Latest / We Built This Brand / Fighting For The Small Guy In The Marketing World With Mal Alder

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Fighting For The Small Guy In The Marketing World With Mal Alder · We Built This Brand

• 0:00
  Mal Alder: So the tagline of the company is
• 0:01
  honest digital marketing with trackable results.
• 0:03
  And that's always what I believed in.
• 0:05
  Again, focusing on small businesses and nonprofits
• 0:08
  where a hundred bucks can make or break a month.
• 0:10
  We don't want to be the traveling snake oil salesman of the
• 0:16
  digital marketing world, which is really easy to fall into.
• 0:20
  Chris Hill : Welcome to We Build This Brand.
• 0:21
  I'm your host as always, Chris Hill.
• 0:23
  And today we're at Alder & Co.
• 0:25
  I'm really excited to be here.
• 0:26
  We had a great interview with the founder, Mal Alder.
• 0:30
  about her business and about everything that they do.
• 0:33
  I think you'll really get a lot out of it.
• 0:35
  Really enjoyed the time we got to talk about fighting for the small
• 0:38
  guy in the marketing world and helping smaller businesses make their
• 0:41
  mark, you know, on Knoxville, the city that we're in now, and as well
• 0:45
  as in our community with some of the nonprofit ventures she's done.
• 0:49
  So let's just take it away and dive right in.
• 0:56
  Mal, thank you for joining me today.
• 0:58
  Mal Alder: Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 0:59
  I'm really excited.
• 1:00
  Chris Hill : This You know, anytime I come
• 1:02
  over here, I'm just very jealous of this space.
• 1:04
  It's so cool.
• 1:05
  Mal Alder: Yeah, it's always a work in progress.
• 1:08
  I kind of joke it's the first apartment out of college.
• 1:11
  We're slowly but surely evolving, which,
• 1:14
  you know, is kind of the Alder and Co way.
• 1:17
  We just want a space that inspires creativity and all the dog hair.
• 1:22
  Chris Hill : Yeah, gotta have the dog hair.
• 1:24
  How many dogs do you have here?
• 1:25
  Mal Alder: Today, we have three.
• 1:27
  Our Director of Operations will normally bring her two dogs in, and
• 1:30
  then personally, I have three and a half, if you count my dad's dog.
• 1:34
  Chris Hill : Okay.
• 1:36
  Mal Alder: That we watch when he's out of town.
• 1:38
  So, you know, any given day, it could be one dog, it could be five dogs.
• 1:43
  But keeps it interesting.
• 1:45
  Chris Hill : Definitely.
• 1:46
  So we're here today to talk about you, talk about Alder & Co, talk about the
• 1:49
  brand that you've built here, brands that you're helping build for other people.
• 1:53
  So, um, I'd love to just kind of dive into that and
• 1:56
  just ask you where, where did you get your start?
• 1:58
  How did Alder & Co become a thing?
• 2:01
  Mal Alder: Like all good entrepreneurial stories,
• 2:03
  Alder & Co launched because I lost my job.
• 2:06
  I was working for another local agency in
• 2:08
  town that'd been around for about 30 years.
• 2:12
  And the two principals decided to retire.
• 2:15
  And, you know, as one does, when you find out you are losing your
• 2:19
  paycheck, trying to figure out how to keep food on the table.
• 2:23
  So it gave me a good opportunity to kind of take a hard
• 2:26
  look at the marketing space locally and And what was
• 2:30
  missing and what really I wanted to do with that next step.
• 2:34
  Previously, I'd commuted to Sphereville, Oak Ridge, Clinton.
• 2:37
  I finally landed that downtown job with the goal of
• 2:41
  live, work, play downtown because I'm a local girl.
• 2:44
  And there really wasn't a ton within kind of the radius I was looking for.
• 2:50
  You know, we have some incredible Industry leaders that have been
• 2:53
  downtown forever with like MoxCar, Tombris, Morse Creative, but
• 2:59
  they also weren't really leaning into the industries I wanted to.
• 3:04
  I worked for a lot of local companies kind of when I was in college and
• 3:08
  coming up and no one was really out there fighting for the little guy.
• 3:12
  And so I saw that gap in the market and decided to go for it.
• 3:17
  And that's kind of what brought us here.
• 3:19
  Chris Hill : Fighting for the little guy.
• 3:21
  Tell me, tell me some stories.
• 3:22
  Like, who are some little guys that you've helped fight for?
