Meet Our Orchard Members: Meghan Clark

Meghan Clark
The Orchard at Green Apple is full of talented professionals who are passionate about what they do and excited to share that passion with our clients. Meghan Clark is no exception. We truly value Meghan’s contribution to our team and are excited to share a bit of her story with you.

Meghan’s Role as an Orchard Member

As a content specialist, Meghan supports our core content marketing team to create blog articles for a variety of industries and subjects. Her workday typically includes researching new topics, drafting content, and editing before her writing makes its way to the client. She is extremely focused on quality content and SEO keyword research while always keeping our clients’ unique voices and tones in mind. 

Meghan’s Background and How She Came to Green Apple

Meghan began her career as an educator at an independent day school and spent much of her time with creative, brilliant 13-year-olds. After seven amazing years, she took a leap of faith and joined a small startup marketing company. The company ultimately went under, and she decided to use that opportunity to establish herself as a freelancer. A friend told her that Green Apple was looking for writers in 2019, and she’s worked with us ever since! “I grew up as the daughter of a successful entrepreneur, and I saw much of the same spirit, drive, and vision in Samantha Pyle. As a contractor, I appreciated the way she streamlined project management and billing. Even though I wasn’t part of the in-office team, I felt my work was valued,” Meghan says.  She loves working with Green Apple and had such great things to say about our team. “My editor, Content Marketing Director Adam York, is truly one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He pairs clear expectations with solid support, and he’s always available to answer my questions,” she added. 

What Meghan Loves About Her Craft—In Her Own Words

“When I initially started blogging, I was skeptical about its efficacy, but I can’t argue with the numbers. According to McKinsey, blogs sent out as email newsletters are 40 times more likely to land you a customer than social media posts. Other data shows click-through rates for email at 50 to 100 times higher than social media. People still read. Words are still powerful. As a writer, that’s heartening to me. On a copywriter’s website or resume, you’ll usually find a cheeky list of topics they’ve gotten to write about. I’m no exception to this rule. I’ve written about plastic surgery, customer service, cheeseburgers, boating, Swiss watches, pre-K education, banking, commercial kitchens, large-scale signage, cryptocurrency, and electron microscopy. Every article I write expands my knowledge base, and I love collecting arcane bits of knowledge. My work as a writer has given me the capacity to talk to almost anyone I meet about something that interests them. This is with the exception of theoretical physicists, who frankly aren’t that great at dinner conversation anyway.”

Meghan’s Personal Life

Like many paid writers, Meghan is also a creative writer. She writes creative nonfiction essays and draws her inspiration from writers like E.B. White, Leslie Jamison, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Anthony Bourdain. She says that she spends entirely too much time reading, trying to identify birds on trees, and thinking about, preparing, or eating food. We are incredibly lucky to have Meghan as a member of our Orchard team and are thrilled that she chooses to share her talents with us. Thank you for your contribution to our clients, Meghan. We appreciate you!  Could your brand benefit from quality content services? Contact Green Apple Strategy to schedule a consultation.

Meet the Team: Christa Spencer

Christa Spencer
Leaving the fast-paced world of journalism, Christa Spencer comes to Green Apple Strategy with a 15-year background as a television news producer. She’s bringing her love for storytelling to our team as a PR Strategist. In this role, Christa will work closely with Chief Marketing Strategist, Samantha Pyle, to develop and execute strategic plans to increase our clients’ visibility with media and public relations.  Christa will build our clients’ brand awareness by identifying exposure opportunities, pursuing awards and recognitions, and monitoring industry news. “My passion for storytelling drew me to this specific role, as well as the challenge of identifying a story that makes people want to listen,” Christa says.  Storytelling is in Christa’s blood, quite literally. Growing up in Fayetteville, Arkansas, she was surrounded by journalism from a very young age. Her dad is a journalism professor at the University of Arkansas, where she earned her degree in broadcast journalism. Going back even further, Christa’s grandmother was a journalist as well, even serving as a White House correspondent for over 30 years.  After pursuing a career in journalism, Christa was ready for a change. She connected with Green Apple to discuss how her skills could translate to our team’s need for PR support. “From my first Zoom call with Sam, I think we both knew this role would be a great match. Sam’s passion for clients, in-depth knowledge of the business, and the way she values her Green Apple team drew me in,” Christa explains.   When she’s not finding PR opportunities for our clients, Christa loves practicing yoga and spending time with her partner, Luke, and their dog, Scott. You’ll often find them at home cooking or getting together with friends. “We love to travel, and Luke is from Australia, so the next chance we get, we’ll head to the other side of the world to visit all of his family. I’m incredibly close with my family, too,” Christa says.  Christa also enjoys Nashville’s live music scene, farmers’ markets and hiking trails across the state.

