Social media strategy, logos, graphics, websites and small business solutions. Built around YOU.

Pick your starting point

Most clients come in for one thing. The best part? It usually grows. Start where the pain is loudest.

Social media

Stop guessing what to post. Get a plan, a voice and content that sounds like you.

  • Strategy and a monthly content calendar
  • Captions with real hooks and a clear call to action
  • Graphics and short video direction
  • Instagram and Facebook tune-ups

Best for owners who post when they have time and want it to actually work.

Ask about social media

Branding

A brand is more than a logo. It is how people feel when they meet you.

  • Logo design
  • Colors, fonts and brand voice
  • Mission and vision statements
  • Graphics kit for print and social

Best for new businesses, and older ones that outgrew their look.

Ask about branding

Websites

Your website should work while you sleep. Clear, fast and built to be found.

  • Website refresh: audit, competitors, SEO and brand assets
  • New site builds
  • Local SEO
  • Booking and small business tools

Best for businesses with a site that looks fine but does not bring in customers.

Ask about websites

Our work

Two Alaska brands. One small town. Here is how we built visibility for both.

Real copy from the live site, shown as a layout sketch.

Creative direction

Wild Bear Safari

Small-group brown bear tours in Hoonah, Alaska. Land-based. Family-friendly. Unforgettable.

The challenge

Wild Bear Safari is an independent operator. Guests will not find it in the cruise line's excursion hub. So it has to be easy to find everywhere else.

What we did

  • Audited visibility on Viator, GetYourGuide, TripAdvisor and Google Business Profile, then wrote the fix plan
  • Built a 90 day content calendar for the 2026 season
  • Prepared logo files for vinyl cutting
  • Set up a competitor research framework
  • Cleaned up site details, like a misspelled Hoonah in the social sharing tag
Visit wildbearsafari.com

Real copy from the live site, shown as a layout sketch.

Our own venture

Hoonah Off Ship

A locally run guide to Hoonah, Alaska. Real places. Real people. Real Alaska.

The challenge

Most cruise passengers only see the port. The real town, and the small local businesses in it, sit a short walk away. Travelers needed one clear, trusted place to find them.

What we built

  • An independent directory with four founding members: bear tours, whale watching, a village tour with crab feast, and a harborfront restaurant
  • A Build your day planner with three sample days
  • A walking and shuttle guide, plus pages for six cruise lines and each activity
  • Passenger questions, answered and written to be found in search
  • An inquiry form for local businesses that want a listing
Visit hoonahoffship.com

One system. Two sites.

Hoonah Off Ship introduces travelers to the town. Its Book direct button sends them to Wild Bear Safari with a tracking tag. So we can see what the directory sends over.

  1. A traveler finds Hoonah Off Ship
  2. They plan a day and tap Book direct
  3. They book on wildbearsafari.com

Start your project

The numbers behind the work

Pretty is nice. Profitable is better. Here are two very different businesses and what the data says.

Event rentalsUpstate South Carolina

A local event rental company

Turning digital visibility into revenue growth.

The challenge

Strong inventory. An established local business. But marketing was not tied closely enough to website traffic, customer inquiries and revenue. The goal was bigger than posting more. It was to build a system we could measure.

What we did

  • Built website and SEO content around the categories people search and rent most: inflatables, tents, tables, catering equipment and dance floors
  • Created content for weddings, corporate events, seasonal events, planning questions and new inventory, so the website had more front doors than the homepage
  • Turned social media into part of the sales funnel: capture attention, show inventory, educate, create demand, drive people back to the website, and invite quote requests
  • Reviewed revenue, website activity, product interest and year over year performance together

Services: digital strategy, SEO, website optimization, content marketing, social media, sales analysis and conversion strategy.

Revenue, January through August 2026

  • +13.8%revenue year over year
  • $432,544applied revenue in 2026
  • $380,001same period in 2025
  • +$52,543added revenue
  • +101%website users
  • +86%website sessions
  • +136%website clicks
  • +82%form starts
  • +18%completed form submissions

Behind in January. Ahead by March.

-23.3%Jan
-3.6%Feb
+55.5%Mar
+16.7%Apr
+24.4%May

January through May revenue rose from about $221,375 in 2025 to $261,422 in 2026. That is up about 18.1%.

