Episode 158: The Turnaround with Christa Ramus and Joseph Sommer, Whitestone Branding
When the pandemic hit, New York City was the epicenter.
Joe Sommer of Whitestone Branding had just been honored as the distributor entrepreneur of the year in January at skucon and decided to take a brief sabbatical after years of hard work and building a business. Then Covid hit. Located in New York, Whitestone’s clients were largely experiential marketing agencies and many of the projects they did were for events. Sales plummeted.
Joe did what many of us did. Joe questioned and reconsidered everything. If sales were dropping so significantly that it meant literally starting over, was it time to quit and pursue something else? Standing on this precipice, Joe made a decision and instead of quitting decided to reinvent and reinvest: in himself, his team, and his business. They reorganized, built an entirely new web experience, huddled as a team and made some critical decisions. This is the subject of our chat today.
Joe Sommer is the owner of Whitestone Branding, a boutique branded products agency founded in New York City in 2013. Whitestone was recently honored with a spot on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing private businesses in the U.S. for the third year in a row. As a seasoned vet at 30 years old, this is the only career and job he’s ever known!
Christa Ramus is the Director of Marketing and Sales at Whitestone Branding. She is an alumna of The University of Delaware where she studied Media Communication, Advertising and Journalism. Christa loves fashion and design and uses this passion and knowledge when working on new ways to innovate and market the company.
Today, we talk about:
Joe’s demoralizing experiences of laying off talented employees at the start of the coronavirus pandemic
Saving the business to fight another day, not knowing when that day might be
Maintaining optimism through a time when it felt wrong to sell
Creating a growth culture at Whitestone and rebuilding and positioning the business
How Christa helped transition the company using her creative and branding experience
The most important elements of a website that create engagement, target buyers, and make a positive impression
The advantages of using commonsku Shops and how they help the customer journey
Join Joe, Christa, and Bobby for a realistic glimpse into a turnaround story that will inspire you and your team!