Search Interviews:

In the midst of industry advancements, clients are the driving force of every successful agency — but figuring out how to effectively reach your audience and offer them top-notch services can be an arduous process. So, what is the secret to assuring your clients of your capabilities without compromising your success or character?

We met with top agency experts who are discovering innovative ways to make an impact on their audiences, master their strengths, and enhance their businesses. They dive into navigating business relationships, the importance of maintaining a robust team and culture, and developing strategic campaigns to drive growth. No obstacle is too big for them to conquer. Here’s what they said.

Michael Neuman, Scout Sports and Entertainment

Since the pandemic began in 2020, many companies have adapted to a hybrid or remote workplace. But how do you thrive in these new environments? For Michael’s team, they remind themselves of what made their agency so successful in the past: putting their people first, building a strong culture, and creating outstanding work. As a leader, Michael strives to frequently meet one-on-one with employees to check in on their mental health and ensure they’re motivated, challenged, and satisfied with their roles.

Scout Sports and Entertainment occupies the intersection of media and experience. They are a full-service lifestyle marketing agency on a mission to become clients’ most valued partners. Through sponsorship consulting, experiential activations, and property consulting, their team transforms the engagement experience between brands and audiences.

Learn more:Michael Neuman, Scout Sports and Entertainment

Cuco Vega, Bexi

Here’s a wake-up call for agencies: there’s no future for you without technology. Cuco says it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with all of the latest technology trends. In trying to build the ideal agency, Cuco realized that they were more efficient and could scale better by utilizing the latest tech and keeping up with innovations.

Bexi makes digital marketing easy. They understand the challenges big marketing teams and small business owners alike face when it comes to planning, designing, and launching successful digital strategies. That’s why they’re empowering people — regardless of knowledge or experience — to take control of their marketing campaigns.

Learn more:Cuco Vega, Bexi

Rhoan Morgan, DemandLab

Running an agency is not a one-person job — you need a great team whose values align with the company. Rhoan loves to reference Jim Collins’ concept in Good to Great: you need to figure out the “who” before the “what” and get the right people on the bus because it’s difficult to achieve something spectacular on your own.

DemandLab is a technology-focused marketing consultancy that accelerates revenue for its clients by aligning marketing, sales, and customer success functions. Since 2009, they have been championing the cause of integrated, end-to-end automated marketing and sales, now known as MarTech. DemandLab has worked with over 100 marketers on thousands of successful campaigns to share best practices, practical insights, and industry knowledge.

Learn more:Rhoan Morgan, DemandLab

Brandon Amoroso, Electriq Marketing

Electriq
When your agency is in its beginning stages, you’re going to want to say yes to everything. While this strategy may have short-term gains, it will hurt your business in the long run. It may be challenging for first-time agency owners, but Brandon says it’s important to learn when to say no.

Electriq Marketing is a Gen Z, full-service agency built for the modern brand. They partner with businesses looking for marketing growth and execute customized inbound strategies that increase revenue and market share. Communication, visibility, and revenue-backed results are Electriq’s driving tenets.

Learn more:Brandon Amoroso, Electriq Marketing

Angela Damiani, NEWaukee

Newaukee
Many agency owners try to take on numerous different tasks within their organization, but Angela warns that leaders shouldn’t spread themselves so thin. Own your expertise and do it well, but delegate all other tasks. You want to provide clients with great service, and when you’re trying to do all jobs on your own, you won’t be able to give them the best service possible.

Everyone wants new customers, new ideas, and the brightest new talent. NEWaukee is helping organizations do just that by discovering untapped audiences, designing creative methods to reach them, and transforming them into advocates for your brand. NEWaukee has been around since 2009 and first began as a social network helping people connect in the Milwaukee area.

Learn more:Angela Damiani, NEWaukee

Mike Sweeney, Right Source Marketing


Inspired by St. Francis de Sales’ quote, “Be who you are and be that well,” Mike reminds us that you can’t be everything to everybody. You have to be flexible without straying from your core values. Decide who you are and who you are not, and let that guide you through every facet of your life — including agency life.

