Why Viral Solutions
Strategize. Execute. Grow.
Who We Are
Viral Solutions is a full-service digital marketing agency founded in 2011 by two people with 30 years of sales and marketing experience in the trenches who saw a need for businesses to adapt to a growing digital world.
Recognized by CIO Review as one of the 10 Most Promising Web Design and Development Consulting Service Companies of 2019, our team believes…
- Marketing is a marathon NOT a sprint
- Collaboration and teamwork is the only way to win
- Guesswork is removed by using data-driven marketing
- Marketing strategy should always be developed first and used to determine your tactics
What We Do
To succeed in today’s digital world and be scaleable, a business needs to have a sound marketing strategy that matches the market they are after.
From there tactics need to be chosen based on that strategy and not only be user friendly but also integrate with each other in order to produce data that proves, or even disproves, the strategy and tactics so that our focus is always on continuing to do what is working OR to improve what is not working.
Our in-house team consists of several highly skilled professional business advisers, designers, developers, copywriters, and advertising specialists who are dedicated to seeing the best businesses, products, and services succeed.
Put into simpler words, our process for what we do is as follows:
- Start by establishing a baseline of your data, strategy, and tactics as they stand today by conducting a marketing audit
- Research and develop a plan for moving forward towards growth and stability through our Marketing Strategy Workshop and On-boarding Protocol
- Assign you a dedicated project manager and team to execute and implement tactics based on your marketing strategy
- Watch and review your marketing and sales data on a regular basis for signs of growth to ensure goals are being met and shift when they are not
Why We Do It
There is no shortage of digital marketing consulting and implementation agencies out there. However, very few of them have true business knowledge and understanding of the sales process.
Most digital marketing agencies are focused on tactics and implementation, have a cookie cutter method and believe in a one size fits all marketing approach.
This is the essence behind why we do what we do and how we do it.
We believe in the timeless quote “Tactics before strategy is the noise before defeat.”
Our team is passionate about solving problems and personalizing their approach to fit the market a business is after.
We are on a mission to outperform, outwork, and outthink our competition in order to truly make an impact on the businesses we serve.
Strategize. Execute. Grow.
Meet Your Team…
Name: Christine
Joined the VS Team: At its inception (incorporated in 2011)
Role: Co-Owner/Co-Founder
Favorite Tool(s): Infusionsoft
Tip for Small Business Owners: Set aside time to write and review your goals. Review them weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. WRITE them down. As a business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae of running a business and forget the big picture. Also, treat everyone with respect. It will come back to you.
Bio: Christine’s passion for small business began at a young age, as her family owned a chain of Hallmark stores. After earning her bachelor’s degree in marketing/advertising and sales promotion from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Christine moved into a sales position with a management consulting company. She then worked her way into a district management position, and eventually into the chief executive of sales position for the Western USA and Canada—overseeing more than 100 field managers/salespeople and 75 telemarketers. She met her now business partner, Thomas, and together they introduced digital marketing to the management consulting firm. Soon after, in May 2011, Viral Solutions was born, allowing Christine to do what she enjoys most—working on conundrums and helping business owners with difficult-to-solve problems.
When she’s not assisting small business owners in achieving their goals, Christine is playing with her dogs or working with the Front Range German Shepherd Rescue—a nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing purebred GSDs.
Name: Thomas
Joined the VS Team: At its inception (incorporated in 2011)
Role: Co-Owner/Co-Founder
Favorite Tool(s): PlusThis, Infusionsoft, and Wicked Reports
Tip for Small Business Owners: Make sure your business model and offer match the needs of your avatar and not your own wants.
Bio: With more than 30 years of experience in B2B sales across various industries, Thomas has unique insight into both the offline and online sales sphere. It was during his time in the trenches that Thomas noticed a recurring theme: Though business owners are knowledgeable about their craft or trade, they often struggle to market and sell to their prospects. This realization is what prompted Thomas and his now business partner, Christine, to bring Viral Solutions to life. Since starting the company, Thomas has been able to assist countless business owners in developing a solid marketing plan based upon sound marketing strategy, then assigning the marketing tactics to a team of talented employees, and, finally, watching those actions unfold—his true passion.
Though Viral Solutions is on Thomas’ mind 24/7, he does occasionally take a break to cheer on the Green Bay Packers and enjoy his adopted home of Wisconsin. Much of his family also works at Viral Solutions, and this closeness with family and employees is the cornerstone of the Viral Solutions culture.
Name: Lindsey
Joined the VS Team: 2012
Role: Project Manager
Favorite Tool(s): Infusionsoft
Tip for Small Business Owners: Know that you aren’t your own customer, even if you created your business and product based upon your own experience and a problem you share. As the business owner, you have biases and therefore can never see your business and product as your customer does.
