gut and called the car show like the day before I was supposed to start when everything finally shook out. So that wasn’t great. But it all worked out.
Beverly: 10:43
You knew what you were supposed to do and you were fighting for it. I love that. This idea of advocacy is so different than the public relations that I sit in. what is one thing that really frustrates you and how do you and your business? How do you guys combat that right? I
Danielle: 11:00
think it’s one of the most frustrating things is something that I don’t really we don’t really have control over and that’s that Some of the groups that need the most help don’t have the resources or don’t have the coordination to pull everything together under an umbrella. There’s a million groups for instance, fighting for common sense. School board members because that’s something we’re seeing the opposite of right here where we live and across. The country and there are, there’s a lot of big money funding the other side, but there’s not really a central repository of someone steering the, the counter to the right to the commons, and bringing common sense to school districts throughout, the United States things have been
Restream recording Jun 11, 2024 • 02:10:54 PM: 11:53
a
Danielle: 11:54
It’s been a little slow because, every region has to pop up and organize themselves rather than, getting resources or messaging from a bigger group. And that’s just 1 example. Another thing is when we are firm is well known for sometimes people come to us and they want. A bill to pass or something to happen and we are known for telling people if it’s not going to happen. If someone would come to us today and say, I want to see recreational marijuana pass in the budget.
If they were to come to us, even in December and say, I want to see recreational marijuana pass in the budget. We could, we would say. We can do those steps to start moving towards that, but it’s very unlikely that’s going to happen. And there are some firms in town who will say, Oh yeah, we can get that done. Blah, blah, blah, blah. That’s not us. So sometimes people have ideas of things and it’s just not the right time. It’s very much an industry where timing is everything.
And conflicts can be frustrating sometimes. Every PR marketing firm has conflicts, but ours are a little it’s a little tighter because we got we work for an environmental group that we picked up because their prior firm. Went to work for the fracking the fracking industry. So they dropped them and came to us. Yeah. So conflict of interest. Yes. And that’s where there is a lot more money. So that’s why that firm did that. But again, like I’ve mentioned before, we’re center left. So there are some issues that there, it really isn’t enough money to work for.
Beverly: 13:33
So what is one aspect of your business strategy or decision making process? that has evolved the most over your time as an entrepreneur and why? Oh, gosh,
Danielle: 13:45
that is an intense question.
Beverly: 13:48
It is really. Cause I think as entrepreneurs, we get wiser. I think even to the idea of maybe when, if you were younger, you might’ve taken on some of the marijuana. situations, but I know more now okay, that’s probably not the best use of our time and energy for this particular cycle, but maybe next cycle we can push for that. So maybe there’s things in, there’s just, yeah, I would say
Danielle: 14:09
yes. And I would say as we’ve become more. We basically get clients and keep them until they no longer need us. Generally, it’s very rare that we part ways with a client in a way that is not mutually beneficial. And after having, the firm’s been around. I don’t know, 16 years, something like that. Now that we have some pretty broad relationships among advocates, among a lot of the different groups in Pennsylvania, and we’ve seen how a lot of the folks work sometimes we work alongside people.
They’re not the ones paying us, but they’re in the coalition that we’re managing. And there have been some examples where. We’ve seen how some of the groups work or some of their challenges and we have either priced ourselves accordingly because we know they’re going to need more intense monitoring handholding, just more time. And sometimes that prices us out of their business, but it’s really knowing that. It’s not just the end result. It’s that our time, we really value our time and the results that we’re able to get for folks.
Beverly: 15:28
I feel like you live in a industry that is really evolved. Immediate media in itself has evolved so much. Getting much, but I feel like the news media, the 24, seven news, has just completely flipped in the last 10, 20 years. So how have you all adapted your strategies to ensure your clients’ messages still get the coverage they need? with this kind of evolution that’s happening in the space
Danielle: 15:56
yes. Yes. Newsrooms have shrunk. Everyone knows that the news cycle is faster than ever. And paywalls, paywalls are there for a reason and they’re great. And, newspapers need to make money but that can be really frustrating as well. At the same time, there’s a growing importance, like first there were blogs and it was like at one point. Wait, someone was like you can just get bloggery. And I’m like, that’s not how that works. Even in 2009, I was like, you can’t really just email someone cold and be like, write about this.
It’s great. But now there’s a more of an understanding of how, influencers work and things sometimes and that’s all evolving as well. So what we have done really is switched to make sure that a lot more of our content and things that we’re providing are more accessible to the public. When COVID happened and we had to switch to zoom, Meetings for, press conferences. We were like, Oh, this is terrible. But then we realized we can get everyone together from all across the state on one screen. We can control the messaging.