Enneagram and Marketing: How Type Ones Accelerate Your Strategy

number-one-on-green-background
Are you an Enneagram Type One? Have one on your team? 

Type Ones are known for their sense of responsibility to improve the world around them. They tend to accomplish this by striving for perfection, following the rules, and doing what’s right. This person is your organizer—the one keeping everyone in check and keeping everything moving. We’re lucky to have a Type One on our team that is a master of attention-to-detail and organization—two common traits of this Enneagram group. Olivia Cooper, our Senior Client Relations Specialist, is the secret weapon of our marketing team. Let’s take a look at why that is and how the Type One on your team can help accelerate your marketing strategy.  Read More: How Understanding The Enneagram Can Help Your Customers

Type Ones Identify Opportunities for Improvement

“Type Ones are often improvement-oriented. We love to fix everything or solve problems to make something as perfect as it can be. Marketing is always changing, so it’s important to constantly make strategies better as the industry and clients evolve,” says Olivia.  What an essential quality in marketing, right? This right here is what we love about our Olivia, and what we love about Enneagram Type Ones as a whole: they continually make us better marketers, better brands, better communicators. You name it, and your Type One will help you identify opportunities for improvement to make your brand better as a whole. After all, in our fast-changing world, we need Type Ones to show us the light and help us to keep up.

Type Ones Have Great Integrity

“I care very much about doing the ‘right thing.’ Being ethical in marketing is extremely important for transparency with consumers!” she says. Above all, consumers want a brand they can trust so that they can feel good about where their money goes. The Type Ones on your team will always be looking to do what’s right by you and your audience. 

Type Ones Are Organized

“I am pretty organized, which helps me keep everything together. This is especially useful for marketing at an agency, where I’m balancing many different clients at once,” Olivia explains. In fast-paced environments, Type Ones are your ally. They will be the person keeping your projects afloat and ensuring that nothing is overlooked along the way. 

Type Ones Are Detail Oriented

We all like to say that we’re detail-oriented. In fact, I would venture to say that you can find those words on the vast majority of people’s resumes. However, as much as we feel like we need to say that we have a keen eye for detail, that isn’t always the case. No matter how hard we look, we’re going to let a few things slip through the cracks. Not Type Ones. They’re looking out for perfection. “Even the tiniest details are important in marketing. People don’t forget the small things, so I’m always looking out for clients in this way,” says Olivia.

Ready to Accelerate Your Marketing Strategy? 

Our team enjoys learning more about each other through Enneagram Types and Culture Index surveys to ensure that we communicate and work together effectively. In the end, this is all to improve our clients’ marketing strategies and use our small team to garner big results.  Are you looking to see what full-service marketing can do for your brand? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation.

Green Apple Strategy Makes NBJ’s List of Top PR Firms

green-apple-strategy-nbj-pr-firms-list
What a year it has been! Despite having to make multiple shifts to our work style amid the global pandemic that has affected our world in 2020—socially and economically—we’ve also been able to see some positive outcomes. In fact, we’ve had the opportunity to celebrate a few milestone accomplishments. From our eighth anniversary to winning the Nashville Business Journal’s Best in Business Award, we’re humbled to have even more exciting news to share! 

