From Production to Promotion: A Manufacturer’s Marketing and Business Growth Story

Interview Transcription –

From Production to Promotion: A Manufacturer’s Marketing and Business Growth Story

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Welcome to the Proof Point Podcast, where we decode digital success one click at a time. We share key takeaways fueled by data and insights that your team can implement today to drive growth. Now, let’s get started.

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This is Stacie Porter Bilger, your host for the Proof Point Podcast, where I feature B2B and D2C businesses and thought leaders sharing marketing, data tactics, and sales strategies and leadership insights that kickstart your growth in this rapidly changing digital space. This episode is brought to you by Proof Digital. Proof Digital is a strategic and creative performance marketing agency.

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We partner with companies to create data-fueled marketing, sales funnels, and overall growth strategies. Visit ProofDigital.com to learn more. Before I introduce our guest today, I want to just shout out to Blackburn Manufacturing.

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 We’re going to have a conversation around this great company located in the heart of the United States. Blackburn is the worldwide leader in marketing flags. They really are unmatched in quality marketing flags with the best customer service in the industry.

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We see that every day of every review that comes in for this company, and they’ve been in business for 70 years.Be sure to check out blackburnmanufacturing.com or blackburnflag.com. Our guest today is Krista Schindler. Krista is the marketing director at Blackburn and is the founder’s youngest daughter.

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She joined the family business in February of 2010. Krista is proficient in classical marketing techniques and implementation of social and digital media. Her primary focus is to help the company maintain a presence in operable markets that they want to target, develop marketing strategies and campaigns, and introduce innovative and complex ideas to help drive business results.

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Boy, we’ve seen that firsthand. Krista, thanks for joining me today. Thanks for having me.

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I appreciate it. Good to be here. Yep.

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So tell me, just give me a little quick history about Blackburn itself as a company. I mean, it’s got a rich history. Like I said, it was in business for 70 years.

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So give me a little bit of highlights about the business. We’re actually on 72 years. 72 years.

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72 years. It was 1953, and it was my grandfather who was a farmer, and he lived on a farm about eight miles northwest of Neely here in a town called Royal, Nebraska. And his uncle was a surveyor out of Oklahoma, and he came and visited with my grandfather.

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And this was about 1950, actually, when he had this visit and asked grandpa if he could come up with a way to mark surveys instead of using the old wooden lathe stakes with the piece of cloth attached to him. He wanted something simpler to carry that he could carry out into the field with him. So my grandpa took the next two, three years and developed and tinkered with the design for the flag machine and then actually created the flag machine and then the first flag marking flag, of course.

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And so then it was my grandfather, his uncle, and then my great-grandfather, the three of them went into business together and actually started Blackbird Manufacturing in 1953. And it was still run out of the basement of the old farmstead. The first one million order was for plain marking flags, and it went to a surveyor down in Oklahoma.

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And my dad, my uncle, and then my grandfather worked 30 days around the clock, the three of those. My dad was seven at the time, my uncle was 11, I think. And they worked the 30 days around the clock to get that first million flag order out.

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And they took it by truck to Orchard, which is about five miles away from there, and they put it on a flat or on a train and they carried it down. And then it was probably two or three years later, 1953, they

moved to Neely in 55. And then we’ve been here in Neely ever since 1955, and we’ve just continued to grow and grow and grow.

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It’s such a great American story, I mean, of a problem that needed solved, and with so little and, you know, innovation and grit, and you solve the problem, and a family owned business story. And it’s just a really great story. And one that always warms my heart when I when I see these businesses continue to thrive in 72 years is quite amazing, to be truthful.

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Yeah, it is. It’s been a lot of fun. That’s my favorite part about it is getting to tell that story, is the legacy story, the family history story.

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That’s my favorite part about working here. But, yeah, yeah, and you’ve been, you joined the family business 14, 15 years ago. Yeah, in 2010, I came.

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My husband was Air Force, and so he had a career in the Air Force that took us to England for four years, kind of took us around the country for four years, or I’m sorry, 20 years. And so then he retired in 2010. And we were actually stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming at the time, and we had to figure out what we wanted to do.

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And so we tried this and we had two small kids at the time. And so we thought this would be a good place to raise our small kids. And we just never left, never left, never left.

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And being your experiences, you were able to bring back, though, some innovation and some marketing tactics and some insights to the company, which was extremely, I mean, so valuable. And we’ve been lucky enough to partner with your organization, I don’t know, Krista, maybe 2015, 2016? 2015 was when you called me that first time. Was it? Okay.

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It was the phone call for the international SEO. Which was, you know, lucky enough to be able to continue our conversation and growth and working with your company. I’m so grateful.