Right Source Marketing provides clients with a unique blend of strategic consulting and interactive marketing services. Specializing in the healthcare industry, they help B2B companies drive growth in an ever-changing world. Right Source Marketing has been in business for 13 years, offering measurable solutions to each organization’s particular marketing challenges.

Learn more:Mike Sweeney, Right Source Marketing

Tye DeGrange, Round Barn Labs


Acquiring and hiring talent is a major pain point for many agencies. Most companies search for the best candidates but forget to put incentives in place to keep them around. According to Tye, you have to think about what will make your people want to stay. Documentation and solid processes are critical to grow and help your people grow. Once you have these in place, it’s much easier to hire the people you want.

The team at Round Barn Labs is focused on paid marketing, affiliate partner influencer marketing, and conversion rate optimization. They bring a growth mindset and in-house perspective to digital performance marketing, working with companies like Amazon, eBay, Modcloth, and more. Round Barn Labs is not your typical agency — they are one of the few paid marketing teams that can help improve page conversion rates and customer experience.

Learn more:Tye DeGrange, Round Barn Labs

Heath Hill, Lime Media


Heath has some simple advice that could be a game-changer for you: be aware of your surroundings and keep your loyalties clear. When you’re working with other brands, it’s crucial to pay attention to their values and needs. Heath realized this the hard way, walking into an agency meeting with a Wendy’s cup when his client was working with McDonald’s. Even small actions could have a big influence on your partnerships, so it’s important to be mindful during every step of the process.

Lime Media is an innovative strategic advertising company helping businesses across the US and Canada stand out from the crowd. They specialize in creating out-of-the-box ideas for marketing events and brand activations. The Lime Media team brings imagination to life with customizable vehicles, smart LED billboard trucks, pop-up shops, and more!

Learn more:Heath Hill, Lime Media

Brad Farris, Anchor Advisors


Brad says that agency growth happens in phases. Step one is the startup phase, where agencies are focused on lead generation and driven by the hustle of the owner. When you hire in this stage, you’re just hiring arms and legs — the second stage is where the shift happens. You need to hire people who are well-versed and more expensive. As your agency grows, you’re delivering more refined service to higher-value clients and can afford more expensive staff. The key to moving on to the next phase is specialization, charging more, and hiring top-tier employees.

Anchor Advisors has been coaching agencies for 20 years, helping them develop the mindset, skills, and tools needed to make real progress toward their goals. With facilitated peer groups and coaching, they help firms scale to five million dollars in revenue and beyond.

Learn more:Brad Farris, Anchor Advisors

Bethany Andell, Savage Brands

savagebrands
Bethany asserts the importance of maintaining clarity about what your company stands for. When it comes to clients, businesses need to be transparent in their intentions to ensure they’re providing quality services that address business goals and client needs. Bethany learned this valuable lesson after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010. During the spill, her company conducted a safety campaign but was unable to take the appropriate measures to properly handle the situation. Bethany realized this error could have been avoided with clear and open communication. By taking the steps necessary to secure your reputation with honesty, you can avoid inflicting damage to your clientele.

Savage Brands helps organizations craft compelling and value-driven brands by uncovering their vision and what they stand for. They offer culture branding, change initiatives, and marketing services to spark organizational change, drive business outcomes, and make a positive impact.

Learn more: Bethany Andell, Savage Brands

Kathy Steele, Red Caffeine


Business partnerships can be tricky to navigate. On the corporate level, they can provide excellent opportunities for company growth. On the personal level, however, they can be a nightmare, especially when your personality doesn’t align with your partner’s. Kathy experienced this during a 10-year business partnership that she said functioned much like a stagnant marriage. But this partnership was a learning opportunity for Kathy as she discovered the importance of really knowing who you’re conducting business with. She encourages business leaders to connect with each other to find a common goal and embrace industry changes.

Red Caffeine is a growth consultancy that creates client-driven brands. They develop and execute Grow-To-Market plans for companies seeking to build value in their business. Red Caffeine’s carefully-constructed methodology involves growth and strategy planning and building a scalable revenue system to drive business growth in all aspects.

