IAM2755 – Pinterest Marketing Strategist Helps Business Owners Grow

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Full Podcast Interview:

Full Audio Transcription:

Dana Bahr 00:00
Most marketing focuses on just your output, posting more, being everywhere, chasing trends. I focus on input. That's clarity, alignment, buyer behavior, and long-term strategy.

Gresham Harkless 00:43
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Dana Barr. Dana, excited to have you on the show.

Dana Bahr 00:50
I'm so excited to be here on this rainy Friday.

Gresham Harkless 00:53
Yes, super excited to have you on and talk about all the awesome things that you're doing, rain or not. I know we're going to provide some awesome value and have a phenomenal conversation. And of course, before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Dana so you hear about some of the awesome things she's been working on. And Dana is a Pinterest marketing strategist and the creator of the Styled Pin Collection, a monthly resource that helps creative entrepreneurs grow their visibility using strategic on-brand Pinterest content without the constant pressure to show up daily on social media. With a background in both the wedding industry, marketing, and content strategy, Dana specializes in helping service-based business owners turn their offers into evergreen traffic and lead generation machines using Pinterest as a visual search engine. Her approach focuses on sustainability, simplicity, and showing up in ways that feel aligned and not exhausting. Through templates, training, and her podcast, The Unapologetic Pinner, Dana empowers entrepreneurs to create a marketing presence that works while they rest. And I had the pleasure of sharing the mic and being on Dana's show, and that was phenomenal. We had an awesome conversation. I love everything she's doing. I love her philosophy around marketing as well too. I think so many times when we think marketing needs to be 24/7, that means we need to be 24/7. But I think we're going to dive down deeper into like how she approaches that, but love her background, former wedding and event planner shifted into marketing about 6+ years or so ago. But one of the things I was listening to, which kind of, you know, really gave me a different perspective on one of our other interviews was that so many times we don't see Pinterest as the search engine that it is. And I think that shift that maybe Pinterest has made, but also people are starting to make and she definitely, you know, does with her VAIL method, which we'll touch on, is such a huge thing. So Dana, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?

Dana Bahr 02:36
Absolutely. I think it's funny, as you were reading, I was like nodding my head like, yeah, that's me.

Gresham Harkless 02:41
Yes.

Dana Bahr 02:41
Oh yeah, it is me.

Gresham Harkless 02:42
Yes.

Dana Bahr 02:42
How'd you know? I'm trying.

Gresham Harkless 02:45
Yeah, absolutely. With the day-to-day and how things change, it's always like, okay, like where are we at? And then sometimes we need to hear that North Star as much as everybody else does as well too.

Dana Bahr 02:52
I think honestly, just you saying 5 or 6 years, I almost was like, no, it's only been 2. But then I'm looking at my calendar, it is 2026 and it has been almost 6 years. Where's the time gone?

Gresham Harkless 03:06
Good things happen when you're having fun, right? So that's, that's what we want to kind of make sure that we do. So I guess to kick everything off, we talked around the 6+ years. Let's rewind the clock, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Dana Bahr 03:18
Well, I guess I need to one, reflect on it myself a little bit more given that it's been 6 years and what a journey it must have been because that doesn't feel it. So looking back, I started my business after realizing that most entrepreneurs are being taught, and that was myself included, to market in ways that just weren't sustainable. Because when I started my business, I was a single mom of 3 and I worked a full-time job while trying to grow my own service-based business. So we're already well versed in juggling client work, family time, limited capacity. And I personally experienced the pressure of constant posting and that short-term visibility and the exhaustion that came from that. Like, I'm literally— every time I'm in the car line waiting for my kids, I'm posting something or responding to comments, or I'm doing something to just stay relevant. Not even really to get a client, just to be relevant and found online by someone, anyone, no one really in particular. And I knew there had to be a better way. And that's when I started midnight scrolling of trying to find some other way to grow my, keep my, my business, my brand in front of people or funneling people in without me having to, you know, squeeze 2 minutes in the car line, staying up till midnight, trying to batch schedule something. And then, you know, hoping and praying that I get that magical unicorn client. And so through that search is when I discovered how Pinterest functions as a search engine, not a social media platform. And it completely changed, not overnight, but it has completely changed how I think about growth and how I help my clients think about growth.

