Passion in Marketing: Interview with Susan Brown
Social Media Expert and Sexy Grammar Blogger, Raeme Miccio Gaviño, talks with filmmaker and entrepreneur Susan E. Brown about passion, beauty, San Francisco, and her small business, Beyond the Fog.
Raeme Miccio Gaviño: Why don’t you tell us a little about your involvement with Sexy Grammar?
Susan E. Brown: I found out about Kristy’s workshops and decided to take one in 2009. After I finished the first one, I signed up for the same course again. Twice in a row! I was able to write a screenplay over the course of the workshops.
RMG: I’m thrilled you had such a positive experience with the workshop. What about your small business, Beyond the Fog?
SB: Beyond the Fog arranges customized tours for people who want to see a more exclusive side of the San Francisco Bay Area. This project started off with a request from my father to take some folks around Alcatraz Island with a ranger after hours. I realized that my connections could be helpful to people unfamiliar with San Francisco. I can plan special experiences for a whole vacation, a long weekend, or just a day. I don’t provide the tours myself but rather coordinate and connect my clients with specialists. Beyond The Fog holds the keys to unique places and arranges customized tours of San Francisco and the Bay Area for visitors and locals.
RMG: And you are using social media to market?
SB: I’m figuring it out. I have a Facebook page, a blog, and an Internet television series. So far, I’ve learned to be consistent and post often.
RMG: Tell me more about the Internet television series.
SB: I'm the host for Beyond the Fog TV. We explore unique San Francisco experiences you can only access through my company, Beyond The Fog. We’ve produced six episodes behind the scenes at The Palace Hotel so far. And we have more episodes completed and even more in production. Creating this show has been very exciting.
RMG: A lot of entrepreneurs blog and use Facebook as their primary social media tactics, but you’ve taken on web television production. I know you are a filmmaker by trade. How has Beyond the Fog TV helped you integrate your passion for filmmaking with your small business?
SB: My work as a filmmaker is inspired by the beauty of people, the value of observation, and diving deep into personal experience from a documenting standpoint. Beyond the Fog TV draws inspiration from the beauty of San Francisco, so it’s a natural and creative progression for me. In the Sexy Grammar Workshop, I learned to focus on my passion and just write, just create. Adding Beyond The Fog TV to my social media strategy is just an extension of that lesson, integrating my passion for beauty, film, and San Francisco. So developing new content for the show adds to the joy in my work. I love it!
RMG: And does it have anything to do with sex?
SB: Well, sex is just sex—not so interesting without passion and love. I find passion and love in everything I do, so that’s pretty sexy.
Learn to integrate your passion with your marketing strategy in a free Private Session with The Sexy Grammarian. In Private Sessions, Kristy Lin Billuni, aka The Sexy G, discusses process with writers and entrepreneurs and brainstorms ideas for moving the work forward. You always leave with homework and inspiration, and she’s goal-oriented in her approach.
