Augustana College

South Dakota State University

Roosevelt High School

@francesabbott Marketing Communication and Sales

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States

Sales of bikes ranging from beginner to expert level cyclists. We all help find the best bike to fit our riders' needs.

Specializing in helping people graduate from their box store bikes and buy their first "bike store bike."

Spoke-N-Sport is also very active in the community, so we are busy sponsoring group rides, conducting spin classes onsite, and hosting rider safety courses. Our company believes life is better on a bike, and we do everything we can to make sure our customers are prepared to have the best time on a bike.

SPOKE N SPORT INC

Sales

Managing the voice and promotion of Direct Digital Control Inc. (DDC) for the South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska area through strategy, marketing campaigns, and communications.

Designing and coordinating a unified marketing presence through materials and imagery. Developing and managing relations with our B2B partners to achieve marketing goals. Develops the overall advertising strategies and detailed action plans; monitoring the operation of the action plans. Managing marketing projects to achieve marketing objectives.

Monitoring the industry trends; and reporting the findings to management. Performing various marketing activities and technical support on project plans. Assist with new business development.

Direct Digital Control, Inc.

Marketing Consultant

9 Clouds is an inbound digital marketing firm specializing in automotive work with dealerships locally and across the United States and Canada.

I worked with local and national dealerships to generate qualified internet leads for these dealership groups and helped champion our inbound marketing strategy.

9 Clouds creates content for dealerships that is tailored to their customers, taking into consideration their unique buying personas and preferences. This includes a variety of work such as Facebook ads, targeted emails, landing pages for lead conversions, blog writing for SEO, and generating cornerstone content to ensure our dealers received high rankings.

My main clients were Ford dealerships, which also means much of my work and experience followed strong Ford Co-op guidelines -- making sure our work aligned with Ford Direct advertising efforts. I'm also familiar with Mercedes-Benz Co-op, Cadillac Co-op, and BMW Co-op.

The Day to Day
-  Manage implementation of inbound marketing strategies including content, content
schedule, platforms and measurements
-  Manage client communication and participate in client meetings
-  Create monthly reports highlighting leads, sales and key benchmarks
-  Manage workload of content creators who are in charge of creating content such as
emails, social media messages, blogs and white papers
-  Assign design and development tasks and ensure deadlines are fulfilled and budgets are
met by all project contributors
-  Develop content for 9 Clouds promotion
-  Utilize inbound marketing software
-  Generate new ideas and opportunities to ensure client success

9 Clouds

Project Manager

QBP Marketing department’s leader for process improvement. Proactively turned frustrations into opportunities through implementation of GRIPs and Little GRIPs (process improvement flow).

Engaged with co-workers to identify key projects and develop ideas and solutions. Filtered project proposals through correct department channels and ensured follow-through between stakeholders.

Lead our department’s annual continuous improvement efforts through work with QBP Director of Continuous Improvement. Drive results in conjunction with other department coordinators and Continuous Improvement team.

Quality Bicycle Products

Continuous Improvement Coordinator I

Working at QBP, one of the world’s leading distributors of bicycles, components, and accessories, I help bring our many consumer brand projects to completion. We sell the best cycling and outdoor products to independent specialty retailers across the U.S. and throughout the world, and have the fast-moving team to match.

As Marketing Project Manager, II, my first role is to ensure the successful delivery of a body of work representing a wide variety of multiple client partners (Brands, Categories, and Departments). I work directly with consumer brand teams for All-City, Dimension, Problem Solvers, MSW, iSSi, and Buzzy’s.

My value stems from working as a liaison, instigator and advocate across Marketing and Client resources – driving progress through process to generate beneficial partnerships and noteworthy results. This work includes project management of ads, tradeshow materials, emails, catalogs, and anything our organization has yet to do.

Through dedicated communication I establish and maintain expectations with my team and stakeholders. While removing barriers to progress, management attention is drawn to planning, budget, and current resources.

As a special kind of control freak, I pride myself on knowing where my projects are at and anticipating obstacles. It’s a role that utilizes my flexibility, resourcefulness, and relationship management skills.

QBP Core Values:
-  Act with integrity
-  Be a true partner
-  Create something special
-  Deliver greatness
-  Keep the customer first
- 

We create some of the best products and brands in the world. We employ passionate, talented people who consistently deliver great results no matter what they do. QBP cultivates an environment of excellence, emphasizing personal development as a vital factor in our continued success.

Marketing Project Manager II

Making the move to project managing for web meant a better use of my technical writing skills and attention to detail. While managing our current stages of web projects, seeking new web clients, and writing proposals, I also led our team in response to RFP's.

As Interactive Project Manager I worked with a great team of developers, programmers, and designers to bring goal-oriented websites to life.

Working in account and project management, my role was to manage web projects to ensure tasks and milestones are completed in a timely manner. With a no-excuses attitude and extreme focus on detail and accuracy, I consistently ensured our variety of projects were well delivered.

Web projects included work beyond websites, as well. Our team had responsibilities in email marketing campaigns, and the use of custom landing pages for a crossover into traditional media.

Robert Sharp & Associates

Interactive Project Manager

Working for the state's second largest marketing and advertising agency proved to be the opportunity I sought, and brought me to Rapid City, SD.

Early in my role as Account Executive, I was project managing and representing a handful of clients in the Rapid City area and in northern Nebraska. My time was also spent prospecting new clients through our sales process.

Shortly after I began my work at RSA, I was brought up to speed on a large hospitality account. This account was in need of a diligent representative and lead that wouldn't let key details and marketing strategy fall through the cracks.

To see some of my team's work on this account, check out the videos below. These are from just one of the 14 different properties we helped market in the hospitality, tourism, and gaming industries.

Account Executive

What started out as a young adult publication quickly grew into a large-demographic cultural adventure. The magazine now covers anything and everything South Dakota in Arts, Entertainment, Lifestyle, and more.

My job was to help take what was started by Alana Snyder, fresh out of college, and help expand into the Rapid City market. This was in addition to cementing our existing readership in Sioux Falls. The majority of my work was helping small businesses market better, especially those focused on gaining a more youthful customer base, but I was able to do writing and photography projects as well.

Day to day efforts included managing advertising accounts and content, magazine distribution and networking, cultivating client relationships, and translating client needs into advertisement.

605 Magazine is also host to the 605 Summer Classic, a two-day music festival that takes place late summer in Sioux Falls. During my time at the magazine I was Volunteer Coordinator for this event.

605 Magazine

Sales Account Manager

What started as an internship while in school, turned quickly into a paid summer-long opportunity to work for this regional office of the national nonprofit. My time at the Muscular Dystrophy Association was well spent in many different areas of the organization.

While our Executive Director was on leave, my duties were split with the organization's Fundraising Coordinator. Much of my work was in organizing communications efforts. I wrote press releases, grant proposals, and donation requests often. In conjunction with these duties were volunteer and event management, including my role leading the summer's "Fill the Boot" event.

Muscular Dystrophy Association

Fundraising Coordinator Intern

Working for Great Plains Leasing, I was a local Sales Representative for a large pet food company. My duties were to meet with customers in retail locations, and spend time learning their story and sharing the company's story as well.

Because sales is such a personal exchange, I would uncover the customer's individual pet food needs and requirements using a discovery approach. It was my job to facilitate and find high quality pet food solutions for these Pet Parents while still following trained sales techniques. This was all done under limited supervision, but frequent communication with my regional manager.

This job taught me many best practices for lead generation, business communication skills, and how to follow a sales funnel.

Frances Thompson