Bio: As Thomas’ daughter, Lindsey was introduced to the world of sales and marketing at an early age. Curious about what her dad did, Lindsey would jump at every opportunity to help and ride along on sales calls. Always quick to take charge and lead the group—a trait that has only grown with time—Lindsey was frequently told by her parents that she was destined to be a manager or CEO of some sort. While working toward earning her bachelor’s degree in human services from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Lindsey interned with the UW Office of Equality and Affirmative Action and served on several councils, which gave her the opportunity to develop her persuasive writing skills, researching skills, problem-solving skills, project management skills, and more. After working as the lead teacher of the 4-year-old room at the local daycare center, Lindsey decided to switch gears and join the Viral Solutions team. In her position, Lindsey is able to help clients think through an end goal and reverse engineer it into the steps needed to achieve it.
When she’s not working, Lindsey loves spending time with family, be it traveling somewhere together or just hanging out at home.
Name: Jordan
Joined the VS Team: 2011
Role: Advertising Manager
Favorite Tool(s): Wicked Reports
Tip for Small Business Owners: You should all be retargeting on both Google AdWords and Facebook, even if it’s just $5/day. This is regardless of your business size or industry.
Bio: Jordan’s love of mathematics, statistics, and technology began at an early age, when he would memorize stats and facts about football players from cards he collected. Later on he attended Lakeland College, where he played men’s soccer, as well as the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he was an ambassador for the College of Business—an AACSB-accredited business school. While serving as public relations chairman for the Sigma Pi fraternity at UW, Jordan took part in many PR and marketing efforts, such as managing outbound communications for the fraternity via social media, website, and other university-owned channels. Shortly thereafter, Jordan joined an Inc. 500 cybersecurity company as marketing manager—a role that entailed handling such tasks as email marketing, sales processes, blog copy, event marketing, social media, vendor relationships, and CRM maintenance. At Viral Solutions, Jordan is passionate about solving problems for more mature businesses, such as building marketing attribution models for cross-channel marketing, ROI reporting, cohort analysis, customer lifetime value analysis, and budgeting.
Outside of work, Jordan enjoys hiking and hanging out with his dog, Milo. He’s also a huge sports fan and has been rooting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since he was 5 years old.
Name: Marisa
Joined the VS Team: 2015
Role: Graphic & Web Designer
Favorite Tool(s): WordPress, Adobe, and Sketch App
Tip for Small Business Owners: Strategy and data should play a key role in determining how much money should be spent on initial brand development.
Bio: Marisa’s extensive digital marketing training coupled with her experience as a graphic and web designer sets her apart as a marketing expert. Her long-held belief that data-based strategic planning should always inform the design brief has allowed her to serve and grow businesses of all sizes.
Marisa’s key responsibility at Viral Solutions is managing brand development and messaging. She is passionate about creating strong brand personalities that are consistent across all platforms and meet the growing needs of clients and their respective audiences.
Marisa has sought out extensive training both as a designer and as a marketing expert. Her greatest joy is developing data-based UX designs that enhance the customer journey while building a long-term brand identity that lasts.
When she’s not working, Marisa enjoys teaching art to small groups, cooking, and traveling with friends and family.
Name: Jeremiah
Joined the VS Team: 2016
Role: Web Developer
Favorite Tool(s): The ‘git’ command-line version control system for my code and the ‘neovim’ command-line text editor for just about everything
Tip for Small Business Owners: Find someone knowledgeable and trustworthy for advice; the main advantage the established business has over the newcomer is not invested capital or customer base but rather experience.
Bio: Jeremiah’s interest in computers and electronics led him to Bluegrass Community & Technical College, where he earned an associate degree in biotechnology. Jeremiah has worked in various roles throughout his career, from emergency room clerk to accounts receivable associate. All of these jobs have taught him valuable skills that he applies at Viral Solutions. In his current position, Jeremiah enjoys producing software that is clearly defined and fixes a problem the client is experiencing.
When he’s not working, Jeremiah still likes to program, usually on small tools/projects for fun. On the rare occasion he has time, Jeremiah also enjoys playing video games and studying different languages.
Name: Caitie
Joined the VS Team: 2018
Role: Copywriter
Favorite Tool(s): WordPress
Tip for Small Business Owners: Put the time and effort into defining your avatar, as this will give you a much better sense of what your prospect’s problems/desires are and will help you create content that is more effective.