Learn more: Kathy Steele, Red Caffeine

Paul Charney, Funworks


Passion is the driving force for many agencies and Paul’s is no different. His motto is passion, persistence, and patience. These are the keys to success, and once you hone them, you can establish what to offer your clients. Paul’s advice is to pick one strength and stick to it — don’t try to be the agency that does everything. If you enjoy what you’re accomplishing, your customers will too, and they’ll want to be involved in your process.

Funworks is a creative agency that has mastered the science of fun. They’ve spent years developing a process that leverages the power of imagination to develop world-class creative solutions to major business problems. Their experts have over 20 years of experience developing breakthrough campaigns, long-form content, and unlocking consumer preferences.

Learn more: Paul Charney, Funworks

Daren Bascome, Proverb


Many businesses struggle to scale because they’re still employing the same methods they used when starting. As Daren says, scaling is an ongoing learning experience that requires an open mind to view ideas from alternative perspectives. It’s necessary to ask for feedback from clients and partners alike to ensure you’re achieving the right results. By staying open to change, you can grow your business profitably.

Proverb is an agency focused on creating powerful brands to transform infrastructure by partnering with innovative real estate developers, cities, hotels, museums, architects, hospitals, and other organizations. Their work includes strategy, branding, content creation, and advertising that stands out from competitors and creates lasting value for clients.

Learn more: Daren Bascome, Proverb

Fred Adkins, Fred Agency


If your team is experiencing challenges and you can’t figure out why, it may be the software you’re using. Complicated or faulty software can have a negative effect on performance, so it’s vital to reevaluate your company’s systems and processes and accommodate potential changes. Fred’s design team experienced a considerable improvement when they switched from WordPress to Webflow. Learning new technology can be daunting, but the results will be beneficial to the overall success of your company.

Fred Agency is an advertising agency that focuses on experience and lifestyle marketing for real estate and hospitality firms. The team is made up of creative visionaries driven by passion and ambition who will bring your organization to life through creative and concept marketing strategies as well as brand building and launching for corporate identity.

Learn more: Fred Adkins, Fred Agency 

Steve Blackburn, LSEO


Steve maintains that running a successful marketing agency requires understanding your end user. In today’s digital landscape, optimizing the customer experience is crucial in driving revenue for your business. Developing innovative solutions to user-focused issues will ensure that you’re keeping up with industry trends. Steve reminds agencies to reevaluate every campaign and if necessary, refine them to better accommodate the customer.

LSEO is a leading-enterprise digital marketing agency that helps businesses create strong campaigns to reach their end customer. Their award-winning SEO team remains up-to-date with the latest SEO practices to deliver results that take your marketing campaign to the next level. LSEO has scaled the efforts of some of the most successful companies in the biggest industries on the market using a combination of SEO technology, human reasoning, and teamwork.

Learn more: Steve Blackburn, LSEO

Philip St. Jacques, WorkWave Agency


Sometimes, agencies focus too much on selling their services and not enough on building relationships with their clients. According to Philip, relationship building is one of the most essential aspects of agency work, and business owners should develop their organization around the consumer. You can’t generate sales without getting to know your clientele, so it’s important to shift your mindset to achieve better results.

Service brands turn to Workwave Agency for their digital marketing needs. Workwave is a brand strategy and digital execution company focused on helping brands thrive in their markets by implementing scalable programs. Workwave’s elite team of digital marketing experts have spent decades connecting brand strategy with end-user demand generation to accelerate growth.

Learn more: Philip St. Jacques, WorkWave Agency

Seth Price, BluShark Digital


For Seth, building a strong team is an integral part of success in agency work. When recruiting talent, businesses should consider how a candidate’s skills can help accomplish their goals. It’s essential to establish a clear and effective system to optimize collaboration. With a functional team and a thriving company culture, your clients will notice and appreciate the superior results.

BluShark Digital implements assertive SEO strategies to help law firms and businesses stay ahead of competition and convert searchers into new leads. BluShark’s passionate team of developers, link builders, and writers are dedicated to developing an advanced legal SEO plan specific to clients’ business models.