We have more control over the questions, and then we can take all the content that we’re creating and chop it up into the bits for social media and make it more accessible because no one outside of a very specific set of people, the people who work in the capital or might have been on a field trip or something that day, whatever is very rarely see, the full context of our press conferences that we put on. But now with zoom, we can, cut out just the most important parts that might not be what a TV station would pull, right?
And we can really do the work to help meet people where they are. And I think TikTok when I started at a different firm, I transitioned to a different firm around 2008. And at that point they were like, Oh you’re going to start our Twitter and everyone’s going to listen to what we’re, our, we’re saying about our clients on Twitter. At that point, like there were no lawmakers on Twitter. And Twitter was still very much Oh, the weather is great today. And Oh, like this place has the best cheesesteak in Philadelphia. Like it didn’t have, it was nowhere near political or dumpster fire as it is today. Now, Twitter’s kind of at a crossroads. I would have said two, even two years ago that Twitter was a lot more important than what it is now.
And we’re seeing that evolution happening on tech talk and who knows whether that’s going to be around, but we are seeing more influencers on tech talk and we are seeing more and more. Voters, state residents really get all of their information from tick tock more than any other source. So that’s really the frontier for the work that we’re doing. It’s Pennsylvania. We have 2 major cities. But we’re not. Like on the cutting edge, you have to let everyone else break it in first before we can really be successful with a platform like that.
Beverly: 20:12
All really very relevant topics today. I feel that you’re talking about like Twitter’s viability and where it sits and even Tik TOK with it’s owned by China, things that are all very much relevant. And, we’ve always said with our customers. Your fans from them and email is where it’s at, no matter what you own. Exactly.
Danielle: 20:38
I was just going to say that I said, it’s seeing a swing back to, email. There’s a quote, I forget who said it, but they’re like, email is the killer app because everyone has email. You own your emails. You can do what you want with those emails. And there’s so many different ways that you can activate people just by having their email and so much data you can get gather and you can divide people, you can categorize people, you can know so much about people if you get their emails and it’s really important. Yeah.
Even six years ago, we were telling people, Oh, don’t worry about having your own like microsite. You can just do Facebook and Twitter and it’ll all be fine. And now we’re seeing a move, we’re making sure that people have even a microsite with a couple of pages nothing even extensive, but so you have that kind of base. If tick tock goes away, if Twitter goes away, if meta goes away that you have this kind of. Centralized place for yourself on the internet and always, anyone in any business, I would say keep collecting emails.
Beverly: 21:44
Great advice, Danielle. Yes. I love this idea of email activating people for advocacy. With advocacy you can activate your clients and that you can persuade them, push them. I don’t want to say convince cause I don’t think anybody can be convinced unless they convince themselves, but to MIT, do an action or create some kind of sale or transaction. Action for you. So I love this idea of activate cause it feels very like verb focus, like an action to do as opposed to just shop. I think it’s a good word. I like that. So tell me about a story that perfectly captures the essence of your business and what you’re really passionate about. Those memorable moments in the heartwarming interactions that keep your particular customers coming back to you. Yeah. Gosh, There’s a lot.
Danielle: 22:33
It’s funny because my husband sells wastewater, Treatment supplies. He said to me one day what it’s like to sell something that other people don’t get. But it like changes people’s lives for the better. Just looked at him and I’m like, do you understand what I’ve been doing for 20 years?
Cause that’s what I do every day. Thank you. Cool. Some that have such a long tail. Yesterday, the Pennsylvania General Assembly that the House voted on a bill that would basically make Pennsylvania’s school funding Render it constitutional rather than unconstitutional. We’ve worked for decades with this group called PA schools work that was centered around came out of the post governor Corbett area era. After the, recession in 2011 ish, where they slashed, they slashed school funding. They slashed all the things. And this group came out and said, we really do need more money for our schools. And Governor Wolf came in and we got more money for our schools and then a member of that coalition. Was in the process.
They started 10 years ago. They started the process of a lawsuit saying that Pennsylvania’s funding situation for our public schools is unconstitutional. It creates a have and have nots. If you live in a poor area without a robust tax base, your kids literally don’t get the opportunities that other people in other in wealthy areas do. So that was a 10 year process to get that lawsuit done. And a year ago, it was ruled that Pennsylvania’s funding. System for our public schools is indeed unconstitutional.
