Marketing, at its core, can be broken down into three questions: What do you want your company to say? Who do you want to hear it? Why are you the expert on how to say it? That’s it! It’s as easy as 1-2-3. The easy part, hopefully, is figuring out what you want your company… continue reading »
More and more business owners (regardless of industry or size) have decided “enough!” of trying to keep up with their own marketing, and have reached out and asked for someone (maybe even anyone!) to take it all over. ALL OF IT. Let’s be real for a minute. Marketing is hard. It’s actually never been harder… continue reading »
In this issue of Behind The Brand, we dive into the fun new brand we developed for a Boseman, Montana-based ice cream shop. Flavr is a hip little shop in offers smoothies, bubble teas, and more. They believe in supporting farmers and purveyors, and source all of our ingredients from sustainable sources. The brand is fun… continue reading »
There can easily be a lot of confusion around the terms and acronyms surrounding digital marketing initiatives that businesses can undergo these days. There are plenty of times when individuals can feel overwhelmed or confused by such terms that have to deal with strategic and technical search engine optimizations. Today, we’re going to address… continue reading »
Many businesses these days are asking themselves if email marketing is really worth it, and the answer is YES! One of the top benefits of email marketing is that it has the highest ROI (return on investment) of all forms of marketing, averaging about $42 in return for every $1 spent. But ROI isn’t the… continue reading »
Background Family-owned and operated, The Market stores is your grocery store down the road. From their first store in Ridgway, CO, to new Markets across the mountain west, customer service is their top priority. Their friendly staff works hard to ensure your shopping trip is exceptional. Their commitment to the towns they serve and their… continue reading »
In this issue of Behind The Brand, we dive into our new campaign we developed for WCDA! The new campaign “Too much house, not enough home?” centers around homebuyer education and illustrating the pitfalls of homebuyers who end up with too much house and not enough money left over for anything else. Getting educated means you’ll… continue reading »
When it comes to your company’s website, what really matters these days? There are many elements to a website that companies have to consider. Depending on your business, product, or service, the website that represents your company should be unique enough to represent your brand while maintaining a certain level of standardization that matches your… continue reading »
First, there was MySpace. Remember MySpace? Glittery GIFs met custom backgrounds and your favorite song of the moment playing in the background as your peers rushed to your “My Top Friends” section to see if they made the cut. It was our first introduction to social media (and if you were good at it,… continue reading »
The 12 Months of 2020 In the first month of the year, January gave to me: High hopes for 2020! In the second month of the year, February gave to me: A couple COVID cases, but still high hopes for 2020! In the third month of the year, March gave to me: Three weeks of… continue reading »
The Power Of Search Intent Today’s consumer has higher expectations on businesses and shorter attention spans than ever before. This isn’t necessarily a problem, though, as businesses everywhere are adapting to this new tech-savvy consumer. The gap between a consumer’s problem and a business that is selling a viable solution has grown smaller over the… continue reading »
Change is neither good, nor bad. It simply is. It can be greeted with terror, or joy; a tantrum that says, ‘I want it the way it was,’ or a dance that says ‘Look, something new.’ PR people understand this, but they can never execute it. If you don’t like what is being said, change… continue reading »
Everyone talks about company culture but what is it really and why should I care? Here is the basic idea. Your company’s culture is a reflection of your shared values, attitude, and behavior. These attributes are not only pushed by the company, but they are embraced by the employees and are reinforced by the decisions… continue reading »
Working as a CREATIVE during COVID-19 How can nothing and practically everything change so much since November 2019? We have a few reflections we’d like to share from the past few months on how we’ve been working as a Creative Team and as a Marketing Agency. Brainstorming remotely This is not our first rodeo, working… continue reading »
In such a chaotic time, operating your small business may seem almost impossible. With so many physical spaces either shutdown or under regulation, it can make doing business in-person difficult. This is especially true for small businesses that have a storefront where customers regularly engage to conduct transactions. Though this can cause headaches for… continue reading »
By Sarah Carper, BARK Social Media Manager + Designer I’ll never forget my first experience with crisis community management as a marketer. Fresh out of college, I woke up on a Saturday morning away for the weekend with friends to my social media notifications full of a growing number of red pings for a Facebook… continue reading »
OPTIMIZE op·ti·mize /ˈäptəˌmīz/ verb make the best or most effective use of (a situation, opportunity, or resource). We don’t need to tell you things have changed. Right now businesses need to take a proactive approach to move forward in an effort to come out stronger on the other side. What we see is an opportunity… continue reading »
Story Matters. Especially Right Now… In the midst of the absolute chaos our entire world is trying to wade through right now, the last thing anyone wants to see, read, or engage with is empty content. This post is literally a public service announcement of sorts from our team to yours. We believe (with every… continue reading »
Why Now? Because after 10 years of being The BARK Firm (YES! It really has been 10 years), it’s time for a refresh that reflects the “US” we are now. So, who are we now, exactly? First, we are a team that is humbled and thankful to have made it a decade! And, incredibly grateful… continue reading »
The buzzword “digital marketing” has evolved quite a bit in recent years. Though there may be some confusion around the term & how it is applied to small businesses, the fact remains that it is not going away & is growing year-over-year. The number of users who now have access to the internet is growing… continue reading »
As professionals, we all have to “take inventory” from time to time and evaluate the areas of our company that may need a little streamlining. We have found, that all too often, marketing is definitely one of those areas. Here at BARK, we define “marketing slack” as any marketing effort that absorbs time and resources… continue reading »
Can you remember your favorite commercials of all time? Or maybe a billboard that made you say “HaHA! That was clever!” Well humor has been used in advertising for a long time, and it’s not changing anytime soon. We buy from people we like, and humor is the easiest and fastest way to get… continue reading »
Ahhh, the world of social media. The ever-evolving, ever-addicting, ever-confusing world of best selves, algorithms, and love-hate relationships intermixed with strategy and great content. It’s also an endless bank of consumers that want to know you, and your product, directly. There are a lot of factors to a good social strategy between all the hashtags,… continue reading »
“If we were making a movie or a play, we’d be embarrassed to do this,” Peggy Olson complains to her boss, Don Draper in an episode of Mad Men. Peggy is a copywriter for an ad agency, and she’s hesitant to work on a campaign for a client because, in her mind, it leaves very… continue reading »
We may like the notion that our business, brand, product, service, or idea is so great that it can stand alone, but the truth is that none of these things can develop, grow, or be successful by themselves. You need people. Partners, collaborators, builders, relationships, and connections. Every successful brand/business rallies behind their people. It… continue reading »
Very few companies can clearly tell people WHY they do WHAT they do. And when we’re talking about WHY that doesn’t mean “for money.” That’s a result. By WHY we mean what is the PURPOSE of your company? WHY do you exist? What drives you? What is it that makes you tirelessly work for your company each and every day? You must believe in… continue reading »
