Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Kerrigan, Danni Bennett, And Erin “Em” Barr.
Hi Erin, Danni, and Em, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
We have each worked in the marketing industry for twenty plus years, both in-house and agency side, in a variety of roles including account management, project management, digital marketing strategy, SEO, technology and development. All three of us shared a common passion of putting clients’ interests first and were the “go to” problem solvers on our teams. We were known as the type of people who just got things done no matter how big the challenge.
After five years on her own, Erin was looking for an extra set of hands to keep client projects moving, and, after 15 years of freelancing, Danni was looking for a team she could trust. At the same time, Em was ready to take the leap into freelancing and invest in herself.
Danni saw the potential and decided to make the introduction since she was the one who had a previous relationship working with each of the “the Erins” at agencies in the area. What if this new team of three women joined forces to create a marketing powerhouse? Initial conversations started. Together, we decided we’d love to build a marketing consultancy that felt like our own, something that gave us a true leadership voice, something that would allow us to put quality work, professionalism, and ethics first, where we would be truly proud of our work and relationships with our clients.
After several late-night dinners, many brainstorming sessions, and more than one conversation that started with, “What if we…”, the idea behind BetterWeb was born.
The result was a fairly non-traditional partnership. We each wanted to keep our individual LLCs and continue to work from our own home offices, but wanted to share our skills, resources, and clients. We all knew other freelancers who were great within their specialized areas, and wanted to build a flexible team that would help grow our own book of business and make our clients thrilled.
In April 2023, we partnered to create a new organization – BetterWeb LLC. Officially, BetterWeb is owned by the three partners and has no employees. But, we continue to grow our roster of trusted industry experts, and we bring them into projects when we know they can deliver amazing results in their own areas of specialty, ensuring we always work with the best in the business.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall, it’s been a fairly smooth road for BetterWeb – but we’ve had plenty of little challenges that all startups face – such as figuring out systems to keep work organized, processes, tools, how to onboard people, etc. While we’re committed to our model of working with our vetted freelancers, we find things like selecting accounting tools, working within multiple project management software systems, and even managing email addresses can be difficult. The existing tools out there are just not made for this model.
We’ve been extremely blessed to get consistent referrals from all of our clients, but we face the “shoemaker’s kids” issue. Because BetterWeb is made up of freelancers, it’s tough to reinvest our own funds in the business, so we don’t often do a lot of marketing for ourselves. It’s a difficult balance to find the time to work on our own growth while still being very hands-on with our clients.
We’re also really generous people so we sometimes have a hard time saying “no,” especially to non-profits with causes that tug at our hearts! That’s one of the reasons we started “BetterWeb Gives,” which is a contest we run annually to give away a free website to a deserving non-profit.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about BetterWeb?
BetterWeb is owned by three partners – Erin Kerrigan, Em Barr, and Danni Bennett, but our staff is a large number of vetted freelancers that we’ve worked with for years and trust wholeheartedly with our clients.
Our specialty is around digital marketing, but we love finding all kinds of solutions that help our clients, particularly startups, small or growing businesses and non-profits, who might need an extra hand. Our core services are developing marketing strategies, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, digital design, and website development. But we also have resources for photography, videography, print marketing, security and network management, software integrations, custom software development, and much more.
This variety of services is what really sets us apart from other agencies in the area. Many promise to offer it all, but it’s really hard to have employees with excellent skills in such a wide variety of areas. Because we work with accomplished freelancers instead of fulltime employees, we don’t have to keep all of that staff on the bench. It also allows us to find the right people for the client’s very specific needs. We don’t try to shoehorn the people and skills we have into a project. We have rosters for each specialty position and select the right teammate at the right time.
The other factor of BetterWeb that we are particularly proud of is our focus on our client’s profitability. Our philosophy is that we succeed and grow when we can retain clients and get references from them – and that means we really have to work hard to ensure they’re happy and the marketing we do for them truly works. We turn down clients and are not afraid to tell people the truth – even if that means we don’t get work – as long as we feel it’s in the client’s best interest.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
From Danni:
I grew up in a very small town in southern Medina County. My neighbors were Amish, and the closest grocery store was a 30 minute drive. Football and cheerleading were cool. Being smart was not. But I loved to read. The best gift I ever got was a gift card to a bookstore, and I wanted to grow up to be a famous author. I could not wait to go to college, but cost was a major factor. When I received a full-ride scholarship to attend Marietta College, I jumped at the opportunity. There, I majored in English and secondary education, intending to be a high school English teacher, but I graduated about the time that the internet was becoming accessible to the average citizen, and computers got the best of my curiosity. I vividly remember going to the computer lab where a friend showed me how to get online, and I started guessing URLs that might be websites. We didn’t even have a search engine yet! Since that time, I’ve always been curious about technology. I love exploring new tools, teaching myself new things, and playing around with what’s possible in the world of the web.
From Erin:
I’m what you’d call a Cleveland-boomeranger. I was born and raised in the Cleveland-area – Lakewood specifically and loved living here as long as I can remember. I was always a really good student and poured my heart into everything I did – school, friends, or my banana seat bike that I adored riding around the neighborhood. My big growing up moments started in high school when I joined our cheerleading team and competed with the first co-ed team in the area (before competitive cheerleading was anywhere near as big as it is today). I went on to college at Miami Ohio and soaked up every minute and aspect of campus life – joining a sorority, becoming their recruitment chair and being on Homecoming Court.. Upon graduation I took a job in New Orleans and moved cross-country. I lived there for the next 2 years exploring the city (and myself) until Hurricane Katrina hit. Since the storm displaced everyone, I headed back to Cleveland to stay with family and ended up staying for good (hence the boomerang). I remembered why I liked Cleveland so much and bought a house. A wonderful family of my own and now a company of my own has come to follow.
From Em:
I’m from Olmsted Falls and lived my whole life in a bubble that was a small community. I was incredibly shy until I made a new year’s resolution to be more outgoing when I was 13 – a choice I’m sure my family wishes I would take back in moments where I strike up random conversations with strangers. Looking at colleges, my parents gave me a time limit they were willing to drive, so I drew a circle on the map and picked the farthest they would let me go. I’ve studied at DePauw University and Indiana University, before I moved back to Ohio to be with my family. I graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Arts & Crafts (yes, it’s a real degree). Most of my life, I’ve had a variety of interests and never had a set “plan” of what my career would look like. While that may stress some people out, it allowed me to have experiences that shaped my skill set into something invaluable. I’ve met so many amazing people and learned from them, picking up knowledge along the way. All of it leading up to starting BetterWeb.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://betterweb.marketing/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/betterwebmarketing/
