The Genesis of DIGILISM: A New Approach to Marketing

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A few months ago, Kendall Shaw was a college freshman whose company, Maverick Digital Marketing, had enjoyed some significant success. Kendall Shaw, who began working with social media marketing in middle school, was an accomplished marketing agency owner with expertise in scaling businesses by the time he finished high school. Maverick, his previous company, was an AI-based marketing company that Shaw launched in June 2018 and that immediately achieved a five-figure valuation, signaling that this company was much more than a high schooler’s passion project. Now, however, Kendall is the full-time CMO of DIGILISM, a new brand that synergizes his strengths with those of Christian Maldonado (COO) and Jordan Nazario (CSO).

DIGILISM, according to Kendall Shaw, provides B2B consulting and fulfillment in the realms of eCommerce, advertising, high-ticket sales, client acquisition, website development, and content creation. What sets this suite of services apart from the myriad of companies offering similar services is its individually-tailored approach that it offers, which helps position its enterprise clients for success. “Everyone’s offering a course here and a webinar there,” Shaw tells me, “But the value they’re giving is one strategy for the masses, rather than a one-on-one consulting, addressing that person or specific needs.” While some may benefit from a general approach, or assume that services such as DIGILISM’s would be out of their reach, DIGILISM is trying to disrupt the market by offering creative digital solutions for individuals and for individual companies.

How DIGILISM came to be is a fairly unusual story, even for the current digital space. Christian reached out to Kendall via Instagram. Since Shaw was headed to college in the Tampa Bay Area, where Christian was located, he decided to pay him a visit and discuss Maldonado’s ideas for a digital business. The two shared a vision for changing digital marketing itself, instead of merely chasing clients, and Shaw decided that their views would synergize well. Shaw credits the networking opportunities of digital media for his ability to bring Jordan Nazario on board, since he already knew of Nazario’s KLVR firm. Each individual brought a unique set of skills and experiences to the table, and in under a month, the company had rebranded, restructured, and already netted revenue of around $25,000. With a customer-centric vision and a strong emphasis on helping other companies develop a customer-centric approach, DIGILISM positions its clients for success over the long haul. Now, DIGILISM provides a variety of services to help businesses excel.  

One incredibly unique factor of DIGILISM is that, despite its branding as a company working in the digital space, it was gaining customers before its website even went live. It lacks a public price list or menu. Incredibly, all of its clients have come through organic lead generation, which underscores the immense power of networking, referrals, and old-fashioned cold calling in the new digital landscape of direct messages on social media. Further, Shaw emphasizes that none of this would be possible without the democratizing power of the Internet, which can allow anyone, regardless of age, gender, or origin, to succeed if they are willing to learn and to work hard.

The key takeaway from the birth of DIGILISM (Instagram: @digilism) is that even small companies can engage in the kinds of strategic partnerships and mergers that corporate titans do. The key is proactive networking and developing companies that together offer a suite of unique value propositions. Although flying solo is a great option for many companies or entrepreneurs, combining powers by working together creates more muscle. For DIGILSIM, the result is a company that can meet the needs of many other companies. This opportunity for aggregation comes from the very nimbleness that entrepreneurs and other businesses gain through the structure of their businesses.