Senior thinking without the agency layers.
I’m Shannon Sands, a marketer, strategist, writer and the person behind Ground Swell Creative. I have spent my career figuring out how to turn a business goal into a message people understand and work that actually gets out the door.
I built Ground Swell for businesses that have outgrown piecemeal marketing but do not need a bloated agency relationship. You get direct access to the person thinking through the strategy, writing the copy, shaping the creative and watching the results.
Twenty-two years of building audiences at scale.
Before Ground Swell Creative, I spent 22 years as a successful publisher for the world’s leading financial, health and lifestyle newsletter publisher. Much of that career was devoted to developing the digital marketing and content strategies that built larger customer lists and online audiences, including daily newsletters reaching 500,000 to more than one million subscribers.
I worked across social media, SEO, website development, email marketing, content strategy, direct mail, print and radio. The scale of the company and its marketing budgets gave me the opportunity to test, measure and refine sophisticated campaigns in a way few marketers ever get to experience.
Today, I bring that training and experience to local businesses without the big-agency layers or price tag. I work directly with restaurants, boutique hotels, specialty shops, resort attractions, real estate professionals and service providers to build marketing that increases visibility, strengthens customer relationships and supports real business growth.
Why the name Ground Swell?
A great wave does not begin at the shoreline. It develops when the right conditions work together, building energy and momentum before it reaches the beach.
I believe marketing works the same way. Strategy creates the foundation. Your content, brand, website, search presence and advertising should work together organically, with each piece strengthening the next. What people eventually see is the wave. Ground Swell is everything working beneath it to create that momentum.
Local is an advantage, not a limitation.
Ocean City and Delmarva businesses operate in a market with their own rhythms, personalities and pressures. I understand the seasonality, the audiences and the difference between sounding local and trying too hard to prove it.
I live here. I play here. I’m raising my family here. I have a personal stake in seeing local businesses succeed, and I also know their customers compare them to the best experiences they see anywhere. The work should hold up.