RIA MEDIA
Name: Ria Pacheco
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Business Name: Ria Media
Industry: Marketing & Advertising
www.ria-media.com
GIVE US YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH FOR YOUR BUSINESS.
RIA Media provides technical marketing and advertising
services for small, mid-size, and big business decision-makers, who seek large-scale results on a small-scale timeline,
and who prefer my solution over other alternatives because
I provide a completely outsourced marketing department in
a single person charged at an hourly consultancy rate. This
gives my clients peace of mind because they’re not being
guided by a marketing person who doesn’t understand their
corporate and technical niche, all services are provided by
one person, and we get to work together 24 hours a day.
In the energy sector a lot of bids, proposals, and sales opportunities are given with little notice to the company so it’s
my job to help them find the right data, shape it effectively,
and present something like a 200 page document that wins
million dollar service bills in something like 10 days.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?
I actually started in University majoring in Sociology with a
minor in Business. Half way through I picked up a camera
and realized I was pretty good at taking photos and marketing myself as a photographer. Business really picked up, I
fell in love with visual media, and dropped out of University.
I still took random introductory night classes for media-related skill sets and developed a variety of skills from Print
Design, to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), to Public Relations, and to Illustrator… but something still wasn’t right. I
was going to media events as a digital marketing specialist
but I just felt like I didn’t fit in. Everyone in these circles are
super ‘cool’ and have an edge that’s defined by charisma
and a love of trend. There I was, working gigs and going to
events and wishing I was home because I much preferred
finishing my work day instead of going out for drinks after
awkwardly. I realized that my skill was in marketing but my
passion was in good old technical nerdy business.
I developed a love affair for the energy sector and created
data-driven marketing pieces to win service companies work
and give executives a better understanding of their competitive edge. I developed a proprietary service that really could
only be delivered by me: the data deposition. Essentially I sit
with executive teams, and based on their specific needs, rip
through their existing data and ask them questions they’ve
never thought of before. This creates a discussion to contin48 | Holl & Lane, Issue 3
ue discovering their marketing messaging and my personal
perspective infuses the conversation to heights that provide
second-to-none insight. This data later is shaped into the
material they need and finished off with my many hard skill
sets. At the end of the day, I’m selling ‘me’ in the nerdiest
way possible. I love it.
WHAT DRIVES YOU TO KEEP GOING, ESPECIALLY WHEN
THINGS GET HARD?
As an entrepreneur, things get hard a lot. A lot harder than
you’d think. Not only do you experience financial struggle
but entrepreneurship tends to play a lot of mind games with
you. You start to question yourself. Am I doing the right
thing? What are other people doing at my age? Is it ever
going to be less exhausting? I believe that what separates a
good entrepreneur and a bad one is self awareness. I know
it’s not your typical answer like ‘perseverance’ or ‘trying to
prove people wrong’, but all of that is rooted in self awareness. If you’re able to know yourself, be okay with yourself, love yourself, there is absolutely nothing you can’t do.
It’s funny because I’ve only had a pretty decent amount of
self-awareness in the last few months but I always knew this
was important and luckily I started really taking inventory
early on because of a mentor of mine.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BEST SUCCESS STORY IN YOUR
CAREER?
My career success story is a personal one. I got through a
very intense breakup and a month later my sales tripled and I
knew myself more than I ever had. The reason why I classify
this under my career success isn’t because it’s a big ‘good
riddance’ to my ex! He’s great and I’ll always love the guy.
The reason why this is a success for my career is because
without this, I would never have discovered the depths of
who I am and in turn
what I’m truly capable of. Anyone who
“Love yourself first. Make
is obsessed with
a five year plan. End the
the business model,
five year plan with a goal
getting money, and
trying to be the hardthat is not characterized
ass CEO they see
by money.”
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