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And we just love working, love working with you. But it seems like the growth since 2015 has been pretty well accelerated. And that’s when you kind of started diving into more digital strategies from a marketing strategy, marketing standpoint.

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Well, with your help, that’s where we got the new website. We, you know, I mean, everything was improved tenfold by just, you know, us teaming up with you guys so that, because I don’t have a marketing background. My background’s in management.

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So I don’t, I mean, I rely so heavily on you guys for keep us on our toes and keep us, you know, in the loop and at the front of our game, you know, versus I just don’t, I don’t know enough about it. You know, you guys are the experts. So well, we appreciate that.

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But I don’t want to diminish though, you understand your markets, you understand your customer, and you can’t do marketing right. Unless you really know that. And so that partnership from our perspective has allowed both of us to be successful because of understanding your customer and your customer service, by the way, and your management on things is superior to most companies that we work with.

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Right. So that, I mean, that’s probably Midwestern values a little bit and, you know, a family owned business who care about their customers. There’s no question that you, that you do that.

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So that’s marketing. That’s really marketing. Yeah, it is marketing.

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Yeah, true. It’s the digital side of things like, like all that you guys have brought to us, you know, that’s right. We just helped, we just helped dot the I’s and cross the T’s and help you tell your story, which is, which is, which is a blast.

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And you do very well. Thank you. Thank you very much.

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Definitely. It’s a great story for us to show of how much that growth in your company as far as online or online sales. You have multiple efforts for marketing strategy though.

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Digital is not the only one. And that’s, that’s a piece that we, we focus mostly on. We’ve seen the biggest growth since meeting you is, you know, and we still have, like I’ve always told you, you know, we have two halves of this company.

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Yeah. Your half. And then the other half that was there before we did the, the website.

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I mean, so I just look at that side of things. I only look at the website side of things. Right.

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I also see the other side as, as well. And just seeing the differences in just one side, the website side, it’s just amazing. I mean, the other side is still, it’s always steady.

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It’s always strong. You know, it keeps us going. But where we see in the growth is with this site, with the digital side.

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And it’s just so, so much easier to attract that way. We had no idea, you know, what we were just kind of throwing darts and hoping they would hit something before. What I’m excited about, we’ve been working together on some systems improvements too.

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Right. And I really think that the ERP system that you are implementing and bringing some of that digital data points and stats together with the all round, the whole business will even elevate your company to a whole new level. And, and it’s hard to change a historic manufacturing company, but you all have done that.

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I mean, you’ve, you’ve embraced change in the last several years to be, you know, with more systematic things with the ERP system. You had a PIM for a while. So these are systems.

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If I had, if that would be my contribution to this company is that I did, I do feel like I brought us back into the digital age versus where I do remember a conversation I had with my dad when we, when I was first starting to get into this marketing side of things that he said, everybody knows the Blackburn name so that we didn’t really need to spend a whole lot of money on marketing. And I just didn’t agree with that at all. I mean, they probably did from 20 years before that, but not, I mean, the proof is in the pudding right here.

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I’m looking at these numbers. It’s right there. So that’s how badly we needed to up our game.

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Yeah.Is anything you want to share on some of those stats? I mean, whatever you don’t know, that’s totally fine. If there’s some, you would probably have the better for that.

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You, I mean, you went from, I mean, from a digital space and not only ranking in for your brand name, but you went in from not when somebody was looking for a marketing flag, not even being present online to actually going to ranking and beating Amazon and Lowe’s and others in a very competitive online space and beating them. And now you’re dominating being the marketing flag and a marketing product. I mean, not only the flag, but all the marketing products you have.

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And we continue to look at, okay, what’s an opportunity here? How can we grow this piece of the business on the printing side and the other, other, other pieces of your business? But you went from ranking from nothing to thousands of, of keywords. And the younger folks, it’s not necessarily a brand allegiance. They’re going to Google you.

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And if you’re not there, you’re not going to get those other folks in those, those businesses. So you have been selling more millions online, both in product and in revenue, where you didn’t have that when we first engaged with you. So that’s a, that’s a good step.

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But I also hope that that brand awareness and those things carry over to the other side to the credibility piece, which I think it does. Absolutely. It all does.

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It all, you know, tumbles together. It’s all this, you know, it’s all piece of it. It just, I feel like that’s, if you were to ask me what I brought to this or what I’ve contributed, that’s what I would say is I feel like I brought the digital piece back when it wasn’t present before.

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It was, but it was, it was just there. It was, you know, I wasn’t doing anything. So, right.

