Introduction
My video work is extensively showcased throughout my website but people sometimes want to know how I got to this point doing what I do. It may seem diverse and random on the surface but it might be interesting to see if you can see the thread that pulls it all together.
I’ve always been interested in visual marketing whether through catalogs, brochures, print advertising, outdoor advertising, websites, digital graphics, window display, trade shows or video and I have dabbled in, if not mastered most of these media over the length of my career.
Problem solving is something of an addiction with me. I have been told I am a good listener and love to use that superpower to help people find their passion and tell their stories. Keeping up with current trends as well as the technology necessary to create effective online marketing content is mentally stimulating and fun.
The advantage of working with me is based on a combination of my passion for what I do combined with my eclectic interests and varied experiences. I have learned much from working with each of my clients over the years, which has provided insights into a broad spectrum of business challenges and solutions from a wide array of industries and market segments.
During my high-school years and shortly thereafter I worked in a restaurant, a jewelry store, a collection agency, for a bankruptcy trustee and in my mother’s collection agency. My dad also owned a motel in Colorado that I spent time at periodically. With my mom I started a small mail-order business and later we bought and sold odd lots that we sold at flea markets on the weekend.
I worked for about a year in an automotive parts warehouse where I learned valuable lessons about the movement of goods and multi-level sales structures that included wholesale, distributor and retail pricing. This was were I first came in contact with sales reps and became intrigued with the idea of business-to-business selling.
As a result of these experiences I am an enthusiastic advocate of youth employment opportunities and encouraging young people to take jobs that are not necessarily career path oriented. There is so much to learn from being around a variety of people and having glimpses into diverse industries. If you are able to synthesize your observations into general concepts and life lessons I guarantee you will draw upon them the rest of your life.
My personality requires diverse input with varied activity. This allows me to shift seamlessly between consulting with a solopreneur service provider looking to define and express their unique position in the marketplace or getting into the nitty gritty of producing podcast or video content that provides internal or external communication for a larger organization.
In the end it is all about finding the right communications media that will encourage prospects to engage with my clients for the purpose of effectively conveying a specific message or prompting the establishment of a mutually beneficial relationship.
Listen to this discussion below that offers a third party overview of this biography.
An OVERVIEW
Reno Lovison has years of sales, marketing & communication experience working with businesses large and small, and has been involved with video production for over 30 years as well as personally conducting hundreds of sales & marketing training programs involving thousands of salespeople.
There are any number of marketing and video production companies that can help you produce your needed communications content but not many bringing a wealth of general business, sales, marketing, and training experience to the process, contributing to your ability to meet your specific objectives. Reno Lovison D/B/A Reno Lovison Marketing is interested in helping you utilize the entire spectrum of communication media to achieve your goals.
The JOURNEY
Retail & Manufacturing Experience
After opening a store in Milwaukee on behalf of a Chicago retail clothing company, then leaving his position as store manager to pursue other interests, Reno worked as a freelance window decorator, and independent sales rep covering most of the Midwest in his yellow Volkswagen before beginning his first business at age 25 along with two friends.
Together they designed and manufactured a boutique apparel line that was successfully sold nationally in Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and other upscale retail stores. This early experience provided life long lessons, insight, and experience into the entire business process from raising capital to design, materials procurement, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, sales, marketing, credit, collection and overall management.
“Our products were featured on the cover of a leading industry trade magazine, inside Playboy magazine, and on a popular sitcom. We attended 15 to 20 trade shows a year, had showrooms in five cities, manufacturing contractors in three locations with a warehouse and central office in Chicago.
“Whether it pertains to my business directly or the business of a client, hardly a day goes by that I do not draw on something I learned (the hard way) during this period in my life,” says Reno.
Promotional Products leads to Video Production and expands Marketing Experience
Looking to expand the company’s markets, Reno stumbled upon an opportunity to procure an order to manufacture thousand of aprons, napkins and oven mitts as part of a promotion for a major spaghetti sauce brand, launching him into the promotional products business for several years. It was during this time that he began cultivating an interest in helping entrepreneurs to promote their brands. This phase expanded his knowledge of computer graphics and printing as well as providing opportunities to include his love of video production into the marketing mix.
His video experience was first achieved by partnering with a Chicago video production company to produce a number of short promo videos for local businesses that were broadcast along with trivia questions in bars and restaurants around the city. Additionally, while building his marketing clientele Reno was moonlighting at a Spanish language TV station as part of their ENG (electronic news gathering) team to gain some broadcast experience. This on-the-job training provided a crash course in video production and valuable lessons.
Publishing Experience
Working as a marketing consultant for the urology department at a major children’s hospital in Chicago, Reno had the opportunity to help them write a best selling book on the topic of enuresis (a/k/a bedwetting). This experience inspired him to use what he had learned in promotional products and marketing consulting to write “Turn Your Business Card Into Business – Fundamentals of Building Entrepreneurial Business Relationships” which has been repurposed as an online video course at Udemy. In 2024 Reno helped a consulting client write and publish a book that applied concepts of servant leadership to the practicalities of parenting.
