August, 2024
Founding Story: Can you tell us about the journey of founding bBIG Communications? What inspired you to start this company?
What originally started as a support system through the execution of in-store promotions for CPG companies via custom POS programs designed to influence the buying decisions of category shoppers, gave birth to the rebranding of our company and a strategic pivot to the data-driven evolution of media and marketing programming to better support our valued partners and clients with their marketing and sales objectives. Ultimately, bBIG Communications was launched to provide a fully transparent media offering that allows our partners to measure return on investment while targeting their preferred consumer audiences via custom content, preferred B2C and B2B messaging. – Dave Gibson
Initial Challenges: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early days of bBIG Communications?
As with any new company and or the launch of a new expanded business model, we needed to establish credibility within our various business channels and sectors. We worked extremely hard to educate our partners, clients and prospects on the fast paced evolution of media marketing and the growing capabilities that were becoming available to assist them in getting more targeted with their future B2C and B2B outreach.
First Breakthrough: What was the first big break or milestone that made you feel confident about the future of the company?
Through our research, we identified patterns of pain points and missing resources that were plaguing a growing list of prospective partners. Our challenge was to develop Pilot Projects to demonstrate proof of performance designed to address these issues. We invested in processes that implemented Best Practices Analytical Reporting that measured ROI and KPI results for our clients. These Pilot Projects and case studies proved to be consequential to the growth and the gratifying client retention bBIG Communications continues to realize today.
Core Values: What core values have guided bBIG Communications since its inception?
Ultimately, bBIG Communications is a customer service centric company. We strive to make our clients’ goals and objectives our own. We’ve invested aggressively into high quality media capabilities that allow us to scale and customize packages for our client-partners.
Innovation: How does bBIG Communications stay ahead of industry trends and innovate in the marketplace?
We benefit from an exceptional team of forward thinking subject matter experts who are diligent about staying ahead of the curve in today’s fast paced evolution in the marketing world. We recognize that any new program we introduce, must add value to our partners and their businesses.
Team Building: How have you built and maintained a strong, cohesive team over the years?
We’ve always been conscious of building a business team based on pluralism. We want to surround ourselves with people who aren’t afraid to bet on themselves. bBIG Communications was a virtual company before the pandemic and well before virtual companies were in vogue. We have established internal systems. We use a variety of software solutions to our advantage to promote quality internal communications and nurture a team approach to our processes…even when we’re not physically in the same location.
Work-Life Balance: How do you balance your professional responsibilities with your personal lives, especially as a married couple working together?
Dave: Clearly, working together in the same business / company isn’t for every couple. We’ve been doing it for so long now, I think we’ve found an approach that works for us, insofar as I stay in my lane.
We actually started our first company together in 1991. It has been an amazing journey…we’re very fortunate to have found our own form of balance.
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own businesses?
Do your homework and learn your prospective industry inside and out. Don’t look for shortcuts. Establish trusted mentors. Don’t be afraid of implementing ‘After Action Reviews’ to self evaluate. Surround yourself with honest, conscientious people who exhibit a strong work ethic. Be careful to avoid building a team of clones…diverse thinking and perspectives are powerful attributes and are difference-makers.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to change and pivot when necessary…nothing remains static for long. Most companies that don’t survive, were too cautious, too slow or too risk-averse to implement necessary changes.
Future Plans: What are your plans for the future of bBIG Communications?
We remain passionate about the media and marketing world. We love the fast paced evolution of the industry…we are still learning something new every week. bBIG continues to invest significantly in our general market support systems as well as our military market platforms and media solutions. We see continued scaling and exciting future growth opportunities in both markets. The MyMilitarySavings.com digital and social membership platform is now the largest exclusive military consumer platform globally. We’re humbled by the hundreds of thousands of military families who are a part of our trusted, warm-community membership. We’re reaching millions of consumers every month on behalf of our partners and their brands. We are grateful for this meaningful relationship and look for future opportunities to add increasing value to the lives of our military men, women and their families.