• 3:25
  Mal Alder: So, one of my favorite clients that I always kind of think about
• 3:28
  with this is we work with a local distillery in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge area.
• 3:33
  Their name is King's Family Distillery.
• 3:35
  So, when you think of moonshine and the Smoky
• 3:36
  Mountains, you think Old Smoky, Sugarlands, you know.
• 3:39
  These, like, multi million dollar corporations now.
• 3:44
  Sure, they started small, but where they are now.
• 3:46
  And their product's good, but, you know,
• 3:49
  King's family, their product is amazing.
• 3:52
  They kind of have a cult following.
• 3:53
  It's really fun to work with them.
• 3:55
  But just the growth we've been able to implement with them and kind
• 4:00
  of elevating their marketing with custom photography, a new website,
• 4:03
  social media management, it's really giving them that online presence.
• 4:07
  So they have a little bit more of an even playing field in the digital space.
• 4:12
  Chris Hill : That's really cool.
• 4:13
  And I know, you know, I'm a, I'm a big craft beer, whiskey fan myself.
• 4:17
  So it's, it's neat when you get to work with those brands
• 4:19
  that are small and interesting to you and fun to work with.
• 4:23
  So that's really cool.
• 4:25
  Mal Alder: And then us being a young company ourselves and then working
• 4:28
  with smaller companies, it's kind of like we're growing up together.
• 4:31
  I'm really fortunate to have a great relationship with so many of
• 4:34
  our clients and so many of our clients we've worked with since.
• 4:37
  You know, I started a little over five years ago.
• 4:40
  So seeing how their company's grown, which has been fed
• 4:44
  into our business growing, it's really kind of a magical
• 4:47
  partnership that I'm very thankful to be a part of.
• 4:49
  Chris Hill : Yeah, I think, I think that's always great when you've got clients
• 4:53
  that you can also say, Hey, look, they've been with us since we started, like
• 4:56
  they're dedicated, they're committed to us and we're proving value to them.
• 5:00
  That's why we keep working with them.
• 5:02
  That's really cool.
• 5:03
  That's really cool.
• 5:04
  What about, like, you, you've had in Fighting for the
• 5:07
  Little Guy, I like this theme that we're kind of getting
• 5:09
  into here, like, you've you've also helped in other ways.
• 5:12
  I remember during the pandemic, we talked about, and you got
• 5:15
  highlighted for your work with Yassin's, some of the work there.
• 5:19
  It's been a few years, so remind us, What happened there?
• 5:22
  Tell us that story.
• 5:23
  Mal Alder: Yeah, that was a really interesting project.
• 5:25
  I want to say it started around March, April, right when
• 5:29
  everyone was sent home, schools were closed, hotels were closed,
• 5:33
  and there was a really just initial shock of food insecurity.
• 5:36
  And I've been friends on Facebook with Yassin for a few years now.
• 5:40
  I mean, who doesn't want to follow his journey, talk about goals.
• 5:43
  But he put out there that he was looking for someone to help with a website.
• 5:48
  And, you know, we had some free time, so I reached
• 5:50
  out to kind of see what he was looking for.
• 5:52
  And the idea of the project, it was called 865 Strong, was helping
• 5:57
  connect people in the community, despite your economic level, if
• 6:01
  you were facing food insecurity, connecting you with the community.
• 6:05
  Resources available to you immediately.
• 6:08
  So linking, I know there was a lot of Facebook groups that came out.
• 6:11
  I think the health department was putting statements.
• 6:13
  We linked Twitter accounts to all the local government
• 6:15
  agencies and really just kind of helped bridge that gap.
• 6:20
  So we were really thankful to work on that.
• 6:21
  It was actually the first Addy Award we ever won.
• 6:24
  We submitted that website and it's been fun kind of To fast forward
• 6:28
  to today with Yessian's new non profit called Seeds and Bridges,
• 6:31
  where they're helping immigrants start their own businesses.
• 6:35
  His first project that he launched is Rom's House in Marble City Market.
• 6:39
  And we actually just recently helped with
• 6:41
  that project, launching a website for Rom.
• 6:44
  Yeah.
• 6:44
  Chris Hill : Yeah, I'm a big fan of Middle Eastern food in general.
• 6:47
  My wife is Turkish, so it, you know,
• 6:49
  helps a little bit.
• 6:50
  But it's cool to see what they've done there.
• 6:52
  And that's really neat that you're supporting
• 6:55
  that community and helping fight for those people.
