8 minute read
PAY IT FORWARD
Diana Schmidt works to address hunger with Blessings in a Backpack
Diana Schmidt
Property and casualty consultant, principal
Hausmann-Johnson Insurance
Nonprofit served: Blessings in a Backpack Waukesha County Service: Vice president of the board
DIANA SCHMIDT WAS participating in the Waukesha County Business Alliance’s leadership development program three years ago when she was tasked with identifying a community problem she wanted to solve and practical steps she could take to address it.
She jotted down “hunger” and endeavored to work toward the ambitious goal of eliminating it.
Through the same program, Schmidt, a property and casualty consultant and principal at Hausmann-Johnson Insurance’s Pewaukee office, made connections to Blessings in a Backpack of Waukesha County, the local chapter of a national nonprofit program that provides food on the weekend for school children who might otherwise go hungry. The program is intentionally inconspicuous in its delivery of food, with volunteers filling backpacks and placing them in children’s lockers to take home on Friday.
Schmidt was drawn to the mission after talking with the chapter’s founders, who recounted how they grew the program from distributing food to 25 students in one Waukesha school in 2012 to now feeding 1,700 students in Waukesha, Oconomowoc, Sussex and Hartland. It was eye-opening for Schmidt to hear about the prevalence
Diana Schmidt, property and casualty consultant and principal at Hausmann-Johnson Insurance, works with Amanda Busche, business development and real estate associate at VJS Construction Services, to unpack food.
of food insecurity in Waukesha County, she said.
“Listening to their story was really impressive to me,” Schmidt said. “These women were just a group of friends that decided to do something to help hunger, and they just started doing it. They started small and built and built until it got to the place where it is today.”
Schmidt began volunteering with the organization, doing odd jobs, like packing boxes and delivering food, on Friday afternoons. When chapter founder Regina Estrada decided to retire in late 2019, she recruited Schmidt to serve on the board.
Schmidt’s first meeting was March 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and introduced new challenges to the program’s delivery model.
“Some of the kids weren’t even at school anymore, some food distributors had supply chain issues. We just had issue after issue to try to work through,” Schmidt said. “At times it’s been stressful, but we still were able to continue to feed kids. We had a stronger need, there were more kids that needed the support, and we fed kids through the summer, which we never have done before.”
Schmidt has also found ways to draw her family into her volunteer work by having her children help with packing bags and hosting bake sales.
“I have two boys, 10-year-old twins,” she said. “We haven’t experienced food insecurity, so we’re lucky in that sense, but I’m trying to educate them that there are kids who are food insecure and having them come and volunteer has been a rewarding experience for our whole family.” n
LAUREN ANDERSON
Associate Editor
P / 414-336-7121 E / lauren.anderson@biztimes.com T / @Biz_Lauren
5 MINUTES WITH…
MARK MEISNER
Director of marketing and advertising, Kwik Trip
KWIK TRIP RECENTLY SIGNED ON as the presenting sponsor of the NASCAR Cup Series race this summer at Road America near Elkhart Lake, in a deal the La Crosse-based convenience store chain and the race track say will help boost Kwik Trip’s brand awareness throughout the Midwest. Meanwhile, the chain continues to enjoy a loyal following in its existing markets in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa as it executes on plans to open more than 40 new stores over the next year.
Mark Meisner, director of marketing and advertising for Kwik Trip, recently spoke with BizTimes associate editor Lauren Anderson about the strategy behind the Road America deal and the chain’s expansion.
WHY THIS SPONSORSHIP?
“It’s been a lot of years since a big circuit like this has come back to Wisconsin, so it was an equivalent of a NASCAR Cup race at Elkhart Lake back in the 1950s. … To me it was a natural fit for our brand and our customer base and it fits our profile of our customer base and the guests in our store really well. So, when the track reached out and asked if we had some interest, it was something we knew we just needed to look at.
