Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Marketing Maniac: Darlene Tenes is the founder and CEO of Marketing Maniacs, a public relations and marketing firm specializing in hispanic marketing.




Marketing firm recognized for community promotion

By Kate Carter

Willow Glen's marketing and public relation's firm Marketing Maniacs has been recognized as one of the 100 up-and-coming urban companies in the nation.

The local business publication Inc. magazine recognized Marketing Maniacs, 1165 Lincoln Ave. Suite 200, in a May issue.

The company has also won the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce's Small Business of the Year award in the service category.

The company hosted a successful "Schmooze Fiesta" in May, sponsored by the San Jose and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, on the first level of the Garden Theater.

Founder and CEO Darlene Tenes says what makes Marketing Maniacs successful is its "grass-roots marketing"--its connection to the community, particularly the Latino community, and its skill at promoting both corporate and nonprofit clients.

"We find all kinds of ways we can meet people," Tenes says. "We're really involved in the community. We're bilingual and we understand the culture here. You can't just translate things. It's not the same."

She didn't intend to start a marketing firm specifically for Latinos when she began Marketing Maniacs in her home in San Jose's east foothills in March 1998, she says. Her skills and her experience are grounded in working as an independent contractor in marketing, in development and public relations for the nonprofit Muscular Dystrophy Association and starting her own magazine 10 years ago, which she since has sold.

Her business grew until she was able to move on Lincoln Avenue in October 1998. Now her staff has four people in the office and other event staff members. Her client list includes Latino companies and organizations, high-tech companies and the city of San Jose, among others.

"I come from a family of entrepreneurs, so it's not that unusual in my family," Tenes says of her accomplishments. She says she gets her business acumen from her father her and commitment to community service from her mother.

Her father, Rudy, now retired, started his own jewelry store, which had locations in Santa Clara and Gilroy. Her mother, Lily, has been involved in nonprofit and community work throughout her life.

Tenes says the two of them are supportive of her business and even help out on occasion at events and doing translations.

One of her annual events, Una Mano Amiga, is a 12-weeklong promotion of client Cacique, the nation's No. 1 seller of Mexican cheeses. The event promotes two nonprofit organizations, along with Cacique. In past years Marketing Maniacs and Cacique have supported the Diabetes Society of Santa Clara Valley, which supports education and research about the affliction that affects a high percentage of Hispanic people, and Las Isabelas, a Spanish-speaking breast cancer support group.

"We always try to think of unique ideas for our clients," Tenes says. "It all come back to image."

For more information about Marketing Maniacs, call 408.280.0435.

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