Most of the businesses I work with don’t need louder marketing. They need the client to understand, quickly and in the same words everywhere, what they do best, who it’s for and what happens next.
Three habits. Tap one.
Find what’s trueFirstStart from what the business already does well and can prove: the work, the reviews, the people. Nothing gets invented to make a better story.
Say it onceThenOne version of the facts, used on the website, in search listings, in ads, in email and by the team. Inconsistency costs trust before anyone calls.
Measure what paysAlwaysJudge marketing by the clients it brings and what they spend, not by clicks or followers.
“Show the decisions behind the work, not only the work.”
Case 01 · Organic salon, Palm Beach Gardens area04
Forty years behind the chair. A website that didn’t say so.
The client is a six-chair organic color salon near Palm Beach Gardens, open since 2004. Its owner-colorist is Vidal Sassoon certified, trained at Frédéric Fekkai, and is a specialist colorist. Clients arrived by word of mouth and stayed for years.
Online, none of that was visible. The site was a green template that weighted every service equally. A former developer held the domain and accounts.
My roleBrand, positioning, website, search, Google Business Profile, ads, booking and press. Hands-on, end to end, April–October 2026.
ConstraintNo agency, an ad budget of a few hundred dollars, and an owner who doesn’t use social media.
The numbersFigures come from the salon’s Search Console, booking and ad reports, and I’m happy to walk through them.
Case 01 · Before05
Before: everything said with equal weight.
“Your premier local skilled and up to date with the latest hair styles, hair cuts, and color trends organic hair salon…”
The opening line on the old homepage. Her specialty never appeared above the fold. “Organic” led, in green, though the certifications belong to the color line, not the salon.
Previous site, archived August 2026
The strategy06
Lead with the hardest thing she does best.
Do everything well, get chosen on price. Be known for the difficult work, get chosen on trust.
1
PositionHer specialty first, with a promise clients can feel: “Vacation hair. Every day.”Homepage, first line
2
ProveForty years behind the chair, real client before-and-afters and Google reviews, kept apart from mood images.Gallery, reviews, proof pages
3
Be foundA site built to be found by search and by AI assistants.About 70 pages · search · AI
4
Two doorsKnow what you want: book a color service. Not sure: a free consultation, chosen by goal.Booking flow
5
MeasureNew clients and what they spend, not clicks. Search term, page and offer must ask the same question.Search Console · bookings · ads
Case 01 · After07
After: the specialty in the first line.
The rebuilt site
Says it“Blonde, platinum and corrective color are what this salon is known for.”
Two doorsKnow what you want: book a color service. Not sure: book a free consultation, chosen by goal.
Case 01 · The site, page by page08
From 2 pages to about 70.
Every service, concern and nearby town gets a page that answers it.
/blonde
/stories
/gallery
Case 01 · The system behind it09
A brand is a set of decisions, kept.
Editorial mood (services page) · Brand palette · Real client before and after
Four decisions. Tap one.
IdentityDecidedMerlot, graphite, oyster and butter; one serif, one sans; the wordmark in capitals. Applied to the site, profiles, posts and signage files.
ProofDecidedResults are shown as real client before-and-afters, kept apart from editorial mood images.
ClaimsDecided“Ammonia-free color,” never “ammonia-free salon.” Certifications belong to the color line. Precise claims protect a luxury reputation.
OwnershipRecoveredDomain and account access moved from the former developer back to the business, so it controls its own assets.
10
Search and AI found the salon.
Weekly search impressions
247
2,130 · three weeks after relaunch
Weekly clicks from search
9
94 · same three weeks
≈$6,000in completed, paid appointments from new clients in September 2026
20 clientsnew in the first month; nine came on an AI assistant’s recommendation
Clearest siteNew clients who compared salons online said they chose the salon for its site.
Almost half of the new clients found the salon by asking an AI assistant.
New-client revenue combines the website, AI search and ads. It is not presented as a return on ad spend.
Proof11
Client result
Proof beats adjectives.
12
Photo: Sonia Mossu Guerrero, October 2026
The same method, at hotel scale.
