“Paid Promotion Is The Hare, Organic Is The Tortoise” 5 Startup Strategies With Marissa Ryan, Co-Founder of VisualFizz

I had the pleasure of interviewing Marissa Ryan, Co-Founder of VisualFizz, a digital marketing agency based in Chicago. Marissa’s marketing advice has been published in Forbes, Apple News, BuiltIn Chicago, and USA Weekly.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”? How did you first get into this business or get interested in the business?

I came from a small town in Wisconsin and got my degree in Green Bay. Small towns are nice, but I knew from the get-go that it wasn’t for me. I moved down to Chicago a month after graduating and fell in love with the energy of the city. I started out with an unpaid internship at a small boutique agency that believed in me. From there, I worked in a few small to mid-sized agencies and learned the ropes of digital marketing. I started off college as a Psychology major (ended with a Business Marketing Degree), and I was blown away by how much Psychology plays into marketing, especially online. Agency life gets a bad rap, but I truly loved the fast-paced nature of it. Every day was completely different — it was a whirlwind of client meetings, SOW documents, data analysis, and crazy advertising ideas that just might work. I started out managing $100 ad campaigns, and…