I built this company because most local businesses don't need a 12-person agency. They need someone who's actually run the work, at scale, across categories, and who'll install the modern systems they've been putting off.
Chris's first decade in marketing wasn't spent in conference rooms. It was spent in advertising and eCommerce, running paid media accounts, building storefronts, writing copy that had to actually sell something, producing creative that had to perform. The work happened across categories: home goods, pet products, automotive, hardware, B2B services. In every one of them, the only metric that mattered was whether the cash register rang.
That decade left two lessons that every Minnesota Marketing install is still built on:
First, that almost everything that's "good marketing" is also boring marketing. Faster lead response. Better follow-up. More reviews. Cleaner copy on the actual page the customer lands on. The flashy tactics get the headlines; the boring ones build the businesses.
Second, that small businesses get sold the wrong stuff constantly. Generic agencies, mismatched software, retainers nobody can justify, dashboards nobody reads. Most of what local businesses really need is just the modern essentials, installed properly, and somebody honest enough to say which growth tactics are next.
Chapter 2 · Why Minnesota Marketing existsSix years ago, I started Minnesota Marketing for a specific reason. The local-business owners I kept meeting, contractors, service shops, retailers, equipment rentals, demolition outfits, glass companies, were on the wrong end of that conversation. They got pitched by big-city agencies who didn't understand them. They got sold software they didn't need. They put off the basics for years because there wasn't an obvious path to just getting them installed.
"The owners I kept talking to weren't behind because they weren't smart. They were behind because nobody had ever shown up and said: here's what to install, here's how it works, here's what it costs, and here's how soon you'll see it pay back. I built Minnesota Marketing to be the company that says that out loud."
That's the whole thesis. Show up, install the modern systems, support them properly, and grow only when the owner is ready to grow. No retainer creep. No agency-speak. No surprises on the invoice.
Chapter 3 · 500 pieces, four states, six yearsAlongside the systems work, Minnesota Marketing has built a serious body of video and creative production. Five hundred-plus finished pieces shipped over six years, across Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, and Alaska, for eCommerce brands moving at scale and for B2B operators who needed video that actually converted, not video that just looked good in a portfolio.
That production craft is part of why the agency work plays at the level it does. We don't just talk about creative. We actually shoot it, edit it, ship it, and, when the engagement calls for it, run the paid media that makes it work. The result is fewer hand-offs, fewer disconnects between "the strategy" and "the asset that has to perform on Tuesday morning."
Chapter 4 · What it looks like todayToday Minnesota Marketing runs one productized offer and one selective tier. The Automation Suite is the practical lead-handling system most clients land at, CRM, SMS, email, calendar, review, and follow-up automation, installed in 14 days for service businesses, retailers, and owner-led companies across Northern Minnesota. Growth Partner is the application-only tier where Chris becomes a direct strategic partner on offer development, conversion, and business growth for owners who need deeper involvement.
The company is built so it works. Not so it looks good in a pitch deck.
If any of that sounds like the kind of partner your business needs, the next move is a 20-minute call.
The clients on Minnesota Marketing's roster aren't VC-funded startups. They're local and regional operators with payroll, trucks, suppliers, and a real reputation in their town.
Roofers, contractors, garage door companies, glass companies, demolition outfits, plumbing & heating, equipment rental, owner-led shops in the 2–25 employee range.
DTC and B2B eCommerce operators where the difference between mediocre creative and great creative is the difference between profit and break-even. Long-running production and paid-media engagements.
Companies that have their own great website but need an outside team running ads, content, video, and email month over month. Partnerships that have run for years, not quarters.
Above all, the through-line is operators who'd rather run their business than learn marketing software. Minnesota Marketing exists to install, configure, and support the modern systems, so the owner can stay focused on the actual work.
The same modern systems that big-city, well-funded businesses have, AI receptionists, instant lead response, automated follow-up, real CRM, should be available to a 6-person garage door shop in Brainerd or a 12-person plumbing & heating outfit in Fargo.
Minnesota Marketing is specifically built for owner-led businesses in markets where the owner knows half the customers by name and where word-of-mouth still moves the needle. The systems are configured for how those businesses actually work, not how a Silicon Valley product team imagined they should work.
A common worry with owner-operator firms: "What happens when the owner is busy, sick, or burned out?" That's a fair concern, and we've structured the company specifically to answer it.
Day-to-day support is run by our team, trained on every system we install. Chris stays in the loop on strategy and anything that needs operator-level judgment.
Every Automation Suite install follows the same proven 14-day playbook. No tribal knowledge. No "only Chris knows how to do that."
Inner Circle is intentionally limited. We'd rather have 6 great partnerships than 30 mediocre ones. Limited capacity is a feature, not a marketing line.
Book a 20-minute call. Bring the business, where it is, where it's stuck, what you're actually trying to build. He'll look at it straight and tell you what he'd install, and what he wouldn't.
Book a 20-Minute Call