10 Questions: Lynda Greening
The marriage of marketing and media can be a complicated one. According to Lynda Greening, founder of Emerald Media Group, the key to making a big splash lies in consistency.
1. How would you describe your business?
LG:“Our niche is very much the B2B direct-response, call-to-action marketing space. Our main aim is to create lead-generation opportunities for our B2B2B clients (meaning we are a business that deals with businesses that only deal with other businesses) by utilizing any or all of our seven different advertising publications and other direct-response strategies.”
2. What inspired you to get into the marketing industry?
LG: “I worked for a newspaper as a trainee journalist after school. It had always been my dream, and I loved the job. However, about a year into it, an editor noted that I was putting descriptive (and invented) words into the mouths of the people I was interviewing. He suggested I transfer to the advertising department where my talents would be more enthusiastically received. A logical next step was to create my own marketing, advertising and publishing business!”
3. How would you describe the state of global media?
LG: “The media is evolving at a phenomenal rate, and every year we have to change how we go about our business. A year or two ago, we focused on getting people to opt into a ‘newsletter’ for purchasing, and now we rely on social media to do that. I think everything is heading in the right direction. The media is starting to communicate with its readers, viewers and followers in a much more personal way.”
4. What has been your greatest accomplishment to date?
LG: “Taking a germ of an idea and limited capital, and turning it into a business that, since 2002, has created new opportunities for more than a hundred clients each year, and that which has provided well for my family.”
5. How has being a woman entrepreneur helped or hurt you in your industry?
LG: “Back in the day, being a woman was a great hindrance in my local media— there was no pay equality, sexual harassment was out of control and there was nothing you could really do about it. Now, I find it easier and more rewarding to be a woman in the media. Most of the business owners we work with are older men, so there is a lot more respect handed out both ways.”
6. What are the advantages of owning a business in Australia?
LG: “I absolutely love Australia and have been here for nearly 30 years. Australia has big enough economies of scale to make money, but it is also small enough that if you find a niche, you can make an impact.”
7. What are some of the disadvantages?
LG: “Disadvantages these days relate to time zones. The U.S. has given us awesome software to use in our business, but being 17 hours behind us, when you need support it can be frustrating to limit that to the first two hours in the morning.”
8. Where do you find your inspiration?
LG: “Big names like Richard Branson, Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Bezos used to inspire me, although I now find inspiration from young entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Ferris. Also, the younger members of EO Sydney I’ve come to know and admire.”
9. What is one marketing stereotype you cannot accept?
LG: “Branding that does not have ROI as an end goal. We’ve seen so many examples of businesses that have been convinced to advertise just to get their name out there, without having metric conversions. We basically have the global financial crisis to thank for making businesses demand that their advertising converts to something.”
10. What is the best business tip you’ve ever received from an EO peer?
LG: “I don’t know about specific tips, but since I joined EO, I have learned a lot about the value and use of confidentiality (no one, nowhere, never) and Gestalt Language Protocol.”
