The entry deadline for the 2012 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business is August 29, and we thought it would be helpful for communications professionals if we highlighted the many marketing awards categories available. (Don't fret if you can't make the entry deadline, entries for the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's premier business awards for women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run, can still be submitted through the final entry deadline of September 28 with a late fee of $35.00; request your entry kit today.)

Our marketing award categories for Marketing Campaign of the Year which recognizes excellence in marketing by or for women since July 1, 2011 include:

1. Business-to-Business Advertising Campaign of the Year
2. Business-to-Business Marketing Campaign of the Year
3. Consumer Advertising Campaign of the Year
4. Consumer Marketing Campaign of the Year
5. Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year
6. Online Marketing Campaign of the Year
7. Retail/Merchandising Marketing Campaign of the Year
8. Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million/€2 million)
9. Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year

Entries in these categories require an essay of up to 500 words describing the nominated campaign: its genesis, development, planning, commission, and performance to date, a biography of the leader of the team that developed the campaign (up to 100 words), and optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

Other website awards, blog awards, app awards, and video awards that may be of interest include:

• Website of the Year:
  Recognizing excellence in web sites created and maintained by or for women. There is no eligibility period requirement for this category - it doesn't matter when the site was first published.
  
  
• Blog of the Year:
  Recognizing excellence in individual or company blogs created by or for women. There is no eligibility period requirement for this category - it doesn't matter when the blog was first published.
  
  
• Smartphone or Tablet App of the Year:
  Recognizing excellence in smartphone and tablet apps produced by or for women. There is no eligibility period requirement for this category - it doesn't matter when the app was first published.
  
  
• Video of the Year:
  Recognizing excellence in videos produced by or for women since July 1, 2011.

These categories only require an essay of up to 100 words describing the nominated work: its purpose and results to date, the nominated work itself, which you should upload to our server via the new uploading tool on our online entry form, and optionally, you can provide creative and production credits for the work, such as writers, creative directors, and programmers.

Not sure where to start? All entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, feature a wide selection of categories to recognize the achievements of marketing professionals. (The final entry deadline for the 2012 IBAs is 27 June, request your entry kit today.)

In addition to submitting entries specifically labeled as marketing awards, we thought it would be helpful if we highlighted five additional communications awards categories that should be of interest to marketing professionals including:

1. Annual Report Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in annual reports, brochures, marketing and sales kits, house organs (corporate magazines), and other publications issued since 1 January 2011.
2. App Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in apps for handheld and tablet devices, and for PCs, issued or updated since 1 January 2011.
3. Live Event Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in live events staged since 1 January 2011.
4. Video Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in videos produced for a business- or work-related purpose that were first released or otherwise made public since 1 January 2011.

5. Website Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in web sites and blogs. There is no eligibility timeframe for these categories - it doesn't matter when the site or blog was first published.

Leave us a comment and let us know which award categories your organization plans to submit entries to in the 2012 IBAs.

Wednesday, 27 June, is the final entry deadline for The 2012 (Ninth Annual) International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition. (If you haven't already done so, you can request your entry kit here and you will receive it right away.) 

We thought it would be helpful for communications professionals if we highlighted four reasons to submit entries to the 2012 IBA marketing awards categories.

1. Low entry fees. 
   The publicity that comes with winning a Stevie® Award is well worth the low entry fees.
2. Earn industry status.
   Submitting IBA entries is a great way to benchmark your achievements against competitors in your industry.
3. Impress potential clients.
   Your work will not only be reviewed and honored by peers and competitors, but also by potential clients.  Show off your organization's achievements in the 2012 IBAs.
4. Global recognition and free publicity.
   Gold Stevie® Award winners will have the opportunity to make a 30-second acceptance speech before an audience of executives from across the world. The ceremony will also be streamed worldwide over the Internet.

Winners of the competition will be celebrated at the ninth annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. 