• 6:58
  Mal Alder: Yeah, and I mean, that's kind of part of who we are.
• 7:01
  Yes, I love paying clients.
• 7:03
  It's fantastic.
• 7:04
  But again, the relationships with the clients we've had for a while
• 7:06
  and some of the other paying projects we have do open us those doors.
• 7:10
  Open up those opportunities for us to be able to give back, you know.
• 7:15
  ROMS House with Seeds and Bridges is an example of
• 7:18
  some work that we've donated for the last two years.
• 7:21
  We've donated all the marketing to So No Pride.
• 7:24
  Most recently last year, and I think we're
• 7:26
  helping with them again this year, Todd Kelly Jr.
• 7:28
  He has the TKJ Foundation, which is a free
• 7:33
  football camp for youth in the community.
• 7:36
  So just kind of Not being the ones driving the change, but
• 7:40
  helping make a difference and being able to support the community
• 7:44
  as a whole really just holds a special place in my heart.
• 7:47
  Chris Hill : I mean, it shows through in the work you've done over the
• 7:49
  years, what I've noticed of you outside of our friendship and relationship.
• 7:52
  Like it's cool to see how you get attention and not just get attention,
• 7:56
  but like are really helping people and serve people in that way.
• 7:59
  So that's to be commended.
• 8:00
  That's really awesome.
• 8:01
  Mal Alder: Yeah.
• 8:01
  I think at my core, I'm a connector.
• 8:03
  If we were joking earlier, I'm in a marketing
• 8:04
  agency, but I'm the worst at marketing myself.
• 8:07
  I'm really good at talking up other people, but I think like that's kind of
• 8:11
  where the magic lies, where it's all a puzzle for me and how it works together.
• 8:14
  So I love being able to, Say, I have one client who is maybe a corporate
• 8:20
  client looking to get involved in the community, and then I have
• 8:22
  another client that's a non profit looking for donors and sponsors.
• 8:25
  Like, just being able to kind of help bridge that gap and
• 8:27
  connecting the two is one of my favorite parts of my job.
• 8:31
  Chris Hill : So, to that point, like, when you started this
• 8:34
  business, you know, you did it because you had lost a job, and you
• 8:36
  were starting out on your own doing something new and exciting.
• 8:39
  Everybody, I think, in business has this moment
• 8:41
  in which it's like, Hey, This could work.
• 8:44
  I'm building something here that people are interested in.
• 8:46
  What was that moment for you?
• 8:48
  I call it the moment of validation.
• 8:49
  What was that for you?
• 8:50
  Mal Alder: Well, that's a lot more professional than mine.
• 8:52
  I call it my oh shit moment.
• 8:55
  Chris Hill : Also a good name for it, yes.
• 8:57
  Mal Alder: Well, I was really fortunate when I started, um, and
• 9:00
  I know you've done work with the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center.
• 9:02
  I paired up with a mentor who actually used
• 9:04
  to be a VP at one of the bigger firms in town.
• 9:08
  And I laid out my business plan.
• 9:09
  I was like, Will I make money?
• 9:12
  Number one.
• 9:13
  And he said yes.
• 9:14
  And he said it was a good idea.
• 9:16
  And I remember another piece of advice I got from a longtime
• 9:20
  family friend who has also owned her business for 35 plus years
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  was if you're going to create a business, make sure that you
• 9:28
  get about 20 percent more than what you would get as a salary.
• 9:31
  That way you created a business.
• 9:32
  You didn't just create a job for yourself.
• 9:35
  So kind of ruling, you know, following that rule, I set my
• 9:39
  goal for my first year and I hit it within my first six months.
• 9:43
  So that was me going, Oh shit, like this is actually a thing.
• 9:47
  I guess I have to go with it now.
• 9:49
  And I was really fortunate.
• 9:50
  I was able to work with some dedicated contractors at the time.
• 9:53
  And then, you know, a year or two later when we got a little
• 9:57
  bit more established that rolled into full time employees.
• 10:01
  And now we have an office.
• 10:02
  And so it's kind of A wild rollercoaster.
• 10:07
  That's probably what, you know, I always describe entrepreneurship.
• 10:12
  And if anyone's heard me talk about it, they've heard me say it where it's
• 10:15
  the most rewarding, but it's the most isolating thing you can ever do.
• 10:19
  So having the team and the ability and the confidence of
• 10:24
  saying we are doing something, we're not changing the whole
• 10:27
  world, but we're going to change our small little corner of it.
