Fractional & Remote
Head of Marketing
for E-Commerce & D2C Brands
With Misty
for Brands That
Have Outgrown
Fragmented Marketing
Senior E-Commerce
Marketing Leadership
Your e-commerce brand does not necessarily need another agency, and it doesn’t necessarily need someone directly in-house either.
Sometimes a remote, full service marketing leader is what is needed, and that’s what I bring to the table.
A 25 year strong, senior marketing leader who can step into the business, understand the entire customer and revenue ecosystem, identify what is actually holding growth back, and lead the marketing function with the same level of accountability expected from an internal Head of Marketing or CMO.
That is where I come in.
But I only work in remote environments.
I’m Misty Burrell.
I work with established e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands as a Remote, and Fractional Head of Marketing, Fractional CMO, Creative Director, and Brand Manager, bringing senior-level strategy and marketing execution work across the entire marketing ecosystem.
My role is to see the whole picture.
Brand.
Customer.
Product.
Positioning.
Creative.
Search.
Advertising.
Email.
Retention.
Conversion.
Community.
Revenue.
And the systems connecting all of it.
Because when every marketing channel is managed separately, growth can become expensive, inconsistent, and difficult to understand.
EmBeance Places Social Community & Brand Management At The Core Of Marketing & Advertising Strategy.
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EmBeance Places Social Community & Brand Management At The Core Of Marketing & Advertising Strategy. ~
Disclaimer: Consent Is Key So Check Your Email For Your Official Opt In Once You’ve Signed Up.
Maybe Your Brand Has Marketing
But Does It Have Leadership?
A lot of established D2C brands reach a point where the problem is no longer a lack of marketing activity.
There may already be:
A Shopify or other e-commerce platform
Paid media
An SEO provider
Email and SMS
Social media
Influencers or affiliates
A creative team
Freelance designers
Photographers and videographers
Developers
Customer service
Operations
Existing agencies or specialists
And yet the brand and subsequent messaging can still feel fragmented.
The ads are focused on acquisition.
Email is focused on promotions.
Social is focused on content.
The website is focused on products.
Creative is focused on aesthetics.
SEO is focused on rankings.
And nobody is necessarily responsible for making sure all of those decisions support the same brand, customer journey, positioning, and revenue strategy.
That fragmentation is the core problem.
It’s not an ad problem, it’s not an seo problem, it’s not an AI is doing this to us problem, it’s simply a fragmentation problem because very few marketers have taken the approach that I have to marketing and advertising over the last 25 years in marketing and advertising connecting all of the pieces, and turning that fragmentation into a fully functioning marketing ecosystem where priority is placed on all pieces, all at the same time.
The noise gets reduced.
Alignment between brand messaging and the right customers and clients happen at a stronger scale (I make 0 promises but, this is always the goal).
Trends don’t matter nearly as much! (What happened with Olive Garden and Group 7 being the very rare exception).
And the need to follow the crowd instead of the heart, soul, and spirit of your own brand’s why…….well, it shouldn’t take me saying it for you to know that it’s time to get back to that and no, marketing doesn’t have to be boring but, it also doesn’t have to be full of fake case studies, fake testimonials, performative nonsense, or everything but what you’re actually here to do either.
Do you want to get back to the joy in what you built and do or do you want to keep playing a game that all the wrong people entered you into that you never signed up to play to begin with?
This is the question I’m asking as a Senior Level Marketing leader that doesn’t care about labels and titles.
This is also the question I’m asking those coming to me because I know I’m not alone.
I’m a Marketing Leader with a 25 year background that never signed up to be on camera just to “promote” my business that isn’t even a business and was never intended to be.
I’m a Marketing Leader that will happily design your brand t-shirts and merch, and bible studies, and bible covers but has 0 desire to sell any under “EmBeance” that was always meant to just be a “Pen Name” not an actual business.
I will happily work my butt off to build your brand in loyalty, honesty, dedication but, in return I simply ask that my hours of availability be honored, my holiday off hours be honored, and that I be paid fairly for what I do. You want real - there you have it!
I’m not a robot, I use AI minimally but beneficially, and everything I produce centers around content and creativity from the heart, designed in joy, and truth in marketing. That’s Marketing Leadership in today’s Authenticity, and Interest based media first world.
