Strategic Marketing Help When You Need It Most

Get focused strategic direction without the complexity—or the price tag—of traditional consulting.

For Asheville-Area Businesses

Running a business in Asheville right now?

Between recovery, rising costs, and trying to figure out what marketing actually works—it's a lot.

You need strategic help. But $10K+ consulting fees aren't realistic when you're trying to keep the doors open.

The Community Truth: Our town is rebuilding. Every Asheville business that thrives helps our entire community recover. Tourism is recovering but foot traffic is unpredictable. The businesses that figure out their marketing NOW – while others are paralyzed by uncertainty – will own 2026. You have a 90-day window to establish market dominance before other businesses catch up. I'm prioritizing local businesses through right now because strong local businesses = strong Asheville recovery.

Most "Marketing Experts" Don't Understand Asheville's Business Reality

The Local Truth: National agencies don't understand that Asheville isn't just a market – it's a community with unique dynamics. We're a tourist economy recovering from a natural disaster. We have inflated real estate prices, limited workforce, seasonal revenue fluctuations, and a population that values authenticity over polish. A marketing playbook that works in Charlotte doesn't work here. A strategy that works in Atlanta misses the mark. You need someone who's been in this community for 20+ years, understands the local landscape, knows which tactics actually work here, and can position your business for Asheville's specific recovery trajectory.

I created two options specifically for Asheville-area businesses:

- focused strategic help at prices that work for where you actually are right now.

(And we are badass business owners in Asheville!)

Limited to 5 businesses for December.

Let's talk!

Two Ways to Get Strategic Clarity

Choose the option that fits your timeline and budget

Local Business VIP Day

Full-day in-person strategic session

$2,000 down, $2,000 on completion

Give your business a gift this quarter 🎁

Pre-session questionnaire (so we hit the ground running)

8 focused hours together in Asheville

Tackle ONE strategic priority:

Local marketing strategy

Social media strategy

Launch/relaunch plan

Strategy document (15-20 pages)

Clear metrics to track what's working

Simple dashboard for measuring results

Action plan + timeline

1 month implementation support

Two one-hour follow-up calls

$4,000

2026 Kickoff Package

Get strategic help this year

Perfect if you want to launch a new product or offer or location

Pre-work questionnaire (submitted before our session)

4-hour intensive strategy session (virtual or in-person)

Focus on ONE key challenge

Recorded session + transcript

5-page action plan

Simple metrics you can actually understand

30 days of email/text support

Two check-in calls (30 min each)

$2,500

Not sure which VIP Day is right for you?

Let's hop on a short 15-minute chat so we can decide together?

Let's Chat(Calendar will open on click!)

Just need a bit of clarity and want to pick my brain?

Book a paid strategy call. We'll spend 60 minutes tackling your most pressing challenge, and you'll walk away with clear next steps—whether you book further or not.

(You'll fill out a short questionnaire before our call so we can dive straight into strategy.)

$500

If you book a VIP Day or 2026 Kickoff, the $500 is credited toward your total.

Book a 60-minute Strategy Call(Calendar will open on click!)

Why I Created This

Hurricane Helene hit my house too—three feet of mud, twenty years gone. I'm paying to rebuild it myself while keeping my business alive.

I know what it's like to need strategic help but worry about the cost. I know what it's like to have to choose between investing in your business and paying the bills.

I know what tight resources feel like.

That's why I'm offering streamlined pricing for our local community. Same strategic rigor I bring to national clients ($8K-$10K VIP Days), focused scope for local businesses.

We're all rebuilding. Let's do it strategically.

Schedule a quick 15-minute chat

What's included?

You Get Strategy AND Implementation Support

(Not Just a Document)

The Deliverable Truth: Most consultants hand you a 40-page strategy document and disappear. You're left wondering "okay, now what?" My offers include implementation support – That means when you hit a roadblock ("my Google Business Profile won't verify"), you text me and I troubleshoot with you. When you need to write social posts, you have examples and templates. When you're not sure if your ad creative is good, I review it. The strategy is worthless without execution support. You get both.

You Walk Away with EXACTLY What to Do Monday Morning

(Don't we all need that?)

The Clarity Truth: The nightmare scenario is spending thousands on consulting and still not knowing what to actually DO. My process is built to eliminate that confusion. You'll leave your VIP Day or 2026 Kickoff with: (1) a prioritized action plan with clear deadlines, (2) a simple metrics dashboard so you know if it's working, (3) templates and examples for everything you need to create, (4) access to vetted specialists if you need execution help beyond strategy. No vague recommendations. No "you should consider..." language. You get "Do this. By this date. Here's exactly how. Here's what success looks like."