• 10:30
  Having the team there, it really helps with the support.
• 10:33
  Chris Hill : Yeah, that, that loneliness aspect.
• 10:35
  I mean, we've, we've commiserated over that.
• 10:37
  Yeah.
• 10:37
  Time or two.
• 10:38
  Over whiskey.
• 10:39
  Over whiskey.
• 10:40
  Yes.
• 10:40
  And you know, I think that that's one of the, like you said,
• 10:43
  the, one of the biggest challenges of being an entrepreneur.
• 10:45
  So.
• 10:46
  Yeah, that's the reward of being able to be your own boss
• 10:49
  and not just have a job like all those things make it
• 10:53
  worth the time and energy you put into it, I think so.
• 10:56
  Yeah, it's cool to see you continue to thrive and that's really exciting.
• 11:00
  So tell me a little bit about your approach at Alder & Co.
• 11:04
  to doing business.
• 11:05
  How do you Approach like a brand strategy with a
• 11:09
  client and what is your what is your focus there?
• 11:13
  Mal Alder: So the tagline of the company is honest digital marketing
• 11:15
  with trackable results and that's always what I've believed in again
• 11:18
  focusing on small businesses and non profits where 100 bucks can make
• 11:22
  or break a month Is we don't want to be the traveling snake oil salesman
• 11:29
  of the digital marketing world, which is really easy to fall into.
• 11:33
  You hear so many stories of businesses who've partnered mainly with the
• 11:36
  industry specific client companies and suppliers where they don't have
• 11:42
  admin access to their website, or their social media, or their analytics.
• 11:46
  So if you ever break up, you have to start
• 11:48
  completely over, and that's just not possible.
• 11:51
  Especially for, you know, companies that don't have that much
• 11:54
  budget or they put their budget towards helping the community.
• 11:59
  So, how we approach it is we always kind of take a look at
• 12:03
  where are you, what are you doing, and what are your goals.
• 12:05
  Every part of our strategy that we implement is always tied to a business goal.
• 12:09
  Sure, you can post on social media all day.
• 12:13
  But, why?
• 12:14
  You know, people will quote the Simonson X, start with why.
• 12:18
  Like, why are you doing this?
• 12:20
  What is the purpose of this?
• 12:21
  Are you just posting to post?
• 12:22
  No one's going to want to follow that.
• 12:24
  So, what are we trying to tie back to?
• 12:26
  So, by aligning it with the business goals, we are
• 12:29
  able to develop a custom strategy for each client.
• 12:33
  You know, just like not all social media platforms are created the same.
• 12:36
  Not all, you know, digital marketing campaigns are the same.
• 12:39
  Like, social media could be good for one, but email
• 12:41
  actually has a higher ROI for a different industry.
• 12:45
  And just kind of helping our clients navigate that and not,
• 12:49
  Overselling them to things that aren't necessarily beneficial.
• 12:52
  Chris Hill : Because we do podcasts, I definitely
• 12:54
  understand what you're saying because we get into situations
• 12:58
  where people will be like, well, I want a podcast.
• 13:00
  It's like, cool.
• 13:01
  What, uh, what are we doing for the podcast?
• 13:03
  Well, I want it to be about me talking about all my expertise.
• 13:07
  Neat, but why?
• 13:09
  And like, it sometimes has turned into counseling sessions with
• 13:13
  clients who just want to do things because they want to make noise.
• 13:17
  They think it's the cool thing to do, especially a few years ago,
• 13:20
  it was the popular thing to do and finding people that really need
• 13:23
  it and want it and have a strategy for it is very challenging.
• 13:27
  Now we can help them develop that, but to your point, like
• 13:30
  it's, I don't want to be that snake oil salesman either.
• 13:33
  So I totally align with that.
• 13:35
  Mal Alder: It's funny you mentioned counseling and people do not realize how.
• 13:41
  Elbow deep marketers and communicators for
• 13:43
  businesses get in the business, you know.
• 13:47
  Sure, clients will come to me if they need help writing an
• 13:50
  ad, but we've also talked to the clients of, if we don't
• 13:54
  hit these numbers, we have to lay off staff and it's nothing
• 13:57
  that we've done necessarily, but it's things on their end.
• 14:01
  So we understand the finances, we understand the flow.
• 14:05
  Like it or not, we know who on your team's performing and who's not,
• 14:09
  you know, like, which again circles back to having So much importance of
• 14:14
  the relationship we have with our clients and having that mutual trust.
