"Not every day can be perfect, but if we seek joy and live with passion, every day can be deemed a success"
Caroline Callaway, the president and founder of Bolt PR, a renowned integrated marketing and communications agency, sits down for an exclusive interview on ValiantCEO Magazine to share invaluable insights on building a culture of impact and driving brand growth.
With over 20 years of experience in B2B and B2C marketing, Caroline has established Bolt PR as a trusted partner for leading and emerging brands across various sectors.
In this captivating interview, Caroline sheds light on the core mission of Bolt PR: to generate supercharged ROI for ambitious brands ready to make their mark. She emphasizes the agency’s commitment to executing powerful and proven strategies that accelerate brand growth through PR, content, and digital marketing.
Caroline’s dedication to creating a positive workplace culture, where employees are celebrated, empowered, and heard, takes center stage as she reveals the secrets to keeping employees happy and motivated.
She discusses the importance of embracing innovation, fostering diversity, and prioritizing work-life balance. Moreover, she explores the impact of AI on the industry and how Bolt PR is capitalizing on it to enhance their services.
Join us as we delve into the wisdom and experiences of Caroline Callaway, uncovering the strategies and values that have propelled Bolt PR to remarkable success in an ever-evolving business landscape.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Caroline Callaway: I am the president and founder of Bolt PR, an award-winning public relations, content and digital marketing agency with a proven track record of driving exposure, credibility, and meaningful awareness for leading and emerging brands across the U.S.
Built on the foundation of partnerships with a mission to make impact, Bolt PR partners with brands in five core sectors: consumer goods, B2B SaaS and professional services, health and wellness, franchising, and restaurants & hospitality.
With more than 20 years of B2B and B2C marketing experience, I’m passionate about culture, communications and establishing processes and systems to scale businesses.
Since founding Bolt PR in 2007, I’m humbled to be surrounded by an incredibly talented team whose work is focused on building clients’ brand equity through strategic communications and narrative design, resulting in top-tier press coverage, engaged communities of customers and stakeholders, exponential growth, key partnerships and alliances, successful capital raises, and a number of acquisitions.
Additionally, I’m actively involved in the community, supporting causes that have included Melvin Ingram’s Mission Possible Foundation, Irvine Children’s Fund, and Dana Point Chamber of Commerce.
I’m also a mom to two young children, who occasionally make appearances during video calls in my home office.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffet, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Caroline Callaway: Bolt PR is an integrated marketing and communications agency with one mission in mind: to generate supercharged ROI. We seek out ambitious and unique brands ready to make impact in the consumer goods/tech, B2B, hospitality, franchise, and health & wellness categories.
For more than 16 years, leading and emerging brands have turned to Bolt PR as their trusted agency partner.
Our PR, content and digital leaders work in close collaboration with brands to execute powerful, proven strategies, precision-engineered to accelerate brand growth. Our team brings the dedication, enthusiasm, transparency and accountability that brands deserve. We concentrate on what we know and do exceptionally well.
We also have a team of 25 full-time dedicated PR, content and digital marketing professionals in major markets throughout the U.S., with each team and department led by experienced and proven managers and leaders.
Within our culture, we commit to be builders, to keep our word, to get the job done, and to defy convention, never satisfied with status quo.
And because it’s Warren Buffet, I may also humbly point out that in our 16-year history, our track record will show we’ve been consistently profitable and growing since year one.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, are an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Caroline Callaway: The bottom line is we, as an organization, as leaders, and as professionals, genuinely care about our people. We recognize we are nothing without our team.
Bolt PR prioritizes a positive workplace culture that celebrates wins, empowers growth, and encourages feedback. We leave our egos at the door and embrace the opportunity to always evolve and improve.
We have forums for employees to be heard, quarterly goals meetings with every team member, programs designed around work-life balance and performance rewards, a dedicated professional development program branded Bolt Up, and a commitment to giving back and finding fulfillment beyond our organizational ‘walls’ through our Bolt Back program.
Beyond that, we are a diverse group of individuals who find common ground on four core values: we wish to be a positive force in the world, we seek innovation in all we do, we seek the spark in one another and in ourselves, and we are relentless in our quest for excellence.
While a learning curve over the years, our hiring process today is defined and rigorous, involving multiple team members and values-oriented questions, to ensure we continue to attract those with passion, creativity, smarts, care and a sense of purpose.
And finally, we work intentionally every day to make Bolt PR a welcoming home for our team – a place where they are embraced as their authentic selves and where a genuine sense of belonging unites us all.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Caroline Callaway: AI will continue to be a growing force and presence in our everyday lives, from how we interact online professionally and socially, to how we communicate, to the tools we use, to the processes we implement.
At Bolt PR, we have embraced the change and are capitalizing on AI as another tool in our lineup.
We see AI as a complement to the human touch and are voraciously challenging ourselves to test the latest AI tools, immerse ourselves in use cases and best practices, adopt new practices, and educate our clients right alongside ourselves in service to our collective growth, understanding and ability to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities presented by AI.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Caroline Callaway: I believe the real challenge is also a real opportunity: to inspire greatness – in our people, in our work product, in our industries, and in our communities.
When complacency, disregard or apathy sets in, passion, enthusiasm, innovation and commitment is stripped from organizations. Ideas, products, services – it all starts with our people. Regardless of industry, we all have the opportunity to see ourselves as a people business, first and foremost.
We are all in the business of taking care of people and creating memorable experiences – for our employees, our customers, our clients, our stakeholders, and our communities.
Our real opportunity is approaching everyday focused on looking out for, caring about and prioritizing people. And the right people will see this, be drawn to it, want to contribute to it, and be energized to further the impact.
2020, 2021, and 2022 threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2023? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Caroline Callaway: Our values at Bolt PR have allowed us to remain resilient, despite the circumstances of the last several years, and they are the values that we firmly believe will enable us to thrive in 2023 and beyond. It’s so simple, but our values start with prioritizing our people.
We seek to be a positive force, with a genuine care about making a difference to those we serve. We strive for innovation in all we do, providing creative solutions to complex problems that keep business leaders up at night.
We seek and embrace the spark in people, celebrating and promoting the authentic, bold and diverse. And we are relentless in our quest for excellence, only competing with ourselves – our work, our standards and our results. It’s what leaders, and leading companies, do.
What does “success” in 2023 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Caroline Callaway: At this point in my life and career, success is predicated by living with joy and passion. With gratitude, positivity, optimism, and enthusiasm, we become unstoppable forces.
Not every day can be perfect, but if we seek joy and live with passion, every day can be deemed a success.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Caroline Callaway for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Caroline Callaway or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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