So the whole aspect of the group first they got funding, then they changed the funding formula for public education, and then they were pushing for this constitutional fix. And yesterday in a bipartisan vote, which is very rare these days the house passed the bill that would. Render Pennsylvania’s funding more constitutional, giving more state funding to the areas that don’t have the tax base and that moves on to the Senate. We will see how that goes. I really hope they fix it. If they don’t fix it and there’s, there’s always chances for amendments. This ran. Without any amendments through the house, which is very rare. And we’ll see what the Senate changes about it.
But if they don’t fix this, the opponents of this bill are saying, oh, this isn’t great. This isn’t great. Nothing is perfect. If you have a bill where everyone’s happy, it’s a really crappy bill. Best bills really, I’m obviously, I’m a pragmatic at heart, even though, I, I. Talk of, very partisan game, probably a lot of the things that I do. But really like compromise is where all the best solutions, the best policy solutions come from. So we’ll see what the Senate does, but if they don’t fix this, there’s going to be more lawsuits and we could end up with a solution that is put on the state that Doesn’t make anyone happy in a very bad way. So this is our best bet at finally resolving like decades of work of this group. And that’s, you
Beverly: 25:46
have to be patient, man. You have to be patient.
Danielle: 25:50
This is not a short game. Any of it.
Beverly: 25:53
No. Change at that level. Government level. It just, it’s. My husband’s in the army. Everything moves slow. I feel but
Restream recording Jun 11, 2024 • 02:10:54 PM: 26:00
yeah,
Beverly: 26:01
It’s like a turtle kind of lumbering along. I feel like when we have other plans and the thing that kind of makes me nervous is how things are changing so quickly and how does our government and our laws stay up with some of those kinds of things,
Restream recording Jun 11, 2024 • 02:10:54 PM: 26:15
right?
Beverly: 26:16
What is, what is your favorite marketing tool or strategy that has been impactful for your business?
Danielle: 26:21
And every single person with a design background is going to cringe, but Canva because, 10 years ago, we couldn’t get messaging going online until it got through the designer and approved by a client. And Canva, wow, I think you have to know. And be familiar with what you don’t know and not try to change too much in Canva. It really is a great tool to, whip out graphics that don’t look like you’re just a word person. It just
Beverly: 26:57
made it very much more accessible to the regular people. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. I had a leveled a little bit. You still need a graphic designer for some of those big things. We use Canva, we love it, but we also have a graphic design team. There’s a time and place for both. We love Canva. Canva is awesome. Is there any unconventional marketing tactic or campaign that you’ve tried and were surprised by its success?
Danielle: 27:17
one of our favorite things. is a banner plane. Like when I’m at the beach and it’s going across like that thing? Yes. Yes. Only we’ve put them up at Penn State games. Which is a great place to go where everyone either has a connection at the very least has a connection to Pennsylvania, but most of them are Pennsylvanian. And the banner planes are so uncommon too, that they also become a news story. So yeah, we’ve flown them over Penn state games. We’ve flown them over like city Island. When I think we did one over playing. The legislature was having, they have a baseball game every year for food banks in Pennsylvania. We’ve flown them over that. Yeah, it’s interesting.
Beverly: 28:01
How much does it cost?
Danielle: 28:03
It is not as much as you think it is not. I can’t remember off. And this I think was pre COVID. And I don’t think we’ve had one since then, so it might be more expensive, but it’s not that much considering that, how much, you’re tailgating, what else are you going to look at? Yeah, and then, like I said, then it becomes a story itself. Billboards, mobile billboards are also a really great tactic. Especially sometimes we have been known to drive them around and park them in front of an influential lawmakers fundraiser. So they have to look at it. So those are fun. Those are fun too.
Beverly: 28:43
I like it. I love these two little tidbits. Very unique. Yeah. Share something that even your most dedicated clients might not know. We’re talking about the quirky behind the scenes details that make your business unique.
Danielle: 28:57
Oh my gosh.
Beverly: 28:58
Is there like an office tradition or?
Danielle: 29:01
It’s so funny. Wearing the thing is we, at our core, we all really each other and, we like each other so much. And we have so much fun when we’re doing what we do that sometimes our meetings can go way off the rails. Yeah.
Beverly: 29:17
Yeah. Oh yeah. One time, one time I worked for a language learning software. It was a tech company and we all had a lot of fun there. And we, since we taught languages, we were, like whatever. And one day I had to teach a How to talk like a pirate course. And that just totally derailed the entire meeting and Like it was a very random kind of tangent that we’re like, we have to do this now.
