Part-Time Marketing Strategist & Growth Partner

Part-Time Marketing Strategist & Growth Partner Company: The Blue Sock Location: Remote Employment Type: Independent Contractor Engagement: Part-time, ongoing About The Blue Sock The Blue Sock is an early-stage, Southern California-based boutique dog-sitting marketplace connecting pet parents with a curated community of experienced, independent sitters. Unlike traditional pet-sitting marketplaces, we emphasize quality, transparency, and personalized care. Our platform helps pet parents discover and compare sitters based on their care styles, home environments, specialties, and unique experiences. We’ve successfully launched our website and app, established a growing customer base, and are generating bookings and repeat business. As we enter our next stage of growth, we’re seeking an experienced marketing professional to help us develop a sustainable, data-driven marketing strategy. About the Opportunity We’re looking for a part-time Marketing Strategist & Growth Partner who can evaluate our current marketing efforts, identify opportunities for improvement, and develop a clear, actionable growth roadmap. This is a strategic and hands-on consulting opportunity designed for someone who enjoys working directly with founders and helping early-stage businesses grow. Our philosophy is simple: Identify the highest-impact opportunities, execute one priority at a time, measure results, and build on what’s working. We’re not looking to implement every marketing initiative simultaneously. We want to make thoughtful investments that deliver measurable business value while staying within our available resources.

Key Responsibilities

Conduct an initial assessment of our existing marketing strategy, acquisition channels, website, customer journey, and competitive positioning. Develop a prioritized marketing roadmap with actionable recommendations, measurable goals, and clear deliverables. Identify opportunities to improve customer acquisition, booking conversion rates, customer retention, and revenue growth. Evaluate geographic marketing opportunities as our two-sided marketplace expands. Review our existing Google Ads strategy and collaborate with our advertising specialist on potential improvements. Recommend and help implement focused marketing initiatives, one priority at a time. Establish meaningful performance metrics and evaluate results to guide future priorities. Collaborate directly with our founder to refine the strategy as our business evolves. Potential initiatives may include conversion rate optimization, SEO, local marketing, customer retention campaigns, email marketing, referral programs, brand positioning, and paid advertising strategy. The exact priorities will be determined through the initial assessment. Ideal Candidate We’re looking for someone who brings both strategic thinking and practical execution experience. Preferred qualifications Proven experience developing and executing growth strategies for startups or early-stage businesses. Experience with online marketplaces, two-sided platforms, booking platforms, or consumer-facing service businesses. Strong understanding of digital marketing, customer acquisition, conversion optimization, and retention. Ability to analyze marketing performance and connect recommendations to measurable business outcomes. Experience developing actionable growth roadmaps and prioritizing initiatives based on expected impact, cost, and effort. Comfortable providing hands-on execution rather than exclusively strategic recommendations. Resourceful, proactive, and comfortable working within a modest startup budget. Strong communication skills and a collaborative approach to working directly with founders. Experience in the pet care industry is welcome but not required. How We’ll Work Together Our initial engagement will focus on understanding the business, evaluating existing marketing efforts, and identifying the highest-value growth opportunities. From there, we’ll work collaboratively on a prioritized roadmap. Rather than tackling numerous initiatives simultaneously, we’ll select a manageable priority, agree on the deliverables, implement improvements, evaluate the results, and determine our next steps. We currently have a dedicated Google Ads specialist managing day-to-day campaign activity. We welcome strategic oversight and recommendations, but we’re not necessarily looking to duplicate existing campaign management responsibilities. Our goal is to develop a long-term partnership with someone who can grow alongside the business. Compensation & Engagement Starting monthly consulting budget: $800 Part-time, remote, independent contractor engagement. Limited monthly scope with mutually agreed deliverables. Flexible working arrangement focused on outcomes rather than a traditional employment schedule. Opportunity for increased compensation and expanded responsibilities as the business grows. Our $800 monthly budget is a starting point, reflecting our current stage as an early-stage marketplace. We’re looking to build a long-term relationship with a marketing professional whose work contributes to measurable improvements in customer acquisition, booking conversions, retention, and platform revenue. As our business grows and marketing initiatives demonstrate a positive impact, our intention is to reinvest in marketing and gradually increase the budget and scope of the engagement. Future increases will depend on demonstrated results, sustainable business growth, and available resources rather than a predetermined timeline. We recognize that some marketing initiatives take time to deliver measurable financial returns, and we value thoughtful strategy, effective execution, and consistent progress. Individual Consultants Only We’re a small team and prefer to collaborate directly with one dedicated marketing professional. We are not seeking marketing agencies, outsourced teams, or arrangements where work is routinely delegated to other individuals. We value direct communication, continuity, accountability, and a partner who takes the time to understand our business. What Success Looks Like Success in this role isn’t measured solely by website traffic, impressions, or social media engagement. We’re focused on meaningful business outcomes, including improved booking conversion rates, more qualified customer acquisition, stronger retention, and sustainable growth in platform revenue. We’re seeking someone who can help us make informed marketing decisions and gradually build a stronger foundation for long-term growth. If you enjoy partnering with early-stage companies, identifying practical growth opportunities, and turning strategy into measurable results, we’d love to hear from you.