Craig Cooke
Business Name Rhythm Interactive, Inc
Website URL: http://www.rhythmagency.com
E-mail : craig.cooke@rhythmagency.com
Year Founded: 1996
Number of Employees : 36
What does your company do? Rhythm Interactive creates effective brand experiences by leveraging its three pillars of strategy, design and technology to produce integrated marketing solutions with a digital core. Our digital core marketing services revolve around web, mobile, apps, email, search, social media and video.
Was there a specific turning point when you realized your business was moving to the next level? There have been a number of evolutionary steps throughout our 17 year history. Even in the past 2 years we have taken another evolutionary step through our accomplishments and recognition.
What processes or procedures have you implemented that have helped grow your company? We developed our own process framework for projects called the R-i5 process. It helps us execute projects efficiently and ensure quality. Various aspects of our business model has contributed to our growth as well. Another addition is implementing a core management team which has been a catalyst for growth.
What is most rewarding about running your business? Helping clients and staff member achieve success. It’s a great feeling to see staff members successfully execute great work for clients that yield positive results for clients.
What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them? There have been many, many challenges over the years. Lack of resources, cash flow, etc. These challenges are always overcome by never quitting and focusing on solutions rather than the problem itself.
If you were starting over today, what would you do differently? I would do many things differently. I’ve made many mistakes but that’s how I’ve learned. One of my first lessons was to be open to opportunities instead of so narrowly focused with blinders on. This is a fine line however as having focus is important as your business grows and develops.
What advice do you have for other business owners? If I had a single word to emphasize for business owners, it is discipline. Getting up every day in order to achieve incremental progress is crucial. Growing a business is not easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it. Be disciplined is a major factor that separates those that are successful and those that are not.
Please list any favorite books, tools or resources (software, website, etc.) you would recommend for others: Good to Great is an excellent book. The author is Jim Collins. Now, Discover Your Strengths is another great book for yourself and others within your organization.
For software, I would recommend an email platform. Everyone needs to employ email marketing in a best practice approach. There are a lot of different platforms. My company is a reseller for ExactTarget, one of the best platforms in the business. Which was recently acquired by SalesForce.com, another great software platform that I highly recommend.
What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you? I have a wide variety of interests. Perhaps a surprise is my interest in alternative history and even what some people refer to as conspiracy theory. Surprisingly having an awareness of these topics does affect how you think about business and how you run it.
