Chicago · Digital marketing for small businesses
Did you start your business to do what you love, or to become a content creator?
Most owners I meet are running two businesses: the one they love, and a full-time marketing job nobody trained them for. I'm Austin, a Chicago digital marketing strategist. I take the second job off your plate and show you, in plain numbers, exactly what it's earning you.
Free. No pitch. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you.
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Running a business is two jobs.
Job A
The one you love.
The craft, the clients, the reason you signed the lease.
Job B
Full-time marketer.
- Content creator
- Ad buyer
- Copywriter
- Analyst
- Algorithm-whisperer
Job B never clocks out. It's the post you meant to make Tuesday. The course you bought and didn't finish. The free PDF that promised a system. The nagging feeling at 11pm that you should be doing something, with no idea whether any of it is working.
You're not bad at marketing. You're tired. There's a difference.
Hand me Job B.
Case study · TUTA Theatre Chicago · Crime and Punishment
They asked for a poster. They needed ticket sales.
TUTA Theatre hired me to design a poster. After an audit, I told them the truth:
"That's not what you need. Y'all need ticket sales. And that's direct sales ads."
They gave me $100 to test. It worked. So I took over their marketing: key art, posters, digital assets, Meta ads, pixel and retargeting, sales tracking, and a weekly data report they could actually read.
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The highest-grossing production in the company's history. Sold-out weeks. A run extended again and again. About 70% of buyers were first-time visitors to the theatre.
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"We first brought HDM on to design our poster. But what we actually needed was someone to own all of our marketing efforts… and he knocked it out of the park!"
JSJacqueline StoneCo-Artistic Director and Director of Crime and Punishment, TUTA Theatre
Results from one campaign. Yours will depend on your offer, your market and your budget, which is exactly what the free call is for.
Marketing got loud. Let's quiet the noise.
Tap a myth to get the truth
Ads have to be expensive.
Most businesses don't need a thousand sales a day. They need two new customers a week. The TUTA campaign was built to sell 75 seats a week on about $10 a day.
You need a perfect website first.
The best website in the world can't sell to people who never see it. We build your message and your visibility first. Then you invest in polish, backed by what's already working.
You need to go viral.
A small, consistent, devoted audience beats a million views that never buy. I build lead machines, not lottery tickets.
Clarity is kindness.
Marketing has a frat-bro problem: big promises, vague reports, and "just trust me" when you ask what's going on. Here's how I work instead.
Tap to open each one
Radical transparency.
Every price is on this site. Every report shows real numbers, like the real one on this page, delivered on a set schedule. If something isn't working, you'll hear it from me first, along with what we're doing about it.
ROI you can actually see.
Stupid-simple tracking: what you spent, who it reached, what it brought in. Every decision is backed by data, not emotion. If you can't see what your marketing is doing, I haven't done my job.
No emergencies. Only guardrails.
I've taught CPR to ER nurses and doctors. I know what an emergency looks like, and your Instagram isn't one. Before we launch, we agree on the numbers that matter, the line we won't cross, and plan B if we get close. Sometimes you'll be delightfully surprised. You'll never be horribly surprised.
A real weekly report · TUTA Theatre, week 12
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One page. Ad spend, tickets sold and revenue, this week against the running total. No 40-slide deck, no jargon, nothing hidden.
From first call to live in about 30 days.
Free 15-minute call
We figure out if we're a fit. I'll tell you what I'd do, and if I'm not the right person, I'll say so and tell you why.
15 minutesYour plan of attack
If we're a fit, I build your growth strategy and walk you through it on a second call, with the package I'd recommend.
Second callIgnition
Brand, messaging, offer and your playbook, plus accounts, onboarding and a funnel audit. Then content and your shoot day, with your approval at every step.
Days 1–22Launch, track, optimize
We go live, I watch the numbers, and we keep improving. Reports land on schedule. The plan evolves as the data does.
~Day 30 → ongoingTiming depends on how quickly materials come in and shoots get scheduled. I'll tell you exactly where we are every step of the way.
Choose how much you want off your plate.
Every package is built around you. The + means paid ads are included.
