Meet Innovator of the Week
Zach Luse
Paragon Digital Marketing
Please provide your 30-second pitch about your company.
Paragon Digital Marketing is an agency that develops and executes strategic internet marketing campaigns to direct highly targeted traffic to our clients’ websites. We apply cutting-edge marketing technologies and ad platforms that convert website visitors into customers and nurture leads into sales. Our services include SEO, PPC/ Paid Search, Retargeting, Social Media and Email marketing, Marketing Automation, Reputation Management, Analytics Consulting and Landing Page Optimization. Helping our clients benefit from marketing automation platforms like Marketo, Pardot and LinkedIn Lead Accelerator has become a big part of our business.
Who or what was your best resource for starting your company?
Entrepreneurship is in my blood. My father opened his Photography studio in the 1970s and I created my own business building wooden benches when I was 12. I have found that the best resource for an entrepreneur is people. I choose to reach out to the business leaders in my community, connections like Jeff Whitcomb at the Communicators Group have been instrumental to Paragon’s growth. Organizations like the Hannah Grimes Center and online resources like Startup America really helped to keep me inspired and on track.
What was your biggest obstacle in starting your company and how did you overcome it?
Transitioning from a solo consultant to a digital agency was one of my biggest challenges. Establishing my team has really helped in overcoming this hurdle but it’s taken me a lot of late nights and weekends. I still find myself stuck in the trenches more than I should be but as the Paragon team has grown it’s gotten easier to focus more on managing and continuing the growth of the business.
What’s the best advice you have received?
Get out of your own way. You have to be willing to take calculated risks and just make things happen.
What about the NH lifestyle appeals to you?
I love the access to the great outdoors with Mt Monadnock, mountain bike trails and ski resorts right in my backyard. I’m also amazed at how much is hidden in the hills of our corner of New Hampshire. There are people and companies doing truly amazing things that I didn’t expect to find when I moved to New Hampshire from the Midwest. The 10 minute bike ride to work also beats the hour and half commute by train I had in Chicago!
What does the future look like for your company?
Paragon has doubled in size each year since we started. As this growth continues over the next couple years, we’ll refine processes and gain efficiencies that we weren’t able to focus on until now. The Paragon team will have the opportunity to transition into more specific areas of expertise rather than being jacks and jills of all trades which will be good for us and good for our clients.
Next month we will embark on an exciting new adventure. Paragon is partnering with the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship to form the New England Web & Tech Collective (NEWT). NEWT is a group of internet marketers, web developers, designers and app developers who work collectively to develop their skills, innovate and inspire each other. We will launch the collective and move our offices into the Hannah Grimes building in June. NEWT will offer a really cool space with fiber optic internet, co-working spaces, and beer from the coolest kegerator around. We look forward to providing workshops and networking opportunities along with hosting events and much more. We are really excited to form this collective! It is going to be a really big asset to our region, inspiring innovation and economic growth. To learn more visit webtechcollective.com.
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn and Twitter!
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