As published in Today's Charlotte Woman Business / Lifestyle

Sherré DeMao
Founder/Chief Marketeer, SLD Unlimited Marketing/PR, Inc.

CHARLOTTE, NC - Sherré DeMao learned an important lesson early into her career: Make  living doing what you love.  It was a lesson that would lead to the successful launch of her business, SLD Unlimited Marketing/PR, based in Denver, N.C.  It was also a lesson that would guide her in growing that business, even as she raised three daughters.  And it has since become a message she passionately delivers to thousands of entrepreneurs in the Carolinas. 

After undergraduate studies at the Columbus College of Art and Design, DeMao opened a graphics design firm, Continental Graphiques, in 1984.  She quickly realized that many small business owners — her customers — had little or no understanding of how to market their services.  As a business owner herself, DeMao understood the mind of the entrepreneur and enjoyed providing marketing direction for her clientele.

“Entrepreneurs share some common qualities,” DeMao notes.  They are understandably intimidated by the sheer number of marketing approaches; they don’t like to spend a lot of money on marketing; and they want to feel a sense of control over their business decisions.”  She recognized a huge business opportunity in these companies’ needs for direction in their marketing strategies.

Empowering Businesses

In 1990, DeMao outgrew her graphics design business and introduced SLD Unlimited Marketing/PR, to provide full-service creative, innovative marketing guidance, solutions and services to small and medium start-up entrepreneurial companies.  Her own entrepreneurial instincts couldn’t have been better.  “It was the beginning of the desktop publishing craze,” she recalls.  “Business owners started trying to pull off their own marketing.”

DeMao says her company’s goal is to empower businesses by helping them analyze their resources — time, people, technology and finances — and decide what they can do well in-house and what should be outsourced.  Her firm’s research on businesses that grow, even in a down market, gave birth to her CRISP Principle: Power of Five®.  This principle shows how businesses can achieve greater success by incorporating five core initiatives into their operations:  Customer Relations; Referral Relations; the Internet; Strategic Involvements; and Public Relations.

In 1993, DeMao decided that Charlotte was “a great place to raise my daughters and grow my business.”  Interestingly, she says, the move from Ohio to the Queen City validated her CRISP Principle.  By practicing what she preached, she “got off the ground running,” acquiring clients almost as soon as she arrived.

“Me, Myself and Inc.”

While SLD Unlimited has received numerous awards and recognitions for its marketing design and creativity, DeMao continues to provide training for entrepreneurs, with various workshops, as well as classes through small business centers at area community colleges.  One of her most popular workshops is “Me, Myself and Inc: When business and Personal Goals Collide.”  In the presentation DeMao encourages participants, who may or may not be business owners, to do just what she did for herself — design a lifestyle that allows family and business to grow and prosper together.  DeMao is developing a same-title book, which she says is nearing completion.

A strong supporter of “giving back,” DeMao, each year, chooses a community organization or initiative that could benefit from the services of SLD Unlimited.  The firm adopted the Lincoln Theatre Guild for its pro bono work for 2007-2008 in order to revamp the Guild’s image, marketing, public relations and promotional efforts. 

In addition, DeMao is committed to lobbying in the nation’s capital regarding issues that impact small businesses.  In 2006 she was named the Small Business Administration’s Women in Business Champion for North Carolina and the Southeast, and in February, 2007, Enterprising Women magazine named DeMao among the 50 Most Enterprising Women in the Country.  TCW

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