Phil Castle, The Business Times

Dan Ryan remembers the not so good old days of marketing when he pounded out copy on a typewriter and it might take weeks to produce a color brochure.

“Today, it’s a matter of minutes,” Ryan says.

Technology, the internet and social media have transformed the industry far beyond what Ryan could have recognized when he launched his Grand Junction marketing and advertising agency in April 1990. 

What hasn’t changed, though, are the principles involved, he says. He still recites what he considers a mantra: “Give lucid statements to strong ideas.”

It’s the combination of clear and easy to understand communication and better products and services that motivates customers and remains central to successful marketing, he says. “You’ve got to describe it in a lucid way so people want it.”

Moreover, there was an advantage to processes that required more time, he says. They tended to engender a more thoughtful approach that’s sometimes missing in efforts executed more quickly. “Nothing really good happens really fast.”

Ryan has persevered more like the proverbial tortoise than hare in operating what’s now called Ryan/Sawyer Marketing.

He considered celebrating his 30th year in business in 2020, but that was at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the midst of uncertainty for his firm and his clients.
“It just didn’t seem appropriate.”

The pandemic hasn’t ended a year later, but a good measure of the uncertainty has, he says. “People are getting back to let’s do business.” 

Ryan decided to observe what he calls a 30-year plus one anniversary. “It’s worth acknowledging.”

Ryan says he’s come full-circle with his agency after starting the firm as sole owner, joining with first one and then two partners and then resuming his role as sole owner in 2014.

He says he’s grateful for the efforts of former partners Lee Whitney and Tom Sawyer. They both retired, although Sawyer continues to offer marketing and business development consulting to clients on a project basis.

Ryan says he’s also grateful for the efforts of a staff that includes John Martin as art director, Julie Hober as client services manager and Bridgett Gutierrez as account manager and digital strategist.

Ryan grew up in Meeker in Northwest Colorado, the son of a country doctor. Ryan attended the University of Northern Colorado, where he studied psychology, mass communications and English.

He returned to Meeker and managed a radio station there. He subsequently worked for a radio station in Salt Lake City. He  says he discovered he wasn’t good at selling advertising, but was good at the creative efforts involved in putting together ads.

He moved to Grand Junction and worked for more than four years as an account manager and copy writer for an advertising firm.

He decided to work for himself and started what was at the time Ryan & Associates Advertising. At first, the associate was a part-time graphic designer.

Within five years, the agency had grown in terms of staff and clients in providing services in account management, media buying, graphic design, print advertising and radio and television ads.

Ryan says he worked on a collaborative basis with Whitney on marketing and business development strategies. In 1998, they decided to join forces in launching Ryan, Whitney & Co. 

The firm was the first commercial tenant in the St. Regis building in downtown Grand Junction. In 2005, Ryan and Whitney purchased and refurbished a building on White Avenue to house the agency.

Ryan says they rented office space in 2009 to Sawyer, who at the time was looking for a place to write a book about financial models for technology startups. They ended up tapping into his expertise in financial planning and business management even as he developed an interest in investing in the agency. Sawyer became a partner in 2009, and the firm was renamed Ryan, Sawyer & Whitney.

Whitney retired in 2011, Sawyer followed in 2014 and Ryan says he returned to sole ownership.

Over the years, Ryan says his agency has handled nearly 22,000 jobs for clients. The ways those jobs are completed and the types of work have changed dramatically, he says.

Computers and software have made it possible to complete work in minutes that once took weeks. Ryan says his staff of four can accomplish more than what a staff of 12 used to complete. The advent and growth of the internet and social media have changed marketing more profoundly, he says.

But even as technology and mediums have changed, the principles of successful marketing haven’t, he says. Businesses must not only provide better products and services, but also describe those products and services in ways customers understand.

Ryan/Sawyer Marketing helps in one respect by offering what Ryan calls a “brand camp” in which participants analyze and develop their brands. The outcome serves as the basis for efforts to  devise and execute marketing strategies.

Although he doesn’t know what the next 31 years will hold, Ryan says he hopes his firm and a new generation of creative employees will continue to serve customers by adapting to changes while honoring principles.

For more information about Ryan/Sawyer Marketing and its services, visit https://ryansawyermarketing.com.