Community Highlights: Meet Steven Lockhart of Branding | Marketing | Advertising

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Lockhart.

Hi Steven, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
You know, it really started with seeing a gap that just didn’t sit right with me. Here were all these incredible people—doctors healing patients, therapists restoring hope, healthcare providers changing lives—and they had something genuinely valuable to offer their communities. But when it came to getting their message out there digitally? They were lost in a maze of jargon and empty promises from agencies that treated them like account numbers.

That gap? That’s what lit the fire.

We started Branding | Marketing | Advertising (BMA) with a simple mission: help the helpers. Because here’s what we realized early on—the people doing the most important work, the ones actually making a difference in people’s lives, often have the least time and resources to figure out the digital marketing game. They’re too busy serving others.

In those early days, we were a small team with a clear vision. We believed in transparency, honest communication, and results you could actually measure. No smoke and mirrors. Just real partnership. And what happened was beautiful—we didn’t just grow a client list, we built relationships. The kind where someone calls you not because they have to, but because they trust you to help them think through what matters.

Today, we work primarily with physicians, psychiatrists, and healthcare providers across LA and beyond. We’ve earned our certifications and expanded what we offer, but that core mission has never changed.
We help people who help people.

When a pain management doctor can reach more patients who are suffering, or a mental health provider can connect with someone in crisis, or a concierge physician can serve their community better—that’s not just marketing. That’s impact. That’s legacy.

We’re still here to be your partner, not your vendor. Still believing that when you succeed in reaching the people who need you most, we all win together.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Has it been a smooth road? Not even close.

Look, we’ve been at this for over twenty years, and being honest with you—which is the only way we know how to be—it’s taken us every one of those years to figure out what truly moves the needle for our partners. Not what sounds good in a proposal. Not what’s easy to deliver. But what actually works.

Here’s the thing: we could have taken the easy path. We could have done what most agencies do—build a cookie-cutter website, post some social media content, call it a day, and move on to the next client. But that’s not partnership. That’s not how you help people who are out there helping people.

We made a different choice. We decided to build something significantly larger than what anyone else offers.

We’re talking massive, comprehensive websites—80, 90, sometimes 100+ pages—because your patients and clients are searching for specific answers to specific problems, and they deserve to find them. We deliver targeted content daily. Real content. Not fluff. We’re active on social media every single day because that’s where conversations happen. And we get the word out through strategic press releases because credibility and visibility matter.

Now, a lot of what we do might look simple on the surface. And in many ways, it is repeatable. But here’s what nobody tells you: building a platform that can actually deliver all of that—at scale, with quality, consistently—that takes time, talent, and resources. And those three things? They’re always in short supply.

We had to invest years into developing systems that work. We had to bring together the right team of people who shared our vision. We had to make hard choices about where to allocate limited resources. There were moments of doubt, I won’t lie to you. Times when the easier path looked awfully tempting.

But we stayed the course because we knew what we were building wasn’t just another marketing agency. We were building a true partnership model—one where we could deliver what we’d want if we were in your shoes.
Twenty years to get it right? Absolutely. And I wouldn’t change a thing. Because now, when we partner with a physician or healthcare provider, we’re not experimenting. We’re bringing two decades of refinement, failure, learning, and success to the table.

The road wasn’t smooth. But it made us who we are. And that’s a partner you can count on.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Branding | Marketing | Advertising?
Here’s what you need to know about us: we help people who help people.

At Branding | Marketing | Advertising, we’re a full-service digital marketing agency, but that doesn’t really capture it. What we really do is partner with physicians, psychiatrists, healthcare providers—the folks on the front lines making a genuine difference in people’s lives—and we help them reach the patients who need them most.

What sets us apart? It’s simple: we go bigger.
While most agencies are building 10-page websites and posting occasional content, we’re creating comprehensive digital ecosystems. We’re talking 80 to 100+ page websites that actually answer the questions your patients are searching for at 2 a.m. when they’re worried and looking for help. We deliver fresh, targeted content daily—not generic blog posts, but material that speaks directly to the people you serve. We’re active on social media every single day because that’s where real conversations happen. And we amplify your credibility through strategic press releases that position you as the authority in your field.

This isn’t the easy path. It’s the right path.