Bio: Caitie’s passion for reading and writing is what pushed her to pursue her bachelor’s degree in English from Kent State University-Stark. While attending college, she worked as an editorial assistant at a local newspaper, which helped further develop her editing and fact-checking skills. After roughly 5 years working in the content department at a marketing firm, she relocated and took an editing position at a proofreading company. Caitie’s current role at Viral Solutions allows her to apply her writing, researching, and editing abilities daily, ensuring the quality of the content provided to clients. Additionally, she enjoys having the opportunity to take on challenging projects and discover how to manage, distribute, and measure content the best way possible.
When she’s not working, Caitie enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, and spending time with loved ones.
Name: Shannon
Joined the VS Team: 2016
Role: Copywriter
Favorite Tool(s): Word, SEMRush, and Grammarly
Tip for Small Business Owners: Take a serious look at who your ideal customer is—demographics and all—then think of them as a friend. What would they tell you they want? Also, stop writing only diary entry posts about yourself and start writing intentional blog posts that are keyword rich to help improve SEO and that read naturally enough so your customer feels as if you are sitting down with them explaining your product over a cup of coffee.
Bio: Shannon’s deep desire to help others is a trait that was developed early on, as she has always enjoyed seeing people, groups, organizations, companies, and families thrive and make positive changes that encourage growth in all areas. That combined with her love of learning is what drove her to earn her master’s degree in psychology and counseling from Pittsburg State University in Kansas. For more than 15 years, Shannon worked in a variety of settings as a behavioral, family, young adult, and group therapist. As a behavioral therapist and case manager who has worked with people from nearly all walks of life, Shannon has a knack for helping others reach their desired outcomes, which she applies to her work at Viral Solutions as a content marketer. In addition to possessing keen insight into what drives human behavior, Shannon strives to find various ways in which she can relay each client’s message and vision to their prospect so that it hits every angle and sinks into the prospect’s mind. Likening her role to that of a detective, Shannon enjoys gathering information about each client’s prospect and competitor, then fitting it all together with the client’s product/service as the answer to the problem.
When she’s not working, Shannon enjoys reading, skiing, painting, and spending time with her family.
Name: Lauren
Joined the VS Team: 2019
Role: Social Media Manager
Favorite Tool(s): Lightroom
Tips for Small Business Owners: Know your audience! You can have and do everything in the world but you cannot impact anyone if you do not understand their wants and interests.
Bio: During her time working for Walt Disney World, Lauren quickly grew a social media presence on platforms, mainly through Instagram. With a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing paired with her passion for marketing, Lauren grew her audience even more by creating a blog and through use of other social media platforms. She loves the impact that social media has and how quickly it can get information around worldwide.
When she is not busy keeping up with the latest trends online, she can be found baking cookies in the kitchen, watching hockey, or at the gym. She loves hot yoga and trying out any new dessert recipe. She can’t cook, but she can sure bake!
Name: Nikki
Joined the VS Team: 2019
Role: Assistant to the Project Manager
Favorite Tool(s): WordPress and ActiveCampaign
Tips for Small Business Owners: Be specific with your goals, and follow through on them one step at a time. Make sure you have a great support system to help you navigate your way through the twists and turns that will undoubtedly come. Don’t be afraid to delegate things out when you can, and make sure you keep moving forward.
Bio: Nikki’s love of learning—as well as her desire to help others—is evidenced by her background in education. In addition to teaching preschool for 6 years and working as a special education assistant for 4 ½ years, she continues to serve as an assistant coach for the girls’ and boys’ swim team at Fond du Lac High School. After deciding to make a career change in 2019, Nikki joined the Viral Solutions team and entered the exciting world of marketing. Having proven herself to be a hard worker, quick learner, and dedicated employee, Nikki has made it possible for Viral Solutions to serve clients at an even higher level, providing support for everything from email marketing to social media management.
In her free time, Nikki enjoys singing, playing guitar, swimming, reading, going on adventures, spending time outdoors, and making memories with family and friends.
Name: Lisa
Joined the VS Team: 2019
Role: Sales Strategy & Business Development
Favorite Tool(s): Proprietary Strategic Planning Process and Wicked Reports
Tips for Small Business Owners: Do not throw your money away on tactics without a plan. It does not matter what size business you have; without a plan how do you know where you are going or how you are growing, or who you are targeting? Without goals how do you know what you are striving for? Without data and metrics how do you know what works and what does not?
