Today we’d like to introduce you to Alvaro Psevoznik.
Alvaro, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
During my college years in Argentina, I opened a small graphic design studio; it was 1991. A few months later, I was working with several clubs and restaurants and never stopped growing; I also owned a popular lifestyle magazine, hosted one of the most popular radio shows, produced successful TV shows, and promoted dozens of concerts for local and international music stars, including Luis Miguel, Ricky Martin, Roxette, Peter Gabriel, INXS and most Argentinean stars and bands.
I was the nineties, I felt like a king, with success and money; I was the “go-to” guy when it came to marketing and advertising, but one day in 2001, Argentina’s economy collapsed and I lost it all. With my last couple thousand bucks in my pocket, my wife, and my two little kids, I moved to Miami and started over.
I’ve been living and running my two agencies in South Florida for 18 years. Since then, we’ve partnered with some of the most innovative restaurants and chains in the country with The Foodie Agency and helped grow brands in the home services industry with DM Agency, which I founded in 2002.
Has it been a smooth road?
No, it has not been smooth at all! Being an immigrant with no money and basic English, while trying to build my brand and reputation was really hard.
In the early 2000s, Digital Marketing began to grow; I saw different opportunities and the need for companies to stop dealing with several marketing vendors at the same time, so I honed in on the “one-stop” agency concept that made us known in the market. I’m proud to say we were among the first agencies to offer, besides the classic design and web services, email marketing, SEO, online advertising, social media management, and online reputation management.
During the 2008 economic crisis and recession, we were hit hard, and had to rethink the services we were offering and, really, the structure of the agency itself; we survived it, and it has grown since then.
For the last couple of years, with the help of the influx of investors from Europe and Latin America opening restaurants and hotels in South Florida, we opened a Hospitality Consulting division, helping them find the right location, concept, vendors and—most of all—the right branding and marketing strategy. So far, we’ve partnered with over a dozen international brands during their arrival to this market and so far, most of them are doing really good.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Foodie Agency & DM Agency – Disartmedia – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are a boutique agency, with an in-house staff of designers, digital advertisers, web developers, and community managers, we don’t hire freelancers, we do it all with our own staff. I have two teams: One for the restaurant marketing agency, and another for the other industries we serve. We only do what we specialize in; we don’t improvise and we stay completely transparent and honest with our clients: If there’s something we can’t do, we just don’t take your account, and that’s the key factor in our company’s success and growth. Our clients stay with us for the long run.
As a branding and digital agency, we develop brands and execute their online (and sometimes offline) strategies with a 360-degree vision. We focus on offering the right solutions to our clients and delivering results. Having a Hispanic background is also very important: In a multicultural market like ours, being able to tap into that niche is something that makes us different.
We offer everything a business or brand might need to market themselves: Design, web, social media, and online advertising combined with a long-term strategy. We are a certified agency on Google, Facebook Advertising Program, Open Table, Yelp, and we were awarded as one of Miami’s best web design agencies on Clutch, DesignRush, and other prestigious institutions.
Two things make me proud:
Having long-term relationships with our clients; most of them have been with us between 3 and 15 years. The second one is my team: Most of them have been with us for several years; they are the lifeblood of this company. A few years ago, I’ve stopped doing it all by myself and micromanaging, and since I’ve delegated to people in my team who can do the job better than me, my life changed and my agencies grew for real.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
In the ’90s, I visited Miami a few times. One day, I told my wife, “I want to move here.” A few years later, life brought me here and adopted it as my city. I love the fact that, in Miami, you can find different cultures, languages, ethnic cuisines, things to do, and places to go. For a guy like me who works a lot with the restaurant industry, there’s nothing like it; you might find this multi-cultural spirit maybe in New York or LA, but Miami has it all.
What I don’t like about Miami is something most residents will complain about: the traffic. It’s been getting worse, especially in the last five years; getting around is becoming a serious problem, and I’m not seeing many solutions to it. Fortunately, I live close to my office and it definitely helps to deal with this mad traffic.
Contact Info:
- Address: 803 S. 21st Ave. Hollywood, FL 33020
- Website: www.foodie.agency and www.dmagency.us
- Phone: 305-675-1991
- Email: alvaro@foodie.agency
Image Credit:
Arnold Newman – instagram.com/arnold1956newman
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