I Step Into the Gap Between Strategy and Execution
At EmBeance
As your Remote or Fractional Head of Marketing, I look across the ecosystem rather than treating every marketing channel as a separate assignment.
That means determining:
What the brand should be known for
Who the brand is actually positioned to serve
Whether the offer supports the positioning
Where customers discover the brand
What causes them to trust it
What gets them to purchase
What prevents conversion
What creates repeat purchases
Where acquisition is becoming too expensive
Where creative is becoming disconnected from strategy
Whether paid media is amplifying a strong brand or compensating for a weak one
Whether email is building customer value or simply discounting
Whether search visibility reflects the authority the brand wants to build
Whether the customer experience matches the promise being made
Whether the marketing data is actually being interpreted correctly
What should be fixed before more money is put behind it
The objective is not to make the brand busier.
The objective is to make the marketing ecosystem more intentional, connected, measurable, and commercially useful.
What Fractional
Marketing Leadership Looks Like
Custom Solutions Tailored To Your Brand & Business On Retainer
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Custom Solutions Tailored To Your Brand & Business On Retainer ~
Ecommerce Brand Strategy:
A growing D2C brand needs more than a beautiful identity.
It needs a position that can survive competition.
I work across:
Brand positioning
Differentiation
Messaging architecture
Customer and market analysis
Brand perception
Product positioning
Offer architecture
Pricing psychology
Competitive positioning
Brand voice
Customer experience
Brand evolution and repositioning
The goal is to make the brand easier to understand, easier to remember, easier to trust, and ultimately easier to choose.
Paid Media Strategy:
Paid media should amplify a strong marketing system.
It should not be expected to rescue one.
I can provide strategic oversight across:
Google Ads
Meta Ads
Paid search
Paid social
Campaign architecture
Creative strategy
Landing page alignment
Offer alignment
Audience strategy
Tracking and measurement considerations
Performance analysis
Budget allocation
Testing priorities
Acquisition economics
The goal is not to chase a dashboard metric without understanding the business underneath it.
Revenue quality matters.
Customer quality matters.
Margin matters.
Retention matters.
Brand health matters.
And the relationship between those variables matters.
Ecommerce Growth Marketing:
Growth should not be reduced to "run more ads."
I evaluate the complete path from discovery to purchase and beyond.
That can include:
Customer acquisition strategy
Conversion strategy
Product merchandising
Collection and category strategy
Landing page strategy
Website experience
Promotional strategy
Launch planning
Seasonal campaigns
Customer lifecycle strategy
Retention opportunities
Repeat purchase strategy
Average order value opportunities
Customer lifetime value
Funnel architecture
Revenue planning
The question is always bigger than "what should be posted?"
The better question is:
What does the brand need the customer to understand, believe, do, and experience next?E
Search Brand Management:
Modern e-commerce discovery does not happen only through traditional search engines.
Customers may encounter a brand through Google, AI search, social search, marketplaces, reviews, communities, creators, video, paid media, product discovery platforms, and recommendations.
Your digital presence has become a distributed brand ecosystem.
I manage that ecosystem through the same broader Search Brand Management philosophy used throughout my work.
The objective is to create consistency between what customers search, what they discover, what the brand says, what other people say about the brand, and what ultimately happens when someone reaches the website.
Search visibility is not simply an SEO function.
It is a brand management function.
Ecommerce Creative Direction:
Creative should not exist separately from marketing strategy.
As Creative Director, I establish the strategic direction behind how the brand looks, communicates, campaigns, launches, and presents itself across the customer journey.
That can include:
Campaign concepts
Seasonal creative direction
Product storytelling
Campaign styling
Website visual direction
Social visual direction
Email creative direction
Photography direction
Art direction
Brand consistency
Creative briefs
Content direction
Brand experience
I do not believe every brand needs more content.
I believe brands need better creative decisions.
Email, Lifecycle & Retention :
Modern e-commerce discovery does not happen only through traditional search engines.
Customers may encounter a brand through Google, AI search, social search, marketplaces, reviews, communities, creators, video, paid media, product discovery platforms, and recommendations.
Your digital presence has become a distributed brand ecosystem.
