Today we’d like to introduce you to Marco Baldocchi.
Marco, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
From a small city in Tuscany to the United States running after the emotions, this is the phrase that can describe my last years. My story is long and funny. I started working as a lab technician in a suburban computer store during my university years, working in a sort of basement where I assembled and repaired computers. Since then, the curiosity prompted me to study Macromedia Flash, and I became a website designer. After that I was lucky of being promoted to manager in a communication company that hired me to develop websites and in 2005, I decided to test myself by opening my own agency.
My life has always been driven by wanting to learn something that fascinated me: computers first, then Flash, then communication and now… emotional marketing and augmented reality. My first office, in Lucca in 2005, was a room of 16 square meters without heating, I remember that the first purchase I made was a clock that allowed an electric heater that was under my desk to light up two hours before I arrived to find the room… less cold!
Today I deal with communication strategies in various fields, from food to b2b: I work with customers from Italy, Europe and the United States. How my life has changed? It was the fate, but I don’t believe in it!
I often came to Miami for holidays, in my opinion it was a city with an absurd charm and when I arrived there last time as “tourist” with my wife she told me “why don’t you try to start your business here?”. My first answer was, “Impossible, U.S. are the country where the digital communication was born, I am not good enough!” But my mind started to think about this strange idea, bring my business in a country where people WERE technology lovers… why not!
On that holiday we rented a house and the landlord asked me what my job was. When I answered I was running a communication agency in Italy, he explained to me that he had problems with his communications agency, so I decided to go with him to this company, just to understand what the problem was. His American agency, very good in advertising, didn’t think to develop a communication strategy for this business, just carrying out acts randomly.
I decided to prepare a strategy and I gave it to the house owner. After a few months, he called me back and he told me that my strategy was great and he wanted me as his vendor for digital communication services. In that moment, I understood that the dots were connecting, and my challenge had started.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, different country, different people, and my English had to be improved. One of my first customers signed an important contract and we started to work.. then he decided to “disappear” without paying me and my team. He didn’t answer to my calls or to my messages: nothing.
I learned the importance of analyzing previously the potential customer. But I passed it, fighting every day to reach my goal. When people ask to me: “ how did you get here? ” or “ What strategy worked for you? “
I always answer, “No pain, no gain”. Only this one. Toiling, We need to understand that falling is part of the growth path and it is wrong to waste strength to avoid falling because it will happen. It is much better, or at least, it has worked more for me. Try to use energy to get back up when you will fall and not self-pity. I suggest to do self-criticism, without feel as you’ve been successful, admit and understand your mistakes and bite the bullet: who wins are those who fight every day, not just those with talent.
In my professional and personal life, I learned that these words were correct “Trust in something, destiny, karma, God, whatever because believing in something will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path and that will make all the difference”. I discovered that the only thing really important in my life is the time, the only thing that no-one can give back to me, I understood not to waste it, just using it in the right way, with the person I love or doing the things I like, having, every day, the courage to follow my intuition without earring the noise of others’ opinions: if I will go wrong, I’ve done it with my head.
So you can think that my life was crazy and I never felt fear: wrong! But in my life, I find out that we don’t have to feel fear, because it lies, it tries to deceive you into doing taking the right decision, the fear exists just in our thoughts of the future, not really in our future. Fear is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear something that doesn’t exist at present and probably, may not even exist. So I believe that take the wrong decision could be dangerous but having fear to decide it’s more.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am specialised in neuromarketing and digital strategies. Especially I blend the digital strategy and the neuromarketing tips. I am sure that can’t exist anyone who don’t expertise emotions, and the emotions are the basis of the 95% of our behaviours. I love to analyse our brain behaviours and using those with ethics to help brands in creating a relationship with their customers. I wrote about it in my book “Neuromarketing for the food” published in Italy.
I am also proud of my team, no-one excluded, but especially to the guys who are working into the mobile applications development unit. They are great and permit me to use a very interesting and emotional technology, “the augmented reality”. Yes, we are great in developing AR mobile apps, and to me, AR is a great tool for engaging people and to permit them to experience new emotions.
A special thanks to Andrea Alessandroni, the person in charge of the mobile development unit: he trusts in my ideas, he supports me and with his great skills he wins every challenge I propose to him and his staff.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
To me, luck is the result of your actions. I am sure that if you work hard and you do it morally, before or after, the luck will kiss you. My parents taught me to live with this mantra “Do unto others what’s been done to you”: and I did it every day of my life and I am teaching it to my children.
The luck will kiss me one day. I am sure. (and it did it in the past giving to me two beautiful children).
Contact Info:
- Address: 13499 Biscayne Blvd Ste TS-1
North Miami FL 33181 - Website: www.marcobaldocchi.com
- Phone: +13054873982
- Email: mb@marcobaldocchi.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.baldocchi/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/marco_baldocchi
- Other: https://me.marcobaldocchi.com
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