Brand Marketing for PayNorthwest

I was the first marketing hire at a SoDo-based financial services firm called PayNorthwest. SoDo meant "South of the [King]Dome" – a neighborhood known for its proximity to Seattle's sports fields.

One of my first tasks was raising awareness of the brand in our local market. The value proposition of the firm at the time was around a deep understanding of the local payroll and labor laws in closely-regulated industries like healthcare and education.

To drive home our Seattle and Pacific Northwest roots, I aligned our brand with area non-profits including the Sounder's RAVE Foundation, where we supported the One Ball program—which at last count has distributed 40k high quality soccer balls to children who need them—and KEXP, which showed our brand's commitment to supporting Pacific Northwest art and culture.

These efforts changed the perception of the brand with current and prospective clients, and the first week we were on the air with KEXP the calls and emails from current clients to the CEO in support of our campaign were a big indicator that we were on the right track.

I went on to build out a comprehensive marketing program for PayNorthwest, including integrating their CRM with the website, creating targeted digital marketing campaigns with Google Ads, and setting up automated lead nurture streams. These tactics grew into a reliable demand generation engine for the business, but the sometimes unsung hero of the program was that initial alignment between our brand's core value proposition and the partners we chose.