The 8^th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.  Honorees included American Express, Bombardier, Inc., Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Siemens AG, TATA Motors, Tesco Poland, Toyota Motor Corporation, Turk Telekom, and Unilever N.V., among others.  View all 2011 results here. 

Want more communications awards? There are a number of other IBA categories that should be of interest to communications professionals, including many of the annual report awards and other literature categories, website awards categories, app awards categories, video awards categories, and live event awards categories.

16 May is the entry deadline for The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition. If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here and you will receive it right away.  

To help make the most out of your marketing awards entries, we suggest the following tips:

1. Review the business awards categories.
There are several marketing award categories being celebrated at the 2012 IBAs including:

• Marketing Department of the Year
• Marketing Team of the Year
• Marketing Executive of the Year
• Marketing Campaign of the Year - Industry Categories
• Marketing Campaign of the Year - Specialty Categories

There are a number of other IBA categories that should be of interest to marketing professionals, including many of the annual report awards and other literature categories, website awards categories, app awards categories, video awards categories, and live event awards categories.

2. Review the entry submission criteria.
Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories include:

• An essay of up to 500 words describing the nominee's accomplishments since 1 January 2011
• A biography of the nominee or the leader of the nominated company, department, or team of up to 100 words, and
• Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files, work samples, and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

3. Contact us.
If you have any questions about the 2012 IBAs, email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

Entries submitted after 16 May, through the final entry deadline of 27 June, will be assessed a late fee in addition to any entry fee. Finalists will be announced in late July and 2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea.

Leave us a comment and let us know how our corporate awards categories will help you to highlight your organization's successes.

Today is the final entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. All ABA entries are submitted directly online through your account and the web site will be open all night to accept your entries. You can begin by registering here.

We thought it would be helpful for marketing professionals if we highlighted the top four reasons to submit entries to the 2012 ABA marketing awards categories.  

1. Impress potential clients.
   Your work will not only be reviewed and honored by peers and competitors, but also by potential clients.  Show off your organization's achievements in the 2012 ABAs.
2. Global recognition and free publicity.   
   Gold Stevie® Award winners will have the opportunity to make a 30-second acceptance speech before an audience of 600+ executives from across the country during a nationally-broadcast awards ceremony that will also be streamed worldwide over the Internet.
3. Earn industry status.
   Submitting ABA entries is a great way to benchmark your achievements against competitors in your industry.
4. Low entry fees. 
   The publicity that comes with winning a Stevie Award is well worth the low entry fees.

Marketing award entries should include the following information:

• An essay of up to 500 words describing the nominee's achievements since January 1 2011
• A biography of the nominee or the leader of the nominated company, department or team of up to 100 words
• Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

If you have questions regarding the submission process, we have several resources including a step-by-step video on how to submit entries, past winners' entries for your review, and  7 tips on submitting winning entries to help you make the most out of your entries. Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in The 2012 American Business Awards, email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

2012 ABA Finalists will be announced mid-May and the 10th Annual award winners will be announced at our traditional banquet on June 18th at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

Looking for more communication awards? Our corporate literature awards, annual report awards, website awards, video awards, and live event awards categories have several opportunities that would be of interest to communications professionals.

We have added 43 new marketing awards categories to The 2012 International Business Awards to help marketing professionals highlight their successes. (The 2012 IBAs, the world's premiere business awards program, is now open for entries. Showcase your organization's best marketing practices and submit entries by the 11 April early-bird deadline for discounted entry fees. Don't worry if you can't make the 11 April early-bird deadline, the entry deadline is 16 May and we will continue to accept late entries through 27 June; request your entry kit here.)

