Meet Laura DiBenedetto of Vision Advertising in Worcester

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura DiBenedetto.

Laura, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started Vision Advertising when I was 19, eager to find my place in the world and excited to build my dream job on my own terms. I wanted to create with purpose, and I really wanted what I did to matter. I was employed in a very large financial services company at the time, and didn’t feel inspired by the work I was doing, and didn’t feel that my contributions mattered much. I started my company while working there and worked almost the entire time I was awake at my job and on my company at night and on the weekends.

The first services my company offered were limited, of course, and I was entirely self-taught. As a highly-driven, naturally-curious person, teaching myself new technology and new tools was exciting and an intuitive, organic process. I remember staying up until the wee hours of the morning working on projects for clients because I wanted to get it 100% right, didn’t fully know how, and couldn’t bring myself to go to bed until I figured it out. My time in those early days built a solid foundation of relentless commitment and set the stage for the very high standards that would follow.

About 9 months after I started my company, I was able to drop my full-time employment and focus on my company 100% – and I certainly did. The days, nights, and weekends were still full – but full with just my company. Once I was able to devote my full attention to the business, more projects came, more opportunity came, and more skills came. In the first few years, I began to carve out the direction of the company to be a marketing oriented organization that offered a number of different services (too many, if I’m being honest). I was fortunate to have some early publicity, speaking opportunities and great visibility opportunities, and I was able to build a steady book of business in a few years.

Several years down the road, after building the company up to a certain point, and deciding that I did, in fact, enjoy sleeping, I needed to change the structure of the company from one person doing projects to an actual functional organization built on team work, solid leadership, and long-term client retention. I worked to create the company’s first full-time position and change the nature of what we offered from projects to retained support. I was fortunate enough to hire an amazing first employee, and then second, third, and so on. The company’s offerings were streamlined into fewer things with greater emphasis on quality, and the company’s reputation began to really take off.

Skip ahead to today, and I have a strong organization of 7 and growing, with an incredible client roster that are all fantastic to work with.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The path to get from those first days to here (nearly 20 years later) has not been a smooth road – anything but, actually. At first, I had the wrong business model (but didn’t know it), I had a company name that didn’t fit, and I was every department. I loved what I was doing but the structure wasn’t right and I was burning out. Worst of all, cash flow was inconsistent and my stress was high.

At 19, I had no idea that my true passion would emerge later in my career when I would discover my love of creating systems and processes, mentoring others, and running a business in the true sense. I came to learn that there is a tremendous difference between owning a job (which was the first part of my journey), and owning a company (which is the latter part, and where I am now). While I really loved being in all departments before because I got to enjoy the variety of the roles I needed to fulfill and could learn an incredible array of things, it isn’t where I belong. I belong in leadership.

The education that I gained being in every role has informed my ability to properly manage, staff, and mentor the team and their leader, even as my field and the roles evolve. I am very proud that I’ve built this incredible organization, and have overcome so many challenges to create a powerful company that my team enjoys working for, and that my clients enjoy doing business with.

Vision Advertising – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The companies that live in the marketing space tend to live in 4 places. On the extremes, there are production houses (client-driven), and consultancies (firm-driven), and then there are commodity organizations (fee for service), and retained services organizations (hourly rates). Vision Advertising is retained-services marketing consultancy that creates thorough, well-researched marketing plans and then carries them out. We work with our clients on annual contracts to drive their success forward with marketing plan development, business strategy consulting, global brand management, social media marketing, search engine marketing, event planning and marketing, public relations, web site development, video production and photography, and graphic design.

What sets our organization apart is the structure itself (it’s not common around here), as well as our extraordinary drive for the highest quality and 5-star service. We exercise flexibility to do our best work for clients, so they can get the best results, and we typically drive the programs fully. Our client programs perform exceedingly well and our clients renew their contracts year after year.

As a company, what we are most proud of is our very happy clients – we’ve worked tirelessly to help them do great things in their companies and because of us, they can. As the leader of the organization, I am most proud of my incredible team, and their own internal drive to do the very best work for the clients for all the right reasons.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I look at success like this: Am I kind to others? Do I do good in the world? Do I set a good example? Do I make a difference? Am I impeccable with my word and deed? Is the world a better place because I’ve been here? Am I happy? Do I enjoy my life? Do the people around me reflect the world I wish to create? For me, I can answer a powerful, enthusiastic yes to all of these. Gratitude fills my heart; I deeply enjoy my life, and everything and everyone in it.

Contact Info:

• Address: 34 Cedar St.
  Suite 301
  Worcester, MA 01604
• Website: www.vision-advertising.com
• Phone: 5087543643
• Email: laura@vision-advertising.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visionadvertisingrocks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visionadvertising/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/visionrockstars
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vision-advertising-worcester
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vision-advertising/

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