Like we have to, and we, every I think it’s like in September 19th is talk like a pirate day and every year they still release it now. Like to this day. like it was super fun. So sometimes those tangent meetings and going off the rails is where like some of the, where the madness happens. What is your long term vision for ClearPoint Communications and how do you plan to adapt to the changing needs and trends that we’re seeing to really help, your clients and promote advocacy?
Danielle: 30:09
I, for ClearPoint, 20 years from now, I want to still see us having, our center left, Vibe at our core, right? I don’t want us to go to change culturally in that we’re chasing retainers to get away from our roots. I really want to see that and I would like to see us maybe grow a little bit, but I don’t want to I don’t want us to be we have.
Seven employees right now. And I don’t really want to see us grow beyond 10 to 12. And that’s really where anyway, in our business where you start, the general assembly can only do so much work. And that’s debatable depending on who you talk to. So you around 10 to 12, you naturally start to conflict out where you can’t. Get any more business in this area, and they might conflict with this different industry over here. So I really hope that lobbying is still around. I know it gets a bad rap, but we have a full time legislature and a lot of staffers and a lot of.
Groups that really deserve to have their ideas and their issues elevated. And, a lot of the people who are against lobbying think that it’s only like big business who’s lobbying and, it is also, the groups who advocate for cures for, terrible diseases. And, sometimes it’s big business, but they’re actually, you Someone’s job in Pennsylvania. And that’s important too. I think that’s, there is definitely, I hope we can, I really hope that we can get back to more balance and less mudslinging in, in, in this arena, in this political arena, because that would
Beverly: 32:01
be so lovely.
Danielle: 32:02
People are so like, people are over it.
Beverly: 32:05
We’re tired. We’re tired of it. You go and grow up, do your job, stop this nonsense. Yeah. Yes. So I hope we can
Danielle: 32:12
get back to that.
Beverly: 32:13
Yes. And really It’s people’s lives. It’s people Yes. It’s our well being as a country, as a city, as But all the things like it’s not something to be played with.
Danielle: 32:23
Yeah. And I think we’re on the cusp. I, it feels to me like we’re on a cusp against the polarization, especially on the state level. That started with the tea party and kind of has ramped up and I feel like it’s on a downward slope again.
Beverly: 32:38
I feel like there is good. I hope so.
Danielle: 32:42
At least at the state level, like it’s crazy. I feel like the more higher up you get, The less opportunity there is for compromise and, pragmatism. But it feels to me like we might be turning back towards, putting, the crap aside and working for the greater good.
Beverly: 33:01
It’s usually a pendulum, right? Like it swings back. I feel like that’s a nice balance of, I think our particular government. I want you for some, let’s just get some work done. Let’s get crapped on. Let’s go. We got stuff to do. We have problems it’s simple as that. So the next part of the interview is the lightning round where it’s kind of like just give me your answer kind of thing. There are seven questions and a little bit more punchy of of the interview. So have a little fun with it, first question of the lightning round is how have you created and maintained lasting connections on your entrepreneurial journey? What you do is a lot about connection and relationships. So how have you maintained and foster those?
Danielle: 33:41
Yeah honestly it’s, there’s so much of what I do is about connecting people. So it’s, my, my Facebook list is out of control, but it is, it’s connecting people, not just in person, but on social media. It’s being very consistent with My messaging and how I talk on Twitter, I try, there are people in this industry who go around like slamming people and tearing them down as people. In conjunction with how they talk about their political differences.
And I try to focus on people’s political stances rather than Then who they are as people, because if I didn’t have anyone, if I didn’t care about anyone who was opposite of me politically, I wouldn’t have any friends. I live in central Pennsylvania. It’s a very, it’s a pretty conservative area. And there’s a lot of people I love that I don’t agree with politically and that’s okay. My, my whole thing is if you’re, if, I draw the line at, the dehumanization of people. But I work very hard to not pursue that line myself.
Beverly: 34:55
If ClearPoint Communications had a voice, what word or emotion would it be? Do you think would resonate from its core?
Danielle: 35:03
Oh, huh. I think it would be like, I don’t know, like a really thoughtful voice, but also with a dash of humor, not taking itself too seriously. I like that. I think that’s where a lot of advocacy in all over the place goes wrong is that people take themselves too seriously. And really where you can hit that sweet spot for a lot of people is if you throw in some humor and some tongue in cheek stuff, and we saw that in how people responded to and he has since evolved, but to John Fetterman’s senatorial campaign when he was running that people really, responded to that kind of off the cuff kind of tearing down someone’s political stances, but also being funny and tongue in cheek on the way.
