Marketing Bigger Than Just Marketing
Holly Mulone
Built by someone who's actually run the business behind the experience.
Your business has outgrown founder-led marketing.
You built it - you shouldn't have to be the marketing department, too.
I work with founder-led brands where the customer experience matters as much as what you're selling. From food and hospitality to retail, lifestyle and consumer brands.
I take a whole-brand approach to marketing, connecting the customer experience, brand, content, community and growth. You don't have to hold it all together yourself.
The problem isn't that you don't know how to run your business, it's that too much of the business still depends on you - marketing, operations, content, customers, vendors, decisions. At some point, “I'll just handle it” stops being a strategy.
Even when things are moving, they don't feel connected. The marketing isn't talking to the operations. The customer experience isn't reflecting the brand. Nothing clicks the way it should. And because you're the only person who sees the whole picture... you somehow become responsible for fixing all of it.
Every week you tell yourself you'll get on top of it, and every week something more urgent gets in the way.
You didn't start your business to spend your days treading water. You started it to build something real! And right now there's not enough time, energy, or headspace left to actually do that.
Sound familiar?
That's where I come in.
I've been on both sides of the table.
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Built a $1.5M+ business
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Ran operations for 8-figure multi-location businesses
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Led marketing for growing DTC brands
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Currently building and running a small business of my own
I don't just know how marketing works, I know what it feels like when the business behind the marketing is breaking.
I See The Whole Picture
Here's how I help:
The Brand IS The Experience
Your customer doesn't experience your Insta, your website, your storefront, your menu, your packaging, your events and your customer service as separate things.
They experience one brand.
I look at all of it: what's working, what's disconnected, what's getting in the way, where the biggest opportunities are, then I help make the pieces work together.
I Don't Just Strategize -
I Run It
Once we know what needs to happen, I don't hand you a strategy deck and disappear. I'll
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build the content
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fix the gaps
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improve the customer journey develop campaigns
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create community
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coordinate the moving pieces
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make the recommendations
And actually get the work done.
You get senior marketing thinking and someone who can execute without needing to be managed.
When Marketing Needs More Than Marketing
Sometimes the thing holding your marketing back isn't marketing at all. Could be a confusing menu, a broken checkout flow, a website that doesn't reflect the business anymore, signage that doesn't make sense, a customer experience that feels disconnected, or a POS that's making it impossible to understand your customers.
That's where my operations background matters. I can naturally diagnose these issues, take them on, and make the marketing actually land.
So What Does This Look Like?
Sometimes it's a better content strategy, but...
Sometimes it's a redesigned menu, clearer wayfinding, a better website, packaging that actually feels like the brand, a customer journey that makes more sense, an event that brings the community in, a loyalty or membership program, or a reason for people to come back. And sometimes it's all of it, that's ok, too!
I don't start with a list of marketing services. I start with the business and the experience you want your customers to have.
This is for you if:
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Your business is growing, but too much of the customer experience and marketing still runs through you.
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You know there's something special about the business, but the way it shows up doesn't quite capture it yet.
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You have more ideas than bandwidth.
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You're still personally approving or creating marketing.
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You don't need a huge agency, you need someone senior who can actually own the work.
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You're ready to stop being the connective tissue between every part of the business.
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You want someone who brings recommendations, not more questions.
This probably isn't for you if...
You want the cheapest possible marketing help. You're pre-revenue and still figuring out whether the business works. You want to approve every post, email and campaign. You're looking for a traditional agency with a large team.
Or - you're not actually ready to let someone else own things.
I've Been In Your Shoes
I co-owned and operated a boutique retail business from my early twenties, building it to over $1.5M in annual revenue.
Since then I've run operations for 8-figure multi-location businesses, headed up marketing for fast-growing DTC brands, and built and (still) run small businesses of my own.
I've been the founder/operator/marketer/person who has to figure out how all the pieces fit together, which is exactly why I'm good at taking some of it off someone else's plate.
