Brandmint Uses Power of Positivity to Resonate in Social Media Marketing

By: Kevin Oklobzija

At first, it was just Louie Maier branching off from the family electrical contracting business to lend his social media expertise to a business or two.

But when it turned out he was really good at what he did, the one-man freelance show known as Brandmint became an entirely new animal on the marketing and brand enhancement block.

Today, that social media marketing adventure Maier launched in 2011 has blossomed into a full-service agency, providing expertise in all facets of the industry, from qualitative and quantitative discovery to creative and marketing activation.

In the past two years, Brandmint has acquired two agencies, grown from five to 18 employees and created award-winning marketing campaigns — one for New Wave Energy featuring Buffalo Bills superstar quarterback Josh Allen — for its two dozen-plus clients.

Pretty impressive for someone who graduated from SUNY Fredonia with a degree in marketing but wasn’t sure what he’d do with it.

“I wasn’t the brightest college student,” Maier said. “The entrepreneurial side of me was always promotions and events, where school and bookwork just wasn’t my thing.

“But I believe in the power of positivity; I believe in trial by fire, learning from the failures and continually optimizing and adapting.”

Confident in his ability to do just that, Maier went all-in with the agency idea in 2016, building a small staff and providing social media marketing for a growing client roster.

The impetus for his business model grew out of a side hustle in 2011. Maier was doing events promotion, including one for what were then Midas automotive shops in Rochester.

“One of the people asked, ‘Hey, how are you getting all these people here?’ and I said, ‘Social media.’ ”

To which the folks from Midas said, “Why don’t we leverage that for our day-to-day business?”

“From there this whole thing just organically happened,” Maier said.

Brandmint made slow and steady inroads, and by 2021 completed its first acquisition, bringing Richmond, Va.-based Native Collab into the fold. Last summer, Brandmint acquired Communiqué Design & Marketing of Ithaca, bringing about a significant expansion in offerings.

Not only was the agency able to keep providing keen expertise in marketing technology and marketing automation for clients, but it now was also positioned to serve all needs, from PR to storytelling. Brandmint’s work was recognized in July with six Pinnacle Awards from the Rochester chapter of the American Marketing Association.

“Historically we were just a social media marketing agency and we did a little bit of design, branding, creative,” Maier said. “With Communiqué, it allowed us to really dive into the traditional side and now we do digital, traditional, public relations, everything.”

The joining of forces with Communiqué was facilitated by another marketing agency CEO, mutual friend Maureen Ballatori of 29 Design Studio. She connected Maier and Communiqué founder Laurie Linn.

“It was so harmonious between the staff, the values with which she lived by,” Maier said. “Laurie was very community oriented, took care of her team. There was just so much in alignment.”

The challenge, director of operations Renee Maisto said, was the merging of processes and then doing some fine-tuning to determine what worked best for the combined agency.

The willingness of Ballatori to play go-between is an example of the interaction between many agencies in the Rochester area, Maier said.

“I’m a community-over-competition type of person,” Maier said. “There’s a very healthy relationship among the marketing community. I truly believe everyone wants to see everyone else succeed.

“There are some very, very strong agencies in this market, but we’re all fortunate that the pool from which we all draw from is the United States and beyond, so we’re all able to nurture our own relationships and grow our own relationships.”

The acquisition of Communiqué checked off one of the items on Maier’s list of goals for 2022, to actively seek opportunities for acquisition.

Also on that list, and also checked off: Employee growth, marketing revenue growth, creative revenue growth and meaningful content and meaningful conversation.

“I feel like ‘meaningful’ is used a lot (in the industry) but fortunately, we take it very seriously,” Maier said.

That starts with meaningful conversations with clients. Brandmint’s creatives want to deeply understand who the clients are, their values and what they align with, Maier said.

Then there’s the creation of meaningful content. There was a time when your brand could simply post Happy Father’s Day on a social media channel, even if there was little or nothing else to accompany the meme, and it was effective, Maier said.

Not anymore.

“Now they want to see who all the fathers are, let’s meet the fathers, let’s go to their houses, see their families,” Maier said. “That’s an example of meaningful content. You want to dive in deeper into what that looks like.”

All of that is accomplished through the talents of a happy Brandmint team. Maier also believes happy employees are productive employees. That’s one reason the agency has always used a four-day workweek. Fridays aren’t for work; they’re for play — or whatever.

“It’s an uninterrupted day to focus on yourself,” Maier said. “We put value in personal growth and we put personal health and wellness first.”

If someone says they need to just tend to a quick detail on a project on a Friday, the notion is discouraged.

“We try to push back on that; it can wait,” Maier said.

Said Maisto: “People obviously love it and aren’t signing in on Fridays. It’s nice that they feel they don’t have to.”

Source: https://rbj.net/2023/01/12/brandmint-uses-power-of-positivity-to-resonate-in-social-media-marketing/ :

koklobzija@bridgetowermedia.com/(585) 653-4020