SmartBug Media® Earns Two New Comparably Awards in the Best Company Happiness and Best Work-Life Balance Categories

Leading Intelligent Inbound® Marketing Agency Credits Company Culture and Fully Remote Workforce as Drivers for the Recognitions

IRVINE, Calif., October 7, 2021 — SmartBug Media^® — a leading Intelligent Inbound marketing agency that assists businesses in generating leads; increasing awareness; and building brand loyalty through inbound marketing, digital strategy, design, marketing automation, revenue operations and public relations — earned two more Comparably awards last quarter, ranking No. 35 on the “Best Company Happiness” list and No. 12 on the “Best Work-Life Balance” list for small/mid-sized companies.

These new recognitions bring the company’s total to 23 Comparably awards earned since 2018, and the third consecutive year it has earned a spot on the “Best Work-Life Balance” list. In earning these prestigious awards, which are based on employee sentiment, SmartBug^® joins some of the world’s largest companies and most recognizable names such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, Peloton, Adobe, HubSpot, Nextdoor, RingCentral, Instacart and Ford Motor Company. 

These particular awards have a special significance to SmartBug’s CEO and founder Ryan Malone, whose life-long dream was to prove that it is possible to provide employees with challenging careers along with the flexibility to spend more quality time and make lifelong memories with their loved ones. That dream began to take shape when Malone founded SmartBug as one of the world’s few fully remote marketing agencies in 2008. 

“I value Comparably awards because they not only reflect what our employees are thinking and feeling about their jobs, but also highlight how important listening and gaining feedback is in order to make adjustments and continually improve processes,” said Malone. “Winning spots in these two particular categories brings me such joy and pride, because it reinforces the core elements of our culture. My priority first and foremost is to ensure our employees are happy, healthy and resilient. That then translates to high-quality work, which leads to happy clients and overall success.”

SmartBug’s early remote model has led to sustained growth over the years, as the company has grown to more than 130 full-time employees across 42 states and in several countries — even during the global pandemic. Much of that success can be attributed to the fact that company culture and work-life balance are top priorities at SmartBug. 

SmartBug has a number of company policies and initiatives that aim to make it a happy place to work. One of these initiatives is called Healthy SmartBug, which ensures the company is “happy, healthy, safe, and resilient.” Healthy SmartBug empowers employees from the bottom up to solve real challenges by checking in with employees to find out, from their perspective, how to make SmartBug healthier. Employees at all levels have produced hundreds of ideas for SmartBug’s leadership team to consider, prioritize, and ultimately roll out in order to improve the health of the company.

Comparably awards are based on sentiment ratings provided by current employees who anonymously rated their employers on Comparably.com within the past 12 months. Winners were determined based on employee feedback to a combination of workplace culture questions. This set of Comparably Awards were derived from sentiment ratings provided by employees who anonymously rated their employers on Comparably.com during a 12-month period (September 17, 2020 through September 17, 2021) on topics that contribute to overall happiness at work.

“Now more than ever, people want to be happy at work and have flexibility in where and how they work,” said Comparably CEO Jason Nazar. “As a pioneer in fully-remote workplaces, SmartBug's ranking on our Happiest Employees and Best Work-Life Balance lists prove once again what a strong leader it is in these categories. Employees consistently commend the company for understanding the needs of its workforce across these important factors.”

Comparably Awards are compiled from 15 million ratings across 70,000 U.S. companies. There are no fees or costs associated with participating, nor is nomination required. To see the full list of award-winning companies and to learn more about the methodology used to determine winners, visit Comparably’s blog.

SmartBug’s recognition by Comparably follows the recent announcements that it was also named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America for the fifth year in a row and that it was also named to the Adweek Fastest Growing Agencies list for the third consecutive year just this week. 

ABOUT COMPARABLY 

Comparably is a leading workplace culture and compensation monitoring site that provides the most comprehensive and accurate representation of what it’s like to work at companies. Employees can anonymously rate their employers in 20 different workplace culture categories, providing the public a transparent and in-depth look at the experiences workers have based on their gender, ethnicity, age, department, experience, location, education, and company size. Since launching in 2016, Comparably has accumulated 10 million ratings across 60,000 U.S. companies. The platform has become one of the fastest-growing SaaS solutions for employer branding and a trusted third-party site for workplace and salary data, including its annual Best Places to Work series.

ABOUT SMARTBUG MEDIA

SmartBug Media is a globally recognized Intelligent Inbound marketing agency assisting businesses in growing revenue by generating leads, increasing brand awareness and building customer loyalty through content marketing, sales enablement, revenue operations, web development, marketing automation and public relations.

As HubSpot’s 2018 Global Partner of the Year, SmartBug is the highest-rated HubSpot partner in the world today. The company has not only been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies five years in a row, but it has also been named to the Adweek Fastest Growing Agencies list three times and won a number of Great Place to Work^® and Comparably awards. With hundreds of awards for client work — and a team holding a combined 1,000-plus marketing certifications — SmartBug is fully dedicated to delivering client success and an unparalleled agency experience. For more information about SmartBug Media, visit smartbugmedia.com.

For SmartBug Media Inquiries, Contact: 

Jennifer Tolkachev
Director, PR
SmartBug Media 

949-236-6448 x865
jtolkachev@smartbugmedia.com