Our Story

As a marketing director, we know that you’re no stranger to pressure. In fact saying that you’re stressed out is probably the understatement of the century, right?

We understand that your job is tough. Overseeing campaigns, managing one or more internal teams, coordinating with sales, keeping your eyes peeled for new changes on the horizon, all while juggling ten other tasks can be daunting, even for the most seasoned professionals.

And asking your boss for a budget increase just so you can keep your head above water,
is probably a full-time job in and of itself.

Most days you may feel as if you’re a one-man/woman band, and your own cheerleader to boot.

We want you to know that you’re not alone. We’re in your corner, and we’re rooting for you!

Unlike many others, we’re not going to bore you with a list of awards or boast about how we’re a larger-than-life organization made up of “rock stars” and “gurus” who only crank out the most pristine campaigns in the industry.

Yes, our team is comprised of talented professionals from across the country.

Yes, we have a base of loyal clients who are ecstatic to work with us again and again.

But that’s not what we’re going to talk about on this page.

Why not?

Because we’d rather share our story with you instead.

Why?

Because we live and breathe transparency. We want you to relate to us on a human level, because at the end of the day, companies like ours and yours are made up of human beings.

So, let’s dive right in.

Who the Heck is ClearPivot, Anyway?

At ClearPivot, we seek out the cleanest route to quickly connect our clients with their goals, because who has time and money to waste on useless marketing? Our obsession with putting our clients on the right track the first time traces back to own company history.

In order to understand our story, we’d like to introduce you to our chief, Chris Strom.

Chris’s road to entrepreneurship started out on a course destined for design, took a left at freelancing and U-turned when he became a business owner.

We know, the detours we took to get here are as head-scratching as a celebrity baby name, but if you keep reading, we promise it’ll all make sense.

The Gift of Unemployment

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” —Albert Einstein

Unemployment is a reality that no one wants to experience. But in our case, it was a blessing in disguise.

When Chris was young, he was obsessed with building things, like model rockets and circuit boards. He also loved art and design (his original dream was to work at Pixar).

After spending a few years living abroad post-college, Chris came back to the States energized and ready to start his career, unaware that the economic tornado that was brewing (the 2008 recession) was about to unleash its fury. *D’oh!*

Chris moved back in with his parental units and began hunting for a job. Instead of sitting on his hands, waiting to hear back from employers, he used his downtime to maintain his design skills, teach himself HTML and to start freelancing. After awhile, he wound up working for a local company doing design and video by day, buit he continued freelancing during the evening.

Things were looking up for Chris. He went from zero income to two incomes, and he started to get his footing at his full-time gig. One evening, he launched a new website for one of his freelance clients and socked away the money from that project—which turned out to be a smart move.

Because the very next day his full-time job of five months went up in smoke, and the company went out of business. *Poof*

Chris saw this as a sign and shifted his focus from finding a creative agency to work for to starting his own agency, under the name Chris Strom, LLC, which brought him full circle to his childhood dream of design.

During this time, Chris grew weary of the empty promises and self-glorification of online marketing gurus and wanted to offer companies honest marketing centered on creating clear-cut paths to help his clients reach their revenue goals.

The name ClearPivot complemented this vision perfectly, and in 2013, Chris Strom, LLC officially became ClearPivot, LLC.

At Home with Digital

ClearPivot has always been progressive with technology. For instance, nowadays, Pinterest company profiles are commonplace, but back in the day Seth Fendley, one of our project managers, put one of our clients on the Pinterest map long before businesses made their presence known.  Back when the image-sharing juggernaut was still in beta, Seth saw how popular wedding boards were and saw the potential for our client, a jewelry company, to gain some serious traction. His insight paid off, and the company quickly expanded their online presence.

Chris knew that digital media would continue to become more sophisticated and structured his company to operate virtually. He did this to create flexible communication between his staff and his clients, as well as to recruit talented professionals from all over the country, not just from his own backyard.

If you feel a little uneasy about working with a virtual company, we totally understand. You may question the reliability of a virtual office. Some of our clients were skeptical at first, too. However, they quickly changed their minds:

“I was concerned about their [ClearPivot’s] location, since we were on the East coast. I don't get to meet with them often in person, but I have access to the team within a reasonable time. Therefore, that concern is no longer an issue.”
– Jennifer Deal, Director of Marketing, Southern Surgical Arts 

Our Guts, Your Glory

Unlike other agencies, when we say we’ll go to bat for our clients, we really mean it. And we’ve got the personal experience to prove it.

In addition to having oodles of foresight, Chris is also fluent in Mandarin.

How many American business owners can say that?

