I’ve always been a risk taker. I guess when you grow up the oldest of 11 children, you have to learn to live outside the box or not get noticed by your siblings. Perhaps I also learned at a young age, the bigger the challenge, the greater the feeling of fulfillment. Regardless of the reason, I can remember leaving a six-figure salary with a Fortune 100 company with three children under the age of two to start my own company and wondering if this time, I may have pushed the envelope a bit too far.
I remember clearly standing in a meeting at Coca-Cola headquarters pitching the importance of the mom market and having a brand manager balk at the thought of targeting mothers with his marketing dollars. I remember not collecting a paycheck for over one year. However, I also remember Microsoft being my first client and the night the Chief Marketing Officer of Disney called my house after reading my book, “Marketing to Moms” and invited me to speak to his global marketing group in Paris.
Seven books later, I sit in awe that the company I built will be recognized by Florida State University this weekend. The same FSU that put me on academic probation because I barely passed Organic Chemistry. By the way, taking Organic Chemistry, Calculus and Genetics in the same semester was too much risk-taking even for this science nerd! I am honored beyond the words I can type here. I am also very humbled because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who earned this award with me; clients who trusted me, friends who picked up my kids from school, teammates who worked late, vendors who pulled off miracles, Delta Airlines who flew me 1 million miles to meetings and, of course, my family who cheered me on when times were good and even more when they were bad.
You can’t earn a spot on a list of “fastest-growing” companies without the help of others. I am truly blessed with the support of so many. The journey of BSM Media is only beginning although it’s been in motion for more than 20 years. The press release below highlights some of our accomplishments and milestones.
Saturday night I will proudly accept this award with you in mind.
Humbly,
Maria Bailey
BSM Media Makes Seminole 100 As Fastest-Growing Alumni-Owned Company
Marketing to Moms Agency Recognized by FSU
February 8, 2018 – Pompano Beach, FL – BSM Media, the premier Marketing to Moms agency, has been named in the Seminole 100, a list honoring the 100 fastest-growing U.S. businesses owned by Florida State University (FSU) graduates. Maria Bailey, CEO of BSM Media and FSU alumna, will be honored at the inaugural celebration recognizing the fastest-growing businesses. “We were the first agency to identify Mothers as an important consumer group and there were many doubters that we could build a business while focusing on such a narrow niche. I’m honored that our hard work and determination is being recognized.”
Bailey graduated from Florida State in 1986 with a degree in biology and began her career in her home city of Fort Lauderdale. As a working mother of four children, Bailey recognized an opportunity to help companies market to moms. In 1999, Maria quit her job and opened the doors to BSM Media in a small office with only two employees. In response to the success of BSM Media, Bailey quantified the purchasing power of U.S. mothers in her groundbreaking book, Trillion Dollar Moms: Marketing to a New Generation of Mothers, along with seven subsequent books highlighting trends and tactics for marketing to moms. Bailey’s latest book, Millennial Moms: 202 Facts Marketers Need to Know to Build Brands and Drive Sales (Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2015), was the spark that ignited BSM Media’s growth, earning the company a spot in the Seminole 100.
Today, Bailey and her team serve regional, national, and global brands by using research tactics, experiential marketing techniques, and the ever-growing world of social media to connect moms with the brands who want to reach them. Bailey takes pride in empowering moms as entrepreneurs who work with brands through blogs and social media.
Over 20 years, Bailey has grown BSM Media to a team of business and marketing professionals who provide turnkey, unique social media, marketing, and public relations services to brands including HP, Chick-fil-A, and Florida Atlantic University. “It’s your job to bring my vision to life,” Bailey often says to her team, referring to her mission to represent woman-owned businesses in a positive light by paving a path for success through creativity, innovation and research. Her business today includes multiple media entities as well as several product lines all built to connect with today’s moms. Mom Talk Radio, which Bailey hosts, is the only nationally syndicated radio show for moms, MomTV.com is a video community where moms engage with brands and products through video and BlueSuitMom.com, a resource for working mothers. Bailey also holds an interest in Premama, a supplement and nutrition company which serves easy-to-swallow supplements for expectant and new moms and Smart Mom Solutions, a line of paper products for busy mothers.
BSM Media has created, produced and contributed to some of the most recognized Mom Marketing campaigns and events such as Huggies MomInspired Program, Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, Disney on the Road Events, Beaches Social Media on the Sand, National Mom’s Nite Out, HP MyPrintlys and the Chick fil A Mom’s Panel. They currently maintain a relationship with over 15,000 social media mom influencers and generate an average of 100 million online impressions for their clients each year.
See seminole100.fsu.edu for more details and the full list of 2018 honorees.
About BSM Media
BSM Media is a full-service, integrated marketing and media company specializing in connecting moms and their families with products and services. For additional information about Maria Bailey or BSM Media, visit, www.bsmmedia.com.
