Yes, the 2026 BECOME Women’s Summit was powerful. Yes, it inspired action, shifted perspective, and created real connection. And yes, it changed lives.
But let’s talk about the part that doesn’t always make the highlight reel. Let’s talk about the business of it. Specifically, the marketing.
Because this year, I made a very intentional decision. If I am going to stand on stages and talk about collaboration over competition, then I need to build it into how I actually operate. Not just say it. Live it.
So instead of hiring one marketing firm or trying to control every moving piece myself, I tapped into the talent already inside the Little Black Book community. Women who own marketing businesses. Women who are exceptional at what they do. Women who each operate in their own lane. And I brought them together.
For seven months, starting in September 2025 with our early bird ticket release, this group functioned as a fractional marketing agency. Each woman owned a piece of the strategy. Photography. Graphic design. Organic social. Email. Blogging. Podcasting. Video. AI workflows. Paid ads. Print. Merchandising.
If I’m being honest, marketing at this level is complex. I have a degree in it and it still requires constant attention, alignment, and adjustment. There are a lot of moving parts, and if they are not working together, they can easily work against each other.
This time, they didn’t. Everything worked together. And the results speak for themselves.
- In 2025, the Summit served 145 women. In 2026, we served 218.
- Our goal was 200. Full capacity was 225. We were close enough to a waitlist that we were actively preparing for one.
- That is a 49.6 percent increase in attendance.
Within three days of launching our paid social media campaign across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, we saw a 231 percent increase in traffic to the event landing page. The spike was so significant that it crashed our website and forced us to upgrade our bandwidth.
That is not a problem. That is proof.
Even more important, our paid campaign delivered a 465 percent return. For every one dollar spent, we generated four dollars and sixty five cents back. That is strong performance by any standard.
But it was not just one tactic. It was the layering.
- We told stories through blogs. Why BECOME exists. What it stands for. How to justify attending to an employer. What happens when you put yourself in a room full of ambitious women who are building, growing, and rising.
- We secured earned media through Chesterfield Lifestyle Magazine, which told the story of BECOME and put it in front of a broader audience, even landing a cover feature.
- We leveraged podcasts. Our speakers were interviewed. Ads were placed intentionally on shows we knew our audience already trusted.
- We created video. Not overly produced, but intentional. Why BECOME matters. What to expect. What happens when you get in the room.
- The photography and design were not afterthoughts. They were strategic. They communicated a standard. Elevated, welcoming, professional, and worth showing up for. That mattered because we were not only speaking to our existing network. We were reaching beyond it.
And that worked.
Of the nearly 50 percent increase in registrations, 35 percent came from women outside of the Little Black Book network. That is a marketing win.
We also saw something new.
- Six women flew into St Louis to attend. SIX!
- One woman came from Kansas City alone. She did not know a single person in the room. She found us by searching “women’s conferences.” The landing page did its job. It converted her from someone gathering information into someone who made the decision to show up.
That is marketing doing exactly what it is supposed to do. And the impact extended beyond ticket sales.
Inside the Summit, our women owned boutique vendors saw real results.
- One health and wellness product company experienced a 75 percent increase in sales compared to the previous year.
- A fashion boutique owner saw a 50 percent increase and secured additional opportunities including a regional fashion show and a local television feature.
- Our team added 22 new prospects to our membership pipeline.
This is what happens when collaboration is executed, not just discussed. Multiple business owners. Multiple areas of expertise. One shared goal. No competition. No overlap. No confusion. Just alignment.
I could show you the photos…and I will. I could also tell you how incredible the energy in the room was. And all of that is true. But what matters just as much is this:
When women come together, stay in their lane, respect each other’s expertise, and build toward something bigger than themselves, the result is not just a successful event. It is a scalable, profitable, high impact business model.
That is the real story behind BECOME.