“I like connecting our brand to emotionally supercharged events and sports. … Media is so fragmented today, one of the only things that people watch live or listen to is sports. So, it gives us a way to kind of cut through the clutter and make the connections with our guests and the excitement of pro sports and even college sports, to some degree.” WHAT DOES KWIK TRIP LOOK FOR WHEN DECIDING WHERE TO PUT ITS NEXT STORE?
“What’s a little bit different about our company is we’re not a traditional convenience store. We obviously are in the quick-service restaurant business; we certainly have guests who rely on us for food. We’ve now gotten into the take-home meal business. From COVID, we’ve seen transactions or guest counts down in morning drive (time) because of more people officing from home, though that’s coming back a little bit. But, we’ve seen an increase in traffic in stores during the late afternoon and evening hours. So, for us in the grocery space, the quick service restaurant space and fuel and convenience space, we find we have a lot of opportunities where there are needs for our type of offering.”
IS KWIK TRIP EYEING ANY OTHER STATES?
“We are looking outside of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. In time, you’ll see opportunities pop up probably in the (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and in the Dakotas. Those are opportunities for us. We now have a store down in Illinois with the Stop-N-Go acquisition (last year).
“We have a transportation division, and all the stores get a shipment of products every day fresh from our distribution center facilities here in La Crosse. We have to take that into consideration. So, (new potential stores) have to be roughly 6 to 8 hours from La Crosse to fit within the box of what we can service based on how we provide product to our stores, but that does give us opportunity to continue to expand our service area.” n
CONTENT MARKETING 101
The good, the bad, and the ugly
MAGGIE PINNT (414) 336-7127 maggie.pinnt@biztimes.com linkedin.com/in/maggiepinnt You’ve probably been hearing the term “content marketing” a lot lately. Your competitors are either doing it — or planning to — but you have no idea what it is. Many people say they’re doing content marketing, but are they really? Are they creating effective content or are they just using the newest buzzword? Some companies create content because someone told them it was a good idea. A competitor has a blog, so they decide they need one too. However, without strategy, all you’re doing is churning out self-serving copy. Good content marketing is about your audience, not about you. Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and retain a clearly de ned audience — and, ultimately, to drive pro table customer actions.
If a company hasn’t identi ed the audience they’re trying to reach, they’re probably not offering that audience a compelling reason to read the content. When content is done right, with one focus and one purpose, it can create a more educated buyer, position you as a go-to expert, and shorten your sales cycle. The key idea here is value. Value is what differentiates content marketing from almost any other form of advertising or marketing. Your content marketing needs to offer a speci c value to the audience you’re trying to attract. Content marketing puts the readers’ needs rst. What does the consumer need to know, as opposed to what your company wants them to know about you? This quote below (a favorite of mine) says it all.
— Theodore Levitt
Content marketing is about your customers and their issues (the need for a hole). Talking about your brand (the drill) comes later in the process. So, what does content marketing look like? It comes in a lot of different forms including: ¢ Infographics ¢ White papers or ebooks ¢ Webinars (webcasts) ¢ Video ¢ Podcast ¢ Websites with a blog or resource page ¢ Custom publications ¢ Sponsored content Traditionally, marketers have turned to brand advertising for the early stages of the sales cycle to let prospects know who you are, what you do, and what makes you different. The beginning of the sales cycle is also when content marketing can bring results — by tapping into the early stages of the education process. The stories content marketers tell can inform consumers by delivering valuable, relevant information —before the audience may have considered it or even before they’re aware they have a problem that needs a solution. The combination of content marketing and brand advertising delivers powerful results. There’s no short-cut to success. You may not see immediate results, but give it some time. We did. BizTimes Media did not build a database of 16,000+ e-newsletter subscribers or 12,000+ print subscribers overnight. It took 25 years of delivering valuable content. So, how do you get started? The truth is, content marketing can be a full-time job. But if it’s done right, it can make your business more pro table. When you’re beginning a campaign, it may not be a good idea to go into it alone. Consider nding a partner in an experienced rm or professional. Take advantage of our experience with this free guide. biztimes. com/lp/guide-to-inbound-and-content-marketing/. Or, if you’re ready to have a brief conversation about your content marketing plans, feel free to reach out to us today.
