Primitive Employee Spotlight: Parker Brown

Name: Parker Brown

Position: Digital Ad Strategist

Location: Lubbock, Texas

Job Description: 

The overall objective and goal of a Digital Strategist is to develop a comprehensive digital strategy for our clients that will lead them to success. This entails putting together a roadmap or game plan that adheres to their goals, implementing tools and tactics that will generate results, and then measuring the data to show ultimately what the success looks like. 

Another aspect of my role is managing the paid search campaigns across all of our clients at Primitive, which involves digging into the nuances and details of each campaign and strategy, setting up and making changes to benefit the overall success of the digital ads, and measuring the effectiveness of the changes for Paid Search, Display, and Video ads. 

Tell us a little about your background.

I went to Texas Tech University and I graduated with a degree in marketing and a degree in management, along with a minor in media and communications. Once I graduated, I decided to pursue a master’s degree. I got my master's degree in media and communication with a sports emphasis. 

How did you hear about Primitive? 

The father of Dan Pope – the mayor of Lubbock – is really close friends with my grandpa. So my grandpa told me to email Dan Pope and see if he had any connections or knew of any ideas for a job. I met with Dan and he actually got me in contact with Primitive’s CEO, Kade. 

I met with Kade early one morning and he basically offered me an internship to see where it would go from there. I started doing the internship and then a month later I started working full-time.

What are some of your favorite projects you’ve worked on?

That is a tough one because I've worked with a bunch of different clients. I started on the social team, then moved to the inbound team, and now I’m working on paid search campaigns. I have really enjoyed diving into the digital ad realm as there are a million different avenues to take. 

At first, it was pretty overwhelming, but after a few weeks of training, it began to make more sense and come together. I think the beauty of Google advertising specifically is that it is constantly evolving, which means I need to constantly adapt and learn with it. 

It’s really hard to ever get bored.

What do you most enjoy about Primitive’s culture?

Primitive is a really cool company. Truth be told I didn't know what the real world job market was like growing up. My dad was an electrician and my mom works for a hospital in their accounting department, so my idea of a company culture was always super business professional and the same thing every day (like what you see in movies). 

That's not at all what Primitive is like. Primitive is just a fun place to work. I’ve met some of my closest friends while working here. 

What have you enjoyed about watching Primitive grow as one of the first employees? 

We've grown at such a rapid pace...it's almost crazy to think about where we were even two years ago. We've grown as a company in so many different avenues and services, and that's something that is really cool to look back and see. At any given time, things are changing and adapting so fast that you honestly don't even realize at times how far we really have grown.

What about Primitive’s future are you most excited for? 

We've expanded so many different service lines even in the past year, so I'm excited to see where that goes even in the next year or two down the road. 

Alright, let’s get into more about you. What is your daily routine? 

That varies day to day, honestly. Every morning I try to wake up around 6:00-6:30 a.m. I have some quiet time either reading through a devotional, my Bible study, or something else, and then I get ready for work. 

P.C. time (Pre-Covid) I was in the office 4-5 days a week, but these days I come in about twice a week. Not that Covid has deterred me away, but more so I’ve become very accustomed to working from home. My officemate (Dolly the dog!) at home makes it hard to focus sometimes, but that's nothing a five minute break in the backyard can’t fix.  

A normal work day is typically 8 a.m. to 5/6 p.m. and then after work I try to stay pretty busy, whether that be in a community group, working out, running errands, taking Dolly on walks, projects around the house, cooking, or just hanging out with friends. So I don't know if I really have a daily routine, but that would be mine if I had one — just to stay busy. 

What about your favorite TV or Netflix shows? 

I am not ashamed of this number, but I've watched New Girl about ten times all the way through. That is probably my favorite show right now. I also really like Friends and Parks and Rec. I'm not really big into reality TV...I can't get into that. But I do love watching sports and it was definitely a Godsend that they came back amidst Covid. Watching Texas Tech and the Dallas Cowboys typically ends in heartache but I’m a sucker for pain so it keeps bringing me back year after year. I'm not really big into basketball because I was terrible at it as a child, but I’ll watch Tech play.

What are your other hobbies and interests? 

