VESSEL: BA Marketing & Publicity, LLC MASTER: Bethann Tillman PORT OF REGISTRY: Shenandoah, Iowa COMMISSIONED: June 2016 LOG SPANS: Ten years underway
June 2016
Laptop purchased at Walmart and downloaded Photoshop. Next, I will YouTube how to use Photoshop and contact potential clients: United Group Insurance and Hackett-Livingston Funeral Home. My LLC is formed. I need to find a graphic designer to help me – I’m already in over my head trying to create a logo.
December 2016
Exploring selling promotional items. It keeps coming up when I contact potential clients. The Sanctuary wants an “off brand Yetti”. Aaron Johnston is helping me with video and design work when he has time – we get to interview Albert Lee from the Everly Brothers next year!
July 2017
Lynn Furnace wants a new logo and decals. Nobody will print our branded colors so I’m YouTubing how to install decals and contacting print suppliers in Omaha who will give me what I designed, on brand at wholesale. Nobody locally will print my colors or fonts without changing them.
November 2017
Three separate authors have contacted me for help. Turns out, self-published authors are impossible to please and the word “publicity” in my business name may be misleading. No way I’m refiling that paperwork. Also, going to add a designer, Taylor Peterson is a family connection, probably won’t go anywhere but worth a try – she’s currently starting college and wants to major in design.
February 2018
Gaining traction in several towns with local business owners. Doing websites now. Wix is great but I need to build something more sophisticated until someone inevitably opens a website business. Event promotion is a great selling point. Also, I guess we do signs now because there are hardly any options for installers who won’t exploit Southwest Iowa customers.
April 2018
Selling shirts is a lot more work than I thought. Good margin though. I need to find a decorator who will get my stuff done the way I want it and quickly (less than two months). Also, I learned I have to submit payroll tax for employees, who knew? Taylor’s doing great though – she’s going to cover for me while we go on vacation in August! I hope she sticks around through college. She wants to double major in art education and graphic design.
January 2019
We finally got personalized emails. I’m officially bethann@bamarketingpub.com. I feel so grown up. We have a nice office space in Essex to meet with people. Taylor and I work out of here, sometimes other part time help joins us. We can even do decals in the back!
March 2019
Full service social media, full service ad management, promotional items, video production, photo shoots, apparel, signs, decals and now WordPress websites?! Wow, this is a lot to manage. The Excel spreadsheets are getting too long so we’re trying a program called Monday.com. I have great contractors though; I wonder if we’ll ever have a need to have actual employees who specialize in this work? A couple part time employees are covering it as of now.
July 2020
We moved to an office in Shenandoah. It’s Taylor and I but we have our own space to do decals and meet with people. It’s awesome! The landlord is iffy but the price is right. We keep a box of masks handy for visitors and sanitize all doorknobs daily. We added a photographer and designer to our team – it’s great! Sort of. I forgot how much work managing people is.
December 2020
Man, despite a dang pandemic we crushed this year – best yet! Huge increase in foot traffic since coming to Shenandoah. I think Taylor might stick around. We’ll see. Found a local web developer who will help us part time! We are hosting a ton of sites at this point.
May 2021
Taylor is officially a full-time employee. We’re adding another gal, Cassidy Marcum. She sent a killer portfolio without me having to ask. She even did projects on day one at the office! We are doing a lot of print which is surprisingly fun and essential to businesses. Between decals and signs, we need at least two full time people so timing is great in addition to our part time team members.
January 2022
Man, 2021 was crazy again. We grew our team and invoiced 160 unique customers. We’re figuring out how to bill correctly so we aren’t working for free. It’s fun getting to know our clients and learning about their businesses. Sometimes, I feel like I’m cosplaying an adult who knows things. It’s satisfying to watch our advice help our clients grow.
August 2022
We are making processes and procedures for every service we offer. We’ve even implemented a survey of our clients by a data company (who is also a client) so we can analyze our progress. We are setting ourselves up for growth. It’s tedious but we’re going to appreciate this work someday. Everyone is crushing it.
February 2023
Google Ads are becoming a huge part of what we do. I wonder how the internet will change in the next few years – there’s no way this lasts forever. Great margin, highly technical. I really need to find someone in house to handle these.
October 2023
Our annual planning meetings with clients are going great. We are getting more in-depth reporting, content planning, and overall comprehensive execution for our clients. Cassidy has been crushing website builds and more complicated integrations. She’s been learning tons from our consultant (and she’s already so smart). There are basically no questions we can’t answer or solve at this point. We do it all! It’s like we’re our clients’ marketing department – that would make a great slogan.
April 2024
I’ve hit my limit. I’m tired of being paid small commissions while doing all the work of promo and apparel. We now have our own license and are filling orders coast to coast without a middleman! We needed someone with unimaginable attention to detail and God provided – Dana McMullen. She’s incredible with our customers and NOTHING gets past her. I think this is really going to take off with her at the helm.
July 2024
Having interns is an endeavor I wish we were more set up to do. It’s difficult when our time is our money and some interns are serious and some are not. The best intern we’ve ever had was Hadlee Kinghorn. We thought she’d never come back but alas – she is now on our team! She’s making our massive social media work load bearable!
November 2024
Payroll is terrifying but, we’re figuring out how to bill enough, with integrity, to stay open. If we undervalue growth, we serve nobody. We are focusing on websites and online advertising. I wonder if AI will impact us? Sadly, Brown’s HQ is leaving Shenandoah so the staff is getting dispersed. I got several recommendations for Jody Regan. She interviewed outstandingly. Dana needs help because she’s grown the promo and apparel side so much. Jody is even a photographer who can do all the things we do! God has provided again!
April 2025
I’m going to have a baby and everything is blowing up around me. Fortunately, I have an intern, Jay Williams, coming along. Maybe he can help us limp along until I get back.
October 2025
Jay has overhauled our systems (and become pals with our whole team) and we are firing on all cylinders – he even wants to stay and learn Google ads and Meta ads! That would be an incredible help. We’re having a record year in almost every category so having his help is well timed.
November 2025
Jay learned Google and Meta ads. I think he skipped sleeping for a week. I’m not sure if I’m ready for this guy’s energy but there’s only one way to find out if we’re ready to level up!
January 2026
Well, we closed out our ninth record calendar year! We are becoming a holistic SEO solution with all deliverables. Our team is solid and we are working through a solid marketing plan for ourselves and each of our clients. AI is invigorating everyone. Our clients are becoming more involved and also giving us more projects!
June 2026
Let’s party – we are officially 10! We threw a Block Party for Highway 59 in Shenandoah. People sponsored, we engaged all advertising outlets and had SO much fun celebrating and seeing 59 filled with people all day. We were reminded of the strong community support we have in Southwest Iowa but especially in Shenandoah. Everyone was so kind to come by, shop, and take advantage of our 10 Days of Promotions for 10 Years! #blessed