Shawn D. Lane

By Brian Sodoma

Monday, June 29, 2009 | 1:02 p.m.

Shawn D. Lane has always loved marketing. But she’s never been a big fan of going to school to study the subject. The founder of Cheyenne Marketing, a firm she started in 2006 that specializes in the entertainment industry and niche small business, has always preferred to learn from experience.

“I keep learning more and more and creating more relationships. It (marketing) is definitely something I was meant to do,” Lane said.

At 16, she worked for a shoe store chain. By 17, Lane was managing two shoe stores, and her employer allowed her to try some of her marketing ideas to move product. The first idea involved receiving a free beach ball when spending $15 or more, Lane said.

“I saw this car with all these beach balls in it and came up with the idea. … We ended up blowing out the place (selling a lot of shoes),” Lane added.

Lane later started her own mystery shopper company. Feeling the itch to try something new, the entertainment industry fell into her lap when she helped a neighbor organize local advance screenings for a few movie studios. Lane recalls being constantly asked where tickets were available for the screenings. The inquiries helped spur an idea for two Las Vegas entertainment Web sites: LasVegasmovieinsider.com and LasVegasentertainment.com, with which she started doing ticket distribution online.

“Theaters were asking me to build them movie club lists. … It was just a fun idea, something on the side,” Lane said.

Today, Lane has merged her two sites, through which she handles ticketing distribution, and organizes and promotes Las Vegas movie premieres and advance screenings for 17 movie studios. She has done work with films such as the Saw movie franchise, Two for the Money, National Lampoon’s Cattle Call and numerous others.

Lane also enjoys weaving her small-business clients and local nonprofits into her movie marketing campaigns. For example, in some cases, she has moviegoers pick up movie tickets at one of her retail clients’ locations or somehow weaves a nonprofit’s cause into a marketing campaign. She also uses her Web site to drive traffic to some of her small-business clients.

“It seems silly not to do that,” Lane said of helping promote local nonprofits and other businesses.

The 42-year Southern Nevada resident also is very involved in Las Vegas on a philanthropic level. While helping groups like Make-A-Wish Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs, Candlelighters and others, Lane is a board member of Family and Child Treatment of Southern Nevada, a group that helps children and families overcome and heal from the traumas of abuse, neglect and violence.

As far as expanding her own business beyond a home-based operation, Lane’s 12-year-old daughter, Cheyenne, after whom the marketing firm was named, will have the final say. Lane said she will wait until her daughter turns 16 to expand.

“When I started, I was a stay-at-home mom and wanted to be there for my kids. … That hasn’t changed,” Lane said.