Gresham Harkless 05:12
Perfect. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more on how you're working with and serving your clients. Could you take us through a little bit more? On what that looks like and how you're having them to leverage this platform.

Dana Bahr 05:22
So I run a Pinterest-led visibility strategy business for service-based entrepreneurs and creative business owners. Ideally, I love working with wedding professionals because that is the background that I came out of. Um, my work helps clients turn their expertise, their content, and offers into evergreen traffic and lead generation systems using Pinterest as the visual search engine that it is to fill the funnel. Pinterest is a great top-of-funnel builder where you can pull them from this platform, hook their attention, and then have more control on your website, have more control in your email list to what they see, what they learn, what are their next steps. You have a much more intimate way of guiding them to work with you and create those 7 to 12 touchpoints that are required before someone buys from you, especially with other generations. They're ingesting so much content before they even want to talk to you or book you or buy from you. It, they are, they're bouncing around from all of your platforms to learn more about you. So knowing that, I offer strategic audits, education, and implementation support which includes my VAIL audit framework and the Style Pin Collection, and which gives business owners the tools to execute consistently without burning out. I also host the Unapologetic Pinner Podcast where I teach sustainable search-based marketing through a CEO lens.

Gresham Harkless 06:58
Yeah, absolutely. And so this might be part of what I like to call your secret sauce for yourself, the business, or combination of both, but I mentioned it and I heard you mention it as well too, that VAIL method. You feel like that's part of your secret sauce and what sets you apart and makes you unique?

Dana Bahr 07:10
Absolutely. So through the Vail Method, my secret sauce is that I don't teach Pinterest as a tactic or just another platform that you have to be on. I do not teach people, and I do not recommend being omnipresent. I teach people to use Pinterest as a part of their visibility ecosystem. Most marketing focuses on just your output. Posting more, being everywhere, chasing trends. I focus on inputs and that's clarity, alignment, buyer behavior, and long-term strategy. And Pinterest just simply makes those things more measurable. So the VAIL method stands for visibility. Is your stuff, products, services, content, is it even being discovered? Because again, people can't buy from you if they can't find you. Evergreen is your content almost like a timeless solution. Really think about your clients and the pain points they have. Almost, they may approach it differently depending on the generation with which they come from, but the pain points are still the same and they're still frustrating today, tomorrow, next year. Those pain points are still gonna be relevant. And so your content needs to be evergreen and answering those pain points and guiding them through that frustration, guiding them towards the next step for a positive outcome. I is intentional. I got distracted with what I was talking about. Intentionality. Are you just creating content for the sake of creating content? Are you being very intentional and strategic about the type of content that you're creating? So instead of focusing on this one perfect tiny reel that's going to disappear in 24 hours, focus more on creating a larger pillar piece, whether that's a webinar, whether that's a masterclass, a blog post, a podcast episode, something larger, and then intentionally break it down into several bite-sized pieces and repurpose it so you're not just relying on a borrowed platform like social media that can get shut down for a day and the ripple effect of that is could be millions of views, millions of sales. It's astronomical. And put it in places that are designed for people to leave that platform and go to your website that you own. And then leads, which is why we're all in business.

Gresham Harkless 09:33
Yes.

Dana Bahr 09:34
We want the leads. We need the leads. Is your visibility turning into bookings and sales? And if it's not, we need to figure out why. And that's where the other parts of the VAIL method come into play. So what makes my work different is that I help CEOs audit why their marketing works or doesn't work before adding more effort. Like we take out the pieces that are not serving you, not doing anything, and that shift alone changes how people scale their brand and their reach their goals.

Gresham Harkless 10:08
I wanted to, uh, switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient?

Dana Bahr 10:18
I am a nerd about, um, SEO and then decision-making data. So my favorite SEO hack is treating that search data as a, as decision-making data, not just marketing data. So I look at Pinterest trends and then I align what I see trending with like Ubersuggest or somewhere else. So that I can understand the search behavior as a real-time market research. So before I create offers, content, or messaging, I look at what people are already searching for and saving, and then that helps me remove any guesswork or emotional decision-making. So it's not flashy, some people find it boring, but it's powerful. And I feel like most business owners don't use search behavior, um, enough as a leadership tool. They're like, this is amazing. And I think everyone's going to love it. And they might, but maybe next season it doesn't do as well because we don't know what your audience is actually searching for.

