Meet Marissa Roper

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marissa Roper. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marissa below.

Marissa, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I get my work ethic from my father. He was an idol of mine when I was growing up, as I watched him lead by example in his line of work. My dad was part of a generation that valued the meaning of hard work. My dad was very dedicated & skilled in his line of work. He always went above & beyond in his career and was very successful because of it. He instilled the importance of hard work in me at an early age. He taught me the value of dedication, responsibility, and accountability. His inspiration has helped me adopt these same principles in my own life and career. I am very passionate about my career & take great pride in my work while making sure I do my best to live a balanced work-life balance.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

M Riley Marketing is a digital marketing consulting and freelance contracting brand that launched in 2023. My goal is to help businesses find their sparkle, build their brand, expand their business, and grow their online presence. Offering an array of marketing services including pay-per-click paid advertising, media buying, organic SEO, local SEO, social media management, social media strategy, content creation, copywriting, brand reputation monitoring, & email marketing. We also specialize in graphic design, website creation/design, videography/video editing, photography, brand strategy, branding management, conversion tracking, promotion and partnership building, marketing strategy consulting, marketing business coaching, event planning, as well as, portfolio and resume building.

With the goal to be a one-stop-shop for businesses and brands, M Riley Marketing takes pride in owning the way a client’s brand interacts and is portrayed in their industry, focused on the business goals of our clients to merge the gap between where they are and where they want to be. With a smaller number of clientele than the typical marketing agency, M Riley Marketing clients receive the same breadth of encompassing marketing services of a one-stop-shop agency without the worry of other competing client requests getting buried for the dollars you are paying. M Riley Marketing has the flexibility to work the way you need and will deliver the results you need.

The years I have spent in the marketing agency world have helped prepare me for the work I am doing today. I have worked in digital marketing since college. Starting as an intern in corporate in-house marketing at Intel, I then dove straight into digital marketing agencies right after graduating from ASU in 2019. Spending five years after college deep in the marketing agency space was challenging, stressful, and depleting. It was also extremely rewarding and taught me more than my four years at a University. As immensely passionate as I am about marketing and about the clients I worked with at these agencies, at the end of the day I noticed the same thing happening again and again, regardless of what agency I was working for. I was working more than 40 hours a week the majority of the time, despite my yearly salary that stayed the same whether I put in 40 hours or 70 hours in a week. More often than not, my bandwidth was pushed to the very brink, making more room for errors to be made and burnout to happen frequently. There was also frustration occurring at times with the lack of functional processes at some agencies I worked for, rigid work structures that didn’t always fit my needs as an employee, and the occasional discontent with being pigeon-held into fulfilling the same role every day for our clients.

Not that agency life is all bad, it was a time of my life that I would never take back. However, five years of grinding tooth and nail can be hard on a person. I put my own well-being and health aside more than I would like to admit, and work-life balance was almost a myth to me. And despite many of my employers trying to improve upon this constant burnout issue, it seemed to very much be the norm of our industry, as it is in many industries in the United States. I knew that this constant burnout couldn’t continue the way it had been, something had to change.

Meanwhile, over the last two years or so, I had begun helping friends or friends of friends here and there with small marketing projects. Assisted with some boosted posts here, and graphic design there. Built a website, wrote some copy, and advised on social media strategy for people in my life who had small businesses or were in the early stages of a start-up. That began to snowball as I collected more referrals for digital marketing services as time went on. I quickly began to learn that I was able to not only charge more per hour or per project retainer for these services I was executing on the side than I was making in my day job, but I also was able to ensure that I was being compensated for the time I was spending on these projects. It also allowed me the freedom to work within different avenues of the marketing realm. After working specifically in media buying and paid advertising at agencies for five years, it was refreshing to work on more creative or branding strategy-focused projects that I had explored while in college. I liked being able to tackle new and diverse projects or revisit old skills that I had explored and hung up after being in school.

The final straw came down to flexibility. Starting my career very close to the rise of COVID-19 brought around a lot of shifts in the way we work and where we work. I went from working a five-day work week in the office full time to working fully remotely and stuck inside, to a hybrid schedule of some work-from-home days and some mandatory days in-office. The hybrid work schedule was a great schedule to have for a long time until I got into a space in my life where travel became a huge priority for me. It has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember to see as much of the world as I possibly can. As I have made travel a larger priority in my life, I started to notice myself counting vacation days, trying to spread my time off for the year as thin as I possibly could between all the trips I was hoping to take that year.

All of these factors played a significant role in my exit from the marketing agency world. Starting something new, whether it be a new career, a new business, is terrifying and uncertain. But it is also challenging, exciting, and empowering. You give up the stability of a nine-to-five job. You give up the included health benefits, the matched 401K, and the consistent paycheck. But it is replaced with the freedom and the authority of a business owner.

I am still a ways away from the place I am trying to get to in my new business, but I’ve fallen in love with building something new from scratch that is mine. I’ve fallen in love with being able to wear multiple hats in the digital marketing ecosystem, allowing me to have stronger ownership over the brands and clients I work with. I’ve fallen in love with being able to build the processes and systems that work best for me. I’ve fallen in love with the flexibility and freedom that comes with building my own routine and work schedule. I’ve fallen in love with the luxury of being able to work remotely from anywhere. I’ve fallen in love with having complete ownership over my income and my growth, and not relying on external approval and assessments to grow in my career and business. I’ve fallen in love with being an entrepreneur and a business owner.

