Hilda S. Mitrani (photo credit: Alison Frank(
By Mark G. Auerbach
Hilda S. Mitrani begins the New Year with a rebrand of her company, Mitrani Marketing Inc., which she began in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market as Multilingual Media and Marketing in 2004. She began her career in South Florida after graduating with honors from the University of Miami with a degree in Arts Administration. Our paths first crossed when we were colleagues in the marketing department of Greater Miami Opera, which is now Florida Grand Opera. Before starting her own company, Mitrani was on the marketing and public relations team of one of the largest and most respected healthcare organizations in the region, Baptist Health South Florida.
Mitrani says she started her own company because, “I wanted to explore work outside of the hospital environment. Additionally, I lived an hour from my office, and it became untenable to keep making that commute. Mitrani Marketing is a regional company, since Miami-Dade/Ft. Lauderdale’s business community is in many ways one large market. And yet, success within pockets of our region can be instrumental in the overall success of a campaign.”
Mitrani describes her business as “the integration of marketing, communications and community engagement. Work that is sensitive to a multicultural arena is critical in this community. What I find interesting is that some clients use me exclusively in English and some use me only in Spanish. From my perspective, the variety is wonderful and keeps me on my toes.”
A Cuban-American, Mitrani is bilingual in English and Spanish, and she understands Ladino, a Romance Language based on Old Spanish, spoken within many Sephardic Jewish communities globally. She provides Spanish-language marketing services for primarily English-language businesses, and vice versa. She rebranded her company because she realized that she provides a scope of marketing and public relations services in both languages. In her marketplace, she’s sensitive to cultural differences and nationalism differences. ”I wanted to rebrand what I’m good at,” she says.
With one project she was involved with, adapting an English-language campaign to the Spanish market, she realized that the visuals didn’t work. “It’s those nuances I’m sensitive to, that helps my clients bridge the language and culture gap,” she says.
“Running your own business requires you to prioritize your time and choose clients carefully. I’ve turned down potential business when I don’t think I’m a good fit for their needs,” adds Mitrani.
Mitrani has embraced new technology and social media. “I’m a big fan of social media, and just started using commun.it for Twitter,” she says. “I love how it speeds up some of the oversight functions.” She stays up to date by following the Miami Herald’s Business Monday section, and the Twitter feeds for Forbes and Harvard Business Review.
“Two former bosses gave me sage advice. One, herself a published author and business owner, gave me the book, Dan S. Kennedy’s No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Guide to Time Productivity and Sanity on time management for new entrepreneurs,” says Mitrani. “The second one told me it was essential to know your own self. She suggested I adopt a thicker skin using an old Cuban maxim that compares a person to a US dollar bill… ‘Not everyone needs to like you as much as a dollar bill.’”
As for the best advice Mitrani can offer: “Make sure your ethical compass is intact and operational and always go with your gut.”
And that’s succeeding in small business.
Follow Hilda Mitrani on Twitter: @HildaSMitrani. Also visit her profile on LinkedIn.
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Mark G. Auerbach is principal at Mark G. Auerbach Public Relations, a Springfield, MA, based marketing, public relations, development and events consultancy. You can find more information about Mark at Facebook and LinkedIn.
