“Being team focused and team driven helps us to ensure that we set each other up for success…There is no way that we can be the most effective marketers that we can be if we’re not doing it together.”

Meet Dawn Psaromatis and you know you are dealing with a Texan. She has passion and energy and is ready to get down to business, but will also ask you about your family and what you think of the ever-changing weather. Her personable style is well-received and reflected in creative campaigns and her success with driving revenues for clients.

Wellington Group is an Austin-based marketing, PR, design and communications firm delivering creative, innovative and strategic communications to drive both your business and your brand.

BusinessInterviews.com: Can you elaborate on how it was never your intention to start your own business?

Dawn: I’ve definitely always had the entrepreneurial spirit – from running my lemonade stand as a kid back in Abilene, to a short-lived t-shirt business in my 20’s. Ultimately, however, in terms of my career as a marketer, I guess I always thought I wanted to be a freelancer. The entrepreneurs who I had previously worked with didn’t make running an agency very appealing. I didn’t want the headaches of managing a team, office politics, and all of the other responsibilities that come with owning an agency.

However, my actions never matched my words. I kept taking on more work than I could physically handle and eventually (one by one) had to hire out a team so that I could keep moving forward. Now, I have an agency made up of an incredibly strong set of employees that I’m running on my own terms. While operating a business can be a struggle on some days, in the end it’s been absolutely wonderful.

BusinessInterviews.com: One of your core values is “Team Focused, Team Driven.” How does this approach influence how you lead your team and run your company?

Dawn: We live and breathe our core values. I even hire and fire by them. Being team focused and team driven helps us to ensure that we set each other up for success. I make sure that Wellington Group is a very collaborative environment, where we always work together on each and every client project (sometimes in bigger ways and sometimes smaller) to successfully bring it to fruition.

When we’re team focused and team driven, it also helps us work together to Wow Through Service, another core value of ours. There is no way that we can be the most effective marketers that we can be and truly please our clients to the best of our abilities if we’re not doing it together – with all of our varied skill sets and talents available to bring to the table. This is something I work on every day to instill in my team.

BusinessInterviews.com: To blog or not to blog, that is the question.

Dawn: Yes to blogging! It’s very important – from positioning yourself as a thought leader on behalf of your company, to letting your audience get to know you as the expert in your industry, to SEO (frequent fresh content = higher search rankings), the benefits are countless. Wellington Group’s blog is kind of the heart of our marketing efforts – it gives us a voice and lets our personality shine! Added bonus: it’s fun.

BusinessInterviews.com: You used to perform improv at National Comedy Theater. Has there been anything that you learned from performing on the stage that you’ve been able to translate into your business life?

Dawn: “Yes, and…” is the number one rule in improv comedy. You have to go with the idea that has been given to you and expand on it in order to come together as a team to make something truly great.

I have translated that mindset into the core of our business (it’s actually a core value of ours as well). With a “yes, and…” attitude at the workplace, my team is consistently going above and beyond for our clients – not just giving back what was asked of them, but expanding on those ideas to bring about the best possible results.

Of course, just as in an improv scene, building something together also involves knowing how much to give. We go above and beyond to make the collaboration work – but we also know when enough is enough.

BusinessInterviews.com: What are some trends in your industry that you’re excited about or think that our readers should be paying attention to?

Dawn: Our industry moves so fast that it can be a little intimidating, but we’ve seen so many new trends over the years that have worked for our clients that we’re always looking for the next thing. I love that visuals, like video and images, are becoming more important in marketing and social media today (although it does make me sad that people aren’t reading and writing as much). From Vine and

Instagram Video to Infographics and increased graphic design in social media, it’s been really fun to watch. The world of mobile has been interesting as well – with tablets and smartphones ruling the world today, mobile-friendly content has become more important. We’ve been recommending that all of our clients get responsive websites that are optimized to fit every screen size perfectly. It’s been fun to learn about and execute for our clients.

Lastly, I love that SEO is being tied in with social media now. For the longest time, companies would cheat the system with keyword stuffing and excessive backlinking, which meant the best companies weren’t always coming up on top. However, Google has begun counting in both companies’ social media following and their level of engagement as one component of search ranking – so those who have strong social communities with real organic followings will have a better chance at showing up at the top of the list.

BusinessInterviews.com: What inspired you to start a new, intensive initiative to build and promote your business in the same manner that you do for your clients?

Dawn: Two things: We see our campaigns and initiatives working really well for our clients, so it’s important that we walk the walk and talk the talk. Doing so also gives us the opportunity to play the guinea pig and try out new things for our clients. Second — my team is really pushing me to help make us a part of something bigger. We are ready to take it to the next level and to be the greatest we can be.