John Blackmore is an Account Executive at Beyond Marketing, where he helps businesses turn good ideas into great strategies — and great strategies into results you can actually measure. With more than 20 years of experience in media, branding, and communication, John has a knack for connecting the dots between creative thinking and bottom-line impact. He’s known for helping clients find their voice, sharpen their message, and occasionally, for talking them out of ideas that belong on the cutting-room floor. Beyond Marketing has been serving the Wheeling area for over 40 years — which means John joined a team that’s been successful longer than he’s been pretending to know what all the marketing acronyms mean.
A Marshall County native now calling Bellaire, Ohio home, John brings more than two decades of media and marketing experience to the table. Before joining Beyond, he spent 15 years in Radio, serving as General Manager, talk show host, and play-by-play announcer — often all before lunch. He also moonlighted as a traffic reporter on WTRF-7 News This Morning, proving that he could talk his way through a jam of any kind.
John’s first leadership gig came with the Ohio Valley Greyhounds/Smash, where he served as General Manager from 2001 to 2004. Under his watch, the team won two National Championships, and John was twice named General Manager of the Year — something he now mentions only when someone questions his fantasy football skills.
When he’s not working with clients, John can usually be found fishing, coaching, or trying to keep up with his accomplished family. His wife, Sheila Bates-Blackmore, is the Deaf/Hard of Hearing teacher for all Marshall County Schools in West Virginia. Their son, Jeremiah, is the Assistant Cross Country and Track & Field Coach at Thiel College, and their daughter, Cecilia, is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, finishing degrees in Linguistics and Korean Studies — proving that she’s the smart one in the family.
John has also served on the Executive Board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, qualified five times for the West Virginia State Bass Fishing Championships, and once made the news for rescuing a fisherman from the Ohio River. He was nominated for the Carnegie Mellon Hero Fund in 2015 — which he swears was more about instinct than athleticism.