Our marketing award categories for Marketing Campaign of the Year - Industry include:

• Accounting
• Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
• Aerospace & Defense
• Automotive & Transport Equipment
• Banking
• Business Services
• Chemicals
• Computer Hardware
• Computer Software
• Computer Services
• Conglomerates
• Consumer Products - Durables
• Consumer Products - Non-Durables
• Diversified Services
• Electronics
• Energy
• Financial Services
• Food & Beverage
• Health Products & Services
• Hospitality & Leisure
• Internet/New Media
• Insurance
• Legal
• Manufacturing
• Materials & Construction
• Media & Entertainment
• Metals & Mining
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Real Estate
• Retail
• Pharmaceuticals
• Telecommunications
• Transportation
• Utilities

Our Marketing Campaign of the Year - Specialty Categories include:

• Business-to-Business Advertising Campaign of the Year
• Business-to-Business Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Consumer Advertising Campaign of the Year
• Consumer Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Online Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Retail/Merchandising Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million / €5 million)
• Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year

Our communication award categories include:

• Marketing Department of the Year
• Marketing Team of the Year
• Marketing Executive of the Year

Want more communications awards? There are a number of other IBA categories that should be of interest to marketing professionals, including many of the annual report awards and other literature categories, website awards categories, app awards categories, video awards categories, and live event awards categories.

Kirby Wadsworth, Vice President of Global Marketing for F5 Networks, is Chair of the final judging committee for the marketing awards categories of The 2012 American Business Awards. (The final entry deadline for 10th Annual ABAs, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is April 25; request your entry kit now.) Here Kirby shares best marketing tips for business-to-business marketing.

What are your top 3 tips on how to make your mark in business-to-business marketing?

1. Align marketing and sales efforts into one holistic effort. 
   Marketing must start a conversation that sales is ready and willing to carry to conclusion.  Success here requires alignment of targets, content, training, process, and compensation systems. Research proves that companies that focus on sales and marketing alignment outperform those that allow the two functions to operate orthogonally.

2. Measurement is the basis for alignment. 
   Marketing operations should be your first investment. Fill this group with experts in data analysis who are fully up to speed on modern marketing automation systems. Don’t be afraid of what you find initially. Measurement allows you to find and fix leaks in the system, and you will find many ugly ones when you first start measuring.

3. Make sure you have broad cross-functional agreement on key performance indicators (KPIs). 
   Make sure everyone understands and agrees with the areas you are measuring and reporting, then stick to it and report transparently on a regular basis. It's important to keep educating internal audiences, especially in finance, sales, and executive offices, on the value marketing is bringing to the business, and to do it without “taking credit.” Uniquely, marketing is both a service organization and a leadership organization, but is rarely appreciated for its contributions to pipeline. 

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
The evolution in appreciation for Big Data and Business Intelligence—these areas are quickly becoming the hottest topics in a decade. I'm particularly fascinated by the potential for virtually every enterprise to leverage the power of Big Data to improve customer experience, create customized offers, and differentiate themselves.  In a lot of ways, Big Data feels like the Internet did back in the late 1990s: Lots of hype, but also massive underlying substance.

What is your favorite sport or hobby?
I use my time in airplanes and hotels to write. I'm 100,000 words into a paranormal novel that takes place in 1850s Nantucket.  It’s a lot of fun.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Bestselling author…

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Honesty and a sense of humor.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
I get my motivation helping others learn and grow in our profession.  Teaching and coaching others forces me to really know my stuff—or at least stay one step ahead of my employees and students.  They push pretty hard, and keep me on my toes. My best day is the day I can help someone overcome a problem, learn something new, or take on a new responsibility.

About Kirby Wadsworth:
Kirby Wadsworth is Vice President of Global Marketing for F5 Networks and leads all marketing-demand generation and branding functions worldwide. Kirby has played a key role in many projects including the installation F5's global marketing function which delivers outbound communication, branding, PR/AR, marketing services, web experience, and global demand campaigns, introducing F5’s first marketing automation system, and creating a global revenue campaign model to align marketing with sales objectives. Prior to F5, Kirby served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for several startups including Acopia Networks, Revivio, and Storability. Kirby has been named a Stevie® Award Finalist twice, and F5 received the Stevie Award for Best Marketing Campaign in The 2011 American Business Awards.

