Several years ago, a longtime business friend referred R2R Marketing to a company CEO, describing us as small but mighty. That resonated with us AND with the CEO, who hired R2R to be their company’s one-stop marketing team.
We continue to use that phrase because it’s accurate. However, it doesn’t fully explain what makes the R2R team so mighty. It’s the team. A group of highly skilled industry professionals with years of demonstrated expertise. More importantly, we have decades of experience working together, trusting each other, leaning on each other, and lifting up our clients together.
You don’t find this kind of shared experience and expertise very often, and it’s a prime reason why our clients so often tell us, “We haven’t worked with a firm like yours before.” Our team is made up of Tom, owner and COO; Kelly, creative director and co-owner; Janelle, senior account manager; Debbie, office manager; Taylor, account manager; Matt, lead programmer; and Maggie, social media manager.
The journey to today is a key part of why we work so well together and why we have the trust and efficiency that comes from deep respect and time together. It started more than 20 years ago when Tom and Kelly were freelancers who worked together to help a mutual client. Soon after, Kelly brought Tom’s web development firm in to help at the private school where she was an art teacher. When Kelly left the school, she did some freelance work for Tom’s company at the time.
Tom started working with Debbie and Janelle when his firm was acquired by a local ad agency – Debbie had worked there for several years, and Janelle was a fairly recent arrival, coming from an ad agency in Chicago. Tom became the CEO and brought Kelly in to help with business development.
The group worked well together and with others, but that ad agency wasn’t a long-term home. Kelly joined R2R Marketing and started working with Matt, who was a freelance web programmer at the time. Tom followed soon after (about 10 years ago in our story), and two years later, Debbie found a home at R2R.
Janelle left the agency to lead marketing efforts for a leading player in the maritime industry until she was ready for a change and joined Tom, Kelly, and Debbie at R2R. Matt’s role soon shifted to full-time programmer.
Taylor came to R2R after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University and a stint working in Alaska. She moved on after a few years and then returned, having gained experience at larger marketing and PR agencies. Maggie joined the R2R team in the spring of 2022 and immediately fit in so well that it’s like she’s been here the whole time.
Even our freelancers have long relationships with the team – Tom has worked with Don for more than 15 years, and Shannon and Susie have been on the team for more than four years.
If you made it this far in our story, you should have a good sense of the dynamics that make R2R a small but mighty team. We have a shared history to draw on, made up of successes, and a few failures, spanning two decades. We know what each other is thinking and push each other to be the best possible versions of ourselves. We have a depth of experience, along with young guns who bring fresh ideas and keep us sharp. To us, it’s a near-perfect blend of wisdom and experience combined with the newest technologies and trends.
We’re not a fit for every client, but we’re always willing to talk and discover if we can help.
What’s your story? We want to hear it.
