Ross Simmonds is the visionary behind Foundation, an innovative content marketing agency that seamlessly blends data-driven insights with boundless creativity to empower and cater to ambitious B2B brands.

Foundation boasts a global clientele, serving organizations that span from the most rapidly ascending startups and consumer goods companies to venerable Fortune 500 giants.

Under Ross’s leadership, the Foundation team has orchestrated marketing campaigns that have achieved unparalleled reach, captivating audiences across major social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Moreover, their prowess extends to strategizing, crafting, and disseminating content assets that have translated into multimillion-dollar revenue streams for various brands.

In an interview with Eventible, Ross speaks about his journey so far, his primary responsibilities and areas of focus, his aspirations and goals, his experience and biggest takeaway at Moz Con 2023, and more!

1. Please provide a brief overview of your background and the journey that led you to
   become the CEO of Foundation Marketing.
   
   My journey began by creating content online about fantasy sports. My first blog was all about fantasy football. I would create content three times a week, writing about which players I believed would perform the best, and people from all over the world started to read this content and connect with it. This is when the light bulbs went off, the internet was going to be big, and the idea of creating content online can allow you to reach millions of people.
   
   RossSimmonds.com became my website, and I continued to produce content for years, gaining traction and engagement from a global audience. Eventually, I transitioned from the RossSimmonds.com business as a freelancer to Foundation Marketing. This content marketing agency works with some of the best B2B brands globally.

2. What are your primary responsibilities and areas of focus within the company as the
CEO of Foundation Marketing?

My priority as CEO is focusing on a few simple things: recruitment, culture, growth, and innovation. All these things are critical to the Foundation’s and personal development, and working with my team gives me great satisfaction every day. The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving.

3. What are some of the most exciting trends or shifts that businesses should be aware of in the coming years?

Generative AI, without question, is one of the most critical shifts that businesses should be aware of and focusing on right now. Any organization underestimating the power of generative AI and its influence on marketing is minimizing the power of this technology and the impact it will have on people for decades to come. A handful of barriers hold brands back from generative AI, and I recommend that organizations study these barriers and overcome them. Read more here.

4. With the rise of social media platforms and the changing algorithms, how do you advise businesses to adapt their social media strategies to maintain engagement and reach their target audience?

Study your audience, their habits, and their behaviors, and then go deep in becoming immersed in their communities and the spaces in which they operate. Focusing on your customers will make you more likely to create content that educates, engages, entertains, or empowers them. This is what I call the 4Es; if you embrace the 4E, you will be more likely to be successful online.

5. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build their businesses or personal brands?

Get out and build. Getting caught up in this idea of going through the motions of entrepreneurship is easy, but there’s nothing like making a business. Start something, no matter how small, get into creating things, and see how the market responds.

6. Could you share a specific challenge or setback you’ve faced in your entrepreneurial journey and how you overcame it? What lessons did you learn from that experience?

When I graduated from high school, my nickname was Shy Ross. Since then, I’ve gone on to speak at conferences with thousands of people. I was a shy kid and an introvert, but I read a blog post many years ago that told me that public speaking was the key to success if you wanted to succeed in marketing, so I signed up to speak at conferences and could do it.

7. Could you recommend any books, podcasts, or resources that have significantly
impacted your professional journey?

My favorite copywriting book is On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. It is one of the most influential books in copywriting history but often one of the most underrated as more and more books are written on the subject. 

This book, in particular, does a great job at taking stories from his past and injecting them with great writing tips everyone can learn, whether how to narrate and structure a story or how important it is to write, write, write! I love this book because it goes into the details of what truly goes into writing good copy.

8. For marketing professionals aiming to enhance their strategic thinking, what recommendations do you have to help them think more critically and creatively?

My number one advice for increasing your strategic thinking would be to become obsessed with learning, get creative, read constantly, study the grades, and become immersed in the world in which you’re trying to break into.

9. Please tell us about a gratifying project or campaign that the Foundation Marketing has worked on. What made it successful, and what lessons were learned from it?

Over the years, the Foundation has worked closely with many non-profits as a part of our commitment to giving back to the culture and communities we operate. Whether it’s working with groups to support physicians or groups to support the fight against child obesity, the Foundation has helped so many different causes and created content that has shaped culture in meaningful ways; I can’t point to just one
that stands out as being rewarding.

10. What are your aspirations and goals for yourself and Foundation Marketing in the next few years?

We want to create that shapes culture. I want to create an organization that will forever impact how that business is done.

11. How was your experience at the Moz Con 2023, and what was your biggest takeaway?

My experience at Moz Con 2023 was unique. The biggest takeaway is that we’re just getting started with AI, and organizations are starting to wake up to it, but it’s happening much slower than I initially thought. The opportunity is more significant now than ever before.