Beverly: 36:00
Yeah. So look back into all of the wisdom you’ve garnered since school. And share which book, podcast or entrepreneur, and it can be a couple, don’t limit it if you don’t want to, has left the most indelible mark on your journey. Who has inspired it the most?
Danielle: 36:21
Ramit Sethi, who is, I will teach you to be rich. Which is fascinating because like for a couple of things, like the show he did on Netflix is really entertaining. The podcast is Like obsessive worthy because he like people are actually talking about how they spend money and that’s so like taboo. It’s fun. But I also like how he, his voice, he talks about people say, Oh, you shouldn’t be political.
And he really talks about how there are so many decisions and how you spend money and how you carry out your life that actually are political. Which really resonates with me because, for instance, in my School board advocacy. People are like I’m not really political. I’m like, yeah, but this is your kid’s school. This is your kid’s future. This is what your house will be worth in 10 years. This will be if this is a desirable area to move into, or if people are going to avoid it, like the plague.
This is, there’s so many different facets of it. I also find a lot of a lot of folks on Tiktok really interesting in, there’s so many things that you you can see like one time I was watching this Tiktok and this woman was talking about how she got a comment about, she was like a nail technician and she was talking about, This person left this terrible comment and she’s wow, I was motivated by spite. So I was like, you know what, I’m going to be the best nail technician you’ve ever seen. And there’s so many little micro moments like that in, in an area that. You wouldn’t think that communications and advocacy has a stake in, but really there’s so much to understand in seeing how people live their lives and how they process things and how they view the world through their lens. I really think that makes me a better communicator and a better connector.
Beverly: 38:16
It’s one of the reasons why I love this podcast. I love talking to other people, hearing their story, learning what, where they are inspired and like the challenges they’ve overcome. It’s hard work and they have to have some level of grit to make it through. And it’s like this magic formula of you. How do you put grit in people when some of those kinds of things, it’s a stick.
Danielle: 38:42
Yeah.
Beverly: 38:43
Is it situational? Is it, nurture versus nature? Is it, there’s all these like elements that kind of go into an entrepreneur and I’m interested in people’s journey and I learned something new every time I talked to them. So I agree. It’s like those little micro moments of connection and understanding and wisdom that are powerful.
Danielle: 39:02
And there’s so good. There’s so few opportunities. There’s fewer opportunities for us to connect as people as communities than ever before. So I really try to seize on that and to, think about the different connections and try to, keep in mind that even if I have, I think I have nothing in common with someone, there is something deep down that we do have a connection on and I don’t have to be best friends with them, but it makes me a better person and better at my job. If I can think about where the commonalities are,
Beverly: 39:40
just general human empathy of the human experience, right? Everybody is trying their best And make their mark in this world in whatever way that is possible. What is your app that became your secret weapon for success and how has it revolutionized your workflow?
Danielle: 39:56
Twitter, it is Twitter. Twitter is still important in what we do these days, but it was really. It was really like, I’ve been on Twitter since 2008. It used to be there used to be a handful of people in central Pennsylvania on Twitter, and I can tell you who those people are who have been there since the beginning. And we used to have all these meetups and things like this before it became a cesspool but it is still important. And we still do have a lot of opportunities for connection with folks that we wouldn’t have otherwise. Yeah,
Beverly: 40:29
Bridget Willard. We had a tweet up called the tweet tea. We met at a tea shop. I remember when Twitter first started I was having conversations. Like it was so accessible and it was real people, nobody’s like managers were doing their Twitter, right? It was aided and so cool. And I will tell you I, I spent years away from Twitter because I didn’t like where it was going. And it’s only been recently that I’m actually more interested in it again.
I, for two or three years there, I have genuine friendships of people who I met because of Twitter so it was a really interesting tool at the very beginning. I was doing the same thing in Detroit that you were doing and like some of the people that are, that I was organizations now. We were the pioneers of what was at the time Twitter, which was very much so anything happened on Twitter. It was very cool when the whale the whale fail, what happened and all, like it was like, it was a time. Yeah, it was cool. It was fun time. I have good memories about it. Okay. So I feel like communication is fast.
Restream recording Jun 11, 2024 • 02:10:54 PM: 41:38
Like I feel
Beverly: 41:38
like that’s happening fast. Like maybe the news cycle, all that kind of happens fast. So how do you stay grounded and maintain your clarity when there’s chaos and uncertainty? I just think of, this is a very local level, but like support board meetings and stuff like that. Like how do you maintain your purpose and clarity in those moments?