This Is the Fastest Path from "Lost" to "Clear Direction"

(Paper Map or Google Map - you decide)

The Time Truth: You could spend 6 months trying to figure this out yourself. Reading blog posts. Watching YouTube videos. Trying different tactics. Wasting money on experiments that don't work. Or you could spend 4-5 hours with someone who's done this hundreds of times and walk away knowing your exact next 90 days. The DIY path costs you 6 months of lost revenue, wasted ad spend, and mounting frustration. The strategic path costs you one investment and saves you half a year of spinning your wheels. Which business do you want to have in March 2025 – the one that's been executing a clear plan since December, or the one still trying to figure out what to do?

Most Marketing Agencies Want You on Retainer Forever

(We do things a bit differently...)

The Business Model Truth: Traditional agencies need you paying $3,000-5,000/month for 12+ months to be profitable. Their entire model is built on recurring revenue, which means they're incentivized to keep you dependent on them, not teach you how to own your marketing. Our model is the opposite: give you the strategy and foundational support upfront, then you OWN it. If you want ongoing help, great. If you want to take it internal or work with specialists, also great. We're not trying to trap you in a 12-month contract. One intensive engagement should give you clarity for 6-12 months of execution.

Work we love

Leading Hotels of the World is a white-label client...

We gather semi-annually with the marketing and social teams for media strategy & tactical planning sessions. The Clever Muse Studio provides paid social analytics from the last six months of campaigns (including competitive analysis) and media buying/ad placement.

Here's a summary of our current strategy - without giving up the magic:

Develop and launch ads considering current market trends
Choose and focus on two platforms to maximize budget
Serve ads to our custom "Curious Travelers" audience identified
through
- interest and behavior targeting (60% of spend)
- retargeting and lookalike tactics (40% of spend)
Prevent audience ad fatigue with variety
Video and static images as creative
Repurposing the most engaging organic content for ads at top of funnelA/B testing creatives, audiences, and placements

Our paid social metrics are sourced via a Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, and custom UTM analysis. We use three measures to determine success:

Landing Page Views (Traffic)
Link Click-Through-Rate (Traffic)
Engagement Rate (Interest)

Let's talk about how we can help you!

Is this right for you & your business?

You're an Established Business Owner Who's Done Playing Small

The Identity Truth: This isn't for startups still figuring out product-market fit. This isn't for solopreneurs testing side hustles. This is for established Asheville business owners who have proven their business works, have real revenue coming in, and are ready to scale strategically instead of staying stuck at the same revenue ceiling year after year. You've been in business 3+ years. You have customers. You have a reputation. You know your business COULD be bigger – you're just not sure how to get there without working 80-hour weeks or throwing money at tactics that don't work. You're ready to invest in strategy that actually moves the needle, not another "quick fix" that wastes time and money.

You've been in business 3-10+ years
Revenue is $100K-$500K+ annually (or could be with right strategy)
You're the owner/decision-maker (not an employee asking permission)
You have budget to invest in growth ($2,500-$5,000 is a business investment, not a personal sacrifice)
You're ready to actually implement, not just collect information

Your Marketing Feels Scattered and You Don't Know What's Actually Working

The Pain Truth: You're doing a little bit of everything and none of it feels like it's really working. You post on social media inconsistently. You run Facebook ads sometimes. Your Google Business Profile exists but you're not sure if anyone finds you there. You have a website that gets traffic but doesn't convert. You've tried email marketing but your list is cold. You've hired freelancers who didn't deliver. You've watched YouTube tutorials that confused you more. You're exhausted from trying to be your own marketing department while also running your actual business.

What keeps you up at night: "Am I wasting money on the wrong things? What should I actually be doing? How do other businesses make this look so easy?"

You don't need more tactics. You need someone to look at your specific business, your specific market, your specific competitors, and tell you: "Here are the THREE things that will move your revenue needle. Stop doing these five things that are wasting your time. Start doing this one thing consistently and here's exactly how."

You can't clearly explain where most of your customers come from
You're doing marketing activities but not seeing ROI
You've spent money on marketing that didn't work (website, ads, SEO, social)
You feel like you're guessing instead of executing a plan
You're the bottleneck – everything marketing-related requires your time been in business 3-10+ years

You're Ready to Own Your Marketing Instead of Being Dependent on "Experts"

The Empowerment Truth: You're tired of agencies and freelancers who keep you in the dark, use jargon you don't understand, and make you feel stupid for asking questions. You're tired of paying monthly retainers to people who may or may not be doing good work because you can't evaluate their results. You're tired of feeling like marketing is this mysterious black box that only "experts" understand.