• 14:20
  Chris Hill : Yeah, I think that, I think that matters a whole lot.
• 14:22
  And I think that's critical to growing a business.
• 14:25
  I mean, trust is important anywhere, right?
• 14:27
  So who is, you said the little guy, but who really is your target market?
• 14:31
  Mal Alder: So we focus on local small businesses and nonprofits.
• 14:37
  So When I say the little guy or I say a small
• 14:39
  business, you could make a lot of money.
• 14:42
  So maybe you don't technically qualify.
• 14:45
  But if you have a staff of five, you know, who's
• 14:48
  really in your office doing your marketing?
• 14:50
  Probably the secretary or the intern or, you
• 14:54
  know, the young kid who you just graduated.
• 14:57
  You can figure it out.
• 14:58
  Because at the end of the day, especially now, if you look at digital
• 15:03
  marketing or marketing where it is right now, everyone who's doing it.
• 15:06
  Today, we all learned off of a few Google searches.
• 15:09
  You can fluff it up as much as you want, but when you and
• 15:12
  I were in college, you couldn't major in social media.
• 15:15
  You figure it out.
• 15:17
  So, understanding that everything that I do, someone else could
• 15:21
  do with, you know, a few HubSpot certifications or whatever,
• 15:26
  but the difference I bring to the table is I've been doing
• 15:29
  this for 11 years, they've been doing it for 11 minutes.
• 15:32
  So, With that though, we're an opportunity cost.
• 15:36
  So that young hotshot in your office could be updating
• 15:40
  your website, but what else could they be doing?
• 15:44
  Maybe it's an attorney who, those could actually be billable
• 15:47
  hours, making you money instead of costing you money.
• 15:51
  So, um, kind of the businesses or the nonprofits where
• 15:55
  they've dabbled in the digital space, they know they
• 15:58
  need it, but they don't really know what they need.
• 16:00
  They don't know where they want to start.
• 16:03
  You know, we kind of help filter it out, you know,
• 16:06
  remove the noise, circle it back to your objectives.
• 16:09
  So, um, yeah.
• 16:10
  What do you need?
• 16:10
  How can we help?
• 16:11
  Chris Hill : Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
• 16:13
  So of course, this is a branding podcast.
• 16:15
  Um, so I do have to ask, like when you started Alder & Co.,
• 16:18
  how did you come up with the name, the colors?
• 16:21
  I'm, I'm sure the name has a pretty obvious
• 16:23
  answer, but I would love to hear your take on it.
• 16:26
  Mal Alder: It's kind of double sided.
• 16:27
  Obviously, it is my last name.
• 16:30
  And growing up, my dad would always joke that he was self employed.
• 16:35
  My mom was also self employed.
• 16:37
  But he would always joke that his company was Alder and Co.
• 16:40
  He was Alder, and then mom and I were Co.
• 16:44
  But also a little bit further, if you, you know, I
• 16:47
  always joke Alder, the tree no one's ever heard of.
• 16:49
  But if you kind of look in, it is a hardwood tree that represents
• 16:52
  like strength and resilience, which is also part of the Alder & Co.
• 16:58
  story.
• 16:59
  The logo and the colors, I have to shout
• 17:02
  out one of my really good friends, Kate.
• 17:03
  She designed it for me when I first started.
• 17:05
  An infinitely talented graphic designer who I would love to steal if I could.
• 17:10
  It's all lowercase because I have one of my favorite poets.
• 17:16
  I'm going to butcher her first name, but her whole
• 17:19
  thing is she would always write with lowercase letters.
• 17:21
  And now I was a English major with an emphasis in poetry in college.
• 17:25
  And I always thought if I pursued that path,
• 17:27
  that would be the writing style that I wanted.
• 17:29
  So that's why we leaned into all lowercase and the colors
• 17:33
  where I told her my favorite colors, green and she ran with it.
• 17:36
  Chris Hill : Yeah.
• 17:37
  That's, I mean, that's a part of you.
• 17:39
  It's a very deeply personal brand.
• 17:40
  So I think that's really neat to be able to share that.
• 17:43
  So.
• 17:44
  You studied poetry.
• 17:45
  Mal Alder: I did.
• 17:46
  Yeah.
• 17:47
  Chris Hill : Do you write any poetry now?
• 17:49
  Mal Alder: Not anymore.
• 17:51
  Okay.
• 17:51
  Um, I did.
