Marketing that actually gets done.
Local businesses deserve a marketing partner who's timely, affordable, and done — not just two out of three. I'm here to be that partner.
“Fast, cheap, good — pick two.”
You've been told this rule your whole career. Every agency has repeated it. Every friend running a business has lived it.
I disagree.
How I do all three.
Timely
Fast turns because the systems are already built. When something needs to ship, it ships.
Affordable
Priced for a Main Street business, not a mid-market one. No account team, no agency overhead, no retainer covering someone's downtown office — you're hiring the person who does the work.
Done
Real strategy. Real writing. Real design. Reviewed by someone who's been doing this for thirty years.
The circus is coming to town
There's an old story that explains marketing better than any textbook I've read.
A circus is coming to town.
You paint a sign that says "Circus — Saturday — Fairgrounds" and you nail it to a post. That's advertising.
You put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it down Main Street. That's promotion.
The elephant detours through the mayor's flower bed, and the paper runs the story. That's publicity.
You get the mayor to laugh about it. That's public relations.
Saturday comes, the town shows up, you walk them past the booths, and they spend money on the way in. That's sales.
And if you planned all of it — the sign, the route, the elephant, the mayor — that's marketing.
Here's what I see with most local businesses: they're buying signs. Sometimes good ones. But nobody planned the route, and nobody thought about the mayor.
That planning happens upstream — before the elephant ever leaves the barn. That's where the name came from, and it's the part almost everybody skips.
What I do.
I build and run the digital front door of your business — all the places a potential customer might find you, and whether those touchpoints are actually working.
- Website Built to convert, not just to look nice.
- Reviews Collected, responded to, and working for you in search.
- Social Posted consistently, sounding like you, not like a template.
- Content Written and distributed where your customers actually look.
Every month. Done for you. No decks. No homework.
Hi, I'm Adam.
I've been in marketing since 1997 — back when I started as a real estate photographer with a camera and a car.
Since then I've done this from both sides: as a business owner running my own real estate practice, and as the marketing lead at one of the largest real estate firms in the Northeast. I've seen what works, what doesn't, and — more importantly — what actually gets executed versus what just lives in a slide deck.
Fishing Upstream is where I bring that experience to local businesses that deserve better than what most marketing services give them. Timely, affordable, done. All three.
Not sure where you stand?
Take a five-minute marketing assessment. Nine questions about your website, reviews, social, and content.
You'll get a grade on the spot — an honest read on how your marketing is performing today.
If you want the full picture, I'll send a personalized gap report to your inbox: where you're strong, where you're leaking customers, and what to fix first.
Free. No sales call required.
Let's talk
Tell me what you're working on. I read every one of these myself, and I'll get back to you within one business day.
hello@fishingupstream.com