More than four years ago UCF grad Ryan Totka registered a domain name on the Internet. The reason: he thought it sounded cool. While Totka ran totka.com, he learned how to build and nurture a business. After meeting former USF business student Ernie Falco last year, the practice paid off. Totka, Falco and a friend combined their talents to form TornadoPromotions.com, a company that just signed a deal to promote basketball wonder LeBron James on the Web.
When the trio joined the world of dot-com entrepreneurs, they were taking a risk. At the time, Internet casualties were piling up. Facing a business atmosphere of increasing competition and declining revenues, the partners built a business model to persevere, based on marketing and strong business ethics. The two used their own computer equipment, money and experience to launch the Web site.
"We started our business on our own cash, and not much," said Totka, 25. "We had no investors or venture capital. We already had the site registered, hosted it for free with a buddy, built it ourselves and only paid for the marketing."
Tornado Promotions, which is based in Orlando, now provides a litany of Internet clients with top listings on major search engines. Their site, designed to help other Web sites get name recognition, built a name for itself.
"I like marketing because it gives me a chance to work with an assortment of businesses," said Falco, 21. "Being your own boss is great. You have no limit on what is possible, you set your work schedule and control your own financial future."
Professor of marketing Ronald Michaels said that in order for young entrepreneurs to succeed, they need a sound plan and a strong proposition. He said it is imperative that the company understands its customers' needs and then combine hard work, continued development and luck - the factors that determine which businesses succeed, and which fail.
"You can't expect to sell a good or a service and keep selling it for a number of years," Michaels said. "Needs change and your product and service needs to change to match that. In the end it's a little bit of luck, a little bit of heart, and quite a bit of science."
Although the sluggish economy continues to hold down revenues for new dot-coms, the market has been good to Tornado Promotions.
"This past year for us has been really crazy," Totka said. "We have stepped up our marketing efforts including better search- engine placement, as well as distributing promotional products for potential clients and current clients. Our business is like a snowball; once it starts rolling down the hill, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger."
Since its inception the company has seen a 20 percent increase in growth and revenue every month of its existence. Its growing list of clients includes Morgan, Colling & Gilbert, Recreational Factory Warehouse, Legends Sports Management Group, American Liberty Financial and Body N Soul Spa. The company - which also provides Web sites with domain registration, Web hosting, Web site development and search-engine marketing - just acquired its biggest client to date, the Web site builder for the National Basketball Association's No. 1 draft pick.
Maniacal Marketing is building the official Web site for James, and Tornado Promotions will promote the site.
James, who has already landed endorsement deals worth over $100 million, has brought plenty of attention to Tornado's business. James' basketball skills have been compared to those of Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, but the value of his name has made him and businesses attached to him big money.
The young star just signed a rookie contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers worth nearly $13 million over three years. James is also the new face of Upper Deck trading cards, and is expected to raise ticket sales for the NBA.
Every time an Internet search is done for LeBron James, Tornado Promotions plans to make James' official site the first site on the search results list.
Brad Bledsoe, 21, has been working at Tornado Promotions since its beginning and says the fast-paced growth of the company will be even greater now that they have such a high-profile client. The UCF junior says the opportunity to work in connection with a young superstar can serve the public, clients and his company well.
"Our company has grown tremendously in the past six months and we are definitely on the right track," Bledsoe said. "Once we started working with Maniacal Marketing and LeBronJames.com, we knew this was a great opportunity. We needed to give our company the national and global recognition and credibility we need to help us grow and move in the right direction."
Dexter Lyons, starting forward for UCF's basketball team, said marketing an athlete can be a vital part of his or her career. The senior, who plans to play professionally, says name recognition is critical to making the step to the NBA.
"I think marketing is very important," said Lyons. "You could have a great player with great skills, but he's from a small school - then here comes great marketing to hype up his name and let everybody know that there is a great player at the school, and it can help move his career. Look at LeBron James - he's built like an NBA player, and he has the skills, but he's from a small school so he definitely needed good marketing."
Lyons says the same can be said for professional athletes because marketing can help a player get endorsements and other financial benefits.
This symbiotic relationship will benefit Tornado Promotions, Michaels says, but keeping such a big-name client happy could prove troubling for the company.
"It's great to have that kind of publicity, but it builds such a great expectation to please such a visible client," he said. "It's fantastic visibility, but it's also tremendously risky if you can't please that client."
Bledsoe attributes the company's success to the lessons he has been learning as a UCF student, both in the classroom and by observing the growth of the campus.
"UCF has influenced me greatly, and in a way it is much like our company," said the business administration major. "With UCF growing so rapidly like we are, it has prepared me to work in a fast-paced environment such as I do now."
Totka also said the knowledge he's absorbed at UCF has given him the skill to handle a developing company like Tornado Promotions.
"I enjoyed all my public relations and advertising classes, especially sports marketing," said Totka. "I learned that the most important part of building a successful Internet company is providing clients with good customer service so they keep coming back and referring new business. Word-of-mouth is the best marketing."
Michaels said the foundation provided by core business classes at UCF makes him confident that UCF students will succeed in the real world. "That's what an education is supposed to provide you with - the opportunity to apply what you have learned to do with what you have a drive to do," he said.
While the company has grown through positive word-of-mouth, they've also gone after clients they feel will build their reputation, Totka said.
"I contacted Maniacal Marketing about three months ago," Totka said. "I explained what we do and how we can promote LeBronJames.com when people are searching on Yahoo, Google, MSN, Lycos, Altavista and more. We formed a partnership."
Lyons said once the company has attained high quality clients it becomes easier for people to know where to go. "I would want to work with a company who has already been there at that level," Lyons said. "At least I'd know how they handled or helped someone like LeBron; they already have a reputation."
Even with all their accomplishments, the founders of Tornado Promotions want to further expand their business ventures. Falco said he eventually wants to see his company branch out and go beyond the Internet and into commercial real estate. His partners have similar dreams, but right now they are focusing on their clients' needs and enjoying their growing success.
Each founder has some dream clients, though, that they some day hope to serve, while gaining more recognition for the company.
"If I could pick one client that we currently do not have, it would probably be my idol, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and founder of Broadcast.com," Falco said. "He sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for over $5 billion. Also we would like to work with Red Bull Energy drink - maybe we can work out a tradeoff, because we spend too much money on their drinks."
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