How I’ve helped my clients grow:
⚡ 220% growth in new clients for a client year-over-year
⚡ 23% growth in gross revenue year-over-year
⚡12% growth in job applications to client
⚡ 10% audience growth across key social channels year-over-year
⚡ 173% growth in total number of users making purchases on sales platform year-over-year
⚡10x growth in press reach, with national recognition from all major press outlets year-over-year
⚡ Led first-time subscription product strategy for client generating $10k in the first 48 hours, 6 figures year-over-year
⚡ Led SEO strategy to restructure backend of 2+ million pages of client website, leading to 43% increase in organic site traffic per month
💥 11% growth in annual revenue year-over-year
💥 17% gross revenue growth in Q4 year-over-year
💥 194% growth in total blog visits year-over-year
💥 32% growth in email list subscribers year-over-year
💥 Largest Q4 revenue growth in company’s history
💥 11% growth in total site visits in the millions year-over-year
💥 User mapping identified new user bases for client to create comprehensive marketing strategy for underserved site users
My work’s been featured in:
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You’re watching your competitors rapidly grow. They’re releasing impressive case studies, partnering with meaningful brands, bringing on awesome talent quickly, and getting great press hit after press hit. Their marketing is fun, pithy, engaging, and smart.
And your competitor’s approach is making people want to buy their product or work with them even more.
You’re left wondering: why don’t my clients and my audience feel that way about me? Where is my business growth? We have a better product anyways!
You haven’t yet found what will make your clients and audience land consistently in your camp, shouting out the cool work you do.
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You’ve talked to your sister’s college roommate’s boyfriend who had a marketing internship at Facebook ten years ago. And Brad tells you that he has a plan to leverage your marketing as a growth driver for your business.
But something in the back of your mind doesn’t feel quite right about it.
Brad calls himself a “marketing strategist,” which makes you wonder if he’ll just deliver a 40-page deck to you at the end of weeks of intensive research. Leaving you high and dry to figure out how to implement his recommendations. And that’s if the deck doesn’t get thrown in someone’s desk drawer, never to see the light of day again.
You’ve heard marketing strategists are those who cut and run. Brad’s deck doesn’t account for the way your business works, taking into consideration the nature of your industry and the ebbs and flows of your business over a month, quarter, or year. He didn’t take the time to understand what the levers are for implementation. And he couldn’t tell you if you asked how you should implement his recommendations, which internal and external stakeholder relationships need the highest priority management, and where the potential fires are along the way.
What’s worse is you have the sense that Brad follows the “rules” of marketing: the 2/3rds rule, the rule of 7, the 3-2-1 rule — it leaves you wondering if he actually knows how to do marketing and be adaptive to the challenge in front of him, rather than inputting a new framework to see what sticks. He even made the fatal error of suggesting that your sales department should just become a team of marketers.
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is that your business growth isn’t as far away as it seems. And you don’t need to trust Brad to recommend your marketing plan to get it right.
After all, you’re passionate about making the world a better place in your own way — your company is full of smart, kindhearted, grounded people who believe in your work. You have exciting and engaging offerings for your clients and customers. And you already know that marketing is a valuable asset to the growth of your company: your marketing team is proof of that.
But you need a leg up and a way to win.
How I work with you:
I’ll weed through your analytics and data streams to update your user personas; uncover which stories you tell resonate with your audience; identify where (and how) to leverage untapped and unseen potential in your marketing and communications efforts; and empower you to connect on a deeper and more meaningful level with your target and current customers and clients, increasing engagement and retention.
I’ll help you and your team see the forest from the trees and set you on a path to success. You’ll walk away with a shared vision of where you can go, with new BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), blue skies, and North Stars. This vision will help you grow with your target audience (in terms of profit, retention, revenue, and recognition) and your team grow as marketers and communicators. With a shared vision, they can see how their contributions enable a new world for your company. With actionable steps toward your new future, you’ll be well on your way to being the best in your industry.
My goal in working with you is to aggressively make myself irrelevant to your business. I’m your marketing firefighter, but I want to empower you to carry this forward on your own. Together, we’ll honor the important work of your company by using the stories and data at your fingertips to sell your story better.
Here’s what a few of my clients have to say about my work:
👋 “It’s been such a pleasure working with Sara! She helped us get through a challenging time when we were down a key role on our team. She also gave us fresh perspectives to consider exciting, new language to talk about our products and services. I really appreciated Sara’s positive nature and can-do attitude. It was always a pleasure talking through assignments with her, and she hit 100% of deadlines with grace and precision.”
