Elizabeth Round Cuts No Corners

Making the rounds with Village Home Stores’ marketing whiz

YSN Staff

Elizabeth Round is the marketing and content manager at Village Home Stores, a 26-year-old seller of appliances, cabinetry, countertops, wall tile, lighting, floor coverings and custom window treatments in Geneseo, Ill.

Although busy raising her company’s profile, she has been quick to share her promotional prowess with BrandSource members as a past YSN contributor.

We recently caught up with Round, but rather than seek her marketing advice, this time we sought her take on working in the industry, as both a manager and a woman.

How long have you been with Village Home Stores?

I have been here 12 years now. I manage our print and digital advertising at Village and capture our recent kitchen and bath projects to showcase the work we do and the products we offer. I also handle all of our online content and social media channels, and I write and host our TV show, which airs locally on the weekends.

What do you love about your job?

I love the creative license I have to grab an idea and go for it. I could never take an inspired content idea from concept to post as quick as often needed if I were in a more corporate marketing position. With content trends and truly inspired ideas for your niche, you have to act fast. Granted, not everything lands or takes off as expected, but every now and then something will hit the target, and that risk pays off for the Village brand.

What accomplishment are you proudest of and why?

I have a 13-year-old son and he’s just the kindest and smartest young critical thinker. Dude is funny too! Being a human in this world right now is a heavy task and coming of age seems an even heavier load. But he is putting in the work. I am so proud of him.

Tell us about a time when you helped, or were helped, by another woman in the industry.

This past year I have learned how impactful it can be just to reach out to a colleague and make sure that you tell them they were seen and heard. How many of us have left a meeting or creative collective and questioned if we were perceived as “too much” or “not enough” in that snapshot of time? If you appreciate something that was said or done, take time to connect with them as an aside conversation. I have been on the giving and receiving end of these affirmations and let me tell you, I would rather you compliment me in private for how I handled myself when challenged than how cute you think my earrings are in passing.

What is the biggest professional challenge you’ve faced recently?

I am a one-person department. The challenges of that should just be that I do all the things that need doing with no help. But sweetie, I’m a millennial, forged in the professional fire of hustle culture, so that’s no biggie. It’s on the other side of a campaign or a project, where the lows and the highs of how it went feel extra lonely. If things don’t go well I have to process it and try and learn from it to move ahead. This also means I have to celebrate personal and professional wins or goals, met with just a literal high-five to myself.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Free time does not equal availability.

What’s a change or improvement you’d like to see in this industry?

I truly pray that creators can commit to just making good content relevant to what they offer and only share that. We do not need so much noise online. Just show us your best stuff and let online consumers champion that. One well-crafted post can work so much better for you than a dozen desperate ones.  I don’t need my local bank to remind me it’s National Waffle Day. Or my entire feed the week after Easter to be haunted by AI-generated bunny graphics from pages wishing me a Happy Easter. Our next wave of customers will curate their feeds so precisely that we just need to be sure we stay in the mix.

If you couldn’t be in the career you’re in, what would you be doing now?

I think I would find a way to make a career out of sustainably thrifting/sourcing for people and producers. I would love to do this for both clothing and set dressing/location scouts.

What advice would you give a young woman starting out in a career, especially in a field not traditionally held by women?

As a creative, be prepared for your work to get stolen or copied. It hurts every time it happens, but it truly means you are on to something, so keep going.

YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.

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