I am currently working on growing & scaling my business. I also plan to roll out some digital programs & online courses that outline certain aspects of digital marketing that would allow clients to complete some marketing deliverables themselves for a lower cost than it would be to pay M Riley Marketing to fulfill services. I hope to start to roll these out sometime next year.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey thus far have been resilience & the correct mindset, adaptability, and utilizing my connections & resources.

When you think about long-term growth, you think of it as noticeable, consistent change day to day. However, in reality, it doesn’t always work that way. Some days are going to be more productive than others. Some days you may take a step backward. This can make it hard to stay focused & motivated when trying to reach a goal. I’ve learned that having resilience to keep going even on the hard days, & getting back up when you make a mistake is vital in getting a business off the ground. I have experienced setbacks & struggles in my business already & will always have some sort of hurdles standing in my way. I’ve started to look at setbacks in my business as opportunities for growth rather than a roadblock in my way. Each setback allows me to problem-solve a solution that gets me a step closer to where I am trying to get to in my business. They also help you determine what is working & not working, as well as, help you discover what to change if something is not working. There have been days when I’ve wanted to give up or days I get worried that my business might fail. Your resilience to push past those kinds of worries & emotions creates this “I’m going to make it happen” kind of attitude. & that kind of attitude embodies resilience. Letting go of the “how” & “when” something is going to happen, & not giving up until you get there.

To that point, mindset is also everything. I am a big believer that what you think, you attract, and what you speak, you speak into existence. I tend to attract my biggest clients when I am in a positive, healthy mindset in both my business & my personal life. It is easy to let things that don’t go your way discourage you & let those things snowball. It is easy to get down rabbit holes of “what if.” I have quickly learned just how important of a role your mindset plays in the success of your business. Whatever mindset you bring to the table is what will show up in your business. I make it a priority to remain open to always learning new things & gaining new connections. You never know what could come out of someone you meet in the professional world. & knowledge truly is power.

Relationship building & forming quality business connections have also been huge while building my business. Building genuine connections with other business owners & entrepreneurs continues to open doors for me in my business, career, & personal life. Networking isn’t just about expanding your circle; it’s about forming mutually beneficial relationships that foster collaboration & support. Some of my favorite clients have come out of referrals from peers in my professional life. I do everything I can to insert myself into networking groups & events in my area. You never know how you could help someone you meet or how they could help you. Everyone has something to bring to the table. I have met some amazing teachers & mentors through relationship building that has made a huge impact on my professional career.

I have also been learning how to quickly adapt when it comes to HOW. I mentioned earlier that it is helpful to let go of the “how” you get to where you want to go because things don’t always go as planned. What is important is that you get there, & it may not be on the path you originally thought or planned. & that’s okay. So many people (myself included) get caught up in how we think something is supposed to be or is supposed to work. I am learning that there is more than one way to climb the mountain & reach your business goals. Sometimes you need to get creative & adjust the way you get there. I’ve been learning to detach from how I thought things were going to work out, & instead focus on how I can quickly adapt to still get to where I am trying to be. Being an entrepreneur also requires me to wear a lot of different hats that can be hard to juggle. This has helped teach me how to quickly pivot, adapt, & adjust in my business when needed. This is an important skill to have as a business owner in any industry.

An additional piece of advice I have for those early in their own business journey is to embrace discomfort, don’t run from it, & trust the process. Being a first-time business owner can be scary, it is something that is new & exciting, so your body will naturally preserve it as a threat, causing the fear of failure can easily settle in. It takes going out of your comfort zone to do something you have never done before, so you really have to start getting more familiar & comfortable with the discomfort that comes with being a first-time business owner. You have to trust the process & stay resilient & determined to make it happen.

Lastly, there is an overwhelming amount of resources at our fingertips today to help aid & guide you. Explore them, learn how they can leverage your business, & utilize them.

How would you describe your ideal client?

Working in the digital marketing agency space for the last 6 years prior to starting my own freelance contracting & consulting business, I had the opportunity to work in almost every vertical & industry there is. I am very fortunate & blessed to have gotten the opportunity to work with so many interesting & inspiring brands/businesses over the years. I pride myself in the breadth of experience & expertise I have across such a large variety of markets. No day can ever be boring when you are working with so many different clients with very different marketing needs, marketing goals, & marketing channel mixes.

I am currently open to working with clients in any industry, as long as their needed services fit the variety of services I provide & I can provide value to their business growth. However, as I grow & expand, & get more prominent in the marketing field, I would really love to start specializing more in the industries I am really passionate about. If you do something you are truly passionate about, you never work a day in your life right? For me, that passion really shines through when I work with event venues, event planning/management companies, brick & mortar restaurants & bars, & any eCommerce brands. These are all verticals that I have an interest in within my personal life as well, so it makes it easy & fun to take on companies within these verticals as clients. This also allows me to have a better understanding of those client markets & helps make me more of an expert in those industries.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Jon D. Photography – IG: @jon.d.photography

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