Good food and ag businesses work too hard to be understood.
Laura Hardie gives food and ag brands CMO-level marketing leadership and storytelling, backed by specialists in strategy, design, content, and production.
After years in journalism, agency work, and in-house marketing, Laura kept seeing the same thing.
Businesses, especially farmer and founder-owned ones, were doing meaningful work but struggling to explain it. Strong products, values, and teams. And yet, marketing is scattered and reactive.
No one was holding the whole picture.
Red Barn Story Co. brings it all together to connect your messaging to measurable business goals. Laura leads your content marketing and points you toward other strategies as needed. With a team behind her, a founder or business owner does not have to carry their messaging and content marketing alone on top of everything else.
What we believe
People-first
We write so your audience can see themselves in your story, and find you because of it.
Connection
Words and design change how people think and buy. We treat that as a responsibility to do right by people and the planet.
Bravery
We will tell you when a tagline you love is costing you sales. We’re not yes-people. Trust comes from a clear point of view held consistently and bravely. Challenging the status quo is our jam.
Authenticity
Growth should make a business more like itself, not less. We don’t chase trends or create unnecessary work out of FOMO.
More focused than an agency. Deeper than a freelancer.
Red Barn Story Co. is made up of a small team of specialists across strategy, design, content, photography, and production. Specifically with backgrounds working with food, beverage, and agriculture brands.
Laura Hardie, Founder and Content Director. Sets the messaging and content strategy and holds the through-line across all content, paid and organic.
Rachel Averitt, Creative Director and Photographer.
Turns the strategy into a cohesive look across all platforms and captures product and lifestyle photos and videos at her brand studio and on location.
Corey Kaminski, Marketing Manager. Builds visuals, writes content, provides creative direction to external photography partners, and manages paid social campaigns.
Britaney Barnreiter, Marketing Assistant. The behind-the-scenes force who keeps every project running smoothly.
Kiley Cairns, Marketing Manager. Builds visuals, writes content, captures farm photos and videos on location, manages paid social campaigns, and leads interviews to create blog and brand stories.
We’ve got
375% increase in average monthly blog traffic
Snow Farm Vineyard
4.5% website conversion rate
Crystal’s Honey
5.10% paid social click-through rate
I Love Alpacas
55% returning customer rate
Crystal’s Honey
Why food, beverage, and farms?
The stories of farmers and makers deserve to be told well.
Laura worked both sides of this industry: the brand side at Keurig Green Mountain (now Keurig Dr. Pepper) and the farmer side at New England Dairy. She is also a seventh-generation Vermonter from an agricultural family.
Through these experiences, it became clear: the people who produce our food deserve far more support than they get.
They are among the most resilient and essential people on the planet. Red Barn Story Co. exists to get their stories in front of the people who'll love what they make.
The vibe Laura brings to the work.
The person behind the strategy.
• Juggles life with her husband and two kids, her small flower farm, a handful of chickens, and too many plants (is there such a thing?).
• Cans about 100 quarts of food a year, from tomato sauce and jam to applesauce.
• Knits sweaters, socks, hats, and mittens in the off-season, when the gardens finally let her sit still.
• Comes from a long line of Vermont dairy farmers. Her brother is a fifth-generation dairy farmer.
• Learned guitar during the pandemic. A campfire strummer.
• Writes occasional poetry. A published poem is on the life list.
• Centers herself outside, snowboarding, gardening, or walking by the river behind the house.