• 17:52
  And you know, I feel like we all kind of worked
• 17:54
  through our angsty teen years in our own ways.
• 17:57
  But no, I was an English major and I loved poetry because
• 18:02
  to be completely honest, I didn't want to write a novel
• 18:04
  in college and I thought it'd be easier in poetry.
• 18:07
  Twitch.
• 18:07
  I mean, you still read all of the literature books, and I think you learn so
• 18:12
  much, not necessarily of reading just fiction books, but creative nonfiction.
• 18:18
  And it's kind of the way that you can continue
• 18:20
  your education beyond what you get in school.
• 18:24
  So I'm really big on continued education.
• 18:26
  What did you learn?
• 18:27
  What inspires you?
• 18:29
  Um, because at the end of the day, we are
• 18:30
  creatives in a creative field and burnout is real.
• 18:32
  Chris Hill : Absolutely.
• 18:33
  So working with all these different brands, what,
• 18:36
  what have you learned about branding in the process?
• 18:40
  Mal Alder: It's important.
• 18:41
  And, but, it's,
• 18:44
  Chris Hill : I know, right,
• 18:45
  Mal Alder: done, mic check, mic drop,
• 18:46
  Chris Hill : it's important,
• 18:47
  Mal Alder: no, um, it's a really good way to differentiate
• 18:50
  yourself, especially as kind of the world is trending.
• 18:54
  People like people, people want that personalized, so you can't
• 18:57
  just be your logo and just your colors and some pretty graphics,
• 19:01
  like, what does the brand mean and what does it represent?
• 19:04
  And then do your actions match your words?
• 19:07
  So, I think, you know.
• 19:10
  TikTok virality can this whole culture to an an extent
• 19:14
  of it, it is like calling out fake brands or fake noise.
• 19:21
  So how do you represent yourself authentically?
• 19:26
  And I think that's where a lot of opportunity lies within the branding.
• 19:31
  And just for the love of God, don't have a Canva logo.
• 19:34
  Chris Hill : Well, I made this in Canva.
• 19:35
  I mean, it should be, should work, right?
• 19:37
  Mal Alder: Well, it's probably not licensed for commercial use
• 19:39
  and everyone has the same cursive font with splash backdrop.
• 19:44
  Chris Hill : Yes.
• 19:44
  Yeah.
• 19:45
  They become obvious after a while, don't they?
• 19:47
  Mal Alder: And hear me when I say Canva has its benefits.
• 19:50
  We use it for some social media templates, but I
• 19:53
  don't think it should be what everyone relies on.
• 19:56
  Chris Hill : Yeah.
• 19:57
  Yeah, I think, I think finding a solid designer has a lot more value.
• 20:00
  I mean, even when we started HumblePod,
• 20:02
  like that was one of the first things I did.
• 20:04
  And when we started this podcast, we built this brand.
• 20:06
  I knew we were building it on branding.
• 20:08
  We hired a graphic designer to come in and design what we have now as our logo.
• 20:12
  So yeah, I think those things matter.
• 20:15
  So
• 20:15
  Mal Alder: I love our graphic designer right now.
• 20:18
  I tell him constantly that his brain works in a way that mine just does not.
• 20:22
  And some of the things that he creates, he's Be on talented.
• 20:26
  We're extremely fortunate to have him.
• 20:28
  Chris Hill : Yeah.
• 20:29
  Yeah.
• 20:29
  It's always good.
• 20:29
  And you gotta keep that talent too.
• 20:31
  Yeah, that can be, a challenge as a business owner I'm sure.
• 20:34
  Mal Alder: It can!
• 20:35
  We were talking about this earlier it's interesting.
• 20:37
  The Things you learn about your business through the hiring
• 20:41
  and the off boarding phase too, that goes through it.
• 20:44
  Because, you know, you bring a new team member on or you lose
• 20:47
  a team member, it gives you the opportunity to kind of evaluate
• 20:50
  where are we, here's what I'm trying to achieve, are we doing that?
• 20:55
  So, um.
• 20:56
  It's the not super fun side of owning a business.
• 21:00
  Chris Hill : Yeah, it's definitely one of the heavier lifts.
• 21:02
  And yeah, I think you're doing the right thing by
• 21:05
  thinking about what happens after those people leave.
• 21:07
  Because there's always a, a chance to be reflective and
• 21:10
  make sure you're making the right decisions moving forward.
• 21:13
  So
• 21:13
  Mal Alder: yeah, and I mean, we've all had terrible bosses.
• 21:16
  That's probably why we work for ourselves now.
• 21:18
  So I always try to follow the leadership
• 21:21
  strategy of being the boss I wish I'd had.
• 21:23
  And I take it seriously.
• 21:26
  There's livelihoods that depend on me.
• 21:28
  There are families that depend on me.
• 21:30
  So, you know, I show up every day to show up for them and for our clients.
• 21:36
  Chris Hill : That's great.
• 21:36
  That's great.
• 21:37
  So what does the future of Alder & Co look like?
• 21:41
  Mal Alder: It's ever evolving.
• 21:43
  We're in a really fun, kind of space right now where we're
• 21:47
  working on a lot of really great projects with some of my
• 21:50
  favorite nonprofits including YWCA, I think I mentioned them.
• 21:55
  Chris Hill : I think you did, yeah.
• 21:56
  Mal Alder: Women's Fund of East Tennessee that also offers
• 21:59
  grants and other financial opportunities to other nonprofits
• 22:03
  in the East Tennessee area that focus on women and children.
• 22:06
  So kind of helping with that.
• 22:07
  We're dabbling a little bit in Being a little bit more
• 22:10
  well rounded as a project manager for other clients.
• 22:13
  So if a client needs custom apparel or merchandise or
• 22:18
  signage or vinyl decals, like we can help with all of that.
• 22:23
  And kind of again, being that opportunity
• 22:24
  cost of a one stop resource for our clients.
• 22:27
  Chris Hill : Sounds like you got some fun stuff coming up
• 22:29
  Mal Alder: I know
• 22:29
  . Chris Hill : So last question I always like to ask
• 22:31
  is what brand do you admire the most right now?
• 22:34
  It's always good for, you know, if you're
• 22:36
  working in marketing branding to find out.
• 22:38
  Who's interested in said brand?
• 22:40
  So what about you?
• 22:41
  Mal Alder: I was thinking about this when you kind of teased
• 22:44
  the question earlier, which I appreciate the heads up.
• 22:47
  Honestly, Liquid Death.
• 22:48
  And there's two sides to it.
• 22:51
  So my first experience with Liquid Death.
• 22:54
  was not great.
• 22:55
  And it has absolutely nothing to do with the product.
• 22:57
  If anyone from Liquid Death is listening, I promise I do not hate your company.
• 23:02
  But I was at a music festival and they ran out of free water.
• 23:06
  And the lines for the bar where you could
• 23:09
  get anything else to drink were hours long.
• 23:12
  Like my husband waited a set and a half at
• 23:15
  a music festival to get anything to drink.
• 23:19
  So then the only water we could get was Liquid Death
• 23:23
  So, I kind of had, you know, there's so much irony.
• 23:26
  It's hot, I'm thirsty, and all I have is Liquid Death.
• 23:29
  But, you know, I'd never heard of the brand
• 23:32
  before, so I kind of started following it.
• 23:35
  And it's really interesting, you know, we're talking about branding
• 23:38
  and being a little bit of a disruptor in the space, just kind of seeing
• 23:42
  how, you know, They're taking the, like, sparkling water world by storm.
• 23:48
  It's branded like a craft beer, but it's not craft beer.
• 23:51
  And they're very tongue in cheek with their merch, so I love it
• 23:54
  when a brand can, you know, have a little fun with themselves.
• 23:58
  So, it's always fun to watch the journey that they're doing.
• 24:02
  And, um, They have grown past the music
• 24:05
  festival and I feel like they're everywhere now.
• 24:08
  Chris Hill : Well, it's funny you say music festival
• 24:10
  because I just saw a new TikTok video that they've put out.
• 24:14
  It's probably on YouTube and everywhere else
• 24:15
  too, but they are marketing a makeup kit.
• 24:19
  For goth makeup and it's a real thing.
• 24:22
  I think you can actually buy it in their store and
• 24:24
  they have this goth rocker, like talking about it.
• 24:26
  And these little girls, it's like, it's like a kid's
• 24:29
  like nineties ad for a toy, but it's with a goth rocker.
• 24:33
  And then, yeah, I don't want to ruin it.
• 24:36
  We'll make sure this gets in the show notes because
• 24:38
  it is hilarious and I think everybody should watch it.
• 24:40
  Mal Alder: Missed opportunity of Gene Simmons wasn't the spokesperson.
• 24:44
  Chris Hill : I know, I know.
