Marketing Made Creative

Bryckroad Creative

If your marketing gets more shrugs than clicks, you’re in the right place. If your brand feels scattered and your “plan” lives between sticky notes and 2 a.m. ideas, welcome home. Marketing Made Creative turns half-working tactics into smart, strategic action. We break down branding, websites, creative, and modern marketing systems in a way that’s clear, tactical, and actually enjoyable. Smart marketing, real growth. Let's make your brand impossible to ignore.

Episodes

  1. 12h ago

    Ep 07 - What We Look for When We Audit a Website

    Most website reviews start with the design. Open the site, squint at the homepage, say something about the colors. It is the part everyone can see, so it is the part everyone talks about. After auditing site after site, for clients, for prospects, and for companies who inherited something they didn't build, we've landed somewhere uncomfortable for a studio full of designers. Design is the fourth thing worth checking. Not the first. Chris and Kendra open up the exact lens they use on every audit: six areas, in the order they run them, and the red flag that ends each one. Some of what they check will surprise you. Almost none of it has to do with how the site looks. If you've inherited a website you didn't build, or you're about to spend real money making the current one prettier, listen to this before you sign anything. In this episode: - The five-second test almost every homepage fails, and why AI made it worse - Why your navigation is quietly working against you (and the number of links that breaks it) - The one thing every audit report skips, on the device most of your visitors are holding - What "ranking number one" is actually worth when nobody is searching that term - The number of form fields that kills a conversion rate Want a second set of eyes on your site? Get a free video website audit at https://bryckroad.com/free-website-audit/ Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @bryckroad. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Go make your brand impossible to ignore. --- Tools Mentioned in this Episode: PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/ Pingdom Website Speed Test: https://tools.pingdom.com/ GTmetrix: https://gtmetrix.com/ Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/ Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/ Google Analytics: https://analytics.google.com/ Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console

    Ep 07 - What We Look for When We Audit a Website
  2. Sep 2

    Ep 06 - Unpopular Opinions, Brand Edition

    Most branding advice plays it safe. Stay consistent. Refresh the logo every few years. Document everything in a beautiful brand guide. Follow the formula and the brand takes care of itself. After five years of real client work, real conversations, and real patterns repeating themselves, we can tell you the formula is missing something. Usually the thing that matters most. On this episode, Chris and Kendra put five unpopular brand opinions on the table and make the case for each one, from the $20,000 brand guides collecting dust in shared drives to the $100 million lesson HBO Max just finished paying for. Some of what they share might sting a little. Very little of it has to do with fonts, colors, or your logo. If you've ever paid for brand guidelines nobody opens, or caught yourself wanting a rebrand because you're tired of looking at the old one, this episode is required listening before you spend another dollar on your brand. In this episode: - The real reason brand guidelines fail (it has nothing to do with the document) - When consistency actively works against you - The three rebrand triggers that should never drive the decision, and the one company that ignored all three - Why your messaging is quietly outworking your logo - The competitive advantage money can't buy, and the one-sentence test that tells you if you have it Ready to build a brand worth being consistent with? Visit https://bryckroad.com/ to start the conversation. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Go make your brand impossible to ignore. Tools Mentioned in this Episode: - Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/ - Affinity: https://www.affinity.studio/ - Canva: https://www.canva.com/ - Notion: https://www.notion.com/

    Ep 06 - Unpopular Opinions, Brand Edition
  3. Aug 19

    Ep 05 - Website Red Flags: How to Know If Your Designer Actually Gets Your Business

    Most business owners pick a website designer the same way: scroll the portfolio, admire the prettiest three, sign with the one whose style fits. The work looks good, so the project should go fine. But after building websites for hundreds of businesses, we can tell you the portfolio is the least useful page in the pitch. It shows you what they built. It doesn't show you whether any of it worked. Chris and Kendra Gill spend this episode calling out the five red flags that tell you whether a website partner understands your business, or just knows how to move pixels around. Every flag comes with its fix: what the green version sounds like when you hear it. Here's the part that might surprise you: none of the flags live in the portfolio. All five show up in the first conversation, before a single pixel exists. If you've ever paid for a site that looked great and did nothing, or you're about to sign with someone new, this episode is required listening before the deposit leaves your account. In this episode: - The first-call question that predicts the whole project (it isn't about design) - What "it looked good" tells you when it's the only reasoning on offer - The moment a missing process quietly becomes your job - How to tell creative conviction from plain ego - Four questions to ask before you sign anything, and what a good answer sounds like Flags waving in your current setup? Visit https://bryckroad.com/ to start the conversation. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Subscribe on your favorite app: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-made-creative/id1878528983 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2164KfClAD87ZqxEKKGnnj YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bryckroadcreative Go make your brand impossible to ignore. --- Tools Mentioned in this Episode: - Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller: https://storybrand.com/

    Ep 05 - Website Red Flags: How to Know If Your Designer Actually Gets Your Business
  4. Aug 5

    Ep 04 – 5 Signs Your Brand Has Outgrown Its Look (And Why That's Actually Good News)

    Most business owners treat a dated brand like a chore for later. Fix the fence, patch the deck, get to the logo eventually. The work is good, so the look can wait. But after building brands and websites for hundreds of businesses, we can tell you the look isn't waiting. It's out there answering the only question a prospect asks in the first ten seconds: can I trust these people? Chris and Kendra Gill spend this episode on the five signs a business has outgrown its look, and what each one quietly costs while it goes unfixed. They also grade themselves, because Bryckroad is mid-rebrand right now and they're not pretending otherwise. Some of it might sting. Almost none of it is about chasing design trends, and one whole segment is a branding agency telling you not to rebrand. If you've ever cringed before sending someone your website, or you're about to print business cards you don't love, this episode is required listening before you spend another dollar looking like the old you. In this episode: - The gut feeling that isn't imposter syndrome (and what it's telling you) - A two-year-old, a Starbucks sign, and the strongest case for consistency you'll hear - What "they felt more established" is code for when you lose the deal - How long a stranger looks at your website before deciding about you - The five-sign audit, and the number of checks that means it's time Think your brand might be telling an outdated story? Visit our website here to start the conversation. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Go make your brand impossible to ignore. Tools Mentioned in this Episode: - Google Fonts - Canva - Pexels - Wix - Squarespace - Adobe Fonts - Creative Market

    Ep 04 – 5 Signs Your Brand Has Outgrown Its Look (And Why That's Actually Good News)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

If your marketing gets more shrugs than clicks, you’re in the right place. If your brand feels scattered and your “plan” lives between sticky notes and 2 a.m. ideas, welcome home. Marketing Made Creative turns half-working tactics into smart, strategic action. We break down branding, websites, creative, and modern marketing systems in a way that’s clear, tactical, and actually enjoyable. Smart marketing, real growth. Let's make your brand impossible to ignore.