New Digital Marketing Director, Stuart Blessman, Aims to Lift Punchmark Clients

Born and raised in the Midwest and lived in Minneapolis for the past 20 years, Stuart has been leading digital marketing and sales/account management for the past 15+ years, across a multitude of industries (manufacturing, CPG, grocery, medtech, and more). A low key nerd turned fitness enthusiast, he lost 80+ pounds a few years ago and transformed his life by discovering weight lifting and fitness.

Michael Burpoe, Director of User Experience at Punchmark, sat down with Stuart to learn more about him.

Michael Burpoe: Hi Stuart! How is your morning going so far?

Stuart Blessman: It's going great! Excited to be back in Punchmark's offices working with my coworkers after a few weeks away.

MB: Yeah! You weren't local to Charlotte when you were hired, can you explain about that process and moving to CLT?

SB: I had the opportunity to come visit Charlotte and work out of Punchmark's office my first week here. It gave me the opportunity to meet the teams, explore the city, and get excited about the upcoming relocation. After traveling back to Minneapolis for a few weeks in order to close out my rental and put my possessions on a Pod, I flew back to Charlotte, moved into a condo, and am now full time in Charlotte at Punchmark!

MB: So exciting! What are you looking forward to most about moving to the South?

SB: Should I say getting to experience all 4 seasons again? I'm excited about exploring an entirely new city and culture, experiencing what sports fandom is like in the South, and getting to discover all the new culinary and recreational delights that Charlotte has to offer.

MB: For sure! The barbeque here is A+.

You were brought on to grow our Digital Marketing program and team. What sort of vision do you have for the future, both near and far?

SB: There's a lot of opportunities for jewelry stores to grow their traffic and sales through digital marketing. Every store should have a digital marketing strategy and plan to grow not only their organic traffic but also take advantage of paid search, social advertising, email marketing automation and more. My vision is to continue to develop and push the digital revolution that the last two years has brought to the jewelry industry, and Punchmark will be leading the way through our platform and team of digital marketers, strategists, artists and designers. The best time to start digital marketing was 10 years ago; the next best time is now.

MB: Love it. I'm so excited to see where you take the team!

Will you be attending any of the jewelry shows coming up?

SB: Yes! I will be attending IJO Kansas City, JCK Las Vegas, and Atlanta Jewelry Show in October. I'm looking forward to learning more about the jewelry industry, getting to meet our clients as well as potential new partners, and discussing digital marketing strategy and opportunities with everyone.

MB: Awesome! I'm sure our clients (and prospects) will be excited to meet with you! Thanks for your time Stuart!

SB: Thank you Michael! It's been a pleasure and I can't wait for what the future brings to Punchmark and to all our marketing clients!

Get to know the rest of the Punchmark team!