We were lucky to catch up with Kim Beechner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kim , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Opening a business is always a risk – it’s something that requires tenacity, hustle & faith in oneself. When I first launched Embark Marketing, I was a senior in undergraduate school on the cusp of graduating. During this time, our economy was going through a recession & I was having difficulty finding an entry-level job in the field I was most interested in: social media marketing.

At this time, social media was just on the cusp of gaining traction and people were just becoming familiar with the capabilities of Facebook, which had only been around for approximately two years. While there wasn’t a business aspect to the app yet, I saw potential for the tool to be used to reach customers in a way that hadn’t been discovered yet.

So, I decided to open my own company & explore the options of selling social media management to local businesses in the food & beverage industry. I set my target on restaurants, bars and coffee shops specifically, showing them how they could leverage Facebook to attract customers to their business. I setup personal profiles for brands, added friends & campaigned on the page the brand, upcoming events, promotions & more. It was a hit!

As the capabilities of the Facebook advanced, so did my business. And soon after Instagram was invented, providing me another tool to leverage for my clients. Today, social media impacts people in ways we never thought it could, especially when it comes to choosing where to dine. And at Embark Marketing, we have seen incredible results using this method to help market our clients.

Kim , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Our main focus for our clients is strategy & development. We assist our clients in discovering their brand’s voice, tone, and the approach that best represents their business and is most attractive to potential guests. Then we get to work using an integrated marketing approach to implement the process.

The approach incorporates some or all of our marketing services. We offer social media management, photography, videography, public relations, website development, email marketing, ad buying, SEO, copywriting, graphic design & franchise marketing.

Once we get to work, we pride ourselves in analyzing our tactics for effectiveness, studying analytical data and consumer behavior to determine if our approach is working. From here, we’re able to fine-tune what works best for each of our individual clients & ultimately grow both the brand awareness and revenue.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helped build Embark Marketing’s brand within the food & beverage industry was our service industry experience. Prior to opening the business, I had spent years working in restaurants and bars in all sorts of positions including back of house, front of house & management — so I had an understanding of the inner workings of the industry.

Using this knowledge, I was able to help identify the areas in which a brand could grow. And it was authentically coming from someone who “got it.” I was able to connect with business owners, operators, and chefs in a way that other marketing agencies couldn’t because they didn’t have the hands on experience that I did.

As Embark Marketing grew, I sought employees that had studied marketing, but had previous experience in the service industry, either a as server, chef, manager, etc. This helped us to create a marketing company that was run by service industry for service industry.

That is what makes us truly unique & helped us to gain such an incredible reputation in our community.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Embark Marketing would not be where it is today without our team.

I am a firm believer that when your employees are happy everything falls into place. So as CEO, I do everything I can to ensure our staff is setup for success to not only do the best they can for the company and our clients, but also our community, and most importantly themselves.

When managing a team, I think clear communication is key. Here at Embark Marketing, we have clear operational goals, with paths in which to reach those goals. We also encourage opportunities for open communication between all team members to voice how we can best reach our goals in an effective and efficient way. Every member of the team’s thoughts are important, and I encourage our staff to riff off each other on ways we can improve everything from internal operations to client campaigns.

In an effort to create morale within in the team, we do a lot of team activities together. This includes volunteering within our community, hosting team outings to new restaurants, and virtual Friday session where our employees get to work from home once a week. We also have educational seminars for personal growth covering everything from healthcare questions to educational loan repayments, and so much more. So if you can incorporate examples like these into your business, I think you will find that your staff morale increases & your employees will know you care about them.

I think in doing all this, you can provide your team a well-rounded work experience, that leads to growth for both the company & your team members as individuals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.embark-marketing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embarkmarketing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmbarkMarketing
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/embark-marketing
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmbarkMarketing
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc7Z13ZX6CZCqE9iIw0rTgg
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@embarkmarketing

Image Credits
Kody Melton