Danielle: 41:55
Yeah. I try and I live tweet all the school board meetings. That is my weird hobby as I’ve been told. But I love a good live tweet and people totally underestimate how hard it is to do a live thread of anything, but I love it and I am really good at it, not to like brag or anything, but it’s a very specialized skill. But I think in the moment I’m just concentrating on. Just what’s before me and not getting too bogged down into the what, why, how I do have a really long memory about, what people say.
And I try to tie that back to con, I try to provide context and things in the moment. And sometimes honestly, it’s about stepping away for it for a while, or, just getting done what you have to get done. And doing a palate cleanser of something else. I try to alter my alternate my day between like meetings and focus work and like research so that sometimes I can just have some really intense work and then have my research time and just go down my rabbit hole like, and let my brain relax. So we’ll see. Yeah.
Beverly: 43:09
So if ClearPoint communications was an animal.
Danielle: 43:13
It’d be a Honey badger Honey badger knows what the honey badger wants. Honey badger goes after it and gets it done. And just,
Beverly: 43:22
I like it. I like it. Nobody has ever said honey badger before. So this is the first. Okay. So the last thing that we have is like looking forward and helping other entrepreneurs. But I think you go back first. So if you could go back to 18 year old Danielle and give her some advice, what would that insight look like? And. What, how, what would have saved you any headaches or resources along the way?
Danielle: 43:48
I think I would have been better at keeping things in drafts at a young age. I think that’s really important. And I think, I am. an introvert who can play at an extrovert, but I wish I had been a little bit better at networking in my younger days. Because it only gets harder, the older you get, the more responsibilities you get juggling everything.
Beverly: 44:15
People already have like networks created. So it’s hard to insert yourself into networks as well. I find that very challenging as a person who moves everything. It’s a little bit hard to break into places. So yeah totally build that in Detroit. I, it’s a really strong now and it’s different when you’re in your twenties and versus in your forties and fifties or whatever. So I, I understand that very well. So what practical advice would you give a small business entrepreneur who’s just, or just someone who’s just starting out?
Danielle: 44:45
See, I’m we’re so bad at this because people, we don’t really do a whole lot of marketing for our business. Like people come to us generally is where our clients come from. Which is great. It’s a very reputation centric business. But sometimes it, it comes from. Random cold calls too. Like we’ve gotten random cold calls that have resulted in business, but I would say, have, I see a lot of people start a business and try to do too many things at once. I think it makes.
The most sense to do that 1 thing that you’re really good at get a reputation for that and then move on rather than try to be all things to all people all at once. And I think that’s something that is especially in my business. I think that’s something that. We see people and if you don’t, if you don’t ever perfect what you’re doing and nothing’s actually perfection, but if you don’t have systems and, Processes in place, it can all get really chaotic, really quick.
Beverly: 45:48
Yes. All of it. Yes.
Danielle: 45:51
Yeah.
Beverly: 45:52
Before we go, please share listeners can learn more about Clare Point Communications and Danielle and how they can keep up with your latest projects that you’re advocating.
Danielle: 46:00
Yeah. So we are on [email protected]. We are on LinkedIn. I am on Twitter at danny pa, DANI pa. I am also sometimes on PCN as a democratic. Commentator PCN is Pennsylvania’s C SPAN type channel. It’s on, if you have a actual cable provider, it’s there. If you’re on dish, it’s not there. And I’m also on ABC 27 this week in Pennsylvania on a regular basis as their democratic commentator. And that airs on every single media market in Pennsylvania on next star stations and in Pittsburgh on KDKA plus.
Beverly: 46:42
You’re everywhere. Yeah. I know. You’re everywhere. Thank you so much, Danielle, for sharing your expertise. You’ve certainly given me a lot to think about from a local advocacy kind of perspective that I did not understand before this interview. So I appreciate you shedding some light in that area and offering valuable tips and insights so thank you so much. Yeah, thank you.
Danielle: 47:06
It’s a pleasure. It’s as much fun as it sounds on, on, in your ears. I’m so glad. I’m so glad. I
Beverly: 47:12
want it to be fun. So to our listeners, I hope you enjoyed this episode and that you remember to implement some of these insights, like activating your email and things like that that Danielle talked about if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Danielle or to myself if you need assistance. Stay tuned for more inspiring conversations and actionable tips to ignite your marketing journey on future episodes of spark and ignite your marketing podcast Until next time, keep sparking and igniting!
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