People don't buy WHAT you sell. They buy WHY you sell it! Leesburg Lifestyle Editor Melinda Gipson has been a "brand whisperer" and social / digital media maven for more than 20 years. She's taught digital media and marketing to MBA's and been a driving force in retail and tech start-ups. A multiple award winner in advertising innovation, she is an influencer's content producer and marketing strategist. And, she's available to help you craft YOUR brand identity in print and online as part of a unified, cross-platform marketing strategy. Pierce the heart -- then the wallet! Over the course of her career, she has: * Helped small businesses compete with programs from the Small Business Growth Alliance (SBGA.com). •Led a targeted mobile ad start-up into the political and advocacy arena contributing to two Pollie awards and a Reed award; •Crafted advanced programmatic training for ad agency and publishing execs; •Revamped digital marketing and communications strategy for non-profits creating and growing multiple social brands, fundraising, launching in-bound optimized websites and community sites, and video-based iPad and iPhone apps; *Led strategic planning for a national ministry; •Monetized a nationwide tech startup showcase tour with sponsorships; •Sold $2MM+ in annual revenue and built groundbreaking new ad formats for Digiday.com, inventing creative ways for innovators to interact with senior agency, brand and publishing targets; •Created and conducted Digiday's State of the Industry Research projects for 40+ leading media companies; •Developed a national, local shopping search business, including all the marketing and sales collateral critical to success, for the nation’s largest owner of community newspapers; •Helped launch more than 250 community newspaper websites in 12 weeks, and led a team that trained local ad sales teams on winning techniques for digital advertising; •Helped found the New Media Federation of the News Media Alliance and grew membership to nearly 1000 by sharing revenue-generating digital publishing models; •Built the first ever mobile news portal in 2000 in collaboration with leading wireless newspapers.