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And it just really kind of trickles over, like you said, to all areas of business so that you are present when somebody is looking for that problem of, okay, who do I work with from a marketing products, whether you’re in the green industry or utility industry or, you know, or sports. I mean, you work with a lot of various, various industries that, that need marketing products. Right.

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So, and just being present when trying to get in front of them, especially during the various seasons and trying to tap into those markets at various times of the year. It’s really important. I do think another piece of your marketing, although it’s marketing, but it’s also from the heart.

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You, you all are so community based. I mean, it’s just, it’s just, and that’s just, that’s part of your, I mean, again, I do the same thing, but it’s not necessarily, I mean, it’s, it’s authentic of what you did. So let’s talk a little bit about what you did, especially during COVID.

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I mean, you guys stepped up. I actually have a picture behind me with the flags at the, at the Washington monument. Tell me a little bit about that story.

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I mean, it’s amazing to me. So let’s see when COVID was kind of just getting started to get and be bad that Suzanne Firstenberg called me and said she was looking for a way to make a money or a monument, I guess, whatever you want to call that and using the marking flags. So I did work with her.

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We had to come up with a brand new poly material. And then we, you know, of course priced it to where we weren’t making any money. It was more of less just at cost of what we gave them a way to, and I believe it was like 1.2 million flags that she ended up displaying on the national mall.

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And they had a big dedication. Everybody that died could come up and put a loved one’s name on the flag. And, and I have a big, beautiful picture here to look at that reminds me of all the people that we lost during COVID.

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So I know that was a tough time. I remember having a conversation with you about that. How do we market that? Yeah, how do we let people know? And Suzanne was very gracious and said, you know, I’ll let you put your name on any of the advertising, any of that stuff.

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I, I told you, I don’t know how to market that. I don’t know how to. Yeah, it’s just really, I mean, the truth is that you just have to be authentic.

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I mean, you were, you were stepping up during a very painful time and the time of a lot of unknowns, a lot of things with a time of unknowns. And, and it’s important to demonstrate to others what you can do. I mean, that you can step up as a company to do whatever you’re good at.

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I mean, you’re, you’re good at making flags. We’re good at telling stories and marketing. So we did other things too, to help, you know, companies in those spaces during that time.

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And so elevating others and, and doing it with, within the talents that you have and just telling the story that way other people do it too, is really, it’s really a good thing. I mean, in addition to that, I mean, there was a, there’s a, there was a resource problem. We had a lot of hospitals over maxed out where they didn’t have the resources that they needed.

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And you stepped up in Nebraska too. They, there was a gown shortage, right? I mean, because there was, I mean, they were, hospitals were busting at the seams. They couldn’t service the patients that they were having right out of the gate there.

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Right. So tell me a little bit about that story. So we got a call.

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We actually got several calls, but the big one was they sent us a file and it was a, basically a gown pattern. And so we used our digital cutters and we used our vinyl rolls of plastic, yellow plastic, and we put them out and we use that pattern to cut out gowns. And then we would have local gals here in town that I would take the gowns to, and they would sew them, literally sew the vinyl together so that they could, the hospitals, local area hospitals could use it as well.

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We did have a bigger hospital down in Lincoln that called us. And there’s another company down by Columbus that actually has a printer or a cutter like ours. And we just sent them the six rolls of plastic and they cut their own and then sew their own gowns as well.

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So I would say, yeah, it was close to like 2000 gowns that I think we ended up getting sorted out throughout the region here. And then the six rolls, I don’t remember how many gowns we got out of a roll of plastic, but then they went down south to Lincoln as well. So, yeah, I mean, we implemented it, but it was a culmination of the community, of everybody working together.

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This, I don’t know, it’s not just us. That was everybody that pulled together and helped in that time. So it was, there was a lot of players.

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And one of those, I mean, that’s a great point. We’re located in Indianapolis and you’re located in Nebraska, but working in the Indianapolis community as a business owner and previously working for businesses, it is such an amazing thing that can happen when businesses or individuals come together to solve a challenge. And I’ve seen in our community, you’ve seen it in yours.

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That’s where the magic really happens. I mean, it’s amazing. So, I mean, especially small to medium-sized companies who are just doing what they can to step up.

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And I’ve seen it over and over, whether it was during COVID or other situations that our city has seen and your community has seen, all the way from cleaning up a neighborhood or to, you know, improving. Yeah, a flood, a fire, a tornado. I mean, they all, we come together as communities.

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I know that it’s a rough time in the country right now and we listen to nothing but the negative news and all that stuff. But when it really comes down to it, I know that my community’s got my back. I agree.