About F5 Networks:
F5 Networks, Inc., a global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), helps some of the world’s largest enterprises and service providers to realize the full value of virtualization, cloud computing, and on-demand IT. F5® solutions help integrate disparate technologies to provide greater control of the infrastructure, improve application delivery and data management, and give users seamless, secure, and accelerated access to applications from their corporate desktops and smart devices. F5 products give customers the agility they need to align IT with changing business conditions, deploy scalable solutions on demand, and manage mobile access to data and services. Enterprises, service and cloud providers, and leading online companies worldwide rely on F5 to optimize their IT investments and drive business forward. For more information, go to www.f5.com.

The entry deadline for The 2012 American Business Awards is this Wednesday, March 28 and we thought it would be helpful for communications professionals if we highlighted the many marketing awards categories available. (Don't fret if you can't make the entry deadline, entries for The 2012 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., can still be submitted through the final entry deadline of April 25 with a late fee of $35.00; download your entry kit here.)

Our marketing award categories for Marketing Campaign of the Year - Industry include:

• Accounting
• Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations
• Aerospace & Defense 
• Automotive & Transport Equipment
• Banking
• Business Services
• Chemicals
• Computer Hardware 
• Computer Software 
• Computer Services 
• Conglomerates
• Consumer Products - Durables
• Consumer Products - Non-Durables
• Diversified Services
• Electronics 
• Energy
• Financial Services
• Food & Beverage
• Health Products & Services
• Hospitality & Leisure
• Internet/New Media 
• Insurance
• Legal
• Manufacturing
• Materials & Construction
• Media
• Metals & Mining
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Real Estate
• Retail
• Pharmaceuticals
• Telecommunications 
• Transportation
• Utilities

Our Marketing Campaign of the Year - Specialty Categories include:

• Business-to-Business Advertising Campaign of the Year
• Business-to-Business Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Consumer Advertising Campaign of the Year
• Consumer Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Online Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Retail/Merchandising Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million)
• Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year

Our communication award categories for professionals include:

• Marketing or Advertising Agency of the Year
• Marketing Department of the Year
• Marketing Team of the Year
• Marketing Executive of the Year
• Marketing Professional of the Year (for non-executive marketing professionals)

Looking for more communication awards? Our corporate literature awards, annual report awards, website awards, video awards, and live event awards categories have several opportunities that would be of interest to communications professionals.

BDS Marketing, Inc. of Irvine, California, USA won the Stevie® Award for Best Marketing Team in the marketing awards categories of the very first American Business Awards, back in 2003. As part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the start of the Stevie Awards movement, we've been talking with past Stevie winners to learn about how their win has positively impacted their businesses.  Here we interview BDS Marketing's CEO Mark Dean. He explains how winning a Stevie Award has helped BDS, and shares some sales tips he's learned along the way. (The 2012 ABA entry deadline is March 28. Get your entry kit here and begin submitting entries today.)

BDSmktg considers itself a specialist in marketing other companies’ brands, so how has being the first company to win a Stevie Award for Best Marketing Team in The 2003 American Business Awards helped BDS to enhance its own brand?
Since winning the first Stevie Award for Best Marketing Team in 2003, we have found that current and prospective clients are excited to work with us as an award-winning company. There’s a stronger confidence, enthusiasm, and pride in our brand, and we make sure to feature our Stevie Award wins in our marketing materials.

As an industry-recognized honor, the Stevie Awards give greater credibility to our marketing campaigns. Winning the award in 2003 set the standard high for us. Since then, we continually strive to deliver award-worthy programs to each of our clients. Over the past nine years we’ve submitted our most outstanding programs for Stevie Awards, and we’re proud to have won four Stevie Awards and been Finalists in five categories. Right now, we are working on our 2012 submissions and are hoping for another win! 