Learn more: Seth Price, BluShark Digital

Max Domain, Obviously


In today’s rapidly-evolving digital marketing landscape, staying on top of trends to create original content is crucial. For Max, this involves connecting with influencers to cross-promote content. Building influencer relationships encourages brand awareness and helps you reach your target audience. Max’s tip for creating authentic content is to recognize and satisfy both influencer and client demands so you can adapt to changes in the digital space.

Obviously is the go-to influencer marketing agency for the world’s leading brands. They manage marketing campaigns from start to finish, including creative strategy, influencer management, shipping and fulfillment, content creation, and more. Obviously also works with influencers to connect them with top brands from every industry and develop content that inspires audiences.

Learn more: Max Domain, Obviously

Christy Pretzinger, WriterGirl


Company culture is an integral part of establishing core values. A negative workplace culture can impact your relationships with clients and reflect poorly on your company as a whole. Christy understands how to build an environment where her employees can thrive — by developing a healthy relationship with her team, Christy enforces her business values and provides her clients with quality service.

WriterGirl creates healthcare content to help organizations reach their audiences. They provide writing and brand strategy services to strengthen healthcare organizations’ positions in the marketplace. Each WriterGirl team member goes through rigorous vetting and training to receive continual education about emerging healthcare trends and to embody the company values — empowered, curious, kind, and fun.

Learn more: Christy Pretzinger, WriterGirl

Desmond Croan, Desmond Garcia


Desmond is all too familiar with the challenges of starting an agency. He initially launched his business with only two people and struggled to find projects. From his experience, he advises other startups to identify their skills and what they’re enthusiastic about. After finding work you resonate with, you can choose clients to partner with that will help your agency achieve success.

Desmond Garcia (dg) works with Fortune 500 and Silicon Valley brands as a strategic and creative marketing agency partner. Their exclusive process generates strategic insights and turns them into creative solutions by focusing on specific categories: Customer, Reasons to Believe, Key Insights, Objectives, Brand Review, and more. dg helps projects create a unique and distinct storyline to optimize performance and improve brand affinity.

Learn more: Desmond Croan, Desmond Garcia

James Williams, AdHype TV


When deciding what services your agency wants to offer, it’s helpful to consider the audience you’d like to market to first. James advises businesses to brainstorm an ideal client base before conducting in-depth research into their chosen market to discover their core issues. By honing innovative solutions to the problems you’ve identified, you can develop valuable services that will meet your client’s needs.

AdHype TV is an agency that helps businesses create a lasting impact by placing their ads on TV. They have spent the past 10 years working with streaming TV advertising to create a solution for brands that helps generate the traffic that big brands have achieved. AdHype’s team consists of advertising experts with over 15 years of experience driving business results.

Learn more: James Williams, AdHype TV

Justin Warden, Ader Gaming


Justin has a secret to keeping his clients happy — he always exceeds expectations. When clients come to you with a challenge or vision in mind, it’s your responsibility to execute a solution that amazes them and outperforms your competitors. When you strive to be the leading agency in your industry, you’re more likely to generate referrals and achieve customer lifetime value.

Ader Gaming is a solutions-based agency founded by gamers, rooted in community, and empowered by experience. Pairing intelligence with collaboration, Ader strategically, uniquely, and authentically situates brands within the gaming community. As a dynamic multi-platform for engagement, entertainment, and interactivity, gaming is the next level of marketing. It is the world’s largest social network — and Ader is at the forefront of it.

Learn more: Justin Warden, Ader Gaming

Rachel Durkan, Paradigm Marketing and Design


Marketing is a dynamic and competitive industry. Agencies must constantly work to adapt and improve their strategies so they can keep up with industry changes. Rachel’s advice for rapidly-expanding businesses is to adjust your company structures and policies during each stage of the growth process. Every turning point presents new and unique challenges, so staying flexible is paramount.