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And highlighting that more. And that’s why we’re talking about highlighting what you all did, what others did. Because I know, I mean, I have two kids too, I want to continue to show them the amazing people who are doing good things, businesses, individuals.

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And I just think there’s so many stories to be told like that. And I know your company, being one of the biggest companies in your community, is just a leader and being an example of actually what business is all about. And you employ people, you do those things, but you also elevate the community.

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And so I know Blackburn, that’s true to your values. And yes, it’s about, I mean, we want to make sure people know it, but it’s important for people to know that because it is. And so you got to be happy.

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I mean, you got to, I mean, no business is going to be successful with unhappy employees. There’s just not possible. So I feel like my job is to make sure that my employees or our employees are happy and that they want to come to work.

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If you don’t want to go to work, you’re not going to come here and do me any good. No, absolutely. You’re going to cause more problems.

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And they want to do whatever I can do to make sure that you are happy coming here and you want to come here. Right. That’s what my job is.

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Absolutely. And they want to be part of something. I mean, I have another thing behind me.

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It says be the change. I mean, and part of my employees is too. You know, we all have to make it do our job.

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We have to make, you know, revenue so that we all can make a living. You know, we all want to have those type of things, but we also want to be part of something. And so I know Blackburn does that for their employees and our community.

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And from a business standpoint, that’s just good business. Yeah, it’s just good business. So, again, the history of your company, the values of your company.

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Just really always make my team when working with your team heart warm, and that gives them the change, right? They just love that so much. So thank you. You have a fantastic team.

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They’re very easy to work with. Thank you. Yeah, we work on it.

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We work on it. But again, our goal is to elevate you and elevate your company. And again, this is not about this podcast.

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It’s not about us, but it’s just about a partnership that I think can work. And your company, although it’s in a, you know, it’s in, it is in a manufacturing. Manufacturing is not the one that changes to, you know, on a quickly basis because of systems.

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But you all are embracing. You’re embracing a new ERP system. You’re embracing the challenge of moving to digital and balancing relationships and the future.

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And it takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. And you have to get everybody on board.

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I think that’s one thing that when I was out there in Nebraska a couple years ago, I think I said, this is a big change. You need everybody on board. And I think that’s what you’ve been doing.

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So, and that’s exciting. And you’re exactly right. And you said it was a year or two years ago.

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You know, and we have been slowly working on this ever since. But our, you and I’s motto has always been. For all walk, run.

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Right. From the beginning. We’ve said that that’s the way we operate.

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And, you know, and you’ve been very accommodating to that. You’ve never made me feel pushed or hurried or anything. It’s always just been very natural.

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I feel like a, like a sisterhood. And again, I want change fast, but it’s not realistic. I know, I know.

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It’s not realistic. You gotta, where are you today? And you can’t go. Like you said, you have to crawl, walk, run.

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And every year. The employees that have been here for 50 years. I can’t just come in here and be like, this is the way we’re doing it.

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After 50 years, you gotta go sit over here now. It doesn’t work that way. We have to take time and give these people time to find out who moved their cheese and what it’s going to be like with their cheese over there in that corner. That’s right. That’s a good book, by the way. It is.

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Classic. It’d be required reading. You know, you talked about sisterhood. Now, I want to touch on this a little bit. Your company is now a women-run business. You have any thoughts on that? I mean, you and your sister, I mean, you’re running the show and I love that.

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And obviously, I have a preference, not a preference. I just want to help elevate women-owned businesses because I’m, you know, sisterhood. Yes.

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Any thoughts on that? I mean, I definitely think we’re seeing more and more growth. Oh, absolutely. As far as the whole woman movement thing goes, absolutely.

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And I am 1,000% behind every one of them. As far as me personally goes, my sister and I have always been raised this way. And so I don’t have any brothers. Right. So we didn’t have that. There was no other option.

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I mean, I went through tomboy stages, but I mean, I just got a sister. So dad didn’t have a choice. He had to bring up two girls.

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It’s kind of funny you say that. I mean, I do think this is a part of it. I was the fourth girl and we only had four girls. And so my dad was a sports person. So I was his tomboy. And I think that, you know, gave me a little bit of edge in ownership of things.

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So, yeah, I played sports. I did all those things that he would have wanted probably a son to do, but he didn’t have no choice. He got me and his three other daughters.

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My dad and I rebuilt my car at 16. That’s awesome. So that’s what I was doing. I ended up at the metal shop putting flag machines together. That’s what I was doing. I didn’t grow up, you know, up in Barbies and all that stuff. I was out here making flags. That’s right. Yeah.

