Objective Brand

✨ We’re hiring a Growth Marketer. The kind who likes building the machine and flying the plane. At Objective Brand, we help financial companies grow through brand and marketing that’s actually good. You’ll work with a tight team of designers, strategists, and marketers to turn smart thinking into tangible momentum. If you know your way around funnels, frameworks, and a/b tests—and you want to be part of a team that moves fast and does work that matters—check it out: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/edGPyE3F

Team show-your-teeth smile vs....the design team. All hands is one of my favorite monthly meetings. A time for us to realign, celebrate what we’ve accomplished, look ahead to our goals, and rally around our priorities + John S. usually shares some pretty good gifs. Love this team so much.

As a Michigander, I never thought I could work with a company from Ohio. But Brent Shimman, Frank, and the SD Capital team won me and everyone at Objective Brand over. Their clients adore them, and it’s easy to see why. They’re classy people. We had a genuinely good time with them in Toledo. There were many laughs and big travel plans set. A lot of people came together to make this a huge success. This team never fails to impress and one-up themselves: Design—Olivia Gagnon Strategy—Lydia Kerr Marketing—Charis Salazar Copy—Olivia Mulder Quarterback—Jen Baek Video—Troy Spoelma The stellar SD Capital team—Brent Shimman, Frank Dobnikar, CFP®, Abby Teet, JT Daniel, MBA, Brittany M. DeWeese, MPA SD Capital is going to go far with their new brand and marketing system. Check it out here: 👀💥 sdcadvisors.com Full case study coming soon.

What makes Root Financial so effective? We get this question all the time because what they’re doing is working crazy well. A few things stand out: -- ↳ Structure matters more than location. Call it remote, hybrid, whatever. But when your team is clear on expectations, communicates well, and trusts each other, the format matters less. Root and Objective Brand both lead with clarity and transparency. ↳ Money can’t buy vision. The best teams are inspired. Root has a big, clear vision, and they talk about it often. Money matters, but belief helps your team do more than what they think is possible. ↳ Humility accelerates growth. The leaders at Root are at the top of their game and still act like students. They’re obsessed with growth, open to feedback, and attract people who want to get better every day. -- Last week, we hosted our biggest photo and video shoot ever with the Root crew and saw those values play out in real time. Huge shoutout to Lydia Kerr and Jen Baek for making it a massive success and to James Conole, CFP® and the Root team for building something special. We also got a little Objective Brand team time together in our unofficial Denver HQ. Too many words to share about that, so I’ll leave it at this: I love our team 🫶

Always a good day when the Root crew is in town. Grateful for the trust, the energy, and the chance to create together.

Being reliable is the biggest flex. That's something we talked about in our last team stand-up. Yes, we deliver beautiful brand work. But that doesn't mean much without reliability. What separates a high-performing creative team from an average one comes down to the basics: - Do we do what we say we're going to do? - Do we take time to understand the "why" behind client requests before making promises? - Do we prioritize communication even when it's inconvenient? - Do we make it easier for clients to trust us? Follow-through is an understated skill, but it's a quality people always remember. The sooner creative teams learn that, the more impactful their work becomes.

🛠️ New website launch: spear-invest.com Ivana Delevska was one of the first people to reach out to work with Objective Brand to help promote her asset management company's flagship product, Spear Alpha ETF. The idea of branding an ETF was immediately compelling, and Ivana’s vision made it even more exciting. Over the years, we collaborated on a few smaller projects. But this year, we had the opportunity to do something bigger: → Rebuild the Spear website from the ground up → Create a brand story video that captures the mission → Refine messaging to match the innovation of their company (and the brilliance of Ivana) Proud of what we created together. Even more excited to watch Spear continue to grow. P.S. Filming in the Nasdaq MarketSite building was a treat. What a beautiful space.

"My parents were tasked with the job of survival and I with self-actualization. The immigrant generational gap is real. What a luxury it is to search for purpose, meaning, and fulfillment." — Bo Ren Once a week, I talk to my parents on the phone. The conversations are usually short, but my dad always asks how work is going. I'll go into great detail about a cool project, an interesting problem we're trying to solve, or a fun shoot I just came back from, and every single time, my dad goes, "Wow, you're so lucky." He doesn't mean it lightly. He means I get to dream for a living. I get to build something that didn't exist before. I get to pour myself into work that feels like mine. I'm lucky, and I know it. Happy three years to Objective Brand. Let's keep chasing the good stuff.

Three years ago, I started Objective Brand while living out of a (cozy) van. Today, we’re a team of 9, working with some of the boldest, kindest founders in finance. A lot has changed, but here’s what I’d tell my past self on day one to build a better business, faster: ✅ 1. Operational efficiency isn’t optional. Growth without process just multiplies the chaos. Standardize, document, and refine before you scale. The goal isn’t just to grow, but to grow well. (Shoutout to Jen Baek, our Head of Ops, on her 1-year Objective anniversary TODAY) ✅ 2. Imperfect clients are okay—just don’t hold on too long. Not every fit will be right. That’s fine. But once it’s clear you’re misaligned, move on fast. The longer you wait, the more you pay in energy and opportunity. ✅ 3. Don’t sell Ferraris to people who need minivans. Excellence only works if your client is ready for it. Optimize your time for people who are prepared for growth. The journey hasn’t been perfect, and I wouldn’t want it to be. Most of the big lessons came the hard way. But here’s what those lessons have helped us accomplish: Year 1 → Year 2 → Year 3 💰 Revenue: $400k → $1M → $1.6M 👥 Team: 1 → 4 → 9 We’re not chasing revenue or headcount. We’re growing because people see the value in what we do, and they stick around. Some of our clients have been with us since day one (shoutout to James Conole, CFP®, for being the first and still going strong). That’s the metric I’m most proud of. We help exceptional founders build their dream businesses. Fun work. Delightful people. Minimal stress. That’s my dream business. That’s what we’re building at Objective Brand. Cheers to 3 years. 📷 PCH in Monterey, CA

If brand-building feels murky or out of your wheelhouse (like it always has for me), this is for you. John S. gives so much in this episode. Here are a few things we touch on: - What makes a powerful brand - Where and how to prioritize resources when you want to improve your brand - How Objective Brand approaches rebrands (they're awesome to work with)