👋 “Sara worked with me to develop concepts for two very different businesses: an existing law practice and a startup consulting business. She also developed an incredibly useful framework that we have used to think about our social media strategy and new client marketing. We’ve used several companies over the years for the same kind of work. Sara provides service that is far better, in professionalism, project management, timeliness, work quality (and reassurance!) than all the companies we’ve worked with in the past. We’re a demanding client with limited time and we thought the experience working with Sara was really outstanding.”
👋 “Your gentle leadership keeps us moving along smoothly. I appreciate how you acknowledge what each person brings. Truly, I have not met many people who can lead a group gracefully – I learn from you each time we meet. Thank you for being willing to guide us.”
👋 “I’m in awe of your welcoming, gentle, upbeat, and yet so focused facilitation style. I found myself reflecting – where EVER did she learn that? How great if that could be taught.”
👋 “You have such a gift and hold space for others so intentionally. Thank you for sharing your time and energy with us!”
👋 “Thanks for the amazing facilitation, Sara and for the great creative energy.”
👋 “You’re the best. Literally the most affirmation positive person I’ve ever worked with.”
👋 “Thank you for the inspiration and constant encouragement. I appreciate you pouring so much of yourself into me and others. Had I not spent so much time working with and learning from you, I doubt I would’ve ever seen my value and wouldn’t have pushed back on this offer.”
👋 “Sara supported our organization’s digital marketing strategy and provided research and guidance on SEO, SEM, and social media. She's collaborative, professional, and brings good ideas to the table. Her skillset — both analytical and creative — make her an asset to any organization looking to expand their marketing reach.”
👋 “Sara helped build my e-business platform, including integrating my newsletter with event invitations & registrations and follow up. She is easy to work with, extremely professional and responsive when issues arise.”
Services
My minimum project engagement is $10,000.
Please note: I do not do one-off asset design, social media or email campaign management, website design / builds or management.
BRAND ARCHITECTURE AND MARKETING ROADMAPS
In an increasingly-visual and increasingly-online world, your brand’s story still relies on how well your messaging brings it to life. With a deep understanding of existing and emerging digital media foundations, I craft marketing and communications strategies that develop awareness, understanding, and loyalty for your brand — laddering up to realistic target goals for key performance indicators. We also go deep into the structure of your brand(s), how it ladders up to the overarching story, and leveraging brand equity across the portfolio to ensure success.
Fed by a marketing audit and comprehensive brand strategy, I create a list of prioritized marketing actions for you to take. I’m focused on an education-oriented process, because I want to empower your team to achieve the goals we’ve set together.
MARKETING AUDITS
Social media and traditional media audit
User relationships and analytics audit
Channel analysis (where your audience spends their time on- and offline)
Offerings audit
Message analysis
High-level content audit (incl. existing marketing materials)
Skills audit of internal marketing capabilities
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS
Together, we’ll ask questions like these:
Who are your competitors?
What are they doing well and doing poorly?
What do you like about them?
What differentiates you from your competitor?
Why would people choose them over you?
We’ll uncover global trends, best practices, target audience mindsets, and strategic objectives out of the answers to these questions.
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS
I’ll hold stakeholder interviews with:
Your company’s leadership
Key users and/or user segments
Key ecosystem thought leaders
My goal is to better understand your users, their pain points, and areas for opportunity that you can leverage.
Naming & Identity, Positioning, Messaging STRATEGY & COPYWRITING
Naming and identity strategy: I’ll help you develop strong naming conventions that leave a lasting impression
Positioning strategy: I’ll identify gaps and opportunities in your industry to create a unique positioning for you and your company
Messaging framework: I’ll craft key messages that guide your company’s brand communications
Copywriting: I’ll write clear copy that compels. ‘Nuff said.
CONSUMER INSIGHTS (USER AND DONOR MAPPING):
Target user personas / empathy map: From client interviews, market research, and / or customer interviews, I outline your target audiences for marketing that goes into: demographics, psychographics, challenges, pain points, emotional investment, and their customer journey
Attribution model
Pain moments mapping (to examine customer problem points)
Behavior triggers mapping
Customer journey creation: I categorize your user’s journey into the following five categories of decision making and what you’ll need to provide them during each phase to move them to the next.
Problem unaware: how do we get their attention?
Problem aware: how do we help them resonate with the problem?
Solution unaware: how do we activate their quest for a solution?
Solution aware: how do we make them aware of our solution?
Purchase / conversion: how do we get them to convert and win their business?
Pick My Brain
Need help digging into a marketing challenge you’re facing or setting up your own marketing strategy? We’ll chat through the issues you’re facing, potential solutions, and ways you can implement the solution yourself. This is ideal for SMEs with small budgets and a DIY marketing approach.
Starts at $375 per hour
Current and Former
Clients
In addition to working for these brilliant folks above, I’ve also had the honor of spearheading client projects with the following companies:
