Member Since 2017
Fortress Consulting
Chicago Area
Joel Mathew is an entrepreneur with a background in media and technology. He spent several years in Chicago media working for both the television and radio industries, before founding his own digital focused agency, Fortress Consulting. Fortress Consulting is a digital marketing agency, headquartered in Chicago, that bridges the gap between creative and technology. Fortress clients range from new startups to billion dollar global corporations including All State, Nike, Acura and more. In addition to his expertise in advertising and technology, Joel is also a partner in several ventures in a variety of verticals including legal, fitness, cybersecurity, publishing and more. Joel graduated from Northern Illinois University and holds a certificate from Harvard Business School. He frequently lectures to organizations and universities on various topics including entrepreneurship and digital marketing.
Business advice can come from anywhere, even from those who have never owned a business. But if you’re a new entrepreneur just starting out, you tend to soak up all the information that you can. The most significant problem is there’s no simply way to tell the lousy advice from the good advice. Sometimes experience is the only way to figure out the difference.
When a client signs on with your business, they have certain expectations about what your performance will be. The best way to end up with a happy client, however, is to manage these expectations early on. If you don't, and a client feels as though they should have gotten more from your business but didn't, their testimony could severely damage your future business and your reputation. To ensure you don’t end up in this situation, 12 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) share their insights on the following question:
Every day, new devices pop onto the scene promising change and innovation. For an entrepreneur who's focused on the expansion of their organization, staying up to date with the latest technology that can support personal and business growth is essential. Whether it’s in a simple or a major way, some of these technologies carry with them the power to change how we do business altogether.
You can't avoid the occasional upset customer, but you can quickly and effectively smooth things over.
Entrepreneurs share their favorite tools, apps, and software for managing and interacting with customers.
Establishing a personal brand is something many professionals do to get noticed by the right people and make themselves available to the right opportunities. Unfortunately, with all the different information sources out there, it's easy to get confused about how exactly to do that. Where one source would advise you to do one thing, another article may recommend the complete opposite.
Communication is one of the most essential skills that a business leader needs to master to be successful. Great leaders may develop their communication skills early on in their careers, but they also have created and maintained habits that help them communicate more effectively.
You may be surprised at all the parallels between school sports and business success.
A great digital marketing strategy can drive potential customers to your website. But high traffic doesn't always translate into revenue. Once you get people on your site, you need to ensure they have a reason to follow through on their purchase. To help you do this, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council how they optimize and convert web traffic into real dollars. Their best tips and insights are below.
Today’s consumers demand transparency and honesty in brands they buy from. They expect their voices to be heard, which means attracting and retaining customers is all about listening to your audience.
It’s important to consider the interests of your consumers and, more importantly, implement their feedback into your products or business model. To help you do this, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members for their best advice on how to truly listen to your customers. Their best responses are below.
Competition among companies can be fierce, especially those in the same field with similar messages. With so many other brands out there, it can be difficult to make your story stand out among the crowd. However, you need to identify that “something special” about your business that truly makes it shine.
To help you, we asked 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members how to captivate customers through the art of storytelling. Here’s how they recommend crafting a brand story that captures attention and engages your target audience.
Don't settle for poor quality because of a lower price tag.
Make sure to establish a relationship built on trust before having anyone market on your company's behalf.
Fortress Consulting Group uniquely combines the creative strengths of a full service advertising agency with the technological savvy of a cutting edge digital media firm to create engaging brand experiences. As our interaction with technology evolves and our digital media consumption grows, brands need to have a compelling digital presence that captures the attention and hearts of consumers. Our digital strategies provide businesses with a significant competitive advantage in reaching their goals. Digital isn't all we do. At Fortress, we strengthen your brand's identity not only in the digital space but consistently across multiple platforms and anywhere you can potentially interact with your target market. We stand apart from the crowd because we can take your digital strategy one step further by developing and integrating full and comprehensive marketing plans that incorporate television, radio, local customized promotions, and much more. We don't take shortcuts. We do business the right way. Our clients aren't just clients, they are a part of our Fortress family and we do what it takes to help them achieve their goals.
Marketing & Advertising