USC graduate commences online advertising and marketing agency amid the pandemic

When the pandemic hit and quite a few businesses moved on the web to mitigate the loss of in-man or woman clientele, USC alumnus Jordan Banafsheha knew it was time to get started the on the net promoting company he experienced dreamed about. Inspite of the negatives of the new pandemic planet, he claimed he was delivered with a astonishing prospect: a area of interest for entrepreneurship. 

Icepop, a advertising and marketing and advertising company found in Los Angeles founded by Banafsheha in May perhaps, is encouraging providers increase their on the web presence.

Just after graduation, Banafsheha put in many decades doing the job for businesses this sort of as Tinder and later fashioned component of the co-founding team for social buying system Verishop. Obtaining an overflow of messages from folks who were being referred to Banafsheha for assistance with generating an on line platform, he made a decision to go away Verishop to aim on making his agency full time.

With a tagline of “Grow Suitable,” icepop appears to be like to enable providers authentically improve their world-wide-web existence, Banafsheha explained. This expansion is attained in a way that is individualized to each client, opposite to what he said a lot of may well think about marketing. 

“A ton of persons like to think that advertising and marketing is a playbook, and we just observe the exact playbook for each and every account. It’s absolutely not like that,” Banafsheha claimed. “Every organization has a unique volume of data, has a distinctive brand voice, has a distinctive client group that they are likely soon after. Just about every consumer we take on, it is sort of like ‘Is this the correct healthy for us?’ ‘Do we consider we can deliver?’ ‘Do we consider that we can craft a tale that’s special to them?’”

Icepop focuses on promotion through three major spots: paid out social advertising, paid lookup promotion and natural and organic look for listings. 

In paid social promoting, icepop marketplaces customer adverts by way of social media platforms, including Instagram, Fb, TikTok and Snapchat. Its other two companies involve Google and Bing, with paid look for advertising and marketing, displaying advertisements at the major of lookup engine success and enhancing organic and natural lookup, allowing the company’s webpage to the natural way look better on research motor final results centered on the relevancy to someone’s research. 

Icepop has a assortment of clientele together with Madhappy, a streetwear way of living manufacturer based in Los Angeles, and Euka, a wellness model that has employed other major advertising agencies like 72andSunny, Banfasheha said. 

“Just being at the table with these styles of firms at such an early phase of our business is seriously neat,” Banafsheha mentioned. 

An additional one of icepop’s shoppers is Mini Dreamers — a “one-prevent shop” for all of the trendiest apparel for infants and little ones — founded by Melody Nabati, a 2008 alumna, in 2016. Even though she felt she had sufficient methods to make Mini Dreamers successful and gained a large amount of good responses from the neighborhood when she to start with opened her business, Nabati mentioned she required help with increasing Mini Dreamer’s on the web visibility.

Mini Dreamers, a current customer of icepop who worked with Banafsheha for approximately three several years in advance of icepop’s formal start off, has developed nearly 4 instances from what it was prior to, Nabati said. 

“I’m seriously pleased with the quantity, the time, the devotion, [Banafsheha’s] commitment to our organization,” Nabati claimed. “He’s truly experienced about what he does. And it’s been such a great asset to the corporation, especially for the duration of COVID.”

Garrette Wann, a contract worker for icepop, is immediately involved in the innovative aspect for the company — assisting develop media and videos for consumers. Together, Wann and Banafsheha generate and marketplace videos that create revenue for purchasers. Working for icepop for approximately a yr, Wann said he continuously sees icepop are living up to their client’s advertising ambitions. 

“It’s a truly good business,” Wann mentioned. “I really like performing with them. They do genuinely good by their clientele, and they make certain you know what they are likely to do.”

While the company is even now in its beginning several years, Banafsheha said he hopes it will become one of L.A.’s top promoting companies in the subsequent 5 several years. Banafsheha also mentioned, as icepop functions with more firms, he seems to be to department the company’s solutions into investing and managing efficiency markets. 

Banafsheha claimed some of the corporations who come to icepop have asked him to invest in or suggest their company — an spot he is open up to as icepop grows. 

“As our small business grows and we develop into greater, I would really like for us to have a very awesome portfolio of brands that we also make investments in and run their performance promoting,” Banafsheha mentioned. “We’re much more than just a company to them. We’re also a husband or wife to them.”

Banafsheha explained he had a assortment of encounters at USC that assisted lead to his conclusion to generate icepop, together with an internship via USC TAMID, an business that gives business enterprise-minded learners with hands-on consulting and investing. 

For Banafsheha’s internship he traveled to Israel exactly where he discovered about Facebook promoting and paid on the internet marketing. 

“If it wasn’t for that practical experience, I almost certainly would not have learned how to do a great deal of this things I do now,” Banafsheha mentioned. 

The USC Blackstone Launchpad Group also aided Banafsheha develop his network and connections. As a result of his achievement with icepop and entrepreneurial knowledge, Banafsheha has presented speeches about his track record and enterprise for entrepreneurship courses each and every semester considering the fact that he graduated, making it possible for him to more hook up with the USC local community. 

Banafsheha stated Anthony Borquez, one particular of the professors who frequently has him as a class visitor, is a good mentor and has been in a position to introduce him to several learners who have aided join him with individuals who need to have icepop’s products and services. 

The relevance of media and advertising to modern society, as properly as the current world pandemic, has created an atmosphere that Banafsheha explained he believes has allowed him to generate a thriving company, benefiting both the exposure and good results of all of his shoppers. 

“If it was not for the pandemic, I really do not know if I would have commenced my company this swiftly I may possibly have waited another year or two,” Banafsheha claimed. “But due to the fact so quite a few enterprises had been hunting for persons to support them market on Fb and established up their Shopify and all those people matters, the desire was so large that it basically helped me make that conclusion more quickly.” 

Hunting forward, Banafsheha claimed he hopes to seek the services of USC learners as personnel and interns. Not only does Banafsheha foresee his agency’s developing results in the close to foreseeable future, but he encourages USC students to access out and harness their individual goals of entrepreneurship as nicely.

“I want us to be, if not the very best, one particular of the major 3 businesses in Los Angeles,” Banafsheha claimed. “When folks imagine of advertising and marketing on the internet, on social media, on Google increasing their company, I want us to be in people top rated ranks. And I think we’re building headway.”

Correction: A earlier version of this posting misstated icepop’s client as Yukka, alternatively than the wellness manufacturer Euka. A preceding version also misidentified USC professor Anthony Borquez as Anthony Cortez. The Each day Trojan regrets this error.