Digital Marketing
Digital marketing works when the channels are connected. Some businesses run them separately even though "marketing meetings" are conducted every week. SEO is one team, paid is another, email is its own thing, and nobody owns the full picture. The result: budget and time go into reporting, and marketing still isn't aligned to the big picture.
Why This Is Different
A lot of marketing plans and departments treat each channel like its own project. I treat them as one system.
I've built and run the full digital marketing function: SEO, PPC, conversion optimization, eCommerce, and the platforms and data underneath it, all side by side. A paid campaign can steal clicks from organic. A sale can pull revenue forward from next month. A strong quarter doesn't mean anything is building for next year. Running connected marketing means seeing all of that at once.
That's what a full stack marketer does. It doesn't mean mediocre at ten things. It means moving across the function without waiting on someone else to pick up their part. A campaign starts and ends with the same person.
How I Work
I start with where the business is, not where it wants to be. That means auditing what's already running. Almost every business has channels that are active but not tied to anything measurable.
A company spending heavily on paid with no organic foundation is one algorithm change or budget cut away from losing everything. A company investing only in content with no paid support will wait a long time to see results. Neither is wrong by default. It depends on the business, the margin, and the timeline.
From there I set a channel priority: what will move revenue first, and what needs to be built in parallel for the long term. Those are usually different things and the plan accounts for both.
Then a working rhythm: weekly tasks, monthly reporting, and a content calendar that keeps things moving without constant direction from leadership. Reporting tells you what changed and why. Not a data dump. A decision report: what's working, what isn't, and what I recommend next. You know what to keep, what to cut, and where the budget goes.
I document as I go: processes, decisions, vendor contacts, what worked and what didn't. That documentation stays with the role, not with me. You're never starting over.
What Digital Marketing Includes
Here's what building and managing it looks like.
Grab a coffee and scroll through.
Channel Strategy
Not every business needs every channel, and the order matters. The right channels get identified and prioritized before any execution starts.
Search Engine Optimization
Keyword research, technical fixes, and content that matches what buyers are searching for. SEO and paid search are planned together so they support each other instead of competing.
Analytics And Reporting
Tracking set up to connect channel activity to outcomes. Reports answer real questions: what's working, what isn't, what's stable, and what should change next.
Content And Copywriting
Consistent messaging across channels built for the stage the buyer is in. Ad copy, landing pages, email, and organic content are written to move people forward, not just exist.
Paid Advertising
Google Search and Shopping campaigns, plus Google Merchant Center, with clear goals and consistent optimization. Spend is tracked against business results, not impressions or clicks.
Email Marketing
Campaign strategy, automated sequences, and list management. Email is one of the highest-return channels when it's done well and one of the first to break when marketing runs thin.
eCommerce and Platform Management
Product data, catalog organization, and the platform itself. Includes the operational layer most agencies won't touch: feeds, integrations, and ERP and PIM syncing.
Conversion Optimization
Traffic only matters if it turns into something. Heatmaps and session recordings in HotJar and Microsoft Clarity show where visitors get stuck, so pages get fixed based on behavior, not opinion.
Project And Vendor Management
When a project needs extra hands, I hired and managed the freelancers and vendors. You get one point of contact, and the work stays on brand and on schedule.
Results
One person accountable for the whole thing at an industrial eCommerce company:
- Built the full digital marketing function from the ground up: SEO, Google Ads, Shopping, email, product data, and analytics. eCommerce revenue went from $0 to nearly $500K over four years.
- Managed a blended paid and organic strategy on a $3K monthly budget: 694K impressions, 24K clicks, $3.33 CPC.
- Managed product data across 8,000+ SKUs and served as ERP migration Super User when the company changed platforms.
What Bad Or No Digital Marketing Is Costing You
Traffic That Stops When The Budget Does
Paid campaigns with no organic strategy behind them means the moment the budget stops, so does the traffic. Every dollar is rented, not owned.
Tap to see the fixThe Fix
Paid and organic get built together, so traffic keeps coming when the budget changes.
Channels Working Against Each Other
Paid and SEO targeting the same keywords without coordination means you're bidding against your own rankings. Email without a content plan behind it burns the list.
Tap to see the fixThe Fix
SEO, paid, and email get planned as one system, so nothing bids against itself.
Agencies Optimizing For Their Metrics
An SEO agency optimizes for rankings. A paid agency optimizes for clicks. Neither is optimizing for your revenue.
Tap to see the fixThe Fix
Every channel gets measured against the same number: revenue.
Strategy That Never Gets Executed
Plans get built and sit while everyone waits on direction. Without someone who can plan and execute, the strategy becomes shelfware.
Tap to see the fixThe Fix
The person who builds the plan does the work, so it actually ships.
Reports That Don't Help You Decide
Traffic is up. Conversions are flat. Nobody knows why. A report that doesn't tell you what to do next is just noise.
Tap to see the fixThe Fix
Every report ends with what's working, what isn't, and what to do next.
Competitors Pulling Ahead
Bad digital marketing isn't always obvious. The site still gets traffic. Campaigns still run. Meanwhile a competitor with connected channels is compounding while you stand still.
Tap to see the fixThe Fix
Connected channels compound over time, so you gain ground instead of losing it.
Right Fit / Not Right Fit
Works well for:
- Small and mid-size businesses with one person or no one running marketing
- Companies where marketing has been on autopilot and needs a reset
- Businesses preparing to scale that need a channel strategy before adding headcount or budget
- B2B, industrial, distribution, and service businesses where fundamentals matter more than trends
- Leadership that wants reports they can make decisions from
Not the right approach for:
- Businesses looking for a single-channel specialist
- Companies not willing to connect marketing activity to revenue
Does Any Of This Sound Familiar
- Marketing is or isn't running but nobody can tell you what it is actually driving
- Paid and SEO are managed separately with no shared strategy
- Budget gets renewed every year based on habit, not performance
- Reports show traffic and clicks but leadership still asks if marketing is working
- Channels are active but not connected to each other or to the sales process
Contact Cathy Gray
I work best where marketing, eCommerce, and operations overlap.
Whether you're hiring or need help with your business, I'd like to hear about it.