• 24:44
  This, I think he actually, I need to go and look up the guy because I think he's
• 24:48
  actually like a death metal rocker, which is actually really on brand for them.
• 24:51
  Um, and the way the video goes, it just gets weirder
• 24:55
  and weirder and weirder and it just gets really weird.
• 24:57
  Really hilarious at the end, as any good ad
• 24:59
  does, but like, this is just, it's so well done.
• 25:02
  And you forget about the fact that it's even, you know, sparkling water that
• 25:06
  they're selling because everything else is just so ridiculous around it.
• 25:10
  But yeah, they're, I, I agree with their branding.
• 25:13
  I've said on a previous episode, cause they've come up before, as you
• 25:16
  can imagine, they're not my favorite, but they're definitely good.
• 25:19
  My son recognizes the brand of the store at five.
• 25:22
  Mal Alder: And I mean, really, if you have
• 25:24
  a five year old that notices you, Money.
• 25:26
  Nailed it.
• 25:27
  Like, you have won.
• 25:29
  Chris Hill : Yeah, and it's fun too, because
• 25:31
  my son will just see it and go, Liquid Death!
• 25:33
  And I'm like, this is hilarious, I kind of love this.
• 25:36
  Mal Alder: Yeah, again,
• 25:36
  when we were in college, we just called that Everclear.
• 25:40
  But no, I mean, ultimately, like, Being creatives
• 25:43
  in creative fields, you have to have fun with it.
• 25:45
  It's why we're here.
• 25:47
  And so seeing brands allowing themselves to have fun with it,
• 25:51
  what I always am attracted to in following different campaigns.
• 25:55
  Chris Hill : Yeah, that's um, absolutely one of my favorite things is,
• 25:58
  and I'm sure you've had opportunities to do it too, but like get creative,
• 26:02
  do something ridiculous, um, even embarrass yourself to that degree.
• 26:05
  Like I'm, I'm not above it.
• 26:07
  So I will happily, I've done, um, speaking of beer and college.
• 26:12
  We had a client, the first video we ever did for them, they
• 26:14
  wanted us to do a parody of the Real Men of Genius campaign.
• 26:19
  If you don't know what that is, go look it up.
• 26:21
  All you youngsters that are out there watching, um,
• 26:24
  but Real Men of Genius is, as you know, very funny.
• 26:27
  And I did a, I did a whole parody thing for them.
• 26:30
  And I was just in my house one afternoon
• 26:32
  singing their whole Real Men of Genius song.
• 26:35
  Mal Alder: The jingle is going to be stuck in my head all day now.
• 26:38
  Chris Hill : But it was, it was a lot of fun to do.
• 26:40
  And that's, that's when, for me, that was one of my
• 26:42
  moments of validation of like, I'm doing what I love to do.
• 26:46
  I'm doing something ridiculous and getting paid for it.
• 26:49
  This is amazing.
• 26:50
  So yeah, that's really cool.
• 26:52
  All right.
• 26:53
  Well, Well, we're towards the end of our time, so I
• 26:56
  always like to know, like, where can people find Mal?
• 26:58
  Where can they find out more about Alder & Co.?
• 27:00
  Mal Alder: Sure.
• 27:01
  So, Alder & Co., it's really simple.
• 27:03
  We're The Alder Co.
• 27:04
  A L D E R C O on all social media platforms.
• 27:08
  Awesome.
• 27:08
  For me, I'm MalNotMel on pretty much all of them.
• 27:12
  I joke that was the peak of my creativity.
• 27:15
  And I have a shrine of all the things where people have gotten my name wrong.
• 27:19
  But yeah, we're around.
• 27:20
  Chris Hill : Awesome.
• 27:21
  Well, we'll make sure people find you.
• 27:22
  We'll not, Mel.
• 27:23
  Why did I almost say Mel?
• 27:25
  Mal Alder: And you said we were friends.
• 27:27
  Chris Hill : You, you had just said Mel.
• 27:29
  And my brain was stuck on, oh, don't say Mel, and so I said Mel.
• 27:33
  Just that intrusive thought.
• 27:35
  Mal Alder: Mal, not Mel.
• 27:39
  Chris Hill : Mel, I think we'll leave this in.
• 27:41
  Mal Alder: Okay.
• 27:44
  Chris Hill : It's, it's too funny to take out.
• 27:46
  Mel, thank you so much for coming on the
• 27:47
  Mal Alder: podcast.
• 27:48
  Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 27:49
  This was a lot of fun.