en es en tr es es es en en en en en en en en id en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en hbs_lat en en en en it es pt tr en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en
Today we’re sitting down with Digital Storyteller CEO, Andrew Marr, to talk about his experience running a digital marketing agency and how he inspires change within the company. As a previous PGA golf professional and payroll sales executive, Andrew comes from a unique background in leadership and management.
In just over a year Andrew and his wife, co-owner, and CMO Amanda Rogers, have built the Digital Storyteller brand into more than they imagined possible in such a short time period. What started off as a two-person team has now blossomed to more than 10 and continues adding new teammates monthly.
As many know, starting a business is no easy feat, especially not in the midst of a global pandemic. We’re talking to Andrew about how he’s supported the growth of Digital Storyteller and how he continues to inspire change within the team.
Q: Hey Andrew, tell us a bit more about what your initial goals were for the Digital Storyteller brand.
A: That’s a good question. Well, when Amanda and I sat down and discussed what we wanted from this business, it was to be the best marketing agency in San Diego. Not the biggest, but the best, so that was number one. Also, for us to create a life for ourselves that we could be extremely flexible, have the freedom to do what we want, raise our family, be with our family, travel to Scotland with my family, and have that time to do that. Then third of all was to really allow our employees to be the best version of themselves. So, hire great people, inspire them to be the best versions of themselves, and watch them grow and manage the business, so we don’t have to.
Q: How do you facilitate productivity in your team on a day-to-day basis?
A: How do we facilitate productivity? I don’t know. We’re a virtual company. I have no idea if anyone does anything. But in all seriousness, the way that we do that from a virtual perspective is that we set project deadlines every week. Right? Amanda and I are not in the business of micromanaging. It’s not something that we liked in our careers. It’s certainly not something that we’re going to do at Digital Storytellers. So if we manage based on projects, rather than based on time, we feel like that is a better way to inspire our workers or our employees to be better, and it also gives us a clear path to success with our clients. So every week, we will have deliverables that we have to meet with our clients, and if they’re not met, then we need to meet them. Project-based time is maybe my answer to that.
Take-Two: Uhh, bribery, that’s number one. Always buying expensive gifts and lots of Fireball … just kidding. Maybe a little bit. Fireball is certainly important, but that’s at the end of the day. I think rewarding staff for doing things well. We may not do it by the book, but we certainly send our staff Venmo payments and different types of amounts when they do well. That’s one thing. Swag is another thing. We have terrific shirts here, like a brand new lulu with the little logo on it. It’s fantastic. And what else did we do? Oh, Skrewball? Cheers. [Takes shot of Skreball] This is how we motivate and inspire.
Q: You’ve more than tripled the size of your company within the past year. What hiring practices do you utilize to ensure your making hiring decisions that align with your goals?
A: Hiring people that have high levels of emotional intelligence is important to us. We actually provide a prep test with a local company that we use here. And every potential employee goes through this test so that we can understand their level of skill from where they’re at right now, where they like to spend their time, which is incredibly important to us, and how they’re inspired and motivated, which becomes the most important thing to Amanda and I. Because then we can challenge our staff and foster that ability for them to be the best versions of themselves and go from there. So emotional intelligence is certainly number one and probably the most important.
Q: How do you maintain positive company culture, particularly with a remote workforce?
A: Positive company culture with a remote workforce. Laughter, humor, vulnerability. We meet every morning at 9:00 to 10:00 in the morning as a team. We come together, and Amanda and I share a lot. Sometimes we overshare. We encourage our staff to also overshare because it allows us to connect with them more, especially because we’re not seeing them every day in an office setting. So vulnerability, openness, and humor is very important to us.
Q: What would you say to other leaders with regards to how to inspire change in their companies?
A: Listen. Listen to your employees. Make sure that they’re heard every single day. Make sure you catch your employees doing things well. I think we foster a mentality in the Western world of trying to make sure that people are always doing the things that we think they’re supposed to do. We don’t like that. We like to make sure that our employees are rewarded verbally when they do things. So Amanda’s ears and my ears and both of our eyes are open to when our staff are doing things good, and making sure that when those things happen, that we tell them that they are good things.
Q: What advice can you offer leaders to develop their emotional intelligence?
A: I mean, it comes back to listening, right? I think that emotional intelligence starts with understanding what people are trying to say. If we can stay present and really hear what our employees are saying, or what their employees are saying. Hear what they’re saying, not just the words, because sometimes the words that people say are not really what they mean. So that extreme level of listening, I think, will allow leaders to understand what the actual situation is and not what the words would present it to be.
Thanks so much for sharing your insight on leadership and brand development Andrew! For more “secret sauce” from CEO Andrew Marr on leadership and inspiring change, check out his Leadership Series videos!
Schedule Your Brandscape Session Today!
Why Do You Need Video in Your Digital Marketing Strategy?
September 25, 2022/by Becca Jones
How to Use an Organic Marketing Strategy to Build Brand Awareness
August 21, 2022/by Jackie Berens
Your Guide to Marketing KPIs
August 14, 2022/by Jackie Berens
How to Ask for Client Testimonials
August 7, 2022/by Jackie Berens
5 Signs You Need a Digital Marketing Agency
July 24, 2022/by Beatriz Carias
What’s Going to Happen to Twitter?
July 3, 2022/by Beatriz Carias
Your Email Marketing Sucks… Here’s How to Fix It
June 26, 2022/by Becca Jones
How to Leverage Your Business Using LinkedIn
June 19, 2022/by Becca Jones
How User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) Drive Leads
June 12, 2022/by Becca Jones
How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial
May 15, 2022/by Becca Jones
What is Going on With the Instagram Algorithm!?
May 8, 2022/by Becca Jones
How to Attract the Right Clients
March 11, 2022/by Becca Jones
CATEGORIES Select Category Brand Storytelling Sessions Branding Content Marketing Culture Digital Marketing Financial Services Companies News Outsourced Marketing SEO Social Media Website and Design
Why Do You Need Video in Your Digital Marketing Strategy?September 25, 2022 - 7:00 am
How to Use an Organic Marketing Strategy to Build Brand AwarenessAugust 21, 2022 - 1:54 pm
Your Guide to Marketing KPIsAugust 14, 2022 - 1:36 pm
2710 Lone Jack Rd
Follow a manual added link
© Digital Storyteller 2020
Get The Secret Sauce
Delivered right to your inbox (napkins optional)
© Digital Storyteller 2020
Social Media for Financial Services Companies Brand Storytelling: Beyond the Basics
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Accept settingsHide notification only
Cookie and Privacy Settings
How we use cookies
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab.
Click to enable/disable essential site cookies.
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking.
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.