What events have had the most impact on your business over the past ten years?
As with most businesses, the recession definitely affected BDS. We’ve seen our Fortune 500 clients holding on to their budgets tighter, and waiting longer to make decisions to spend money on marketing services. We’ve also seen big changes in speed-to-market and the speed of connectivity, both of which have greatly impacted our business. Information is more accessible to consumers than ever before, making consumers more educated than ever before. This has caused us to evolve how we train our representatives as well as how they train sales associates. It has made us more nimble, resourceful, and creative with our training solutions.

What are your top tips for increasing sales impact?

1. Don’t buy any lists. For BDS, it’s always been about the personal relationship we have with our clients.
2. Our partnerships with our clients are built on trust, honesty, and integrity. BDS is built on long-term relationships: We have client partnerships that go back as far as 15 years. We’ve found that the most successful kind of business relationships come from the recommendations of our clients. We never want to be just a vendor to our clients, but their trusted partner.

What are your company’s plans for the future?
We are looking to become a larger player in the marketing industry over the next few years and are working to achieve that goal by diversifying the industries that we represent. We are also expanding our service offerings by building out our proprietary platforms in business intelligence and training, and developing innovative out-of-store concepts as we see a shift in retail formats.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
I value the long-term team of people here at BDS. Each year our group of 5-year and 10-year employees continues to grow. We have a great culture of people here. I appreciate employees who have a passion for our clients’ business and who demonstrate their integrity and honesty on a daily basis. Our people are the heart of BDS, and without dedicated employees, the business wouldn’t have lasted 27 years

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?

1. The people I work with—we have a great family here at BDS.
2. Great clients—we get to work with amazing products from our top brand clients.
3. The combination of our people, our clients, and representing great products, makes me excited to come to the office each day.

About Mark Dean:
As founder and CEO of BDSmktg, Mark Dean is the heart and soul of BDS. Drawing on more than 30 years of marketing and business management experience, he channels this knowledge into an organization that prizes innovation and teamwork to achieve its clients' marketing goals. Noted as an inspirational leader, Mark has an innate talent for bringing out the best in people and accepts nothing less. Mark is responsible for ensuring that BDS is a well-managed, profitable agency that is an "employer of choice" in Orange County. His responsibilities also include providing senior-level strategy and consultation services to the agency's vast client base. Mark studied public relations, journalism, and business at the University of Illinois and Northern Illinois University. He resides in Aliso Viejo, California with his wife and sons.

About BDS Marketing, Inc.:
BDSmktg is a marketing agency that delivers sales by offering customized solutions that work for its clients and are personalized to each client’s brand. The company is driven by the power of its people. Its high-performance teams generate sell-through and its client service specialists offer expertise to enhance marketing strategy. With retail as its specialty, BDS is an innovator in the areas of marketing analytics, training and learning incentives, market development, performance selling, brand advocacy, and merchandising. Clients include Canon, Dell, FedEx, Jawbone, Motorola, Sam’s Club, Toshiba, and Walmart. BDS is based in Irvine, California, and has been operating with excellence since 1984.  For more information, visit www.BDSmktg.com.

Marketing 24/7, Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, USA, received the Stevie® Award for Small Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year in the marketing awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. (The 2012 ABAs are now accepting entries. Download your entry kit here and submit entries by the March 28 deadline.) Here we look at how Marketing 24/7's outreach catapulted their campaign.

About the Campaign
The Business Makeover Birmingham® (BMB®) project is an annual joint program that was started in 2008 with seven Project Partners including a bank, a sales coach, an accounting firm, an insurance company, a law firm, and the business school of a university. In 2009 and 2010, these businesses and professional service providers contributed services worth more than $30,000 each year.  As part of their services, one company (nominated by Birmingham, Alabama-based companies) received a strategic business makeover.

Promoting the BMB® Contest
The communications awards winner was charged with developing and implementing a marketing campaign for both the 2009 and 2010 BMB® contests. Marketing 24/7's campaign components consisted of announcing the makeover and its services, encouraging the business community to apply, announcing the five finalists and the ultimate winner, branding the Project Partners, and providing updates regarding the winners’ makeover progress. 