As a result of these projects Reno has content edited and contributed to several books while also working with numerous fiction and non-fiction authors helping in their promotion and marketing efforts including the production of nearly 100 book video trailers and several audio books. As part of this effort he established AuthorsBroadcast.com to display and promote book trailers while producing “Author’s Showcase” a monthly Chicago cable TV show all about new books and authors.
Pharmaceutical Industry & Hospitality Marketing
While building his business video marketing business – – for several years Reno provided local on-site event management for nearly every major pharmaceutical company. This entailed overseeing medical dinner meetings at area restaurants as well as multi-day symposiums at various hotels in Chicago and Los Angeles.
During this time he designed a popular sales training program, which he personally conducted, over a three year period for the benefit of virtually every major hotel brand nationwide including Hyatt, Hilton, Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Holiday Inn, Sheraton and others.
Concerned about travelling during the SARS outbreak in 2002, Reno found himself on the cutting edge, quickly providing an early version of an online “webinar” of his program for a hotel client in Toronto where the outbreak first hit North America. As they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Reno has produced promotional videos for about 100 “mom and pop” or independent lodging establishments, primarily in the popular Door County, Wisconsin tourist area. He used insight gained from working with the big brands to provide added value to their projects at prices they could afford.
Reno says, “I worked over ten years with one client in the travel industry to develop a robust online local tourist destination directory that has generated over a million dollars in revenue. Aside from general business consulting and video production services I assisted them in the development of a mobile Smart Phone Application, and the production of a Chicago cable TV show.
Other interesting clients
“My wife is a piano teacher and through her I created a 25+ year relationship as a marketing consultant to a piano music publisher. My interest in music has allowed me to work on a dozen music videos and many music performance videos.”
“Another client came with an unusual service idea. I said, ‘If you have insight into the industry and see a problem that needs to be solved then let’s make this thing happen.’ While working with them as a general business consultant, I created my first online video training series showing their clients how to use the company’s proprietary database program that I helped to develop. Over several years I contributed to the growth of this small lean company, going from zero to over one million dollars per year in revenue until it was successfully sold 15 years later when the owner retired.”
Not-for-Profit Internal and External Communications
One business friend asked Reno to assist a Chicago area not-for-profit organization achieve some of their communications and outreach objectives as well as manage some special projects. Aside from a number of graphics related projects such as brochures, postcards, posters, street banners, window graphics and a new website this also included helping the pre-school teachers produce about 50 short video lessons to be used during the COVID-19 stay-at-home pandemic as well as video public service announcements, a number of event videos and a series of training videos for their staff. We decided that the appearance of the organization’s property is part of the marketing mix, so Reno acted as project manager for the rehabilitation of the outside of one building (utilizing reclaimed slate roofing tiles) and the reconstruction of a new environmentally friendly parking lot utilizing permeable pavers and environmentally friendly landscaping.
Windup
As a child Reno was professional actor, attending a local theater school and becoming a member of Actor’s Equity by age ten. It is mentioned here because that experience and early training informs much of what he does as a producer and director of short promotional videos. “I seem to enjoy working within a prescribed area, whether it is a stage, a store window, camera lens, or video frame,” says Reno.
“It’s difficult to mention all of the interesting projects and clients I have had the pleasure of working with over the years,” he says. “I’ve been lucky to have many repeat clients. I value my long term relationships and derive my greatest enjoyment from working with leaders of growing businesses, who have a proven product or service, with strong desire to succeed.”
OTHER INTERESTS
Reno enjoys technology, staying up-to-speed on his video and graphics software as well as WordPress and other programs used to assist his clients. Learning about how Artificial Intelligence can be used in the creative process and as part of the marketing process has been the latest interest.
Over the years he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the National Runaway Switchboard; President of the Chicago Uptown Lions Club; District 1-A Chairman of the Peace Poster Contest and Public Relations Chairman of the District 1-A Lions Clubs representing about 100 clubs in Cook County; Recipient of the Melvin Jones Fellowship; Vice-President of Public Relations of a local Chicago Toastmasters Club; Vice-President and Outreach Chairman of Midwest Writers Association; and founder of the Business Card to Business Networking Group.
He also writes local theater reviews for Chicago Theater and Arts which he has also records and presents as a podcast at ChicagoBroadcastingNetwork.com. When “the spirit moves him” and he feels there is something he wants to say or share, Reno produces short videos for CANTV on a variety of timely topics. He plays the guitar and sings, mostly folk and folk-rock ballads, performing occasionally at various open-mic clubs around the northside. His COVID-19 awareness parody “Don’t Spread it Around” produced in conjunction with his wife Julie at the piano, was broadcast on cable TV over 500 times. On a challenge he learned a Chinese folk tune “The Moon Represents My Heart” that he performed in Mandarin at a local Asian event.