Meet Lacy Boggs | Content Marketing Strategist & Director of The Content Direction Agency

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lacy Boggs and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lacy, how do you think about risk?
When it comes to most things in business, I’m pretty risk-averse. I don’t take on debt. I invest in things only when I see that there could be a strong ROI. I generally play it safe.

But the one place I do embrace some risk is creatively.

I mean, that’s pretty much my entire business: helping people stand out with content marketing. And if you never take any risks, you’re definitely never going to stand out.

Take my fiction podcast, “Ace Stone, Marketing Detective” for example. As I write this, the podcast has been live for seven days, and at this point, it’s impossible to know if it’s going to be a success.

My goal with the podcast is to reach some new people, inspire some business owners around what’s possible with content marketing, and — hopefully — be top of mind when a few of those people decide they want to do something a little risky with their own content marketing.

But there’s no blueprint for this. I’m blazing a new trail, which is always risky. I had to be willing to “lose” the money I put in to produce and launch this podcast.

Honestly, though, I’ve had so much fun making it that even if I never see a direct ROI from it, I’ll still have done something amazing and exciting. And that’s the kind of risk I’m always willing to take!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I always wanted to be a writer. When I was in 8th grade, I told my beloved English teacher that I wanted to be an author. She told me that was a difficult career path and that I should have a backup plan. My high school had a radio, TV, and film program, and I decided that maybe TV journalism would be my backup plan.

Instead, I fell in love with filmmaking and ended up going to film school. I got my BA in moving image arts (from a college that, sadly, no longer exists!) and spent my entire senior year in the months-long application process for an internship with the Directors Guild of America. Out of 3,000 applicants, they only take 30 per year. I made it to the final 100 before I was cut.

I didn’t have a plan B.

I tried for a while to “break in” to Hollywood, had a quarter-life crisis, and ended up deciding that I would return to my original love and try to find a career in writing. I got a job working for a PR agency in California, then moved to Colorado where I ended up writing travel magazines before falling into a job as the food editor and restaurant reviewer for a hyper-local magazine in Boulder County. (Nice work if you can get it — getting paid to eat and have opinions!)

In 2011 I had my daughter and decided to stay home with her, because 60-hour work weeks and 3am deadlines don’t mix with having an infant. I started a food blog and, while I was good at the blogging bit, I didn’t know how to make it make money. After a year of blogging for myself, I hung out my digital shingle as a “ghostblogger” and that idea finally took off.

Today I still write for a few select clients and projects, but I’ve also been able to turn my energy back toward creative writing. I’ve written two books (one business and one fiction) and wrote all the scripts for “Ace Stone, Marketing Detective.”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As you might have guessed, I’m a bit of a foodie, so my itineraries tend to revolve around where we’re going to eat.

I’d probably get tickets for a walking tour with Local Table Tours; my friend Megan and her team host amazing tours of foodie neighborhoods like downtown Boulder and the Highlands. If my guests included kids, I’d definitely sign up for a science of dessert tasting at The Inventing Room. And we’d have to have at least one nice dinner out; my favorites include Fruition in Denver, Oak at Fourteenth in Boulder — or maybe we’d go try our latest James Beard Award Winner, Annette in Aurora.

I love to get out into Nature, so we’d probably head to Rocky Mountain National Park or Garden of the Gods for a little sightseeing. If they’ve done the big sights like that, my recent favorite lesser known place to hike or drive is 11 Mile Canyon, near Florissant.

We’d probably have to make a trip to the Boulder Farmer’s Market and I like to follow that up with lunch — some dumplings from Sister’s Pantry at the market, or tacos from T|ACO, or pizza from Locale. Then home to cook, eat, and hang out in my back yard under the stars.

And since I live in Westminster, I’d probably take them paddle boarding at Standley Lake and then to the new “downtown” to show off that even the burbs can be cool with a visit to our very own Tattered Cover outpost, brunch at Famile, or a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Eight years ago I hired Sarah Ashman of Public Persona Studio to help me create a memorable brand for my business — and boy, did she deliver! Through her process (and with the help of her singular creative mind) we uncovered the detective agency, neo-noir brand that we still use.

At the time, I was a solo act with only a single contractor, but Sarah’s vision for my business included the word “agency,” and that was the first step toward me accepting and standing in that role as an agency owner. Visually, she created a brand so arresting and memorable it’s usually the first thing people comment on when they meet me. And it’s stood the test of time; we just updated our photos, but the overall brand direction and aesthetic has stayed the same.

And, the result of her vision is why a 1940s-style radio play made ANY sense at all when I was creating this podcast!

Website: http://lacyboggs.com

Instagram: @lacylu42 and @acestonemarketingdetective

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lacyboggs/

Facebook: /lacylu42 or /ghostbloggergb

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LacyBoggs

Other: http://acemarketingdetective.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ace-stone-marketing-detective/id1628887802

Image Credits
Andrea Burolla Photography Monica Young