Rising Above the Challenges 

Green Apple Strategy was recently named in the Nashville Business Journal’s top ten list of Nashville’s largest public relations firms. This recognition is incredibly significant for several reasons; one of the most touching is that our clients trust us to help them relate with their audiences and share their stories nationwide. This year has been strange, to say the least, but it’s these moments that show us how our hard work and dedication continue to rise to the top.  “What an honor to be named in the Nashville Business Journal’s Largest Public Relations Firms in Nashville list! It’s been a dream of mine to see Green Apple Strategy’s name alongside so many other renowned PR firms in the city, and to have that dream realized in such an unprecedented year means more than I can say. Thank you to the NBJ, my team, and our clients,” said Samantha Pyle, Owner and Chief Marketing Strategist of Green Apple Strategy. To learn more about this distinguished honor, and see the full list, visit the Nashville Business Journal’s website. 

Let’s Share Your Story Together!

Do you want to share your company’s story with the world? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a PR consultation.

Meet Our Orchard Members: Jenny Mann

Jenny Mann

What makes our team so incredibly versatile is our partnership with freelancers through The Orchard—a collective of highly-talented professionals who help us achieve our clients’ goals. The Orchard allows us to assemble a team (including our core team members) that is perfect for our client, and as a bonus, we get to work with creative professionals like the amazing Jenny Mann.

Jenny’s Role as an Orchard Member

Jenny works closely with our in-house Client Relations Specialists and Digital Marketing Specialist to produce graphics for various print and digital projects—everything from brochures, flyers, and presentations to social media and podcast graphics. She is our go-to graphic designer and produces fantastic work every time, without fail. Owner and Chief Marketing Strategist, Samantha Pyle, says that “Jenny has a wonderful ability to create graphics that follow clients’ branding guidelines and are totally unique to the client.” It’s her attention to detail that makes her such a great addition to our Orchard team.

Jenny’s Background and Career 

Originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, Jenny has led a diverse 19-year career path, working as a designer and art director in publication, product and packaging design, and freelance design. She attended college at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She eventually returned to her hometown, where she and her husband, Brian, live with their two dogs, Pickles and Olive. 

How Jenny Found Our Team 

Jenny found Green Apple Strategy in 2019 through her ties to AIGA Nashville, a professional association for designers, where she heard that we were looking for a freelance designer. She thought it looked like a great fit, so she applied and began working with our team. 

“I was drawn to the diverse mix of projects and clients from different industries that Green Apple had to offer. As a designer, it’s refreshing to have a fresh set of problems to solve, and an assortment of clients to solve them for,” said Jenny. 

What Jenny Brings to Green Apple Strategy

Jenny brings a passion for branding and beautiful design to the Green Apple team. “Branding goes so much deeper than a logo or a pretty pamphlet, and making sure everything I produce feels authentic to the client’s mission and values is always my top priority,” she added. 

We couldn’t agree more, as this is exactly what we’ve seen from Jenny in our time with her—precise attention to the essence of our clients’ brands. She has an uncanny ability to tune into what makes them unique and how we, as a marketing agency, can share that with their target audiences.

Jenny’s Personal Life

“I might be a bit of a workaholic,” she says. When she’s not spending time on design, which is rare, Jenny loves spending time with her family and friends. She and her husband enjoy hosting board game nights and cooking together. And, of course, they spend much of their time spoiling their two adorable dogs. 

We are lucky to have Jenny as a member of our Orchard team and are thrilled that she chooses to share her talents with us. Thank you for your contribution to our clients, Jenny. We appreciate you! 

Could your brand benefit from top-notch graphic design services? Contact Green Apple Strategy to schedule a consultation.

Green Apple Goes Virtual

zoom snapshot of Green Apple team working virtually
The Green Apple Strategy team recently shared how our perspective has changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We shared those thoughts after weeks of soul searching and challenging ourselves to understand what makes our team tick and how we can improve. A few of the lessons we learned from the pandemic were expected: flexibility is everything, teamwork is crucial, and encouragement can move mountains.  But, there was one lesson we didn’t expect to learn—we work beautifully as a remote team. And so, without further ado…Green Apple Strategy has gone virtual!    You might be thinking, “Didn’t you just move into a new physical office space?” And the answer to that is yes, we did move recently; however, after more than three months away from the office, we began to notice that we work like a well-oiled machine, no matter where we are. Our care for our clients and our penchant for teamwork is boundless. We carry it with us wherever we are.  As we continue learning about remote work, we wanted to share a few insights into what makes it work. Who knows? Maybe you’ll take the leap, too.