Bio: Lisa began her sales, marketing, and category management career at Clairol, where she helped pioneer the company’s analytical capabilities. She then spent more than six years at L’Oréal USA, during which time she launched and managed the Category Management Department across all categories and gained category captain positions across most major retail partners in all categories, leading to L’Oréal’s rise to the #1 beauty brand position. Lisa then stepped into the OTC medicines arena when she joined Novartis, where she expanded her expertise into channel strategy and marketing across multiple categories. Following her time there, she joined Bristol Myers Squibb, where she was an integral part of the senior team responsible for the launch of their new “standalone” consumer medicines division. Following the sale of this division to P&G, Lisa joined The Yankee Candle Company to head up their business development initiative, where she opened new retail channels and significantly grew the business. In 2006, Lisa joined Sleep Innovations and brought her successful CPG approach and expertise to the foam bedding industry. She spent the next decade leading various initiatives throughout the organization, including channel marketing, marketing, creative, communications, and e-commerce. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Lisa started her own consulting business in 2015, primarily focused on business development and marketing for companies with a desire to enter the consumer retail markets or diversify into new categories. She worked with a wide range of companies, from commercial building material suppliers to towel manufacturers. Lisa has extensive experience with retail trade classes, product commercialization, marketing, packaging, and market research.
In her free time, Lisa is dedicated to helping local charities enhance their efforts, whether it is a fundraising event at church or assisting the American Legion with event planning for their annual Memorial Day services. She is also on a personal mission to inform friends, neighbors, and local businesses of elder care abuse and fraud. This is a significant issue in all communities across the country.
Name: Brian
Joined the VS Team: 2019
Role: Client Success
Favorite Tool(s): Wicked Reports
Tip for Small Business Owners: Most managers are too close to their business, an outside view of any aspect of your business will be helpful, even if that view has no knowledge of your market.
Bio:
With more than 20+ years of experience in technology management, consulting, and sales, Brian has a proven track record in developing and implementing strategies that support businesses. Brian has owned and managed multiple technology companies and, through them, worked with many marketing companies. Marketing was always a mystery and very frustrating because of the lack of clarity of results. Brian could review the past 30 to 60 days and say it must have worked because sales were up or not. Then Brian heard, through word of mouth, about Viral Solutions while managing an e-commerce company. As he researched them, and other marketing companies, Viral was the only company that followed him through every marketing channel. “They didn’t try to dazzle me with visually pleasing websites, and with tactics and cool apps, they created a relationship with me.”
Brian had the technical abilities to create google ads and social media marketing but didn’t always know if it was working, and simply couldn’t keep up. Then Brian hired Viral Solutions for digital marketing and realized how little he knew, especially when creating a strategy. They showed him a marketing process that provides real-time results, if they’re doing their job and where to spend marketing dollars. After the eCommerce development contract ended, they offered him a position with them, and Brian jumped at the chance!
When Brian isn’t being a geek, he spends time with his wife, Becky, and daughter, Bailey. He also enjoys volunteering at church, playing “low impact sports,” and watching various college and pro sports.
Name: Jon
Joined the VS Team: 2019
Role: Advertising Intern
Favorite Tool(s): Adroll
Tip for Small Business Owners: Invest in your employees. Enhancing their professional development skills and education will go a long way in employee satisfaction and retention.
Bio: Jon is currently a senior majoring in Marketing and Economics at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He is in line to graduate in May 2020. He is a pitcher on the school’s baseball team and is an avid sports fan. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, he has always had an affinity for his Chicago sports teams—especially the Bears and Cubs. His love of sports goes beyond his own teams as he knows just about anything there is to know about the major sports leagues and teams. He has always loved statistics and analyzing them, starting when he was young. Jon found his passion for marketing while in college and decided to pursue a career in the digital realm of marketing. He is eager to learn the ins and outs of the industry and looking forward to jumpstarting his career.
Outside of work, Jon enjoys hanging out with his friends and watching sports. He also likes to go back home and see family when he has time.
Name: Peyton
Joined the VS Team: 2020
Role: Marketing Intern
Favorite Tool(s): Grammarly
Tips for Small Business Owners: Know who your product is relevant and useful for by understanding your audience and their everyday lives. Believe in what you’re selling, aim to benefit your customers’ human experience with your product; and most importantly, celebrate the little victories along the journey!
Bio: Peyton is a student at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh where he is pursuing a BS in Organizational Communication while complimenting his degree with emphases in digital marketing and sales. He anticipates on utilizing his communication skills and growing knowledge of marketing through his experience with Viral Solutions in order to lead a creative marketing team after graduation. Peyton has always had a curiosity towards technology and the ways in which it has advanced many facets in society. Digital marketing is a field that caught his attention due to the ever-continuous developments made to technology and the adaptations the coincide in consumerism due to new technology. He has a passion for developing an idea and constructing it to completion, emphasizing the attention to detail while doing so; all in efforts to benefit the well-being of businesses and consumers.