After more than 10 years of collaboration with Michael Mackenzie Communications (MMC), Barada Inc., a professional employment screening company offering candidate background checks and pre-employment screening services, has tripled its revenues. In addition, the firm’s primary sales target— the corporate marketplace—now recognizes the company as a top-tier partner with national reach.
Greater Indianapolis-based Barada initially turned to MMC for its deep knowledge in the highly specialized market segment Barada serves. “MMC was attractive to us because they had a great deal of familiarity with our industry,” said Barada, Inc. President Will Barada. “Expertise in pre-employment screening, as well as a thorough understanding of how small business owners think, is hard to find.”
Will does not have a traditional business background, he explained, and he therefore depends heavily upon operational partners, such as MMC for marketing, to help him execute on the company’s goals.
During its initial due diligence, MMC dug into the details of Barada’s offering and analyzed which services were selling and which were languishing. MMC recommended a major revamping of Barada’s website to help educate prospects about the complexities of pre-employment screening and how Barada was different from its competitors. For the site launch, MMC also created a new tagline–Better than Reference Checks—to underscore the value of Barada’s wide and deep offering.
The new website showcased the firm’s three categories of services (employment screening, reference checking and high-profile screening), each of which delivered on Barada’s brand promise of offering more than a simple reference check. To build credibility, the new site also featured Barada’s expertise through a series of customer case studies and blogs.
With Barada being a smaller player in a market full of larger competitors, MMC set out to level the competitive playing field for Barada and make the company look bigger than it was. Barada already had a robust marketing effort, allowing MMC to identify what was working and what wasn’t. However, Barada’s messaging was not clear regarding why the company was a better choice than its competition. “Jennifer and her team came up with all our messaging,” Will noted. “From the time we started working together until now, it was all them. Every bit of content on our website, in news releases and in sales campaigns, came from MMC.”
MMC also launched direct mail and email campaigns to help Barada leverage its relationships with industry influencers such as local chapters of the Society of Human Resource Professionals (SHRM) and Business Networking International (BNI). Initially, MMC’s outreach built awareness for Barada. Over time, it generated sales leads, as well.
MMC’s ability to make precise, thoughtful marketing recommendations and implement them on a turnkey basis freed us to focus on closing sales and serving our customers well.
“Their work touched every one of our marketing channels,” Will continued. “No matter which channel we were using, MMC led the way. Their outstanding work for us in social media was one of the strongest parts of our relationship.”
About Barada Associates
Founded by Paul W. Barada in 1979, Barada Associates was one of the world’s first employment screening businesses. The company provides reference reports, employment verifications and background checks to employers nationwide and is widely recognized as a premier provider of reference reports. Barada Associates and its staff are committed to offering the highest level of customer service, legal compliance and ease of process. The firm’s professional reports and thorough research give its clients a clear hiring advantage. For more information, visit www.baradainc.com.