Shoestring Budget
The overall budget for promoting BMB® was very much “on a shoestring.” Only one-third of the initial investment by the Project Partners was devoted to advertising in the first year. In the second, the advertising component was increased to two-thirds of the total marketing budget.

Marketing 24/7 secured a free website template and hosting while leveraging social media to promote the business makeover contest.

Despite the small budget, media coverage was beyond expectation with coverage in newspapers, magazines, TV, and the Internet.  The BMB® winners received extensive publicity obtained by Marketing 24/7. 

Campaign Outreach
The Stevie Award winner was responsible for a number of events and activities, some of which included:

• Planning a winner’s event hosted by BMB® Project Partners where 100 businesspeople heard the lessons learned from the winner’s strategic business makeover
• Working with a city-wide business newspaper to publish frequent update articles in print and online regarding the competition’s progress and winners
• Statewide coverage of the inaugural BMB® winner in a business magazine
• The designing and placing of print ads soliciting BMB® entries and announcing the finalists and winner
• Providing media training for all Project Partners and winners in order to generate more awareness and coverage of the contest
• Creating an online feature placement blog through a major lifestyle magazine
• Providing bi-weekly updates to the BMB® website and to social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter
• Distributing monthly e-newsletters and “best practices” articles
• Creating numerous promotional fliers
• Developing an internal e-newsletter for the second annual BMB® winner
• Writing and distributing news releases to announce the finalists and winners for publication in major publications, online, and in the BMB® e-newsletter
• Planning a press reception for BMB® finalists
• Pitching articles for the contest winners’ business and charitable activities
• Securing numerous feature articles in two different, glossy lifestyle magazines in Birmingham, Alabama
• Landing a feature article in the Sunday Business section of Alabama’s largest newspaper for the 2010 BMB® winner

Overall Results
With more than 25 articles published over two years, this business award winning campaign has attained exceptional results for BMB® with positive media coverage for all participants.  Other benefits have included:

• increased awareness from the business community;
• an up-tick in clients for Project Partners;
• substantial savings and/or increased revenues for the winners; and
• a strong following by the general public.

The winners of the contest have been delighted by the results, and many other businesses and individuals are interested in being nominated for future BMB® contests.

Marketing 24/7's Success
On being presented with a marketing award, Ruwena Healy, President of Marketing 24/7, said: “I’m honored to be a Project Partner of Business ‎Makeover Birmingham® and to have had the opportunity to work with top leaders in the business community. ‎This award was made possible by the efforts of a great team of marketing professionals including several from the Project Partners’ companies.” ‎

The communications award winner added: "Winning in The American Business Awards has definitely catapulted my business into a whole different sphere. My company is now working with much bigger clients while providing the same attention to detail that allowed Marketing 24/7 to win this award.”

About Ruwena Healy:
Ruwena Healy founded Marketing 24/7 in 2005 after 18 years of experience working in banking and marketing professional services firms. Healy’s business awards for the two-year campaign of Business Makeover Birmingham include the 2010 PR News PR Platinum Award, a Clarion Award from The Association of Women in Communications, a Platinum Award from Hermes Creative Awards, and she has been a three-time Finalist in The Stevie Awards for Women In Business. Healy holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a master’s degree from Florida State University. She is a member of numerous professional organizations.

About Marketing 24/7:
In 2012, Marketing 24/7, Inc. celebrates its 7th anniversary of providing professionals with marketing and business ‎development solutions. Chief Executive Officer Ruwena Healy founded the firm with the mission of providing ‎high-level marketing and business development consulting, marketing plan development and execution, ‎and strategic planning services to companies, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Marketing 24/7 offers ‎expertise in personal branding and company branding, and in improving marketing and business ‎development effectiveness for the purpose of increasing revenues and profits. For more information, visit www.marketing247.net.