person About
I'm a digital marketer and brand strategist. I learn what's actually broken before I pitch the fix.
Fifteen-plus years of agency, freelance, and nonprofit work.
Fifteen-plus years of agency, freelance, and nonprofit work.
Sam Gilbert is a digital marketing and brand leader with 15+ years of experience driving organic growth, campaign development, and brand strategy for organizations ranging from global consumer brands to mission-driven nonprofits. I approach every engagement by learning the actual problem first. The solution follows the diagnosis, even when it falls outside my usual toolkit.
That approach comes from spending equal time on both sides of the business: six years inside an agency directing campaigns for national and global brands, leading a team of designers and developers, and several more years running my own freelance practice and leading digital marketing for a childhood cancer research nonprofit.
A sharp visual identity and a sharp growth strategy are usually solving the same problem from two different directions.
The nonprofit and mission-driven side of that work has been the most personally rewarding, and it's the space where I do my best work. My marketing and brand leadership increasingly centers on nonprofit and foundation organizations, particularly health and human services, where strong growth and brand strategy translates directly into more support for the people an organization actually serves.
SEO, HubSpot, Google Analytics, paid, email: strategy first, tools second.
Site speed, Core Web Vitals, technical SEO, and Google Ad Grants: organic growth with a measurable bottom line.
Integrated campaigns across web, video, social, print, and PR, built for audiences that don't sit still.
Positioning, voice, architecture, and identity systems that hold up under pressure, not just on launch day.
Growth and brand strategy for mission-driven organizations, where strong creative translates directly into community impact.
From brief to finished asset: concept, team direction, and every decision in between. Across channels.
Research, information architecture, wireframes, and testing. Reducing friction between what users want and what the interface asks of them.
Full-project web work: information architecture, design, and WordPress development. Accessible by default.
In-house nonprofit role. Led digital and brand for one of the nation's largest childhood cancer research foundations: rebuilding an inherited web ecosystem, migrating the organization onto HubSpot so conversion could finally be measured, and carrying the brand into everything the events put in people's hands. Grew organic traffic an average of 125% YoY and rebuilt an underused Google Ad Grants program around ownable search terms.
Freelance practice built on the conviction that brand strategy and growth strategy are usually solving the same problem from two different directions. Clients have included an NFL franchise, a national nonprofit, and community organizations across the Southeast.
Agency side. Six years directing integrated campaigns and web marketing from concept through execution for national and global accounts, including Pfizer, Volkswagen, and Disney-owned Hulu and FX. Led strategy presented directly to senior stakeholders. Built and managed a team of designers and developers.
I learn what's actually broken before I pitch a fix. The brief tends to come second.
Visual identity and growth strategy are usually solving the same problem from two different directions. I don't treat them as separate disciplines.
My best work happens at nonprofit and health & human services organizations, where strong strategy translates directly into more support for the people being served.