Neil Berman

BIO

Neil Berman, CEO of Indianapolis-based email marketing firm Delivra, said the company chose Louisville for its second location because the city is in the sweet spot for the kinds of clients the company wants to reach. Delivra officially opened its Louisville offices on Sept. 21, at at Nucleus: Kentucky's Innovation Center, 201 E. Jefferson St. Delivra has been in business since 1999 and has 35 employees. Delivra opened the Louisville office with three employees: Rachel McMahan, a business development manager; Anthony Antonicello, also a business development manager; and Steven Dilmore, a client success specialist. Berman told Business First that Delvira's target clients are small and medium-sized businesses with five or fewer people in their marketing departments and $1 million to $50 million in sales. He said Louisville has a good number of headquarters of such firms, which means they have the authority to make spending decisions for their company. "You can't sell to a branch," he said. Consultants told him the companies in Louisville that might become Delivra customers want a personal relationship with their vendors and expect them to have a deep understanding of their businesses. "So to my mind, this meant putting the customer-facing business where the customers are," he said. He said Delivra's three current Louisville employees have a wide range of skills, including business development, account management and technical support. "Everything that's not back office," he said. Specifically Delivra is looking to market itself to retail, e-commerce, and business and financial services firms. Delivra believes Louisville's email marketing marketplace has a potential value of $18 million. Berman said that if all goes well with the Louisville office, the firm could add more positions, including graphic designers and technical support workers to help clients use Delivra's software platform. "Since this is the second day of our third week, I don't have a feel for that," he said. He did say, however, that the goal is to serve not only the Louisville area, but also to gain clients eastward, including in Lexington. In tandem with opening its new office, Delivra is offering Louisville-area nonprofits a chance to win a $5,000 email-marketing software package. Delivra has received 10 applications so far, and 20 winners will be selected. Area nonprofits that want to apply can click here. The contest will be open though Oct. 21, with winners being alerted Oct. 23. RECOMMENDED CAREER & WORKPLACE DBJ names 2020 Forty Under 40 winners RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE Greater Cincinnati’s most expensive home sales in May: PHOTOS HEALTH CARE Moffitt Cancer Center breaks ground on $400M hospital project (Renderings) The contest will culminate at a free launch party for Delivra on Thursday, Oct. 29, at Copper and Kings American Brandy Co. in Louisville.