When I was 7 years old, I wrote a letter to the Kool-Aid Man asking if I could borrow his costume for Halloween. I promised to hand out coupons and tell everyone I knew to drink Kool-Aid every day -- oh yeah! Procter & Gamble politely replied, “no thank you, but here are some coupons.” This is pretty much where my food and beverage PR career began.
Fast forward, and I'm using my 15+ years of food marketing, branding and media relations experience with Whole Foods Market to help growing brands just like yours.
Retail is competitive and constantly changing. Customers are fickle, and they have TONS of options. Your brand and how you communicate it are critical to your success. Let me help craft and share your story so that you stand out on a crowded shelf, and in a world full of short attention spans.
Let's work together!
Darrah Gist
The gist Marketing & Communications
Retail-ready consulting – Are you ready for retail? Have an idea but not sure where to start? Have a great product but haven't found the right packaging? Do you have a million more questions? We should probably talk.
Marketing strategy – Do you know who your target audience is? Are you firing on all cylinders? Let’s come up with a strategy and a plan that provides all of the tools you need to generate brand awareness and increase sales!
Packaging & design – Your packaging, how it fits on the shelf, how it ships, its design, your logo -- these are even more important than the product inside. These things make up your brand. This is not the time in your journey to ask your brother-in-law to design your logo and/or package.
Copywriting -- You're passionate about your product, but that doesn't mean you should use ALL of the words to tell your story. Whether it's complex messaging, refining your brand message, snappy website copy, or developing copy that converts to sales, I can help.
E-commerce solutions – Need to build a Shopify site? I can help. Everyone is relying on direct-to-consumer sales, but how do you know if you’re maximizing your time and energy and converting interest/eyeballs to sales?
Media training & messaging – Whether you’re terrified of interviews, ramping up for some targeted media outreach or you just want to get your messaging down to a few short and sweet phrases, I can help.
Public & media relations – Launching a new product? Have some big news to share? Want to pitch your product or business to a specific industry? Let’s get the word out!
Bachelor of Science in Communications
Concentration in Public Relations
Business minor
Regional Marketing Director, 2015 - 2018
Associate Marketing Director, 2013 - 2015
PR & Communications Manager, 2007 - 2013
Marketing Team Leader, 2003 - 2007
Board Member
The Common Market is a nonprofit regional food distributor with a mission to connect communities with good food from sustainable family farms. We strive to improve food security, farm viability, and community and ecological health.
Volunteer, Women's Academy
