Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine Llewellyn.
Hi Catherine, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I got started in marketing at the turn of the century at big advertising and small digital agencies, working on major accounts like AT&T’s Cingular Wireless at BBDO and Equifax at Ant Farm Interactive. I learned early how enterprise brands build and execute sophisticated marketing and advertising strategies, and I also saw a gap in the market. Small and mid-sized businesses needed that same level of strategic thinking and execution, just without the inflated overhead costs and bureaucratic layers that come with corporate structures. And personally, I didn’t see myself being happy in a 9-to-5 office environment.
In 2007, I founded Vast Interactive Consulting with a clear purpose: deliver big agency-quality digital marketing to small and medium-sized businesses while working remotely – this was years before remote work became respectable and “digital nomad” entered the vocabulary. I worked with SMBs around the nation from my home office and from other countries (I house-swapped twice to Spain and Belize). I planned and managed digital marketing solutions that included CMS websites, SEO, Google Ads, email marketing, and eventually social media as it became critical to business growth. Over the years, I’ve helped hundreds of businesses across the U.S. get found online and bring in more customers through smart digital marketing.
Over the course of my career journey, my business’ mission has remained constant: I provide small and mid-sized businesses access to the same level of digital marketing expertise that Fortune 500 companies use, but without the hefty agency retainer or long-term contracts.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an entrepreneur has not been a smooth road, as most entrepreneurs will tell you. My journey has included several pivotal challenges that made me grow and shaped how I can best serve my clients. Thankfully, I have a curious mind.
Balancing Parenthood and Business Growth
One of the best and most challenging pivots came in 2013 when I started a family. My priorities shifted immediately and I no longer had the time to wear all the hats required to run my business successfully. Like many women entrepreneurs, I found that balancing the demands of motherhood with running a business meant less time for networking and business development. Building a company while raising a child and managing a household required a complete recalibration of how I worked and what I could realistically sustain.
The COVID Pivot
When COVID hit, I faced one of the most difficult decisions of my career. I paused Vast Interactive Consulting work and returned to corporate in eCommerce for a flooring manufacturer. The decision was driven by practical necessity: I needed health insurance and income stability during an unprecedented crisis. But I was able to view this as a strategic pause, not an exit from entrepreneurship.
Gaining Clarity Through Corporate Experience
Those handful of corporate years proved invaluable. I was able to assess my skills objectively and pinpoint where I deliver the most value: content strategy and measurement. Data-driven digital content has always been my through-line throughout my consulting career. Working alongside corporate teams also confirmed two things: my digital marketing skills continue to compete at the enterprise level, and my team communication skills needed work. I’ve spent this past year sharpening both, and now I’m back leading Vast Interactive with renewed focus and energy.
Recognizing My Strengths
During this period of reflection, I came to understand how my neurodivergent brain helps me see patterns and solutions others miss – that it’s not a quirk, it’s an advantage. I naturally approach problems through bottom-up processing, starting with data and building the marketing plan from there. This analytical foundation allows me to uncover insights that drive measurably better outcomes for my clients.
We’ve been impressed with Vast Interactive Consulting, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My approach to helping small businesses is straightforward: cut through the noise of online marketing with clear messaging and hands-on collaboration that brings in customers. Clients actually meet with me, a real person they can sit down with, not a faceless service or someone halfway around the world. I handle the full marketing campaign lifecycle – the planning, creation, execution, and measurement – so business owners can focus on running their business.
My digital marketing solutions are about reaching the right audience, creating SEO content that gets found on Google, building email campaigns people actually click and buy from, or developing social media that turns followers into fans. I help business owners identify what’s blocking growth and how to get beyond that. Staying flexible and nimble is key. This means creating custom solutions for each business and adjusting digital solutions as the marketplace shifts and new digital tools emerge. For 2025, my digital solutions now include AI integration to a new affordable, documentary-style video interview for business owners called the VastReel.
What makes my work meaningful goes beyond the tactics and metrics (which I find very fun). It’s the connection with other business owners through shared experiences—the conversations with smart, curious professionals, the collaboration with fellow entrepreneurs chasing ideas that mean something to them, the sense of shared momentum that makes the work matter. There’s pride in partnering with people who are building something they believe in.
Relaunching with renewed focus in 2025, I am looking forward to supporting the Health and Wellness industry and services for Seniors and Boomers, where there’s a growing community need. These are industries where trust, clarity, and connection matter a lot, and the goal is to help bring these essential services together with the people who need them most, using digital marketing that’s both smart and human-centered.
This year, I am working with the phenomenal business owner of an established Atlanta massage therapy practice where he was seeing declining online activity. In December of 2024, I planned out a digital marketing strategy and immediately started refreshing the website with SEO-optimized local content, updating their Google Business Profile, redesigning their email campaigns and setting up automation, and creating educational social media content. Within 3 months, organic website traffic jumped 70% within just three months, and we grew email subscribers 57% year-over-year, and Google Maps direction clicks surged 114% – all translating into steady growth in both new clients and repeat bookings.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
The Neurodivergent Strength Most people don’t realize that my love of both creativity and data stems from how my neurodivergent brain works. I don’t see them as opposites: I see patterns and trends everywhere, whether it’s in numbers or storytelling. I can look at a dataset and see a story waiting to be told, or look at a creative campaign and immediately wonder what the numbers will reveal. It’s all pattern recognition to me, just expressed differently.
Pricing:
- VastReel Videos – starting at $3500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vast-interactive.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyllewellyn/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlJeKH5Fmfg