Paradigm is a full-service marketing agency that explores new challenges and perspectives and takes pride in achieving excellence and success. Their purpose-driven marketing strategy begins with identifying business goals and creating a strategic plan tailored specifically to meet clients’ business objectives. Paradigm maintains honesty and transparency with its clients and strives to collaborate with value-driven organizations.

Learn more: Rachel Durkan, Paradigm Marketing and Design

Stewart Gandolf, Healthcare Success


Thought leaderships are an excellent way to showcase your skills and demonstrate authority in your industry. If you’re considering becoming a thought leader, Stewart suggests finding a niche or focusing on the services your agency offers to ensure you’re providing the most authentic advice and ideas. You don’t want to undertake multiple areas of expertise, as you can lose credibility in your field. Find an area you excel in and hone it to develop an innovative and inspiring path to success.

Healthcare Success is an authoritative and strategic marketing partner in today’s competitive marketplace. They are a healthcare marketing agency that engages patients, grows your profit, and enhances your reputation. They specialize in helping hospitals, medical practices, and manufacturers develop and implement proven marketing programs to deliver measurable results.

Learn more: Stewart Gandolf, Healthcare Success

Paige Velasquez-Budde, Zilker Media


When developing a marketing strategy for your agency, putting your clients at the forefront of your endeavors is crucial to success. To accomplish this, Paige creates personalized brands for each of her clients, posts weekly blogs, and organizes speaking events. Every quarter, she reevaluates her strategies and improves them based on evolving clientele. By structuring your campaigns around customer demands, you can establish principles that embody your services.

Zilker Media is an end-to-end marketing solution that crafts people-driven brands for thought leaders and their companies. Their boutique agency provides contemporary public relations representation, personal brand identity, and innovative marketing strategies to help entrepreneurs, executives, and authors maximize their long-term efficiency, performance, and success.

Learn more: Paige Velasquez Budde, Zilker Media

Barbra Tabnick, The Radio Agency


It may feel as though having an industry-specific niche can impede your opportunities for growth and new clients, but that’s not always the case. Adopting a specialized focus allows you to target specific audiences and produce more results than broader topics. This is because it can be difficult to develop content for a general audience. As a leading expert in the audio industry, Barbra has achieved tremendous success by specializing in radio advertising — her clients are more likely to incorporate audio into their yearly budget.

For 25 years, The Radio Agency has helped companies and brands increase market share and drive revenue through the power of radio. They leverage the four platforms of radio — AM/FM, satellite, streaming, and podcasts — to convey brands’ stories and generate results. With a 100% focus on radio advertising, The Radio Agency will create a campaign to help you scale and achieve success.

Learn more: Barbra Tabnick, The Radio Agency

Chris Mulvaney, CMDS


When establishing an initial relationship with a client, Chris advises communicating your expectations. Maintaining transparency regarding your relationship requirements minimizes uncertainties and ensures a seamless partnership. In addition, it’s crucial to inform a potential client of the benefits of your business exchange, so you can demonstrate that you have the ability to meet their needs and answer their burning questions.

CMDS understands that websites are at the core of a brand’s assets. Their holistic and brand-centric approach helps businesses determine the smartest, most impactful ways to achieve their objectives. CMDS immerses itself in a brand’s mission and goals to craft a strategy that generates maximum success.

Learn more: Chris Mulvaney, CMDS

Neil Shah, ThinkNimble


When it comes to mergers and acquisitions, it’s easy to become too invested in the financial gain. Neil prompts agencies to adjust their perspective and consider instead what they can learn from their future associates. After acquiring another agency, Neil realized just how differently they manage their business proceedings. Invest your time in understanding the other company’s operations so you can work together productively — viewing the acquisition as a mentorship can provide new opportunities for growth.

ThinkNimble is your technical partner, business co-founder, and fellow dreamer who has gone through the pitches, pivots, and downfalls of building a company. Their team is made up of entrepreneurial designers, product managers, and software developers who work with startups and socially-focused businesses to help them build modern technology to realize their organization’s vision.