3 Key Benefits of Remote Work

1. Higher Levels of Productivity
According to CoSo Cloud, 77% of remote employees report greater productivity. We’ve found that this statistic is overwhelmingly true for our team. “Making the transition to full-time remote work has pushed me to be intentional with how I prioritize tasks and make myself available for last-minute or urgent tasks that arise,” says Adam York, Content Marketing Director. We’ve seen that our time working remotely has allowed us to concentrate even more fully on our clients than before. Technology makes it so that our team is able to connect every morning for a “water cooler chat” to stay connected and up-to-date, and we use project management tools that allow us to handle client work wherever we are.
2. Team Connection
Many teams that consider going remote fear that their team will become disconnected from each other. We’ve put activities and meetings in place to ensure that we work as a unit. Kate Leggett, Client Relations Specialist, agrees: “In a lot of ways, I feel closer to the team than ever! We have a meeting to kick off the week every Monday and, for the rest of the mornings, have “water cooler” chats to start the day. It’s really great to have dedicated times to connect as a team.” We’re excited to go beyond our virtual meetings and one-on-one chats to begin scheduling fun team outings as well. Samantha Pyle, Owner and Chief Strategist, can see the connection between the members of her team: “We have always been a close team, but nothing like we are now. I truly feel like our team has connected on another level, because we are very deliberate with our conversations through video chat, making an extra effort to get to know each other and enjoy each other’s company. The days of checking in on someone when walking past their office door have evolved to scheduled Zoom calls, and we don’t take that time together for granted.”
3. Employee Wellness
In another statistic from CoSo Cloud, 52% of remote workers say they’re less likely to take time off than if they worked in an office. While we always support our employees taking time away from the office with their families and disconnecting from work, we have seen that this statistic rings true. Our team is able to use the flexibility of remote work to take care of themselves without sacrificing time in the office. We have more opportunities to practice self-care, like doing yoga or taking a walk—and in turn, we can be more focused and present for our clients’ needs. Madi Ballou, our Assistant Client Relations Specialist, weighs in: “I have time to focus on my personal health and self-care. I appreciate cooking now more than ever. I picked up painting again, which I used to love. Overall, I think I have learned to take more time for myself.”

Our Steadfast Commitment to Our Clients

Our team will always put our clients first—not just because it’s good for business, but because we absolutely love seeing our clients succeed. Just ask Olivia Cooper, Client Relations Specialist: “Getting that happy reaction from a client is worth every moment. It’s so fun to work with a team and clients who are willing to not only work hard and think smart but try new things to deliver the best results.” We’ve seen that remote work fuels our team’s satisfaction and creativity, allowing us to deliver original quality content to our clients. We are excited to start this chapter of our business and are confident that moving to remote work is the best decision for our team and our clients.  Thank you for following the Green Apple journey as we grow and evolve. If your company is interested in working with a marketing team who loves our clients, please contact us to schedule a consultation!

How to Leverage Employee Advocacy to Boost Your Marketing Strategy

three young colleagues laughing at a wooden picnic table with their laptops placed in front of each of them
Motivated and engaged employees are your most valuable asset. Not only because they are the ones who make your business run day-in and day-out, but they are also the ones with the most passion and interest in your brand. This is one reason why many businesses have started creating a dedicated employee advocacy program within their organization. According to recent research, 31% of fast-growing companies have set up an employee advocacy program. These businesses recognize that employee advocacy encourages their workforce to expand their role from “employee” to “brand ambassador.” And, this type of approach can create tremendous dividends for the overall health and success of your company. 

