Community Highlights: Meet Danae Labocki of IMMIX Marketing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danae Labocki. 

Hi Danae, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I fell into marketing and fundraising and didn’t set out to have that as a career. I started at an agency when I was 17 in an administrative role. This agency served nonprofits all around the US helping them with donor development and marketing. I quickly fell in love with the possibility of being able to make a difference with many nonprofits and seeing the impact of increasing the generosity of many people to feed more children, rescue more girls from sex trafficking, reach more college students for Christ, and so much more. 

Fast forward many years and I came and went from this agency to do things like help a counseling ministry with their marketing, running the children’s ministry department at a church, and helping my husband start his architecture business, but always found myself drawn back to this agency to help nonprofits. However, the more responsibility I was given and the clients I got to serve, I learned along the way at this agency women were not treated and valued equally for their work as men were. 

Then in 2018, I attended an event in Akron called Akron Women on Purpose. During this event it was very clear to me I was to use the 15 years of experience and expertise I had gained helping nonprofits all over the US and do that right in my own community of Akron. There were so many local, smaller nonprofits that needed the help of a large agency but could not afford it. Furthermore, watching and helping my husband start his architecture business I saw the need for small businesses to be able to have someone come alongside and help them market their business. 

This passion and desire quickly grew and I knew I had to step out and start my own business. I work best collaborating with others and knew that if I were to really help organizations thrive that having Chad Crawford as a business partner would be the perfect piece to this business having worked with him for 15 years. 

Where are we today? Well, Chad and I are four years into owning IMMIX Marketing and serving amazing small businesses and nonprofits all over the Akron area and we now have an awesome team behind us. 

We get to personally see the fruits of our labor right in our own community and it is awesome! We get to set a culture in our company where everyone is valued. We foster a creative and innovative environment that seeks to equally build others up and empower those around us to excel and win. 

I feel like I constantly walk around our offices (which we call the IMMIX home) saying, WHAAATTT! I can’t believe I get to wake up every day and be in relationship with incredible organizations in our community and help them thrive which in turn makes Akron a great place to live, work, and serve! 

I am in constant awe of what God continues to do through IMMIX and through our team! 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Starting your own business is for sure not a smooth road! 🙂 I will never say I have arrived. I am always learning and growing. I have had to overcome being in a room full of men and feeling less than and like I didn’t have something to offer or bring to the table, that I have 15 years of expertise and experience in marketing and donor development and I can do this! 

We have had to have hard conversations with clients while also learning to lean into our core values of speaking truth in love, being courageous, and developing long-lasting relationships. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about IMMIX Marketing?
We are passionate about providing cost-effective strategic and creative solutions to small businesses and nonprofits backed by 30+ years of expertise! 

We specialize in relationships! Whether it’s marketing or fundraising we help our clients build new relationships and nurture existing relationships. 

We specialize in our community! We help Greater Akron nonprofits and businesses thrive so that our community becomes a greater place to work, serve and live. We believe we are igniting change in our industry because we live out our values with our clients and in turn, they are encouraged to keep impacting Greater Akron. Word spreads quickly that we are not just another marketing agency that is trying to make a quick dollar. We embed ourselves into our clients’ teams because we truly believe in what they are doing. 

Here are some of our values that we strive to live by: 

Pursue vision over “building a company”. 

Lean into our values, more than our bank account. 

See the world as abundant and full of opportunity. 

Celebrate wins. Do not just move on to the next task/project. 

Some of the customized services we are offer are (since we aren’t a cookie-cutter agency!): 

– Strategy|Consultation|Strategic Planning 

– Donor Acquisition, Retention, and Cultivation|Capital Campaigns 

– Multi-Channel Relational Communication, Awareness, and Marketing 

– Data and Analytics Reporting and Decision Making 

– Brand Look and Messaging 

– Website Development 

IMMIX cares about collaboration so much so it is in our name. The definition of immix means “to mix in – to integrate” – words that describe what our team does so well. When we discovered the word immix, we knew it had to be our company’s name! 

And not only do we want to use our skills to help Greater Akron, but our vision encompasses a desire to see that businesses and nonprofits are well-connected to the local community and vice versa. So that’s why IMMIX launched its sister company BuyLocalServeLocal.com. Buy Local Serve Local is the platform that successfully empowers connection, generosity, and loyalty between community, non-profit, and business. We seek to help local organizations (nonprofits and businesses) thrive so in turn; they can impact their local communities. 

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
We learned to have grit, determination, love well, and have hope! 

IMMIX not only grew during COVID but we also had the privilege of seeing our clients find success as well. 

From day one of the pandemic, we decided to lean into unyielding courage in the face of hardship and rise above comfort as we led our team and our clients. 

When your back is against the wall, like it was for all of us during this pandemic, you must remind yourself of your calling in order to find the endurance, resilience, and creativity to survive the trying times. We reminded ourselves each and every day that we are called to help organizations in Greater Akron thrive. This encouraged us and in turn, encouraged our clients. 

We immediately created a couple vlogs on how to communicate during a crisis, which included picking up the phone and calling your clients, listening, caring, understanding, and showing empathy. 

We had our clients show appreciation to their customers and donors during COVID. We encouraged them to emphasize the impact of their continued business and generosity — not asking for anything in return – just simply thanking them and sharing stories of impact. This in turn produced more loyalty and generosity towards our clients from their supporters. 

We launched BuyLocalServeLocal.com during the pandemic to tell the stories of local small business owners and nonprofit leaders building connection, loyalty, and generosity in the Greater Akron community. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.immixmarketing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsimmix/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/immixmarketing
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/letsimmix