Gresham Harkless 11:20
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. So now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more word of wisdom or a piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client, or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business myself?

Dana Bahr 11:34
A favorite nugget is to stop trying to be visible everywhere. And I know that is going to make so many people, like, their hearts stop, but we want to start trying to be findable or discoverable on purpose. And that may kind of seem like the same thing, but it's genuinely not. So if I could go back, I would tell myself that growth doesn't come from doing more It comes from doing fewer things with great massive intention. When your visibility aligns with how people actually search, decide, and buy, marketing does not feel like that hustle anymore. It starts functioning like infrastructure.

Gresham Harkless 12:19
Yeah, I absolutely love, love, love that findable and discoverable ends up being such a huge thing because I think at the end of the day, the name of the game is always around being found. And if we're able to help ourselves to be found, then that's going to be a huge opportunity for us to be able to grow and build that sustainable business. But if we're not doing those things, then it's kind like the tree falls in the forest, if no one's around, does it make a sound? If you're doing great things but nobody knows about you, are you really making the impact that you could? And so when I think we start to really drill down into that and start to look at the data analytics as we talked around to see what's working and what's not, then it starts to compound into us being more impactful and intentful with the things that are happening and that we're doing from a marketing perspective.

Dana Bahr 13:00
Absolutely. I think being a CEO means making decisions from that type of clarity that you get from data decisions as opposed to the pressure of we just need to be seen by someone.

Gresham Harkless 13:14
Right.

Dana Bahr 13:15
So I have never worked from a space of being the, well, being the loudest. I have worked from the headspace of being the busiest because I confuse that with being productive. So once I had that shift and I really like stepped into that CEO role, it was about building systems that support growth without sacrificing capacity, values, or my overall wellbeing. Because if I've built this, you know, million-dollar business and I'm too exhausted to even rest, like I don't feel like I can sit on the couch and just read a book, I've done something wrong. So to me, a CEO thinks long-term, audits before scaling, and then chooses the strategies that will still work when they step away because that's the whole point.

Gresham Harkless 14:01
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Well, Dana, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get ahold of you, find out about your podcast, all the awesome things that you're working on.

Dana Bahr 14:18
Absolutely. So one thing, I guess the last additional thing is I wanted to share and make sure everyone hears is one thing that I'm passionate about is helping business owners realize that sustainability is a growth strategy. The next generation of buyers, especially Gen Z, rewards clarity, transparency, and accessibility. Businesses that understand that now will have a serious significant advantage moving forward in their marketing and in their sales and in their revenue. So the best place to connect with me is through my podcast, The Unapologetic Pinner, where I share practical strategies for sustainable visibility and growth. I don't flub as much, but I probably do. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram at dana's.desk.nc, where I actively teach and demonstrate how search-based visibility works in real time. All of my podcast episodes are 10 minutes or less unless I have a guest. So, they are designed to be bite-sized. You can immediately take action to set your future self up for success and discoverability.

Gresham Harkless 15:23
Absolutely. Well, I truly appreciate that, Dana. Of course, to make everything easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes. I do flub as much, so you can get used to that as well too. So, that's definitely, you're definitely home there. But in the, in the grand scheme of things, I think I, I love that last point you kind of left us with. I think so many times we, and, and maybe it's a millennial thing, maybe we see like, that, you know, hours equates to revenue, hours equates to success. The amount of time you put into something is how successful you're gonna be. But when we start to think differently about things, then we can start to see different results. And I think when we start to realize that sustainability is a business model, it is an option, and it is the thing that we need to do for ourselves, but also for the business that we're growing, but also for the future of our kids and, you know, all those things, we start to look at things differently. So I appreciate you so much and, you know, sounding that message and, and doing all the work that you do because it allows us to think about business differently and then we can start to see different results as well too. So Dana, appreciate you, appreciate your time, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.