How to Leverage Employee Advocacy to Boost Your Marketing Strategy

Whether you’re trying to create a full-blown program or your looking for simple ways to encourage employees to promote your brand, here are a few tactics you can use to boost your marketing strategy with employee advocacy:
    • Extend your brand’s organic reach and visibility. More than likely, there are individual employees in your company who naturally understand how to effectively use social media. Harnessing their influence is a great way to expand the organic reach and visibility of your brand. This might include creating a social media task force or allowing employee influencers to coach others in your company on how to use social media for business.
    • Equip your employees to be an extension of your business development team. In today’s world, every employee is a representative of your brand, so essentially, everyone in your company has a marketing role. Making sure everyone in your company knows how to answer questions typically directed to marketing is a simple and easy way to integrate the mentality that everyone has a role in marketing across your organization.
    • Empower your employees by creating content they want to share. There are a lot of things marketing can do to enhance company culture. One simple way is to focus on creating assets, resources, and newsworthy content that your employees want to share. Rather than forcing employees to promote your content on social media, what would it look like to create content they can’t wait to share with their networks? 
    • Mobilize your influencers. In today’s digital world, your brand’s social media isn’t a job for one person. The key is to create a system that leverages the collective effort of various people, even though social media might not be in their job descriptions. While you might have one person who owns the responsibility of improving your brand’s social media presence, making sure he or she isn’t doing it alone is critical to success.
Employee advocacy is a simple initiative to integrate into your marketing strategy that enhances brand image, brand awareness, and engagement. Employees might be your most effective brand ambassadors because they generate engagement and interact with industry experts and clients.

3 Ways to Improve Sales & Marketing Alignment

back seat passenger in a car looking out at the road and scenic dessert views with blue sky


Getting sales and marketing on the same page isn’t easy. It takes buy-in from both teams and a lot of work to get marketing and development leaders on the same page. It requires investment and direction from senior leadership.  

But, what happens after you’ve laid the initial groundwork to create that alignment? How do ensure that all the hard work you’ve done until this point isn’t completely abandoned a year from now?

How to Continually Improve Sales & Marketing Alignment

When it comes to maintaining sales and marketing alignment, the biggest factor is communication. Both teams must make sure they are communicating with and enabling the other to do their jobs.

What does this look like in real time? Here are a few tips:

  • Understand the communication preferences of the other person. This sounds really simple, but it’s one of the most important keys for effective communication. If marketing is going to equip sales with real-time updates of who is on your website, make sure the information is presented in ways that are easy to understand and act upon. If you’re going to share time-sensitive information with your sales team, make sure it’s through a channel they check frequently.
  • Have a one-stop shop for all marketing information and sales tools. Creating a single document or microsite that your sales team can use to access sales tools and stay informed about marketing campaigns is another key. You want to make sure you showcase the information in places where sales can easily access it in their cars before a meeting.
  • Determine the right cadence for regular updates. How often should your sales teams be informed with marketing insights? How often should sales teams download what they’re learning to marketing teams? Finding the right cadence to address these questions is important. It could be a weekly stand-up meeting or bi-weekly email that prioritizes what campaigns sales should focus on.

Alignment between sales and marketing is like a road trip caravan. Both teams should stay in their individual cars but constantly stay connected about the directions they’re heading. The two-way communication between marketing and sales teams ensures you’re doing everything that you can to make sure both teams reach the intended destination.

Meet our Owner/Chief Strategist: Samantha Pyle

Samantha Owens Pyle is a strategic visionary, marketing strategist, and proud puppy mom to Charlie and Ford. As the owner and chief strategist at Green Apple Strategy, LLC, Samantha leads the team in developing and executing integrated marketing strategies for clients in a way that maximizes revenue potential and increases consumer appeal. With more than twenty years of experience as a senior-level marketing and communications leader, Samantha has developed a unique skill set that has positively affected growth and profitability for a variety of businesses and industries. Over her career, Samantha has helped local and national business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies develop and execute comprehensive marketing plans that include print and digital advertising, public and media relations, promotional events, websites, email, mobile marketing, and social media. When she’s not working, Sam can be found hiking with her pups, poolside, or heading to a Dave Matthews Band show (to date she has seen them live more than 50 times). She and her husband love traveling and Sam is close to checking off a visit to each of the 50 U.S. states. Sam is an EO Nashville member, and board member, and also serves as the Board President of the Survivor Fitness Foundation.