Success Lessons with Margaret Murphy, CEO and Founder, Bold Orange Company

Article by Becky Fillinger

Margaret MurphyBold Orange Company (BOCO) was founded in 2018 by Margaret Murphy. Margaret was named a 2022 Notable Entrepreneur by Twin Cities Business Magazine and has a long history in the Minneapolis marketing community, having worked at ICF Olson and the marketing division of Carlson Companies. Bold Orange also landed number two on the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal Fast 50, with growth topping 518%!

At just over 100 employees, and located at 100 Washington Square in downtown Minneapolis, Bold Orange is a leading customer experience agency helping companies evolve and transform their brand experiences for better impact in the areas of customer acquisition, growth, and retention. Bold Orange works for such brands as Polaris, Anytime Fitness, Citibank, and Behr Paint.

One sign of a great workplace - smiling employees!

To learn more about their success, we asked Margaret what are the Top 5 things that make Bold Orange successful. Here’s what she had to tell us:

1. Humans First

To me, Talent Is Everything. Our purpose and why we exist at Bold Orange is because we believe authentic human connections drive business and societal progress. And we exist to create and foster those connections. Our culture is anchored in authenticity and with that comes “we” success, not “me” success. We’ve grown and have satisfied clients because we work together, side-by-side, to make a difference in the market.

2. Passion and Commitment

To do your best work, you have to believe in what you do. I believe marketing can be undervalued at times when, in reality, it should be the growth driver of any business. Who you are, what you do, and why people should choose you all comes from strong marketing. So, to define your customer and what moves them, to create communication paths and content that engages and inspires them, and then moves them to act is complex work. At Bold Orange, we are deeply passionate about solving business problems. We get energy from the “gray” and don’t look for answers to be black and white. It’s in the gray where the biggest impact can be found. Live in the gray and you’ll succeed. 

3. Curiosity

At Bold Orange we say this is our Superpower. As we all know, curiosity is the strong desire to learn something. We pride ourselves on learning our clients’ business quickly and deeply. And then we take that curious nature and apply those learnings to their problems, their market, and their objectives and we bring forward relevant solutions that drive results. “Applied curiosity” is core to our success. 

4. Proactive Leadership, Client Obsessed

We start every day focused on our customers. Their goals are our goals. And we work in a way that is conducive to their environments and remains flexible and nimble. They hire us to bring them ideas and solutions they can’t do on their own. They want to be led. We work hard to “bring the outside in” and provide a valuable outside perspective. 

5. We are Professionally Sassy

Our culture is energizing, it’s hard-working, and it’s fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and we work to make authentic connections with each other. We genuinely care about each other, human-to-human. And we laugh with, and at, each other daily. Talent Is Everything and, bottom-line, that’s why we’re successful.

Congratulations, Margaret Murphy and Bold Orange - we wish you a prosperous and equally celebrated 2023!