You don't want to become a full-time marketer – that's not your job. But you DO want to understand enough to:

Evaluate if the work you're paying for is actually good
Make smart decisions about where to invest your marketing budget
Know when someone is bullshitting you vs. giving you real advice
Be able to manage freelancers or agencies without being dependent on them
Own your strategy so you're not starting from scratch every time you hire someone new

You want to be the CEO of your marketing, even if you delegate the execution. You want strategic clarity, not just tactical help. You want to understand the "why" behind recommendations, not just follow orders blindly.

You've been burned by agencies or freelancers before
You want to understand marketing, not just outsource it completely
You're a smart business owner who can execute if you have the right roadmap
You value education and empowerment, not just "done for you"
You want to own your customer acquisition system, not rent it from agencies

Why Listen to Me?

I'm not your typical marketer. I have a PhD in Atmospheric Science. I left government research in 2017 and somehow ended up running a marketing agency.

My dad was a commercial artist and creative director with a 60-year career in advertising. I grew up watching him solve impossible creative problems. Turns out, I inherited that—but I approach it like a scientist.

I see marketing as a series of experiments. Test, measure, learn, scale. I'm great at sorting "this, not that" and watching data tell stories. I help you know what's actually working so you can stop guessing.

My agency is currently managing $10K+ in daily ad spend for clients. But many clients see advertising results with a couple of bucks a day!

I'm rebuilding my home and business simultaneously! So, I understand what it's like to need help while managing tight resources.

Let's talk!

PhD-Level Strategic Thinking Meets Real-World Marketing Execution

The Credibility Truth: I have a PhD in Atmospheric Science from working with NASA and NOAA on government research. That means I approach marketing like a scientist: hypothesis, test, measure, refine. But I'm not an academic in an ivory tower – I've spent the last decade in the trenches with businesses like yours, managing significant ad budgets and delivering measurable ROI. You get someone who can think 10 steps ahead strategically AND knows how to actually execute in platforms like Google, Meta, and email. Most consultants are either strategic thinkers who can't execute, or tacticians who can't see the big picture. You need both.

I Rebuild Things for a Living (Literally Right Now)

The Resilience Truth: Hurricane Helene destroyed my house in September 2024. This Old House Season 47 is documenting my rebuild. I'm literally rebuilding my home while rebuilding my business while helping you rebuild yours. I understand business continuity under impossible circumstances. I understand pivoting when everything goes wrong. I understand marketing when you don't have time to market because you're just trying to survive. Most consultants have never had their livelihood destroyed overnight. I'm living it. That gives me perspective and empathy most strategists will never have.

I Only Take Clients I Know I Can Help Win

The Integrity Truth: I'm not trying to hit a quota or scale to 100 clients. I'm a boutique operator working with established businesses who are ready to actually implement. If you're looking for someone to create a strategy document that sits in a drawer, I'm not your person. If you want someone to tell you your marketing is fine when it's not, I'm not your person. But if you want someone who will look you in the eye, tell you the truth about what's broken, give you a clear roadmap to fix it, and support you through implementation – that's me. I turn down more leads than I take because I only work with people I genuinely believe I can help succeed.

The Clever Muse Team

"The Truth About 'Boutique'

Boutique Doesn't Mean Solo. It Means Selective.

Let me be honest about how I work.

I'm not a one-person show pretending I do everything. I'm also not a 50-person agency where you never know who's actually touching your account. I'm somewhere strategic in between.

You get me personally for: Strategy. Big-picture thinking. Roadmap creation. Implementation guidance. Accountability. The stuff that requires my brain, my experience, and direct collaboration with you.

You get access to my trusted team members for the specialized execution work that makes sense to delegate. I've spent years finding people who are actually good at paid ads, web development, content creation, SEO – the tactical stuff that requires deep expertise in one area.

Why this model works better:

You don't pay agency overhead (fancy offices, account managers, sales teams). You don't get junior staff learning on your dime. You don't get stuck doing everything yourself because "the consultant just gave you a document."

You get strategic guidance from someone with a PhD-level brain for systems thinking, plus access to specialized executors who've proven themselves over years of collaboration. You choose what you handle internally and what you delegate.

That's what boutique actually means: curated, selective, high-quality. Not "I do literally everything myself and burn out." Not "We're an agency machine where you're just an account number."

Real partnership. Real expertise. Real results.

Paula Hennon

founder & creative director

Delaney Kloesel

take-to-market strategist

Tarah Singh

visual artist & branding specialist

Olivia Hennon

optimization, metrics & analytics

Lydia Faye Corcoran

social media & influencer marketing