I despise being bored. I get really uneasy if I’m just sitting at home with nothing to do. So being outdoors and doing things to stay active are some of my hobbies. I grew up with my dad and we'd always go hunting, fishing and hiking. I loved doing that kind of stuff growing up. I would always be outside because I wasn't allowed to watch a lot of TV, so I was on my bike, playing with some kids down the street or playing in the front yard. I think that carried over to my adult world because I still enjoy being outdoors, or at least just doing something. 

West Texas has a lot of fun stuff to do if you look for it. But during the fall on Saturdays and Sundays, I'm most likely watching a football game — either college football on Saturday or NFL on Sunday. 

How do you balance work and personal life?

That's something I think I'm constantly working at. You go to work for eight hours a day and you end up spending more time with people at work then you would if you had a spouse. I think it's really encouraging to see that you can do both. You can enjoy your work life and you can enjoy your personal life, and they don't have to necessarily intermingle. But when they do intermingle it's still great. It doesn't feel like you're taking your work home with you.

What do you do for the youth group you volunteer with? 

I volunteer with a youth group here in Lubbock and help teach Sunday school to middle school boys which is always an adventure. I'm really grateful for the church family God has blessed me with. They're great people. I have some mentors at the church I meet with maybe once every couple of weeks for lunch or dinner. They invite me over to their house and it's great because my family is 300 miles away and I can't see them every weekend. 

What is something not everyone knows about you?

I was featured in a BuzzFeed article a couple years ago. I tweeted about sarcastic people one time and they used it in one of their articles. It was originally just on one of their snapchat stories and I got like three messages from my friends saying, “Hey, this is you!” After that I got tagged in like eight different articles on Facebook and Twitter, and so I thought that was pretty cool. So, of course, I had to show my mom and she had no idea what BuzzFeed was. 

Who do you admire?

I really admire my dad. I think he’s the hardest-working guy that I know. I also really admire my mom because she's always been so selfless. That's just really cool to see. I admire people that will choose joy in their life and not let negative things bring them down, because that's a conscious decision that you make to overcome those things. I admire people that stand up for what they believe in, and I admire people that stand up for their faith. So I think there's qualities in everyone that you can look up to and admire.

My favorite author is Bob Goff. If you haven’t read any of his books you should definitely check them out, but this dude just radiates joy. He makes it a point each and every day of his life to serve the kingdom and perform (not just talk about or think about) acts of kindness and love. His books have brought me a lot of peace of mind amidst chaos so I really admire his ability to cherish each day like an adventure.

How do you stay motivated?

I think that drive to always become better at what you do keeps me motivated. You're never going to reach the pinnacle or the peak of inbound marketing or just life in general. You're never going to know it all because it’s constantly changing, life is constantly changing, people are constantly changing. I don't strive towards perfection because I’m never going to reach it, but I can always strive to be better at what I do because when I get better I can better serve my clients, and the all people God has put in my life. The people that God has put around me help motivate me to ultimately be a better person by being the hands and feet of Jesus. Do I mess up a lot? Absolutely. But seeing God’s grace and mercy through the haze of failure keeps me coming back and wanting more. I think there’s a real joy there.  

What is your secret to success?

Something I think that is really important to both your work and personal success is choosing joy. Life is hard, and it comes with its own peaks and valleys, both good and bad which is why I think choosing joy in every aspect is key and vital to a healthy life. It’s definitely not always easy, but instead of focusing on the negatives and being consumed by worries and anxiety, I try to make a conscious decision every day to look at the brighter side of things. There’s always something to be thankful for. When joy is a habit, love is a reflex. 

Another thing that I tell myself almost every morning is, “Today is a great day to try.” That applies to almost anything in my workday and personal life. There are always going to be situations in life that are daunting or intimidating to try and tackle and consequently you’ll want to shy away from, but I think actively focusing on “trying” helps you treat each day like an adventure, which makes failure look like the mole hill it is instead of the mountain it appears to be. 

Lastly, I think you also have to have a really strong work ethic and persevere through tough times, which will always come. I think I got this from my dad — he's constantly working hard. You can't rely on other people to always be pushing you and motivating you. You have to self start those things and take on that initiative.

Any other words of wisdom you would like to pass along?

One of my favorite quotes is from Ferris Bueller. “Life moves pretty fast — if you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” I think that's pretty true, and even though it was from Ferris Bueller, I think it carries a lot of value.