Celebrating 25 Years in Business—and the Next Chapter of adrBMS
Celebrating 25 Years in Business—and the Next Chapter of adrBMS
2001–2026 | Celebrating 25 Years
This year marks a milestone that means a great deal to me: 25 years in business.
It's an opportunity to celebrate, but it's also given me a reason to look back at where I started, how much the business has changed, what I've learned along the way—and where adr Business & Marketing Strategies is headed next.
You may have already noticed something new.
adrBMS has a refreshed look, a new tagline and a clearer focus for the future.
But this isn't simply a new logo.
In many ways, it's about getting back to where everything started.
It Started With Consulting
My entrepreneurial journey began in 2001 with Dona Bonnett, Consultant, a medical practice consulting business built on 17 years of experience managing a large and rapidly growing dermatology practice.
That experience taught me how to manage growth, develop systems, solve problems, adapt to change and continually ask:
What's working? What's not? And what do we need to do next?
In 2004, I started a second business, A Digital Reflection Photography & Videography, which required me to develop an entirely new set of creative and technical skills.
Then, in 2011, I brought those two worlds together, expanded into marketing services and created adr Business & Marketing Strategies. The adr name came from A Digital Reflection.
Website design and development, content writing, communications and other digital and creative services followed as the business continued to grow and evolve.
What 25 Years Have Taught Me
I've spent 25 years learning that marketing isn't just about communicating a message. You have to understand the business first.
That's why when I sit down with a business owner, I don't begin by trying to sell a website, advertising campaign or particular marketing service.
I start by asking questions.
Where are you now?
Where do you want to go?
What's working?
What's not?
Who are your customers?
What's standing in the way of growth?
And then we get to the question that matters most:
What do we do next?
Sometimes the answer is marketing.
Sometimes it's a new website.
Sometimes it's clearer messaging, a better process, a different strategy or simply having someone with experience look at the business from a fresh perspective.
The goal isn't to sell more services.
The goal is to help business owners make better decisions and move their businesses forward.
A Clearer Focus for adrBMS
As part of this 25th-anniversary evolution, we're putting a clearer focus around the work that has become the heart of adrBMS:
Business & Marketing Coaching
Practical, one-on-one guidance to help business owners gain perspective, work through challenges, establish priorities and determine what to do next.
Business & Marketing Consulting & Strategy
Experienced analysis and strategic guidance to identify what's working, what's not, where opportunities exist and what practical steps can move the business forward.
Website Design & Digital Solutions
Strategic websites built around the business, its customers and its goals—not simply around colors and layouts.
Content writing, communications, graphic design, photography and video remain part of the adrBMS toolbox when they're the right solution for the job.
A New Look for the Next Chapter
Our refreshed brand reflects where adrBMS is today while preserving the identity and history that brought us here.
And our new tagline says a lot about what I want adrBMS to continue representing:
Real Experience. Practical Solutions. Affordable Business Growth.
Real Experience comes from decades of working inside businesses, running businesses and helping other business owners solve real problems.
Practical Solutions means recommendations should make sense for the business—not simply follow the latest marketing trend.
And Affordable Business Growth reflects something I've always believed: small-business owners deserve access to professional guidance and solutions without wasting valuable resources on things they don't need.
25 Years—and We're Not Finished Yet
Technology will continue to change. Marketing will change. Websites will change. The tools we use will change.
And adrBMS will continue to evolve too.
There are some exciting things ahead that I'm looking forward to sharing soon.
But after 25 years, one thing remains remarkably consistent:
We start with the business.
2001 started with consulting. Twenty-five years and a lot of evolution later, it still starts with the business.
To every client, colleague, business owner, organization and community that has trusted me, worked with me, referred someone to me or simply encouraged me along the way:
Thank you for being part of these 25 years.
I'm grateful for where we've been—and very excited about where we're going next.
Dona Bonnett
adr Business & Marketing Strategies
Real Experience. Practical Solutions. Affordable Business Growth.