Where demand grew: product page traffic

  • Inflatables+126%
  • Tents+85%
  • Tables+70%
  • Catering equipment+47%
  • Dance floors+19%

Inside inflatables, sessions rose 154%, active users 265% and new users 500%.

Traffic alone does not pay the bills. Visitors, form starts, product page traffic and revenue all rose together. Next up: turning more of those visitors into customers.

Read the full social & ads case study →

Tourism and shore excursionsRemote Alaska

An independent Alaska tour company

Be known before the ship docks.

The challenge

The customer is a cruise passenger with only a few hours in port. Our client competes with cruise-line excursions, big travel marketplaces, agencies and last-minute sellers. The goal: make the brand recognizable before anyone steps off the ship.

What we did

  • Focused on travelers about 35 to 65+, and positioned the tour around what they want: wild Alaska, local knowledge, small groups and brown bears
  • Turned real tour moments into short-form video, then put paid budget behind the best performers
  • Built marketing around how cruise tourism really works: ship calendars, dock time, seasonal wildlife and tour availability
  • Pushed direct booking through the website and direct message calls to action
  • Wrote content that answers the questions travelers ask before they arrive, so search engines and AI tools can find and recommend the company
  • Developed a personality-driven brand with a consistent voice, a brand character and merchandise concepts

Services: brand strategy, social media, paid advertising, SEO, content strategy, direct booking strategy, audience development and AI search optimization.

One June campaign

  • 6,152video and post views
  • 3,482accounts reached
  • 2,228interactions on one short video

Paid and everything else

  • Views6,152
  • Accounts reached3,482
  • Paid: 3,531 views, 2,800 accounts
  • Organic and other

Paid ads over about 2.5 months

  • $0.25average cost per landing page hit
  • Nearly 2,000landing page hits
  • 30Kviews

Search. Discover. Trust. Book direct.

Travelers now tell the company they found it through ChatGPT while planning their trip. That is why we write for AI search too. The question changed from "What should we post today?" to "Where is this traveler in the decision, and what moves them closer to booking?"

Two businesses. One marketing system.

Local rental companyUpstate South Carolina. Event-driven demand. Website inquiries and rentals.
Destination tour companyRemote Alaska. Cruise-driven demand. Seasonal bookings.

The same philosophy worked for both:

  • Understand how the customer searches
  • Create content around what the customer actually wants
  • Build visibility across more than one discovery channel
  • Send customers to a website or booking channel you own
  • Measure behavior, not vanity metrics
  • Connect marketing activity to business results

That is the difference between doing marketing and building a marketing system.

Start your project

Big ideas Big results Big personalities

Three things. Every project.

The most important part of your brand is YOU. An exciting people culture, powerful messaging, eye-catching media and proper execution is our standard.

How a project runs

No mystery. No surprise invoices of confusion. Just four clear steps.

  1. Listen

    We learn your story, your customers and what you want your business to feel like.

  2. Map

    We look at your competitors, your search presence and your brand assets. Then we write the plan.

  3. Build

    Logos, content, graphics or pages. You review it. We refine it until it feels like you.

  4. Launch

    We put it in the world and show you how to keep it going.

Free guide: hire for great people culture

It takes the right people to turn a big idea into big results. Three steps to get there.

Find the right people

Many people interview well. So how do you weed out the ones who will miss the mark? Look for people who bring equal parts effort, ability and desire. If one is missing, move on to the next candidate.

  • Desire
  • Ability
  • Effort
Clearly define important characteristics

Study your mission and vision statements. Which personality traits matter most? Are your interview questions aligned with them? Ask situational questions to see if a candidate will show the behaviors your brand stands for.

Diagnose root causes

Teach managers to look for root causes, not symptoms. Say the staff keeps forgetting to clean one area. It has happened more than once, so it is a pattern. Stop cleaning up the mistake for them. It can only be one of three things: attitude, training or a broken system.

  • Attitude
  • Training
  • System

Building the people side of your brand can feel confusing. Your people are the engine that drives your business. Let us help you.

Candace Dillard smiling in a dark blazer
Candace, Brand Coach

Meet your brand coach

Candace Dillard leads Big Ideas Branding. She works with small business owners who have a big idea and need the brand, the plan and the team to match.

The truth is, you do not need more noise. You need a clear message and people who live it.

Talk with Candace

Got a big idea? Tell us.

Share a few details. We will reply and map out the best next step. Everything you want exists on the other side of fear.

What do you need?