Learn more: Neil Shah, ThinkNimble

Chelsea Matthews, Another


Selling your business can be an excellent way to capitalize on growth opportunities. For Chelsea, the biggest obstacle in selling her agency to make room for a separate one was transferring her clients and understanding legal terms and conditions. As someone with practical experience, Chelsea recommends taking the initiative to dive deep into your business processes and manage as much as you can by yourself before passing it off. She also mentions that it’s easy to sell yourself short — always add 20% to your business bid.

Founded in 2013, Another is a multi-disciplinary team of creatives focused on launching, improving, and redefining global brands through a strategic approach. Every project they undertake is rooted in strategy and curiosity. From campaigns to positioning, Another establishes the “why,” lands the insight, and creates intention in their execution.

Learn more: Chelsea Matthews, Another

Simon Graj, Graj + Gustavsen


Simon is not afraid to acknowledge what he doesn’t know. Discovery and curiosity are at the core of his agency’s ideals, as he understands that it’s unrealistic to feign certainty in today’s uncertain marketing landscape. Simon urges you to preserve your integrity and stay true to yourself rather than trying to satisfy your clients alone. A little humility and a desire to learn new things go a long way when identifying with your clientele.

Since 1989, Graj + Gustavsen have partnered with brand owners, investors, and operators to maximize their value and create experiences that resonate deeply with customers. They are a strategic and creative brand consultancy driven by discovery and integration of brand touch points. Through their teams and processes, Graj + Gustavsen align brand truth with market opportunity.

Learn more: Simon Graj, Graj + Gustavsen

Dave Dickman, Tagger Media


The catchphrase “ask what you order” is the driving force of Dave’s career. He’s confident enough to pursue his goals and strategic enough to overcome the obstacles standing in the way of his success. But Dave has had his fair share of surprises, and he warns others not to confuse confidence with arrogance. Chase your dreams, but always do your research first — everything has a learning curve, so it’s vital to test out strategies before executing them.

Tagger Media is the number one data-driven influencer marketing SaaS platform. Trusted by some of the largest global brands and agencies, Tagger helps plan campaigns, understand audiences, discover and connect with influencers, and measure accurate results. Their team is composed of highly-motivated experts who are deeply invested in making impactful technological advances and driving industry progress with thought leadership.

Learn more: Dave Dickman, Tagger Media

Brian McHale, Brandience


Here’s an unconventional way of viewing your marketing strategy: it’s more about the areas you’re not focusing on than the ones you are. This may seem counterintuitive, but Brian says it’s the secret to devising a specialized area of expertise where you can establish authenticity in your field. In today’s digital marketing environment, everyone is trying to be the best at everything, so in order to stand out, you must recognize the disciplines that don’t serve you or your clients and steer clear of overused content.

Brandience is a retail-minded agency that dives head-first into challenges, moves fast, and regularly optimizes campaigns. Their creativity is powered by data intel, giving you bigger, bolder ideas that connect with consumers and deliver powerful results.

Learn more: Brian McHale, Brandience

Jason Hennessey, Hennessey Digital


Scaling an agency is not easy, but Jason has a brilliant method to manifest business growth. First, Jason and his team put together a vivid vision, then they convey it into a story. Once that’s complete, they turn it into a visual interpretation of where they’re going in the future.

Hennessey Digital is a results-driven, full-service digital marketing agency that teaches companies how to rank with confidence, generate more leads, and become more profitable. The team at Hennessey Digital are experts in SEO, PPC advertising, social media management, and brand development. They’ve made the Inc. 5000 list two years in a row, employing over 100 team members and growing each year.

Learn more:Jason Hennessey, Hennessey Digital

Jason Ciment, Get Visible


You want to create an agency that is constantly moving forward, but one of the challenges in doing so is getting your team to think outside of the box. To help uplift your team, Jason says you need to hire a good manager and ensure that all business processes are in place.

Get Visible is a Phoenix-based digital marketing and website design agency. They help brands grow their online presence and gain more business through services like website development, search engine rankings, digital advertising, and social media visibility. The secret to Get Visible’s market success is the team’s ability to listen well, adapt quickly, and produce more transactions.