I manage that ecosystem through the same broader Search Brand Management philosophy used throughout my work.
The objective is to create consistency between what customers search, what they discover, what the brand says, what other people say about the brand, and what ultimately happens when someone reaches the website.
Search visibility is not simply an SEO function.
It is a brand management function.
I Do Not Need to Replace Your Team
This is important.
I am not an agency bringing an army of junior marketers into your business.
I am a senior marketing leader that takes a servant leadership approach to marketing leadership.
If your brand already has talented people, agencies, freelancers, developers, media buyers, designers, photographers, or specialists, I can work with the structure already in place regardless of what that may be.
If someone needs to be brought in that fills a gap that does not currently exist, I can help identify the right capability, interview, hire, and direct the work.
I can also personally handle strategic or creative execution when that is the most efficient option until the right hire is found if that is the case.
The distinction is simple:
You do not need to hire a collection of disconnected specialists and hope they operate like a marketing department.
You can bring in one senior marketing leader responsible for seeing how the pieces fit together who actually isn’t afraid to craft the plans, and even do the heavy lifting work themselves.
Again, I take a servant leadership approach to marketing leadership. That doesn’t make me a Junior Marketer, it just means that I make it a priority as a leader to keep up, to stay integrated, and to step in, help, and fill in gaps where needed to ensure the work gets done while creating plans for roles based on those gaps, and then leading those in integrity that serve on my team with me.
The NorthStar Framework
My approach is built around the same principle
behind my broader NorthStar Framework:
Brand → Strategy → Systems → Execution → Revenue
For an e-commerce brand, that means looking at the complete marketing ecosystem before deciding which tactic deserves more investment.
A typical engagement may examine:
01. Brand
Positioning, identity, differentiation, perception, messaging, customer promise.
02. Strategy
Business objectives, customer strategy, competitive environment, growth priorities, offer strategy.
03. Systems
Marketing infrastructure, workflows, customer lifecycle, reporting, technology, processes, communication.
04. Execution
Campaigns, creative, advertising, search, email, social, website, launches, promotions.
05. Revenue
Acquisition, conversion, average order value, retention, repeat purchase, customer lifetime value, sustainable growth.
The “EmBeance” NorthStar Framework is intentionally flexible.
The needs and positioning of the business i’m working with determines what deserves attention first depending on when that brand comes to me, what’s coming down the line, and any compliance issues that may need to be set up as the top level prioritity before growth can effectively happen in brand integrity.
Who I Work Best With:
I am looking for established e-commerce and D2C brands that take their brand seriously and are ready for senior marketing leadership.
The strongest fit is typically a brand with:
Existing revenue
A real product and customer base
A willingness to invest in marketing strategically
Internal or external execution resources
Leadership that wants accountability rather than activity
A desire to build long-term brand equity
A willingness to make strategic changes when the data supports them
A genuine interest in building something that can scale without destroying the brand in the process
This is not a starter package for a brand that needs someone to "do social media."
It is not a content mill.
It is not a VA arrangement.
It is not a low-cost substitute for an executive.
It is fractional senior marketing leadership.
When a D2C Brand Usually
Needs Me
This is important.
I’m going to break this down in a way that most marketers never will because I hate industry talk, and I hate all the jargon that most marketers use.
With me you get language you will actually understand, and the truth, not some fabrication that you want to hear, or that typically makes marketers look good in industry discussions and board meetings.
So here we go: You may be at the point where:
Revenue is established but growth has become inconsistent
Marketing budget is a topic that never comes up or your advertising budget is dependent on the founders feelings instead of what the data shows a leader.
Multiple specialists are working without a senior marketing leader being given a seat at the table on a weekly basis with other board members, leaders, or the founder.
You as the founder are still acting as the creative director and marketing director controling marketing on feeling, on a whim, and with no real plan in place because the numbers aren’t something you fully understand for what those numbers and that data is actually trying to tell you.
The brand has evolved but the positioning has not
Your website looks good but does not convert at the level it should
Paid media is an after thought with no real management.
Your marketing is focusing more on social posts instead of long term campaigns that cover the full picture of the brand.
Customer acquisition is becoming increasingly expensive
Customer Retention has not been strategically developed and Customer Loyalty Doesn’t Exist with no real solutions being brought to the table to address this.