Ignition
$2,400 one time
Before anything goes live, I build your strategy: discovery and your plan of attack, brand and messaging, offer development, copywriting and SEO/GEO, and the playbook we'll run together. The playbook is yours to keep.
Step 2 · Then pick your monthly package
Your brand's already strong. You need more of the right people seeing it.
Compare packages → AContent$1,749/moI create it. You post it.
Compare packages → A+Content + Adsfrom $3,074/moContent that converts, and ads that bring in new people.
Compare packages → AA+Full ownership + Adsfrom $4,799/moI run the whole channel. You run your business.
Compare packages →We agree on your KPIs together. If we haven't hit them by day 90, I keep working for free until we do.
Every package has a 3-month minimum. Pay three months up front and save 8%. The 90-day promise terms are spelled out in your service agreement.
The Full Machine
Need qualified leads booked straight onto your calendar?
For high-ticket businesses (think kitchen remodels), I build The Full Machine: ads that bring people in, automations that qualify them, and appointments handed to your team. It's custom, so it starts with a conversation.
Where the system came from
My own business was the proving ground.
Before Hunt Digital, I built Uncommon Plant Guy, a Chicago plant education business, from the ground up. That's where I lived the two-jobs problem, and where I tested, broke and rebuilt my approach until I had a system that worked.
Then I took that system to other businesses in other niches and markets, and it kept working. That repeatable system is what you're hiring.
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On my own business
Tested with my own money and my own customers, not someone else's.
Across niches and markets
From theatre to plants to the 47 small businesses I supported at an agency.
To your business
Tailored to your customers, your market and what makes you different.
Uncommon Plant Guy · before and after the system
Don't take my word for it.
"Even with a modest budget, he helped us understand just how powerful a paid-ads campaign can be in the right hands."
BGBrad GunterManaging Director, TUTA Theatre
"We had to have serious conversations about just how long we could keep the show running, because every extension just kept selling out."
HLHelen LattyakCreative Producer, TUTA Theatre
"I still think he's kinda a magician? I have no idea how he did what he did, but we'll never do another show without him."
AMAileen McGroddyCo-Artistic Director, TUTA Theatre
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Hi, I'm Austin.
Former Chicago actor and director. CPR instructor to ER nurses and doctors. Small-business owner. Now I'm the marketing strategist for owners who'd rather be doing the work they love.
I'm blunt, I'm kind, and I'll never blow smoke. I choose my clients carefully, so the person on your first call is the person doing your work.
Questions owners ask me.
Isn't this going to be expensive?
Marketing isn't an expense, it's an investment. And you should be able to see exactly what it's earning you. Every price is listed on this site, and ads can start at as little as $5 a day.
Can you guarantee results?
We agree on your KPIs together, and if we haven't hit them by day 90, I keep working for free until we do. What happens after a lead reaches you is up to your team. If follow-up is the bottleneck, I'll tell you.
Ads scare me.
But I'm not a surgeon. Ads are powerful because they reach exactly the people you choose. You control far more with paid ads than with organic posts, and I'll show you every dollar.
I'm doing okay making my own content.
Great. Is it bringing in new sales? Growing your reach every week? Turning followers into loyal customers? If the answer is "I'm not sure," that's what the free call is for.
I need a better website first.
A website isn't going to bring you business. A marketing strategy built on generating demand will bring you revenue. The branding and testing we do together also locks in your messaging, so when you do invest in a new site, you'll know exactly what it should say.
Do you only work with certain industries?
I work with med spas, dental and vet practices, therapists, breweries, design-build and tile firms, and plenty of businesses that don't fit a box. What matters is that you're good at what you do and ready to treat marketing as an investment.
Do you use AI to make content?
The content and visuals I create for clients are 100% human-made. Marketing is people connecting with people, and that's the part I'm best at.
Who pays for the ads?
Ad spend is always your money, charged to your own card. Before a penny is spent, we agree on your daily spend, when the account gets topped up, and what to expect.
Get back to the work you love.
Fifteen minutes. Free. No pitch. We'll talk about where your business is, where you want it to go, and whether I'm the right person to get it there.
I choose my clients carefully, so you get me, not an account rep.
Not ready yet? Join the waitlist and be first in line when I open new spots.