In this installment of our Small Business Spotlight series, we’ll be highlighting Sarah Hurley, owner of WeberMarketing. Sarah is a marketing strategist & multi-channel marketing guru who helps organizations grow — and get organized with their marketing efforts. When we’ve partnered on client projects I’ve always been very impressed.
In case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness.
Let’s find out a little more about Sarah and her business …
1. Who is WeberMarketing?
I am WeberMarketing. I am the receptionist, IT staff, bookkeeper, business development rep and everything in between — but my day job is a function similar to that of a marketing director for my clients. I partner with a select group of area creative, media and digital specialists to bring my client’s vision to life.
In 2010, WeberMarketing started off as a marketing project manager for small-to-medium sized businesses for single projects such as brand development, website build-out, event planning, and other common marketing initiatives. Since then, my value has evolved into a marketing director type role for clients. Instead of focusing on single initiatives, I now help at a higher strategic level that then rolls into multi-tiered marketing initiatives over a period of time. And this sometimes includes partnering with HR to write specific marketing related job descriptions, participate in the interview process and onboard new marketing resources.
2. What Do You Do?
I come in when a client has a gap or lag in their marketing efforts. Prior to me coming aboard, a company’s own marketing efforts are either stuck or stalled with no clear vision or (sometimes) understanding on how to get on the right path. During an initial visit with a potential new client, I often hear, “I know we need to be doing something, but I just don’t know what.” This is the sweet spot for WeberMarketing to come and provide value. I like to bring the scattered parts and pieces of marketing together for a brand new view on a client’s approach to marketing.
My 20 years of marketing experience is a mix of ad agency experience as an Account Executive mixed with roles in Product Marketing and Campaign Management on the client side. When you work in an agency as an AE, you are the liaison between the client and agency team. You are responsible for turning the ASK into the RESULT. You have the luxury of having a pool of creative and marketing specialists at your finger tips. When you work client side in a marketing department, your marketing task is more focused (and you don’t need to track every 15 minutes of your time!) but you also feel the pinch of a limited budget and limited creative resources. You learn how to do more with less. As a small business owner, you really learn how to do more with less. And, you learn how important it is that you provide value to each and every client interaction because you respect your clients leap of faith of bringing you aboard.
3. Why Do You Love Doing It?
I love doing what I do because I get to bring best practices from my experiences (both good and bad) to benefit my clients and their goals. I don’t feel like a contractor. I act and conduct myself as a member of the team. In some cases, I even get my own office and name badge!
4. How Does it Help People?
Simply put — I get their marketing efforts moving. Whether it is a new marketing initiative or age old “this is the way we’ve always done it” environment, my job is to catch on quick and provide the best recommendation to move the organization forward. When I have my client’s marketing initiatives and resources organized and set up to be self sufficient, my job is done.
5. What are some of the most common ways you help businesses move forward with their digital, and analog, marketing?
The most common way I help a business is I get their marketing department, initiative or plan organized and moving forward. This can be assisting with marketing resource staffing, conducting a mini-SWOT analysis and providing recommendations for moving forward, building out a marketing plan, designing a marketing project workflow for internal (and external) efficiencies. The most common type of marketing tactics I help with is quite the range. I work with a community of creative, digital and media specialists in the area with website design and development, marketing communication material (collateral, newsletters, etc), digital campaigns, event planning and coordination (I have a lot of experience here), brand development, media planning and execution, development of TV and radio campaigns, SEO, PR efforts, social media planning and execution. The best thing to do is, just ask!
6. Favorite type of coffee?
I take my coffee straight up, no cream, no sugar. I do like hazelnut or a slight flavored coffee (but just not chocolate or pumpkin spice).
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If you’d like to learn more about Sarah, feel free to check out her LinkedIn profile, or get in touch at (608) 576-9187, or info@webermkt.com.
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