By Kharisma McIlwaine
Carmena Ayo-Davies began her career in public relations in 2007. The name of her company 3BG Marketing, was created as an ode to her team which originally consisted of three brown girls. Ayo-Davies eventually took over 3BG Marketing solo and began pursuing a PR career with a love for all things entertainment. 3BG Marketing has created advertising, marketing and PR campaigns for their clients nationally and abroad. Ayo-Davies has helped launch and enhance the careers of athletes, athletes’ wives, music artists, and a wide array of small businesses. Now she is adding the title author to her list of accomplishments with her upcoming book, “Publicity On A Budget.” Ayo-Davies spoke with The SUN about her journey to becoming an author and the importance of sharing the lessons she’s learned with the masses.
“I think over the years, I’ve seen a lot of people who haven’t been in the business that long and do it for monetary purposes and I wanted to do it to give back to people,” she said. “I wanted it to mean something, for them to gain something from it based off of my experience. So finally, I’m like, ‘everyone is doing these classes… let me do a book.’”
Ayo-Davies has a long history of people seeking her advice over the years; she hopes that the book will be a benefit to some of those people.
“People love going to my events — they’ve been some of the biggest events in the city over the years in Philadelphia and I’ve had some great clients,” she said. “It was time for me to let people know what I know. This book will be especially great for upcoming publicists and new businesses who can’t necessarily afford to get the help that they need. This can help them get on the path until they get the money to get the help that’s necessary.”
“Publicity On A Budget” offers readers a wealth of wisdom, beginning with where those looking to get into the field of public relations should start.
“One of the main things people can learn from my book is how to get contacts and how to pitch to these contacts. They’ll also learn how to create a buzz for your business,” Ayo-Davies said. “Right now, influencer marketing is trending… working with popular people is trending and those in PR need to know how important that is. You also have to know who your customers are so that you can sell to them. If you don’t know who your target customer is, you don’t know what they like.”
The best surprise that Ayo-Davies experienced during the process to becoming an author was the reception from the PR community.
“One of the biggest rewards has been the response!” she said. “I was really nervous and scared to do this — this is a new lane and whenever you go into a new lane there are challenges. I’ve been getting very positive responses from other PR people; things like ‘I’m really looking forward to it’, ‘this is going to be great’… the responses have been incredible.”
The reception and support were so overwhelming that Ayo-Davies decided to also create a physical copy of the book in addition to her initial plan to launch solely as an eBook. With sincere gratitude for the process, she shared her biggest hope for her future readers.
“I hope people can implement the things they learn from my book into their businesses, and I can hear back reviews of how it helped them, because these are things that helped me over the years,” she said., “I’m always open for consultations. If someone gets the book and they want my help directly, especially upcoming publicists I’m open. I know how difficult it can be for a brown girl or boy to get a PR job at these big PR agencies, so I’m always open for people to talk to me.”
You can follow Carmena Ayo-Davies’ journey on social media at: @carmenakisses and @3bgmarketing. “Publicity On A Budget” is now available for purchase. Be sure to purchase your copy at: www.3bgmarketingsolutions.com.
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