Becoming electrIQ: The Story of Brandon Amoroso 

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Brandon Amoroso: Thankfully, up to this point, my family and I have all been staying safe and healthy. We have all decided to stay home and to self-quarantine. 

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded electrIQ.

Brandon Amoroso: My journey to creating electrIQ marketing started back in 2013 when I was 15. At that time, I had secured an internship at a startup called Drinks, where I gained invaluable knowledge about how startups work and how different aspects of digital marketing all come together. 

Then, in 2017 I started attending USC. The knowledge I gained from my classes, and the hands-on experience I gained while continuing to work at Drinks eventually led to my desire to start my own business. At the time, I had the most expertise in the digital marketing sector, so I decided to start my own agency while still in school. I officially launched electrIQ marketing in 2018, and once I graduated from USC in 2019, I was able to invest all of my time into my company and hire a full staff to work alongside me. As of 2020 I have been lucky enough to service more than 50 different businesses, mainly CPG eCommerce and B2B, as well as achieve the honor of electrIQ be named Rookie of Year for North America by HubSpot, and myself as a top leader by Ignite Visibility during their Courageous Leader Marketing Awards. 

How does electrIQ innovate? 

Brandon Amoroso: At electrIQ marketing, we take an individualized approach to all of our clients. This allows us to come up with unique strategies to meet each of their individual needs. Communication, visibility, and results that back out to revenue are the driving tenets behind electrIQ.

We are constantly learning and testing new ideas. Each electrIQ team member is responsible for 2 content pieces a month in their respective areas, diving deep into research as well as bringing their own unique ideas to the table.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Brandon Amoroso: A forced transition to 100% remote work at electrIQ marketing allowed us to refocus and refine our internal structure and ultimately improve our agency-client relationships.

Our adoption of this new technology stack allows us to truly operate as if we were an employee. We removed most if not all, friction in the communication process increased opportunities for collaboration, and enhanced our monthly reporting to gather cross-platform insights.

The whole electrIQ team has taken these changes with stride since we are all luckily, digital natives who are accustomed to working online. However, we still check in with one another virtually to make sure we are all doing well!

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Brandon Amoroso: Hiring is difficult, especially now with interviews having to be done remotely. However, I have found that by being invested in the hiring process yourself, you really do find the best people to add to your team and grow your company. 

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and electrIQ in the future?

Brandon Amoroso: When it comes to staying relaxed, I think the best thing to do is set some time apart for yourself. Before the pandemic, I would enjoy taking spontaneous weekend trips. Even though I would still be working the whole time, it’s nice to explore a new place and get into a different environment. I’ve just found that just getting out of my work environment is really helpful. 

I also have to work out at least 6 times a week, or stress and anxiety definitely start to creep in!

As for the future of electrIQ, I expect us to keep growing internally and eventually open up a new office once it’s safe to do so.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Brandon Amoroso: Our top competitors are big-name agencies who have a longer track record of success. Honestly, we don’t pay too much attention, though. Success against our competitors will come from producing awesome results for our clients. 

Although we are young, electrIQ has doubled in growth year over year since we started, and we’re beginning to see early signs that we’re establishing ourselves as a Digital Marketing space, especially when it comes to Gen Z. 

We also truly integrate into our client’s teams. We create a shared Slack channel to allow for instantaneous feedback and collaborative efforts between our team and yours. Working with growing businesses means there are sometimes things that require immediate attention, and our flexibility and responsiveness are bolstered through your direct access to us via Slack.

At the beginning of every relationship, we create a baseline report during the onboarding period for us to review together so we can tailor it to showcase the KPIs and metric improvements that are actually important for you and your business. This level of transparency not only builds trust with our clients and allows us to have long-term relationships but also allows us to take a look at our own performance on a month over month basis and continue to improve.

Most importantly, we’re all entrepreneurially driven. We want success via any means necessary. Our client’s success means our success and vice versa! We are strategic, nimble, and dedicated to ensuring our client’s business succeeds. Work doesn’t fall into the 9-5 for us, and we love it.

On a side note, we’ve also started developing proprietary technology that differentiates us on an IP level from our competitors.

Your final thoughts?

Brandon Amoroso: I feel that in the next decade, the transition to e-commerce shopping will continue to accelerate and I can’t wait to see how our company grows and develops during that time to be able to service new and upcoming brands.

Your website?

https://www.electriqmarketing.com/