Craig T. Nelson and Inbound Marketing in Baton Rouge

Dan Davidson • July 1, 2013

Four years ago a good friend and I started our own golf tournament. We wanted a good reason to play 72 holes in 48 hours. That’s right 36 holes a day, for two days, all over one weekend. We chose the last weekend in June to have our contest. With dreams of this being an annual activity, we knew this weekend of golfing bliss needed a name. With no other ideas, we opted to name our little tournament after American cinema and television icon…Craig T. Nelson.


Flash-forward to today and we are embarking on the 5th Annual Craig T. Nelson Open, just as I’m finishing my second month at BlinkJar Media. With this being one of my favorite times of the year, and my mind is flooded with ideas about golf and thoughts about inbound marketing, it’s only natural the two started to mingle. What I’ve learned in my first 60 days at BlinkJar has shown me that golf and inbound have a lot in common.


Think of the golf ball as your message. A four dollar, fresh from the sleeve, crystal white ProV1. This ball, this message encompasses everything about you and your brand, and your only goal is to share it, make sure it gets where it belongs. Where it belongs is a simple place. In golf it’s the green. It’s a big piece of lush grass, standing perfectly still, waiting for you. For your brand it’s an interested, curious, needing customer.


As everyone learns in marketing class, at last count, we are all inundated with messages and impressions, over 5,000 each day. Those are a lot of obstacles distracting your message from getting to the right people. Look at a golf course; from the time your ball is teed up you have to negotiate trees, wind, water, sand, rough, so on and so forth. Your message has very little room for error before it gets buried, pushed around, plugged or sunk.


Coming from a television background, I’m very familiar with idea of blasting your message across a wide audience. Being very broad and covering a lot ground. I’m also aware of how easy it is for that message to get lost somewhere in those 5,000 impressions, amongst the audience that’s not interested. Just like in golf, you can address the ball with your driver, take a big swing and that ball will likely go a long, long way…but in what direction?


Inbound marketing offers precision. It’s a 9-iron you leave pin high. You take the trees, water and sand out of play. You put your message where it belongs, with the customers and potential clients that need it. You put the ball where it belongs, in the hole. 

Through creating content, optimizing search engine results and by organically making Google work for your brand and your company, you shorten the golf course and make the hole bigger. Taking a focused approach and leveraging technology that is at everyone’s fingertips, makes your brand become a relevant, reliable, trusted source. This isn’t to say there’s no room in your game for a big swing. If you combine the precision of inbound marketing with the reach of traditional media correctly, you can dramatically expand your efforts with each. 


It’s been a beautiful 4 years of the Craig T. Nelson Open. It’s been an enlightening and fulfilling 60 days at BlinkJar. I look forward to many, many more of both.


By Caroline Thaxton July 10, 2026
Artificial intelligence is changing the way businesses approach content marketing , social media marketing , and digital communications. AI can generate ideas, streamline workflows, and help marketers create content faster than ever before. At Blinkjar, we embrace AI as a powerful tool, but we also know the most impactful marketing still begins with something technology can't replicate: a genuine human connection. As a Creative Content Specialist at Blinkjar , some of my most valuable work happens away from my desk. Meeting with clients, visiting their businesses, and building real relationships gives me a deeper understanding of who they are and what makes their brands unique. Those face-to-face interactions help me create authentic content that reflects each client's personality , values, and story. Can AI Really Tell Your Brand's Story? Every business has a story worth telling . While AI can help organize information, brainstorm ideas, and improve efficiency, it can't experience a company's culture, observe customer interactions, or hear the passion behind why a business was started. That’s why every interaction matters. Whether we’re on a call, exchanging emails, meeting in person, capturing photos and videos, or simply talking through new ideas, each touchpoint helps us better understand the businesses we support. These conversations allow us to see how a brand operates, hear the stories behind the work, and uncover the details that make it unique. Those real insights often become the foundation for stronger content because they reveal perspectives that AI simply can’t generate. How Do Client Conversations Lead to Better Content Marketing? The more time I spend with the businesses we support, the better I can represent their brand. 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AI helps streamline repetitive tasks, organize information, and spark ideas, giving creative professionals more time to focus on strategy, collaboration, and storytelling. At Blinkjar, we use AI to enhance our process, not replace it. Technology helps us work more efficiently, but the relationships we build with our clients remain at the center of everything we create. AI can help us work faster, but it can't replace sitting across the table from a client, hearing their vision, or witnessing firsthand what makes their business special. What Makes Authentic Marketing Stand Out in the Age of AI? As AI becomes more common , authenticity becomes even more valuable. Consumers want to connect with real people, real businesses, and real stories. Because anyone and everyone can now create content at the click of a button, trust is the new signal that shines through in this noisy world. In a recent episode of the Zero Click Marketing podcast , guest Kevin Indig stated that trust is the most important ingredient in this new AI world. Because content is easier and faster to create than ever before, we are no longer just competing with other creators. We are competing with a flood of synthetic content. In this environment, trust is the ultimate differentiator, and you simply cannot build trust without authenticity. Indig goes on to say that trust is the only factor more powerful than traditional search rankings. When people search for information today and get a short list of brands in an LLM response, a Google results page, or an AI Overview, they will always select the brand they trust the most. In essence, trust acts as a conversion booster in this new digital landscape. That's why personal interactions, thoughtful conversations, and hands-on collaboration continue to shape the content we create every day. Technology will continue to evolve, but meaningful relationships will always be the foundation of successful marketing. The best content doesn't just attract attention. It builds trust, creates lasting connections, and helps brands tell stories people remember. At Blinkjar Media , we believe the best marketing happens when innovative technology meets authentic human connection. AI may help us create content more efficiently, but it's the relationships we build with our clients that allow us to tell their stories in a way that feels genuine, memorable, and uniquely theirs. That human connection is the foundation of every successful marketing effort, regardless of the era or the technology shaping it.
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