SmartBug Media® Earns 11th and 12th Comparably Awards as It Is Recognized as One of the ‘Best Companies for Professional Development’

Leading Marketing Agency’s CEO Ryan Malone Also Named as One of the ‘Best CEOs for Women’ for the Second Year in a Row

IRVINE, Calif., July 28, 2020—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, and public relations—today announced that it has been recognized as one of the “Best Companies for Professional Development” by Comparably. Additionally, its CEO, Ryan Malone, was named one of the “Best CEOs for Women.” These awards validate the company’s commitment to fostering strong professional development and positive work-life balance values for its employees, earning SmartBug^® 12 Comparably honors over the past two years.

The Best Company for Professional Development distinction comes just two weeks after SmartBug partnered with HubSpot, Inc. to host its first World Certification Day, during which businesses around the world were encouraged to provide ongoing education opportunities to employees during regular working hours—a concept inspired by SmartBug CEO Ryan Malone, who conceived of the idea three years ago.  Each quarter, SmartBug shuts down the company for a Certification Day, dedicating more than 800 people hours to training and enabling each of our employees to spend that time taking online classes and tutorials and earning certifications. The company also hosts SmartBugapalooza, an annual four-day leadership development conference designed to encourage team building and cross-functional work. 

“Investing in the professional development of our employees is an essential part of our company culture,” explains Malone. “In addition to our quarterly Certification Days and annual SmartBugapalooza, we further invest in our employees by giving them opportunities to do cross-functional projects outside their everyday roles to learn new skills, enhance the work they produce, and further their careers. Our continual efforts to promote professional development ensure our clients have better outcomes and reinforce our position as a leader in the market and as the destination of choice for top talent.”

In addition, Malone’s recognition as a Best CEO for Women for the second time demonstrates SmartBug’s ongoing commitment to providing employees with challenging careers along with the flexibility to spend more quality time with their families and make lifelong memories. Founded in 2008 as one of the country’s few fully remote marketing agencies, SmartBug’s flexible workplace culture, along with Malone’s Healthy SmartBug initiative—which uses employee feedback to develop and improve corporate policies that help its employees remain happy, healthy, safe, and resilient—make the company attractive to women who want to strike a healthy balance between their career and personal life. Currently, 63 percent of SmartBug employees are women, and they hold 53 percent of the company’s leadership roles.  

“Our annual Best CEOs for Women and Best Companies for Professional Development lists continue to shine a spotlight on the leaders who set positive examples for others to learn from and model in their own organizations,” said Comparably CEO Jason Nazar. “It’s no surprise to see Ryan Malone earn top ratings for the second consecutive year. He’s consistently commended by SmartBug staffers for being a true advocate for every employee, in addition to being invested in the career growth and success of every team member.”

Comparably, an online career, compensation, and workplace culture monitoring site, uses a data-driven approach to gather information about U.S.-based companies. Each year, it publishes lists of top companies in a variety of categories. Comparably establishes its rankings by gathering sentiment ratings provided by employees who anonymously rate their employers over the course of a year. There are no fees, costs, or nominations associated with participating. 

Comparably’s Best Companies for Professional Development 2020 list was determined based on the most positive sentiment ratings from employees regarding their professional development opportunities, along with the company’s overall workplace culture score, based on 20 different workplace categories. Comparably’s Best CEOs for Women 2020 list was derived from ratings solely provided by female employees, and rankings were determined by the most positive sentiment ratings about the CEO’s effectiveness and management style, along with the company’s overall workplace culture score.

SmartBug Media won Comparably awards for Best Companies for Work-Life Balance, Best CEOs for Women, and Best Places to Work in Los Angeles in 2019. The company also won seven Comparably awards in 2018, including Best CEOs for Women (Small/Mid-Size Companies), Best Managers (Small/Mid-Size Companies), Best Places to Work in Los Angeles, Best CEOs in Los Angeles, Happiest Employees (Small/Mid-Size Companies), and Best CEOs in the United States (Small/Mid-Size Companies).

To see the full list of award-winning companies and to learn more about the methodology used to determine winners, visit Comparably’s blog.

About Comparably

Comparably is a workplace culture and compensation monitoring site with a mission to provide more transparent and rewarding workplaces. Employees can access salary data and rate their companies, CEOs, and work experiences through the lens of specific demographics including gender, ethnicity, age, tenure, industry, location, and education. With nearly 10 million ratings from employees at more than 50,000 U.S. companies, Comparably has become one of the most used SaaS solutions for employer branding and trusted third-party sites for salary and workplace culture data. For more information on Comparably, go to comparably.com. For highly cited workplace culture and compensation studies, including Comparably’s annual Workplace Culture Awards, log onto comparably.com/blog.

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, 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 three years in a row, but it has also been named to the Adweek 100: Fastest Growing Agencies list 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 550 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
SmartBug Media 
949-236-6448 x865
jtolkachev@smartbugmedia.com