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I can remember my dad teaching me how to change oil and all those types of things. I fished a lot with my dad, too. And, you know, all that stuff. There wasn’t that separation when I was younger. There never has been. Right. It’s me either. It’s always known. And I think if you would buy the whole movement, 1000% of the sisterhood.

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Absolutely. I will hold anybody that’s trying. Yeah. You know, and I shouldn’t even just say women because I’m going to do it. You’re a male. Me too. And I’m just intentional with it just because I want to help, you know, but I support. I work for other companies and help any type of any business. But I definitely love to see more.

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I mean, I work for Chambers of Commerce and I was oftentimes the only female in the room. So I just want to bring more. All the way across the board and discussion.

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I think it’s great. And the truth is, I have a son and a daughter. I think you have a son and a daughter, too. And they’re completely different. Yes. And everybody brings a skill set to the table.

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I would say, actually, my son’s more creative and my daughter is more detailed oriented. I just think there are, you know, we need to bring those different skill sets. And we need to a business differences and not grade them.

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That’s exactly right. We’re together with them. You know, let’s all work together with the highlights. Yeah, because I definitely although I would like my son hears this, I would like him to turn his assignments in more than my daughter. But but, you know, the detailed oriented piece. But she stresses too much about the detail oriented stuff.

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So we have to find some kind of common ground. So I mean, we got to each have our own little. I do. They have their gifts. But yeah, we just need to look at them as gifts and highlight them. That’s right.

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Um, anyway, that’s the this is a healthy conversation, you know, about just really elevating, you know, businesses across the board. And you are just kind of go back into Blackburn a bit. You you’re you know, you’re the Flag Day.

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I mean, you are the I mean, it is a, it is a thing. You guys have taken ownership of actually that brand of Flag Day. And absolutely.

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I think it was like about the same time, 2015, 16, somewhere around in there that our local economic development director asked us. He put in a proclamation to have the governor declare Neely as the flag capital of Nebraska, because on Flag Day every day we put or every year we put out probably close to twenty five hundred flags along the highway.Really? And so we went and saw the governor and had this proclamation signed and all that.

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So Neely is officially the Flag Day capital of Nebraska. So awesome. And you sell flags all over the world. Yeah, we are an international company. Yes. Yes.

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That started basically in a garage 70 years ago in, you know, small town USA. Yes. Which is, you know, over and over again, which is a story that people need to hear, because if there’s a problem and you find a solution, you can build a company and grow that other people benefit economically.

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Absolutely. And build a life around it. So that is that is a great story in the American story.

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That’s grandpa’s legacy. Which is fabulous, isn’t it? And he’s on your site and we’re working on a new site launch and that’s coming soon. So stay tuned of that to kind of again to to connect everything together even more.

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Yeah, that’ll be amazing. It’s going to be amazing. I know it is. It’s been a long wait. Yes, we would have liked it to be faster. But again, but we needed it to be that way so we could get all our ducks in a row.

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And like you said earlier, that way everybody can learn where their cheese is going to get moved to. That’s right. That’s exactly right.

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You don’t want to do that overnight. So no, you don’t because then really in the midst of busy scenes and things will crash and you got to bring everybody along along the journey. Yeah, this is a Proof Point Podcast.

(30:33 – 30:45) 

Any last points or thoughts that you have? Just other than I’m really grateful that we you called me. I mean, that’s about and I’m glad I took your phone call. I just turned a guy down earlier today.

(30:48 – 31:07) 

Well, you’re going to get a lot of those. I know you take my phone. I know, but sometimes you just never know. Another perfect example is I just got a cold call from a printer or our catalog and our calendar. Yeah, they are going to save us over 10,000 in postage from our previous printer. Well, that’s a good phone call to take.

(31:09 – 31:18) 

See, so that’s what I’m saying. Sometimes cold calls are the ones that you need to take. You do. You got to be open and listen and test. And we went slow, by the way. Our partnership is slow.

(31:20 – 31:40) 

Like I said, what’s it been? Almost 10 years. It’ll be 10 years next year. And you still like me. And we absolutely and we love working with you in any, you know, anytime. And like, like you treat your customers. You call me and we’ll we’ll address it.

(31:42 – 31:50) 

We are blessed to have a partnership and helping and watching your company grow. Yeah, it’s been it’s been amazing. And I look forward to even the next 10 years.

(31:53 – 31:55) 

So do we. So do we. Well, thanks, Krista for jumping on.

(31:59 – 32:12) 

We’ve been talking to Krista Schindler with Blackburn Manufacturing. Krista, again, thank you for joining our podcast. Thanks for listening to the Proof Point Podcast. We’ll see you again next time. And be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.