After graduating college, rather than take the safe route and cruise straight into a corporate job and a cubicle, Chris decided to pack up and move overseas for several years — despite never having learned a lick of the language or the culture in his life. He dove straight in and started learning the language on the job post-arrival. The city he lived in saw few foreigners and most of the local people did not speak any English themselves, so it was "learn or starve" for Chris. But he powered through it, became fluent, and stayed for three years.

Pretty badass, huh?

We think so, but Chris is a pretty humble guy so he takes it all in stride. But underneath that modest exterior lies a maverick who is unafraid to go against the conventional wisdom to give you the edge you need to shine.

A Sponge for Knowledge

“How well can outsiders really understand my company?”

As a marketing director, we know that when you seek out an agency, this question is always lurking in the back of your mind.

We want to reassure you that we don’t learn the bare minimum about your company. We dive in—headfirst—to soak up every drop of knowledge available.

Immersion learning is a hallmark of both our company and Chris. We mentioned that he is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. But his interest in the Far East didn’t stop with the language. Chris immersed himself in Chinese culture and years later, he stays current by reading Chinese newspapers, watching Mandarin television, and interacting regularly with Chinese-speaking friends in town.

At ClearPivot, we approach learning about your company and industry with the same passion and devotion. Every company is almost its own “language,” so to speak, and should be studied in exceptional detail in order to become fluent. Any agency can gain superficial knowledge on a subject, but we believe that true learning comes from depth, not breadth, of knowledge. That’s why we go way above what’s required to really connect the dots.

And since knowledge is ever-changing, that means that once we sink our teeth into your business, we won’t stop learning. Ever. This exhaustive approach requires more effort from us, but our thoroughness is part of what separates us from our competition.

Why the Simple Way is the Only Way

“ClearPivot drinks their own Kool-Aid.”
–Dan Moyle, Director of Marketing, AmeriFirst Home Mortgage

Clear, clean demand generation is not some bandwagon that we decided to jump onto. It represents two of our company’s core values—simplicity and clarity. We believe that chaos has no place in your marketing—life’s confusing enough as it is.

In the past, you had to Frankenstein your marketing strategy using different experts from different companies. So you had to snag an SEO expert from one company, a talented copywriter from another, a sophisticated web designer/developer from a third, etc. Or you had to hope you’d stumble upon a marketing unicorn: a single person who mastered every skill set under the sun. (Spoiler alert: this person doesn’t exist.)

We became outraged after watching numerous companies like yours dump their hard-earned budgets into aimless marketing campaigns run by 10 different mercenaries scrambling in 10 different directions. We wanted to provide our clients’ with unified marketing solutions that made sense and got kick-ass results.

We specifically built our company to put an end to this piecework drama and to unite a team of experts with multiple skill sets under one roof, in order to develop cohesive, customized strategies for clients like you. Making sense out of your marketing is what gets us out of bed each and every morning.

Of course we’ll also help to increase your leads and revenue.

But you’ve probably heard that claim from every other demand generation agency out there, right?

Our knack for creating and executing clear, fuss-free strategies for you is what separates us from the pack.

We Want to Help you, Not Replace You

Can we take a moment to get real?

We know that not every marketing director is sold on agencies like ours. If you’re one of these folks, we’d like to declare something once and for all:

We’re not out to steal your job.

We understand if you secretly think we’re plotting to take over your position once we get our foot in the door. The truth is we work better TOGETHER. Let us explain:

1. We need your internal brain: We may know digital marketing like the back of our hand, but when it comes to your business model—you’re the expert. We depend on you for your insight on subject matter and industry changes discussed among your internal teams, and we use this information to enhance your campaign and results.
   
   
2. Bridge of communication: Just like we rely on you to clue us in on the latest buzz around your watercooler, we count on you to keep the lines of communication open between your company and our agency.  No matter which direction the information is flowing, you’re the bridge that connects both sides.
   
   
3. New eyes = New insights: You give a lot of your attention to your company, and sometimes when you’re intently focused on something you develop tunnel vision. When you work with us, we’ll give you a unique perspective and fresh ideas to help you to get out of your own way.
   
   
4. Accountability: When it comes to choosing an agency partner, we know that cost isn’t the only thing on your mind. You desire a team that will make you look like a superhero to your boss so you can land that long-overdue promotion, right?

At ClearPivot, we’re dead set on creating campaigns for your company that produce results backed by data — not hype — so you’re one step closer to world domination (also known as snagging that corner office).

We value the word “accountable” so much, we put it in our brand promise:

ClearPivot promises to build marketing campaigns that are as accountable, thorough and realistic as the guidance we provide to our clients, so that they can attract more of their ideal prospects and repel everyone else.