Abandoned Carts are the normal with no plans in place to win customer trust and purchases.
Creative feels disconnected from the brand
You are launching products without a cohesive launch strategy or any notice at all given to your agency, or marketing teams and those product launches flop as a result.
Marketing decisions are being made channel by channel or on a whim.
Nobody is responsible for the entire customer journey
You have an internal team but need senior leadership above it
You have an agency but no one internally connecting the strategy or communicating brand goals, and brand campaigns with them.
You have an agency but you’re never allowed to discuss goals or plans, and can’t ever get them on the phone to actually work along side of them as a member of the actual team that you need.
You are preparing for a significant growth phase, acquisition, expansion, or brand evolution
Everything about your marketing is about “Right now” activity.
You have an office manager or assistant trying to step in and either handle marketing themselves or micromanage your current marketing team to prove themselves to you and it’s costing you talent which leads to failed customer trust because the messaging just changed and you don’t even realize it but, your audience, and your customers do!
What Working With Me Can Look Like
Depending on the needs of the business, I can step into the role as:
Fractional Head of Marketing
For brands that need someone responsible for the broader marketing function, strategic priorities, cross-channel alignment, and marketing decision-making.
Fractional CMO
For established brands that need executive-level marketing strategy without immediately adding a full-time C-suite position.
Creative Director
For brands where creative direction, campaign identity, brand experience, and visual consistency need senior leadership.
Brand Manager
For brands that need someone protecting the integrity of the brand while connecting positioning, messaging, campaigns, customer experience, and growth.
Strategic Marketing Partner
For brands that already have strong internal leadership but need an experienced senior marketing manager to take the weight of marketing off of others within the brand, organization, or business and create a plan that gets implemented strategically internally.
The title may vary - I’m someone that could personally care less about titles, and labels.
The responsibility that a marketing leader holds though, does not.
I am here to lead marketing in integrity.
Terms Of Engagement:
Working with me as a Remote, Fractional senior marketing leader is not priced like task-based freelance marketing.
The investment in our engagement and partnership needs to reflect the level of responsibility, strategic involvement, access, and continuity required to operate on an ongoing basis.
With me there’s no in and out behavior.
There’s no “Hey Misty, can you set this up for me 1x so I can DIY it and have an agency or virtual assistant manage the rest.”
My engagements are customized based on:
Business complexity
Revenue stage
Existing marketing infrastructure
Internal Team Structure
Growth Objectives
Scope of Leadership & Responsibility
Execution Of Work Needs & Commitments
Complexity of The Marketing Ecosystem
Most ongoing engagements begin with a strategic assessment and alignment process before a long term strategy is built, and recommended.
This ensures any marketing strategy crafted is built around truth in marketing, compliance, and what the brand actually needs instead of running towards what may be popular but, not always right.
The Right Marketing Leader
& Consultant
Changes The Question
The right marketing leader is going to ask:
What is this brand trying to accomplish?
What is preventing that goal from being accomplished?
Which items on the to do list need to happen right now, and why?
Then once those are done, what’s next up on the list, and why?
When I step into a high level leadership role, even when I’m assisting with the execution (and I do believe that great marketing leaders are not above this so I do), this is all apart of the work that I do.
It’s not just execution.
It’s not just a list of tasks that a cousin, nephew, or some high school or college kid needing a few bucks could do. Every task has to be thought through. Every post. Every ad. Every article. Every backlink.
This is what so many brands are missing.
This is why so many brands aren’t ranking, aren’t growing, and aren’t seeing their own harvest.
Why isn’t marketing working?
So many founders are asking “Why isn’t marketing working?” If you really want the honest truth from someone that’s in this, in the communities, and in the data, it’s because nothing that is being pumped out and advertised connects to the greater message, the greater purpose, the greater heart, soul, and spirit of the brand itself in a way that aligns with what the community is asking for, needing or wanting.
I know, that was probably a very hard truth to swallow but, it’s the truth in most of the brands I see because founders forget that without focusing on their community, what they are asking for, needing, and wanting - they don’t have a business and so it’s time to course correct with someone that actually understands what is happening, and why.
