About
Built by a family that knows why it started.
Ballard Branding is family-run, here since 1995. We help organizations remember why they started, then help people connect to it.
300+ brands · Since 1995 · Family owned
The founder
Meet Jared
Jared Ballard is a brand strategist with decades of experience across startups, agencies, consumer brands, healthcare and software. He simplifies complicated businesses into a clear story, then leads the team, and the AI tools, that carry it through every piece.
Jared’s Why
It started with Ballard Brothers Garage.
My great-grandfather started fixing cars in Snowflake, Arizona, and his sons built it into Ballard Brothers Garage. It was a town where family and neighbors meant everything. I grew up on the mountain, and I felt connected to the place, the people and the hometown way of doing business.
My dad worked for Salt River Project, but he always thought fondly of his memories of that garage. He felt he could give that same feeling back to his own children, so they would have something of their own. He decided it was time to go out on his own and build something he could pass down. He moved us to Safford, opened a tire shop and put his life savings, his heart and his soul into it.
Then Mom got sick. The medical bills and the cost of insuring a small business drained his finances. Rather than build up debt, he chose to close the doors after three years. He picked himself up and went back to working for someone else. He went from job to job after that and never really found a place to land. He ended up working at the Grand Canyon with no retirement, because everything he had saved went into the tire shop. Then cancer came, and we lost him.
I could not help my dad. But I can help other business owners connect their passion to their customers, so they can keep their independence, bring value to their community and provide for their families.
— Jared Ballard, Brand Strategist
Our beliefs
What we believe
- Meaning before marketing.
- Uncover it. Don't manufacture it.
- Align the inside before you broadcast the outside.
- A brand should feel true before it feels clever.
- Build something worth passing on.
Who we serve
Who we work with
Startups, family businesses, growing companies, schools, cities and nonprofits. The common thread is a real purpose to uncover and people to connect.
1995
Family owned since 1995
Something worth passing on.
Ballard Branding is a craft we are building to hand to the next generation. That's how we treat your brand, too.
Free advice
Stuck on something? Ask.
Tell us what's in the way. You'll get free, honest advice.