What we specialize in:
We focus primarily on healthcare marketing—men’s health clinics, concierge medicine, plastic surgeons, addiction medicine, pain management, psychiatry. These are people whose work literally changes lives, and they deserve a marketing partner who understands the weight of that mission.

Our services cover the full spectrum: SEO that actually gets you found, Google Ads that generate real leads, website development that converts visitors into patients, content creation that builds trust, and even voice agent automation for handling calls. We’re Google Partner Certified, HubSpot Content Marketing Certified, and carry certifications from SEMrush, Facebook Blueprint, and Microsoft Advertising. But honestly? Those plaques on the wall matter less than the results we deliver.

What I’m most proud of brand-wise?
It’s our integrity. We built this company on a foundation of transparency and honest communication. When we tell you something is going to work, it’s because we have twenty years of data backing it up. When something isn’t working, we tell you that too—and we pivot together.

I’m proud that we don’t talk down to our partners. No jargon. No smoke and mirrors. Just clear, straightforward communication about what we’re doing and why it matters.

And I’m proud of our tagline: “Empowering Your Digital Growth.” Because that’s not marketing speak—that’s our actual mission. We’re not here to do marketing for you. We’re here to work with you, to empower your growth, to be the partner you’d want in your corner.

What do I want readers to know?
If you’re a healthcare provider who’s frustrated with your online presence—if you know you’re great at what you do but can’t seem to get in front of the right patients—we’ve spent two decades building exactly what you need.
We’re not the cheapest option. We’re not the quickest fix. But we are the partner who will show up every single day with a comprehensive strategy, transparent communication, and an unwavering commitment to your success.
Because here’s what I believe to my core: when you succeed in reaching more patients, when you grow your practice, when you build the legacy you’ve been working toward—we all win together.

That’s partnership. That’s who we are.

And if that resonates with you? Let’s write your next chapter together.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What do I like best about LA and Orange County?
You know, I’ve got this unique perspective on Southern California. I was born in Fullerton—my family actually started the largest wetsuit brand in the region, so in some ways, I’m as local as they come. My roots here go deep, all the way back to the 1850s. But here’s the twist: I left as a child and grew up in North Dakota. Talk about a different world, right? Far cry from the city lights and ocean breezes.

Growing up in North Dakota taught me values that still guide everything I do—integrity, hard work, dedication. That small-town mindset where your word matters and you show up for people. And now, having been back in Orange County for over twenty years, I get to bring that North Dakota work ethic to the LA and OC markets.

But here’s what I love most about this place: it’s a blank canvas. Always. There’s constant learning, constant evolution. I work with people from tremendously diverse backgrounds—physicians from around the world, entrepreneurs with wildly different stories, creatives pushing boundaries. And you know what? They’re good people. Real people trying to make a difference.

The culture here—that’s what’s most appealing about any place, isn’t it? In LA and OC, you’ve got this incredible mix of ambition and creativity, of people chasing dreams while also genuinely trying to help others. That resonates with me deeply, especially since we focus on helping healthcare providers—people whose entire mission is serving their communities.

I bring some of that North Dakota small-town approach to relationships and work, but I also get to learn from the incredible diversity of thought and experience that only a place like Southern California can offer. It keeps me sharp. It keeps me humble. It keeps me growing.

What do I like least?
Well, besides the traffic—and let’s be honest, we’ve all got stories about that—I’d say it’s sometimes hard to find people who truly share your vision. People who understand that success isn’t just about the quick win, but about building something meaningful, something that lasts.

But you know what? That’s actually a good thing too. Because when you do connect with someone who gets it, who shares that partnership mindset, it’s special. And even when you don’t, exchanging ideas with people who see the world differently? That helps us grow. That challenges our assumptions. That makes us better.

So yeah, the blank canvas can be challenging. But that’s also exactly why it’s beautiful. There’s always room to create something new, to build something better, to help someone who’s helping others.

And that’s a mission worth waking up for every single day.

Pricing:

• $2000 per month – Small businesses
• $3000 per month – Medium businesses
• $4000 per month – Large businesses
• $15000 – Done For You – Converting practices to cash pay
• $5000 – Do It Yourself – Converting practices to cash pay

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bestbma.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandingmarketingadvertising/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/61574712927028/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bestbma
• Twitter: http://x.com/bmagrowth
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bestbma

Image Credits
Not Applicable