I take you back to the root and the foundation of your brand, then build your design, your messaging, and your positioning around those marketing truths before I ever try to reconnect you to an audience that doesn’t align or see the bigger picture of what you’re trying to offer them.
Then once I do that, it’s my job to educate on your products, make them irresistable at the right time, and with the right, compliant messaging, and sometimes in some spaces and places, that also means working with the collective group that is your audience to fast track promotions we’ve already pre-planned out that fit.
In order to do that though, and unlike many that do what I do that requires the founders and boards that I work with to actually communicate with me, and empower me with the tools, and resources I very rarely ever ask for as well as a trust in the data I bring to you and or the board in our standard weekly monday meetings as we plan for what’s coming next.
The right marketing leader and consultant isn’t always going to do what is popular, in trend, or in demand. I see it all too often. I’ve even experienced it as a Senior Level Marketing Leader with a 25 year background; I get brought in to solve problems, then before I know it I’m being asked:
To Create 30+ posts a week.
To reduce adspend to almost nothing a day while competitors are running at $30k+ a week.
To change all brand messaging to out of compliance deceptive advertising or run fake testimonial ads (I won’t do this just so we’re clear).
To start planning a full brand redesign that doesn’t align with the brand at all just because it’s what someone in the founders head and ear recommended.
What this tells me is campaigns, brands, and all output has been fragmented for a very long time, and managed separately based on emotion, other people’s opinions that aren’t looking at the concrete data, aren’t studying the community, or even more frequently are being determined by a slow day or timeframe in business, instead of each area of the brand and marketing for the brand working in conjunction with one another and that is the exact problem I aim to solve as a creative director, brand manager, and full service E-Commerce Manager.
If you’re a founder that believes or is listening to the people that are saying you shouldn’t need to run a campaign or sale or promotion to run a sale, you’re listening to the wrong people, and operating in too much ego.
You don’t need a (nother) yes person running your marketing, or leading your marketing.
You need someone who is going to push back, give you the truth, actually work with you to grow and scale your brand, and that will actually communicate with you during their hours of availability that matches yours!
How To Retain Me
Engagement Policies
Every engagement begins with an application to work with me.
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Every engagement begins with an application to work with me. ~
Step 1: Inquire
We begin by learning about your business, growth goals, operational structure, and industry-specific considerations.Every engagement begins with a paid Strategic Brand Audit.
If approved, you'll be invited to a Strategic Alignment Call to determine:
partnership fit
ecosystem complexity
growth opportunities
operational requirements
governance considerations
This is not a sales call. I do not sell, and I do not play the prove yourself game for free strategy either.
It is a mutual get to know each other process.
Step 2: Customized Recommendation
Based on our conversation, you'll receive a strategic recommendation.
This may include:
Strategic Brand Audit
For businesses requiring a comprehensive evaluation.
Strategic Restructuring
For businesses requiring ecosystem optimization.
Search Brand Management Partnership
For businesses prepared to engage in long-term strategic growth.
Every recommendation is customized.
Step 3: Ongoing Marketing Partnership
Search Brand Management at EmBeance operates exclusively through long-term strategic partnerships.
This model allows for:
continuity
governance
authority building
sustainable growth
operational consistency
Short term engagements are not sustainable.
Brand Strategy & Management sets the foundation for growth when the path is followed.
Investment
Foundation & Presence Partnership
Starting at $2,500/month
10~12 hours weekly. Senior strategy, brand oversight, and focused execution on your highest-priority marketing needs. Right for businesses that need an experienced marketing mind in their corner focusing on the right things at the right time,and streamlined / systemized to scale to new levels over time - not all at once.
Growth Partnership
Starting at $5,416/month
20 hours weekly. Full strategic oversight, campaign management, brand governance, content direction, and compliance / diagnostic reviews built in. Right for established businesses ready to scale with marketing strategies that actually hold and a senior marketing leader watching the whole picture, not just individual deliverables.
Authority Partnership
Starting at $10,834/month
This is the answer to "what would it cost to just retain you completely?"
Full-time hours. Full-scope management. Brand, growth, communications, content, campaigns, compliance ~ everything under one roof with one senior marketing leader leading all of it. This tier is for organizations ready to stop patching and start building in a full service, full time capacity.