Popular Articles

Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

read more
by Andrew Tellijohn
August 2007

Related Article

How to Create Your Own Social Media Maven In-House

Read more

Partnerships

PARTNERSHIPS

Bolster original model
first, then replicate,
experts tell IntelAccount
Beth LaBreche is happy she can focus single-mindedly on growing her Minneapolis public relations company, now called LaBreche and focused on reputation management.

It was called LaBreche Murray for 13 years. She finished buying out late last year her former name partner, Jerry Murray, who held a minority stake.

?I wanted to grow it and was getting a little bored with the business,? says LaBreche. Growth is ?the adrenaline for a business owner. He wanted to continue on the same track.?

The two parted formally in February 2006, but it took months to complete the buyout. A major step was a valuation. With a referral from her attorney, LaBreche hired a valuation firm, which she says spent a lot of time getting into the nitty-gritty of what value each owner really brings to the business.

For example, if an owner is in new-business development, that leads to more value than if he or she is in operations. Also, when the only one interested in buying shares is the other partner, that affects the valuation as well.

?We were partners for 13 years. It was difficult but I want to characterize it? as ultimately positive for the firm, she says about the dissolution. ?It?s sad. I haven?t been divorced before but it?s like that. People say they get divorced because they grow apart.?

When the buyout was complete, LaBreche thought it an ideal time to develop a new strategic plan and to re-brand her firm. ?We wanted to paint a bigger picture to represent? all the kinds of work they do with clients.

?We moved to the reputation management moniker, and have the tag line, ?reputation is everything,? ? she says.

?My advice would be, when all that stuff is going on you still need to focus on the clients and the work,? or there won?t be a company left when all the transactions are over.

Last year the firm grew 42 percent; this year the goal is 56 percent, to $4.2 million, and she says they were just under that pace as of June.  She had 26 employees as of June, with immediate plans to hire four more. She?s looking for business in new industries, too, including health care.

?It?s not about the money. It?s about opening up the possibilities,? she says. She?s had the company for 17 years, and believes owners need to decide whether to have a lifestyle business, ?to just make it and take it,? or ?if you really want to challenge yourself. I?ve got 20 years left to work,? she says, so decided to go for growth.

?We?re looking at it as a jump-start to our growth. Now it?s all fast-forwarding,? she says.

Beth LaBreche, LaBreche: 612.338.0901, ext. 7603;  blabreche@labrechereputations.comwww.labrechereputations.com