About

About This Blog

This blog is about the ultimate ad agency/PR firm/creative department … people. Your customers, front-line employees, and influencers. Not just how to use people as another medium for your message, but how to truly inspire customer and employee evangelists. People so passionate about your brand that they tell you how to improve, create icons of your brand, form support groups - and spend their time, energy, and money to promote and defend your brand.

 

About Me

My name is Justin Foster.  I don’t have a marketing degree. I have no ad agency experience. People who say they are “in marketing” make me nervous. I was raised on a cattle ranch in Baker City, Oregon. So how in the world did I get into marketing - let alone become an “expert”?

Let’s just say I have an irreverent, practical view of marketing. Much of this comes from 15 plus years in business-to-business sales and sales management in the technology field. Having worked for several small companies, I learned the power of a referral and a boots-on-the-ground approach to business development. I further honed my sales and marketing skills as the Sales Manager for the software division of a Fortune 1000 company. In 2004, we were sold to another company. Rather than move or take a different position, I joined with several other guys to create a marketing agency called BlueLine.

In 2008, I formed a new consultancy with John Hardesty and Sam Swenson called Tricycle. We are a social branding experts -  and the creators of the “1000 Year Brand” model.
Over the past 5 years, I have worn many hats - consulting on growth strategies, created word-of-mouth campaigns, brand development, social media consulting, business development strategies, sales training and much more. In addition, I have also served as an outsourced CMO for several local companies where I protect CEOs from their own whimsical marketing ideas.

In addition to being a prodigious blogger, I have also conducted 200+ workshops (including Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), been a keynote at numerous events, and participated in a number of panel discussions. My message is always pretty much the same … your brand belongs to your customers - whether you like it or not. 

I live in Greenleaf, Idaho (because no one else does) with my wife Lynna and two sons, Logan and Caden. I coach youth football and serve on the executive committee for Nampa Optimist Football.