Palm Beach + a 1926 house + Oetker hospitality + Coco’s kitchen
The ingredients are there. Connect them into one story that travels: website, press, AI answers, the team at the door.
01Start with what’s trueCoco’s menu, shaped with Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc’s chefs. Tell it once, well.
02One set of factsThe same answer everywhere, so guests and AI assistants recommend with confidence.
03A reason to returnMartini Mondays plus a hosted walk through the house.
Independent study, 2026. Not commissioned by The Vineta or Oetker Hotels.
Case 02 · Stranger Things: The Experience, Paris13
02
Shoot directed by Sonia Mossu Guerrero
Every glass, plate and uniform had to match what the brand owner approved.
14
Brand detail at production scale.
My company, Mango Chillies, delivered the culinary production for Stranger Things: The Experience (Netflix) and Friends: The Experience (Warner Bros.): menus, service and the shoots that sold them.
1,000guests an hour at weekend peaks, 20 staff, about 10 vendors
€70,000a month in operating spend and purchasing, per production, plus payroll
Shoots I directed: brief, photographer, styling, shot list and final selection.
Case 02 · Friends: The Experience, Paris15
Shoot directed by Sonia Mossu Guerrero
Velvet, braided trim, one plate. Every detail had to belong in the room.
Case 03 · Vanderpump Villas, France16
03
On set, Vanderpump Villas
A working villa had to read as real hospitality, on camera, for about sixty days.
Case 03 · Vanderpump Villas (Disney and Hulu)17
Culinary producer, about sixty shoot days.
A villa in France became the set for a reality series about luxury hospitality. With the creative director and production team, I made every table read as real hospitality.
Menus and stylingMenus, food styling, table and service details, and the kitchen behind them.
Budget and vendorsBudgets, purchasing and every vendor delivery, coordinated to the shoot schedule.
StaffTrained the team in hospitality service, including teaching a bartender who was new to the bar to make every cocktail on the menu.
Why it matters to youLuxury that looks effortless is a production problem, the same discipline as an install day or a project shoot.
18
The client multiplied its spend.
Marketing Manager, Kracow Enterprises: email and CRM strategy, segmentation and reporting for clients including Virgin Mobile.
≈45%average open rate
3.5–4%average click rate, used to shape the next campaign
“Under her management, Virgin Mobile significantly increased its advertising commitments with Kracow Enterprises to many multiples of its original level.”
Piotr Dewicki, former CEO, Kracow Enterprises · letter of recommendation, October 2026
19
I photograph what guests notice.
The Vineta, Palm Beach, 2026 · Paris · Vanderpump set, France · Plates: my own
Light, table, material, the moment a room changes mood: I shoot what a guest notices before I write about it.
Foundation · Accounting, 2002–200820
I read a marketing budget the way a CFO will.
Before marketing, I trained as an accountant (B.S., Florida State University) and worked in audit, property accounting and management reporting.
$2Min tax bills missed during an acquisition, found while preparing budgets for 20 subsidiaries
$800K+in record-keeping discrepancies resolved across 80 entities at Prologis
$200K → $15Ka client’s tax penalty, reduced through research and negotiation
Why it mattersA project’s total budget is not the firm’s revenue. I judge marketing on earned fees and margin, after the cost of delivering the work.
1Google Ads · Search campaigns matched to the service clients want
4Spanish · Bilingual, with English
5Local SEO · Why a local salon shows up for “near me”
9Meta Ads Manager · Paid social for the salon and for restaurants in Paris
10Zapier · Joins the apps so follow-up happens on its own
11Notion · Where plans, calendars and briefs live
12Qwoted · Where I answer journalists’ requests
Down
2Search Console · Where impressions went from 247 to 2,130
3HubSpot · CRM: contacts, pipeline and email
6Klaviyo · Flows that send the right email at the right moment
7English · Bilingual, with Spanish
8French · Fourteen years of it, in Paris
Also in the kitConversion tracking · Google Business Profile · positioning and copy · visual identity · shoot direction · website builds · booking journeys · budgets and variance · vendor coordination · reporting