BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — After graduating from Canisius College with a degree in marketing, Clarissa Rias said she noticed a shift towards digital marketing.
"I just started freelancing on the side, running paid ad campaigns for some local businesses in the area," said Rias, director of Clarissa Rias Digital Marketing Group.
After COVID-19 hit, Rias said she had an influx of business owners who were looking for other ways to market their business while they were closed.
"I basically came up with some really easy, fun strategies that are reasonable, less expensive than maybe some traditional marketing," she said.
She decided to use her 10 years of expertise to help more business owners, by going live on Facebook every Tuesday, without charging anyone who attends.
She gives advice on setting up Facebook ad campaigns and targeting specific audiences, as well as introducing new ideas and reinforcing what business owners already know.
"The other things that I talk about are like different strategies for you to be able to market your business online for free or for cheaper than what you would expect," said Rias.
Rias started going live on Facebook in April of last year, and since then she's invited some business owners, like CE Eaton who owns Enchanted Faces & Haus of Kula.
Rias helped Eaton set up an ad campaign for her website.
"With no effort at all, the traffic to the site has skyrocketed," said Eaton. "She's like helped me to really target who I want those products to go to. She has such a passion for helping you know the small business, the minority business, the females and everything. She has such a passion for it that nobody is really putting themselves out there for."
Rias's next livestream is scheduled for June 27 where she'll go over social media tools.
