Small Business Insights: Namra Consulting

Russ Mangsen is co-founder of Namra Consulting, a social media and digital marketing agency specializing in social media management, brand consulting, video production, SEO, design, and content publishing. The Namra team serves the Central Massachusetts and Rhode Island areas helping their clients drive real, organic traffic to their websites and storefronts while saving time and generating results.

Russ is also co-host of the Namra Podcast where you can listen to interviews and discussions with other local businesses about all things marketing and digital media production.

When he’s not working you can also find Russ attending any number of local networking events with the Worcester Regional and Wachusett Chamber of Commerce.

In this interview you’ll learn:

• What it takes to be successful when starting a business
• How the power of connection can drive a strong marketing strategy
• The number one thing you need to keep in mind to achieve your goals

1. What got you to where you are today?

Much of our success so far has come from networking with great people throughout Mass and Rhode Island where our three partners are based. I was lucky enough to land a position with the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce right out of college in 2015-16, which introduced me to things like “Business After Hours” and BNI and allowed me to hit the ground running when we started our business in 2016. We knocked on doors and networked our asses off for the first two years as we built up our initial book of business, and we still work with many of those same connections now, either as clients or as referral partners. Continuing to do right by these people and doing great work for the people they refer to us has contributed massively to our sustained success.

2. How do you stay motivated to keep on your path?

Big goals keep us going. We want to become the best marketing company in New England and beyond, so we are never satisfied and always have things to work on. It also helps to have two great partners for accountability and motivation.

3. What has been your most successful marketing strategy? What keeps people coming back for more?

The best marketing for a business like ours is great service. The fact that we do right by our clients, are open, transparent, and communicate consistently, has kept people coming back to us over the years. For our own marketing, given the nature of our services, it was only right that we start our own podcast, so that keeps people coming back to see what’s new with our team and with the marketing world. You can find the Namra podcast on Apple, Spotify and YouTube!

4. How do you set yourself apart from others in your industry?

We separate ourselves with custom solutions at a great price. Most of our clients are considering hiring a full-time marketer, or already have one. Our value proposition is that our team of specialists can outperform any one individual in a marketing role for a better price than a full-time salary.

5. What is the best advice you’ve received when starting out?

This one still applies every day; patience. When you have big goals, it can be difficult when you realize how long it truly takes to get there. It’s great to have a sense of urgency in your day to day, but having long-term patience is a major key to not giving up. They say most people drastically overestimate what they can do in 6 months, and underestimate what they can do in 10 years. Bonus Advice: “Don’t take advice from anyone you wouldn’t trade places with.” This one can actually be huge depending on what circles you’re in.

6. Is there a local business, organization, or person that inspires your work? How do they inspire you?

There are many, but the first that comes to mind is Noah Arnold at Cyan Lens. At Namra, we’re a social media management company that has slowly built up our video production services over the last few years. Cyan Lens is a production company at it’s core, and does extremely high end videos for big brands. Their work is amazing and I’d recommend everyone check them out. Noah also recently came on our podcast, so you can listen to us talking about video production if you’re interested!

7. What do you enjoy most about being located in the Worcester/Central Mass area?

The people. I grew up in West Boylston so Worcester will always be my home. Ever since we’ve begun networking in this area we’ve been welcomed with open arms by everyone in the business community. I’m a member of the Worcester, Wachusett, and Corridor 9 Chambers as well as some other local networking groups and I can truly say we wouldn’t be where we are today without the people we’ve met over the years.

• To learn more about Namra Consulting visit: namraconsulting.com
• You can also follow Russ on Instagram @marketingwithruss
• Subscribe to Namra’s YouTube channel here @namraconsulting to listen to the latest episodes of their podcast.