Learn more:Jason Ciment, Get Visible

Ben LeDonni, Creative Multimedia Solutions


Ben’s top strategy to grow a successful agency is staying ahead of the curve. You need to have a passion for your industry, stay up to date on the trends, and look forward to what’s coming. Once you have an idea of the new wave coming, Ben says to get your clients on board with that wave — that way, they’re prepared for future trends coming their way.

At Creative Multimedia Solutions, dedicated digital marketing experts work closely with B2B companies to increase sales and revenue through data-driven strategies. Their services include digital and content marketing, SEO, modern website design, and social media strategy. Creative Multimedia Solutions has more than 16 years of experience in the industry, working with a diverse range of businesses to produce measurable results.

Learn more:Ben LeDonni, Creative Multimedia Solutions

Brady O’Rourke, Social Link


Every agency strives to win and retain good clients. But sometimes, a client fires you — when this happens, it’s easy to feel disheartened. For Brady, anytime a client fires him, he uses it as a learning experience. Whether it’s you or them, you can always improve from a not-so-successful client relationship.

Social Link is made up of experienced and proven digital marketing specialists who are always ready to customize the client experience. Their services include marketing strategy, branding and graphics, website design, and lead generation. Social Link is on a mission to align marketing efforts with client business goals using a strategic approach.

Learn more:Brady O’Rourke, Social Link

Jill Skowronski, 6AM Marketing


Looking to change her career path from the craft beverage world, Jill applied for a banking position. The hiring team told her she didn’t land the job because she didn’t quite look the part. As someone who struggled with body image growing up, this decision bruised Jill’s spirit. When interviewed by 6AM Marketing, she explained her story of rejections that seemed to follow her from childhood. But those rejections have only made her stronger and more capable of handling anything that comes her way. Needless to say, Jill got the job at 6AM Marketing and continues to inspire others with her strength.

6AM Marketing is an independent, full-service marketing firm that believes all business problems can be solved through creativity and innovation. By relying on data, listening to clients, and giving back to their community, the team at 6AM Marketing is prepared to see strategies all the way through.

Learn more:Jill Skowronski, 6AM Marketing

Sheila Kloefkorn, KEO Marketing


Sheila has helped her company thrive for more than 20 years by delivering results, being a strategic partner for clients, and lastly being agile, as marketing and advertising change frequently. Sheila says she hears from too many clients who said their work with other agencies was purely transactional — the agencies only did the work they were hired to do. Sheila and her team are not only focused on the outcomes, but also on the relationships they’re building with clients.

KEO Marketing is an award-winning B2B marketing agency. Their team has decades of experience and insight, helping some of the world’s largest brands succeed in their industry. KEO Marketing’s solutions include lead generation and nurturing, integrated marketing, inbound marketing, and much more.

Learn more:Sheila Kloefkorn, KEO Marketing

Amy Parrish, Rhythm Communications


Amy has a few solid tips to ensure your agency thrives. The first is getting the right strategy in place — especially with your marketing team. You have to make sure that your people are engaged, committed, and delivering consistent results. The next two strategies point to leadership. As a leader, you should be truthful at all times and never be afraid to learn something new.

Rhythm Communications helps harmonize PR, digital, and marketing campaigns. They’ve been in business for 19 years and have a leadership team with more than 25 years of marketing experience. Rhythm Communications’ sales and marketing plans are always tailored to clients’ goals and executed with care — because one size never fits all.

Learn more:Amy Parrish, Rhythm Communications

Brian Bauer, Bauer Entertainment Marketing


For Brian, his people are top of mind. During the pandemic, his business grew 300%, bringing in outstanding new team members. According to Brian, if you want to see massive results and growth, you have to truly care about your employees.

The team at Bauer Entertainment Marketing eats, sleeps, and breathes the entertainment industry. They offer a range of services to boost sales and profitability, reach more customers, and capture more leads. With their strategic marketing plans, Bauer Entertainment Marketing clients see an average of $16 in return for every dollar spent.

Learn more: Brian Bauer, Bauer Entertainment Marketing