ABOUT THE DAMES
At The Dames, we come alongside SMB marketing teams as experienced partners, bringing integrated expertise that amplifies what you’re already doing well, fills key gaps, and helps you find new pathways to your target audiences.
We established The Dames in 2020, combining decades of agency, in-house, and corporate experience across multiple industries. Throughout our careers, we’ve witnessed the attention economy transform how businesses compete for recognition—and learned that success requires both strategic messaging and technical excellence working together. You’ll find us supporting in-house marketing teams, providing fractional marketing leadership, and collaborating with other seasoned professionals who share our values and commitment to meaningful results.
Read more about our award-winning team.
Our areas of specialty include:
- Integrated marketing communications strategy (online, offline, and emerging discovery methods)
- Customer-centric messaging and brand positioning
- Market research and audience intelligence
- Technical and local SEO for algorithmic search
- Answer engine optimization / generative engine optimization / LLM optimization
- Website design and development
- Project management
- UX/UI
- Conversion optimization
- Data analytics, including GA4, and GTM set-up, analysis, and reporting
- Strategic content marketing, ad creation, and sales enablement
- Traditional and digital public relations, including social media advising
- Brand authority development and reputation management
Are We a Good Fit?
We love working with clients on short-term projects and in long-term relationships, and we hope you’ll reach out to us about marcomms services. If you need a little more information first, check out this brief list of FAQs.
The American Marketing Association defines integrated marketing communications (IMC or marcomms) as “a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.” At The Dames Marketing & PR, we offer a blend of communication services that are commensurate with our many years of experience and important to client success.
We believe in being flexible and creating arrangements that work for both The Dames and our clients. Some clients choose retainers, others request project-based pricing, and still others pay by the hour. Projects and retainers can be modified or canceled at any time with a 30-day written notice and reimbursement for all hours, costs, and expenses incurred prior to the change.
We work with established businesses that typically have at least one internal marketing decision maker who's seeking strategic guidance and/or specialized execution. Our clients tend to be professional firms, CTE schools and higher education institutions, healthcare organizations, manufacturers, SaaS companies, and other businesses where expertise and reputation drive customer decisions.
A 100-percent woman-owned business, we–along with every collaborator we work with–are based entirely in the United States. The Dames Marketing & PR is located in Canton, Ohio.
- Business / corporate / institutional lead-generation websites. Lead-gen sites are intended to help organizations educate, nurture, and convert prospective customers (or clients, students, etc.) for additional outreach from sales and marketing team members.
- High-authority content and resource hubs. These robust, information-dense platforms are designed for organizations that lead their industry through thought leadership. Unlike static "brochure" sites, these are living ecosystems built to manage large content libraries, drive organic traffic, and establish long-term brand authority.
- E-commerce websites. Customers buy products or services directly on this type of website.
For website design and development projects, we build in WordPress using Elementor or collaborate on custom web development. For other marketing and PR work, we're comfortable working within virtually any content management system our clients use.
This depends on many factors, including the size of a website, how complex it is, and how long it takes to obtain assets and internal approvals.
Often a marcomm agency will charge monthly maintenance and update fees, which usually are unnecessary. As long as we have a working relationship with a client, we will make the occasional updates a website needs to remain in good working order. For technical website issues, we always make sure our clients are covered through a trusted developer who’s available on an as-needed basis.
We will never, ever hold a client’s website hostage. If you choose another provider for website services, we will work quickly and cooperatively to ensure a smooth transition.
We believe in total transparency with clients and do not subcontract out project work. Rather, we carefully vet other marketing, PR, design, and development professionals with similar values and experience to our own and forge partnerships that benefit not only The Dames, but also our collaborators and clients.
We do not currently subcontract with any other marketing communications agency, although we may partner from time to time with boutique agencies that offer customized services we do not. Also, while we are open to exploring new collaborative partnerships, we generally won't work under the direction of third-party marketing providers that do not share our values and level of experience.
Still have questions?
Please reach out! We’d love to chat.
MEET THE DAMES
As a communicator, I’m known for big-picture ideas, as well as the ability to accomplish them using an organized, strategic approach. Writing is how I get it done. It brings clarity and focus to everything I do and results in brand messaging and content assets that are both creative and on point.
Success in marketing and public relations—with their ever-changing array of platforms, apps, and tools—requires clarity and focus, too. With more than two decades of agency, small business, corporate, and non-profit experience, I’m the right dame to do it. My passion is helping clients zero in on the communication strategies and tactics that align with their business objectives and guiding them through the implementation process from start to finish.
Industries I’ve served extensively include health care, manufacturing / heavy industry, and education. I also have experience with banking, e-commerce, building and construction, home improvement, leadership training, energy, legal, business consulting, and more.
Founder and member of the same book club since 1997, I love to read and learn every single day. My high-strung chocolate lab, named after C.S. Lewis, often makes me question my sanity, and my 80s playlist on Apple Music is heavily influenced by Billy Joel. My days usually start with freshly ground coffee or black loose-leaf tea of Kenyan origin, and they sometimes end with a bit of bourbon. A fan of hiking and history, I hope to someday visit Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon and trek to the top of Half Dome.
Jen Carroll
Annalisa Hilliard
Throughout my life, I’ve been driven by a curiosity to know and understand ideas and things—science, technology, poetry, communication, and psychology, among others.
In the fast-paced industry of marketing, my curiosity has served me well, not only in learning SEO, web analytics, UX/UI, and conversion optimization, but also in discovering my penchant for research and analysis. I love performing data research and analysis that helps my clients establish specific, targeted marketing and sales goals and achieve even greater business success.
Industries I’ve worked with extensively include manufacturing / heavy industry and e-commerce. I also have experience with real estate, education, SaaS / cloud-based software, health care, and more.
In moments when I’m not focused on The Dames, I indulge my passion for plants and my appetite for learning. I care about social justice issues, like poverty, racism, and gender inequality, and I crave spending time outdoors. Relaxation for me is coffee, craft beer, biking, and watching episodes of Schitt’s Creek.