Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Eisenhart.
Hi Michelle, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I first started the business more than 20 years ago, it was called Marc Strategies. The idea behind it was pretty simple: marketing shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. It should be tied to sales goals and business growth. That belief has been the throughline of my career and our company.
In 2010, we launched our digital division, Fly Pages, just as social media and digital marketing were beginning to take off. What excited me wasn’t simply the emergence of new marketing channels—it was the data behind them. For the first time, we had an increasingly powerful ability to connect marketing activity to leads, sales and ultimately ROI. We never looked back.
Today, Fly Pages is a full-service digital marketing agency, but our focus is still rooted in that original idea. We use SEO, paid media, content, social media and other digital strategies to help businesses generate more—and more qualified—leads.
Just as importantly, we work to connect marketing and sales so that we’re not simply driving activity at the top of the funnel; we’re helping create opportunities that sales teams can actually convert into business. And therefore return a positve ROI to the organization.
Being an entrepreneur and building a small business over the last two decades has definitely not been an easy journey. But I believe deeply that God is using this business and the beautiful brains of our team members to make a positive impact in the marketplace.
Our purpose is empowering success for our clients and our team members. When a client tells us, “Fly Pages has been instrumental in helping our business grow,” that’s what it’s all about for me. If we can help great businesses grow, they can create opportunities for their employees, better serve their customers and make a bigger impact in their communities.
That’s the vision behind Fly Pages, and more than 20 years later, we’re still 100% rooted in it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t know that any entrepreneur would describe the road as smooth! The challenges change as the business changes, but there’s always something new to figure out.
A lot of those challenges come down to people. How do you find and retain really talented people? What’s the right organizational structure for where the business is today and where you want it to go? How do you hire not only for skills, but for people who genuinely share your values and believe in what you’re trying to accomplish? I’ve learned that getting the people part right is probably one of the most important and hardest parts of building a business.
There are also the realities every small business owner faces: managing cash flow, deciding when and where to invest, keeping up with rapidly changing technology, and continually evolving your services as the marketplace changes. In digital marketing, that last one never stops!
And then there’s client turnover, which is an interesting challenge for us. Our client relationships often run about three years, and frequently clients leave because we’ve helped them build a strong enough marketing engine and taught them enough along the way that they’re ready to bring more of it in-house. From a business perspective, that means we always have to be focused on new business and growth. But from a purpose perspective, it’s something we’re actually really proud of. If a client can eventually take what we’ve built together and continue growing with it, we’ve done our job.
I think that’s entrepreneurship in a nutshell. You’re constantly balancing what’s right for your clients, your team and the long-term health of the business. You don’t get all of those decisions right, but you learn, adjust and keep moving forward.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Fly Pages Digital Marketing?
Fly Pages is a full-service digital marketing agency, but I think what really defines us is that we don’t believe marketing’s job is simply to create activity. Its job is to help grow the business.
We work with growth-oriented companies that may have a small internal marketing team, or sometimes one person trying to do it all. We expand that team with strategists and specialists across paid advertising, SEO and AI visibility, content, social media, email marketing and other digital channels. That gives our clients access to a depth of expertise that can be difficult and expensive to build internally.
What sets us apart is how closely we connect marketing to sales and business results. Generating leads is important, but generating the right leads is much more important. We want to understand what happens after a lead comes in. Was it qualified? Did sales connect with them? Did they become a customer? What was that customer worth? That information helps us continually improve the marketing and ultimately show whether the investment is producing a return. We are relentless about connecting our work to this data.
We have a Proven Process that guides every client engagement: Investigate, Strategize, Implement, Learn and Optimize, supported by ongoing consulting and reporting. We don’t start with a predetermined tactic or simply recommend more marketing. We start by understanding the business, its goals, its customers and what’s already working. Then we build the right mix of strategies and continually adjust based on what the data tells us.
I’m especially proud of the relationships we build with our clients and the transparency that comes with them. We want clients to understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and what the results mean for their business. We share what we know and help build stronger connections between marketing, sales and leadership.
At the end of the day, I want our clients to be able to answer a question that has frustrated business owners and marketing leaders forever: “What am I actually getting for the money I’m spending on marketing?”
Our job is to help them answer that question with confidence, and a positive ROI.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Each morning I turn to these to get my day started off on the right foot so I can be intentional about aligning my day with God’s plan and purpose:
The Bible App – I read their daily devotion, pray, and usually follow a Bible plan. I’ve found it’s so helpful for both business and personal decision-making and perspective.
99.1 Joy FM – I play it on my Alexa app when I’m getting ready in the morning, on my computer via lifestream while I’m working, and in my car when I’m driving around town. It has a significant impact on my daily mood and attitude. I’ve learned to be very intentional about all of the messaging I allow my brain to receive each day. It helps me to keep a perspective that’s less about self, fear, or worry.
The Morning Brew – I used to be a news junkie and consumed a lot of news information each morning. Especially after COVID, I realized it wasn’t helping me to take in so much negativity, divisiveness, and fearmongering each day. However, I also believe it’s really important to stay in touch with what’s happening in the World, the country, the stock market, and in business each day. This daily email covers a lot of information in easy-to-consume tidbits so I can stay abreast of what’s happening without all of the emotional angst that comes with following traditional news outlets.
Duolingo: A little over a year ago, inspired by my 18-year-old son, I decided instead of doomscrolling on social media, I wanted to make better use of any free time I had. So after forgetting almost 8 years of combined high school and college French studies, I picked up the app to “re-learn” French. I’m proud to say I’m now on a 425 day learning streak and at Level 37! My son and I are on a 404 day Friend Streak together. 🔥 (Anyone who does DuoLingo will know what I mean with that. It’s a little bit of a cult following.;-)
For Fun: When I’m in the car or waiting to pick my kids up from events, I’m a true crime junkie and listen to the podcasts “Crime Junkie,” “Morbid”, Dateline, and 2020 on Apple Podcasts. I like to try to figure out “who dunnit” — and I particularly like the ones where justice is served in the end.
Weekly:
Meta, LinkedIn, & Google Updates: They each send out so much information updating users on changes and trends, and while it’s not my favorite, it’s the necessary “evil” to keep up with the changes that happen regularly at big tech. It’s critical that we stay current so our clients can feel confident we’re on top of changes and best practices.
EO & EO St. Louis resources: (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) Weekly, the global EO and the local EO chapter send out information about resources and events you can leverage as a member. They have ongoing resources and events that I leverage and attend to help support my business goals.
For AI: Marketing AI Institute and The Neuron — Like Meta, LinkedIn & Google, it’s important in our industry to stay ahead of the latest advances in AI and how that impacts both our business and our clients’ businesses.
The Rooted Sisters: Every Friday morning at 7:30 AM, I attend a prayer group for Christian Business Women. We have a small bible study that connects The Word to our business and personal lives, and we share prayer requests. Twice a month on Thursdays at 7:30 AM, I attend their larger Bible Study. This study usually runs for 6-8 weeks, where we read a book and study it in a large-group format. These typically focus on how we can grow as Christian business leaders and become the marketplace leaders God has called us to be.
The Crossing Church: Every Sunday I attend their weekly worshp service in person or online if we are traveling. They also have an app with a lot of great Bible studies, Q&As, etc. It keeps me connected to a community of Christian followers — and in today’s volatile world, it’s always nice to have a community of people to navigate that with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://buyflypages.com
- Instagram: @flypages
- Facebook: @Fly Pages
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleeisenhart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FlyPages172
