Eric S. Chapman

Marketing director, writer and photographer in Michigan

Good marketing begins with paying attention.

Most of what a business needs to know is already in front of it: the search result a customer sees first, the profile they read before calling, the moment on a website when they decide to leave. I support marketing for 50+ home service brands across 90+ Midwest locations, and before that spent a decade as the only marketer at a 13-person company that grew to $25 million.

If something isn't working, send me your website. I'll reply with the first thing I would look at.

Send me your websiteSee the services
Illustrated portrait of Eric smiling, in glasses, a black jacket, and a striped shirt
Years in marketing
15+
Brands supported, across 90+ locations
50+
Revenue, single startup
$25M
Employees, as sole marketing hire
150+

Several careers, one habit

My first job was as an EMT in East Detroit. Since then I have studied network architecture, marketed biological samples to federal laboratories, and spent ten years as a one-person marketing department. On paper the path looks scattered. Each role asked for the same thing: to see what was actually happening, often under pressure, before deciding what to do about it.

That habit is most of what I bring to a business. Before spending more to reach new customers, it is usually worth understanding why some of the current ones never call. I have done the work of brand strategy, paid media, search, content, and analytics myself, which makes it easier to tell where it is being done well and where it only looks that way.

  • Brand strategy
  • Paid media
  • SEO
  • Content
  • Email
  • Analytics
  • Agency management
  • Team building
The long way around

Selected work

All work

13 to 150+ people

One marketer, 13 people, $25 million

For ten years I was the whole marketing department at a home services company that grew from 13 people to $25 million and four locations, then sold to private equity.

  • Case study

Also: 9 websites and small web tools I've built. See them all

Work with me

A few clients at a time

I keep freelance work deliberately small. A business is easier to see clearly when it isn't one of twenty. Most engagements begin in one of these four places:

  • Website Design & CRO

    Custom websites written for the people who use them, and careful improvements to the site you already have.

  • Local SEO

    Audits, service and location pages, listings, and reviews, so nearby customers find you when they search.

  • Google Business Profile Management

    Setup, photos, posts, reviews, and tracking for the profile many customers see before your website.

  • Fractional Marketing Leadership

    A senior marketer to set strategy, manage agencies, and take responsibility for results, part time.

Send me your websiteAll servicesWithin two business days, I'll reply with the first thing I would address. There's no charge for that, and no pitch. The fine print.

Certifications

  • AMA Professional Certified Marketer and Marketing Manager
  • Google Analytics, Ads Search, Conversion Optimization
  • Conductor Intelligence Certification

Featured in

Outside of marketing

Most read: Haunted Pere Cheney Cemetery

The writing and photographs come from the same habit, applied to places and objects most people pass without a second look.

Watercolor of a winding blue creek between stony banks, with a small frog on a rock in the foreground

Poetry and essays

Stone Dams

Poems, a free chapbook (I Got Lost), and essays like a field report from Pere Cheney Cemetery.

Read the writing
The Big Boy statue at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, photographed by Eric Chapman
Big Boy at the American Sign Museum, Cincinnati

Photography

Monuments & Milestones

Roadside giants, forgotten buildings, odd little figures, and animals with opinions, in three ongoing series.

See the photographs

Meditation

A sitting practice, learned from many teachers

Meditation is the thread under everything else here: the attention I bring to a brand, a poem, or a photograph starts on the cushion. I'm a certified meditation teacher, and I'm still very much a student.

Certified Meditation TeacherThe Meditation Organization, 2022

More about my practice