The honest local pitch
Search for a marketing consultant in St. Louis and you'll find web development shops, general marketing agencies, and a handful of fractional CMOs who serve B2B companies. What you won't find is a DTC and e-commerce growth operator who will sit in your Meta account and also own the strategy. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one here who does that.
I grew up in growth roles at P&G, Varsity Tutors (through its $1.4B IPO), Slalom, Little Passports, Wuffes (where we went from $14M to $40M+) and Equifax, and I studied physics and psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. I run The Growth Den from here. I work with brands all over the country over video, and I work with St. Louis brands in person when it helps.
What local brands get
Working sessions in the same room. A strategy reset, a creative review, or a "why don't our numbers match" argument goes faster when everyone's at one table with one screen. I'll come to you, or we can grab a table in Clayton or the Central West End.
A network. I know the founders, operators and investors in this town's consumer scene reasonably well, and I'm generous with introductions when they make sense.
Someone who knows this market. If you're a regional brand expanding, or a national brand entering the Midwest, I know what plays here and what reads as coastal.
Who around here this fits
Growth-stage consumer brands in St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield first, and the wider Midwest after that: Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Des Moines, Minneapolis. Typically $5M to $80M in revenue, selling online through Shopify and Amazon, often with a growing retail footprint, spending real money on Meta and wanting to spend it better.
Apparel, food and beverage, supplements and wellness, beauty, pet, and home are where I've done most of my work. If you're a St. Louis brand in a category I haven't touched, I'd still like to hear about it.
The seats
The same five as everywhere: head of growth strategy, head of creative, a Meta media buyer who also brings strategy, building your marketing team and its systems, and an interim head of marketing when you're between leaders. From $7,500 a month for the first four; the interim seat starts at $12,500. Details on pricing.
Speaking and workshops
I run half-day paid media and AI workshops for agencies and marketing teams, and I speak at events like the Midwest Digital Marketing Conference. If your St. Louis team wants a working session on Meta, creative testing or putting AI into the marketing workflow, that's a thing I do.
Questions people ask
Do you only work with St. Louis brands?
No. Most of my clients are elsewhere in the country and we work over video. St. Louis and Missouri brands get in-person working sessions on top of that.
Are you an agency?
No. I'm one person, embedded in your team, building systems your company owns. When a program needs specialist hands, we scope that together and you approve it first.
Do you do local businesses, restaurants, or B2B?
Not really. My work is growth-stage DTC and e-commerce brands. If that's not you, I'm happy to point you toward people in town who do that well.
Can you come to our office?
Yes, anywhere in the St. Louis metro, and I'm glad to travel to Kansas City, Chicago or elsewhere in the Midwest for a working session when it's worth it.
How do we start?
A call to see if we're a fit, then a short scope with the seat and the first 90 days as a list of bets. You'll have my read of the business inside the first two weeks.