WIN Summit 2017 Highlights: Shante Bacon and The Digital Media Age

Featured Columnist: WIN Summit Staff Intern, Shoshana Rozenberg

Ever been called “opinionated” or “pushy”?

Own it.

Shante Bacon, CEO of 135th St. Agency and WIN Summit 2017 Keynote Speaker

Shante Bacon, CEO and founder of 135th Street Agency stressed this sentiment to a room full of businesswomen at WIN Summit 2017. She emphasized that though people sometimes see being a woman in business as a weakness, it is actually the greatest strength a woman can have. She loves being told that she’s driven and unapologetic, it shows her that she is communicating her message effectively and getting work done.

Bacon realized that her calling in life was to “push” a message when she realized that every interaction she had in life was one of negotiation. When talking with her husband, with the taxi driver or the cashier — she was negotiating for herself. So she asked herself, “Why not have fun with it?” and that’s the same question she posed to everyone at the conference. If having an opinion is who you are, it is isn’t worth it to stress over whether other people will find it offensive, you might as well enjoy the game.

The way Bacon decided to have fun with it was through starting her own digital media marketing agency. Bacon is a strong believer in being authentic but also recognizes that the digital media landscape presents a challenge to recognizing authenticity and true hard work.

Bacon segmented her speech into three distinct parts where she gave practical advice on how to thrive in the current digital media landscape and on a broader level, as a woman in business in general.

The 5 Pitfalls of Digital Media

1. Don’t be a window shopper — Digital media profiles are curated deliberately for the viewer to be impressed. This makes them inaccurate overall, so it is important to make sure you don’t get fooled by other media and to leverage your own media effectively
2. Drop insecurities about those across the table from you — both of you want to win and be successful; usually there is a way to effectively negotiate and work together so that both sides can come out successful.
3. Empathy — It is often easy to lose empathy online, however it is crucial to maintain an empathetic approach when trying to be successful. It is helpful to get into the mindsets of others, so you can know what they want, what will move them and how you can work together to find a solution that will be mutually beneficial.
4. Shut your mouth — After successfully communicating your goal, just be quiet and don’t be apologetic or undermine yourself by taking back your request. Let the silence linger and be awkward because that may compel your listener to give you what you want.
5. Have the audacity to go big — don’t be afraid to ask for a lot and then, once again, let the awkward silence resonate.

4 Tactics to Succeed as a Woman in Business

1. Digital generation has pros and cons — It creates transparency and but also promotes deception by making it so easy to deceive. It is also extremely easy to lose control over your messaging. Make sure that you are defined by doing the work and putting in the effort, even in the digital landscape. Because when the façade falls away, you want to show your work because that is what will remain standing when everything else disintegrates. No one can take your hard work away from you.
2. Take a seat at the table — Don’t just be in the room, that’s not enough. You must be inflexible about your worth. Don’t be humble, be honest about what you can do and prove that you deserve to be at the table.
3. Metrics are extremely important in the digital media landscape but it is crucial to remember to balance quantity with showing off your actual work. Both aspects need to be emphasized in the workplace.
4. Is there substance behind your work? This is something you need to constantly be honest with yourself about. If you maintain your substance, you maintain your worth.

5 Ways to Effectively Leverage Media

1. Tunnel vision — We often view having “tunnel vision” as being a limiting quality, however, it is imperative in the digital landscape to have it. You must filter out the noise of all those around you, this includes competitors and colleagues. Continuously make sure you have answers to the following questions.

What do you stand for?

What are your values?

What promise are you making to your organization and clients?

Retain authenticity at all times and be unwavering. When you pay attention to everything else, you are effectively wasting time. Be prepared to walk away from a deal — the other party can smell desperation if you’re not. Draw a line and say you’ll take your assets elsewhere

2. Business is very personal — People like to say, “it’s business, it isn’t personal.” But if we’re being honest, that sentiment is totally inaccurate. You have leveraged your future on your business and you get to be emotional about it. You should use your experience to connect with others. The more personal your business, the more passionate you’ll be and the more successful.

3. Human to human connection — It is so simple to never interact with people in person today. But it is proven that ROI is higher when you meet face to face. Passion can only be conveyed personally. An email or an attorney will never convey your passion for your company the way you can. That’s what talks to people and compels them to believe in you and invest in you.

4. Don’t swap the substance for the influence — Influencers are all the rage these days and they’re nice, but the psychology of actually getting into consumers’ minds and being empathetic will actually get you somewhere. It’s not just about the quantity of followers, but the quality of those actually listening to you.

Bacon left the crowd with one major takeaway message that sums up everything else she said. “Define your goals, communicate them and achieve them for your clients, and then you will be successful.”

The WIN Summit is presented annually by The Negotiation Institute. TNI has been providing training solutions to companies across the globe for over 50 years. Under the initiative of incoming TNI Chairman, Jack Simony, WIN Summit was launched in 2015 to empower and educate women through the Art of Negotiation. For more information on the WIN Summit, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Make sure to visit our site and register for the 2018 WIN Summit on May 2nd, 2018 in NYC.