BizVoice -- May / June 2018

May/June 2018 – BizVoice/Indiana Chamber 33 The legend of a dark-haired hero looms large at Hanapin Marketing, a digital marketing agency that specializes in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Murals, figurines and posters tout the Bloomington- based company’s popular “PPC Hero” blog mascot and the notion that greatness is always within reach. Energy is evident. An open layout awaits. Green workstations abound. Walls are bathed in shades of blue. “What I really like about the work we do here is, it’s not all Bloomington companies,” asserts digital consultant Mike Miller. “It’s not all Indianapolis companies. We have Sprint, American Eagle, The Weather Channel. Huge clients. Huge names in a small town. It’s refreshing to leave work doing great stuff for big companies and still have the benefit of not living in downtown New York or Chicago and (instead being a part of) that smaller, tighter-knit community.” Founded in 2004, Hanapin has approximately 70 employees. It’s a place that empowers people to soar – professionally and personally. “We believe a lot in decentralized authority making,” remarks president Jeff Allen. “The way I think about it is, people closest to the information are the most impacted by it; they’re the ones that should be making the decisions (as much as possible).” Hanapin also gives employees a voice. “Management is so accessible and easy to talk to,” emphasizes senior accounting clerk Lauren Reiser. “You can bring up concerns or suggestions and they’re actually considered.” Kass Botts, a paid social account manager, joined the company in 2017. “Everyone feels really comfortable here – because we do a ‘team of teams’ kind of organization,” reflects the 25-year-old. “We all have to rely on each other as resources. The open work environment contributes to that quite a bit.” The camaraderie continues after hours with activities such as bowling, cave tours and dinners. “Those things help to build the rapport.” Botts laughs before adding a heartfelt, “I feel like – I don’t know – I’ve never loved the people I work with so much as whenever I’ve worked here!” ‘A rising tide lifts all boats’ Each year, Hanapin hosts Hero Conf – the world’s largest all- PPC conference – with events in both the United States and the United Kingdom. “Our competitors come to the conference, speak at this conference,” explains senior communications manager Jamie Newton. “We have a really good relationship with most of our competitors because they’re the ones reading our blogs (written by the experts at Hanapin) or they’re coming to learn from us.” Why is that so important? “It’s kind of this funny thing where we’re training a lot of our competitors,” Allen acknowledges. “But our thought is, ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ “(In) our industry – five, 10 years ago – there were a lot of people who were (so-called) PPC experts, agencies that just weren’t very good at it. And if we went on a sales pitch, we spent a lot of time trying to convince the client, ‘This is a good product. It’s Google! It’s Facebook! Look, it’s legitimate.’ “Part of it is, let’s make everyone better at this so we can spend NO. 1: SMALL EMPLOYER Hanapin’s high jinks have employees burning energy, enjoying a Yoga With Goats session and testing Star Wars virtual reality technology.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzIwODg=