Smart Simple Marketing

What Smart Simple Marketing does

Smart Simple Marketing is a privately held content marketing consultancy founded in 2006 and headquartered in Emeryville, California. The firm specializes in helping large brands gain market share and deepen loyalty with minority-owned, women-owned, and small businesses, positioning itself as the only marketing solutions provider of its kind working with the world's largest technology brands. Its named clients include Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. The company's core offering is a results-driven content marketing solution built on proprietary frameworks developed over 17+ years of work with 8,000+ small businesses across 79 industries, supported by a proprietary community of 31,200+ small, diverse-owned businesses, 448 delivered educational events, and 10,000+ pieces of original content.

The business runs as a professional services firm with a sales-led go-to-market targeting enterprise decision-makers at major technology brands. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and operates on a quote-based, custom engagement model accessed via website contact form. The technology stack is composed of standard third-party marketing tools — Constant Contact for email, ON24 for webinars, Spotlightr for video hosting, and content management for the blog — rather than proprietary software. Distribution is direct enterprise sales only, with no resellers or marketplace channels.

Operationally, the firm is a small team of 1-10 employees led by CEO and co-founder Sydni Craig-Hart, a fourth-generation entrepreneur. There is no external institutional funding, no parent company, and no subsidiaries disclosed. Strategic partnerships with NMSDC, NAWBO, Constant Contact, and ON24 extend reach into supplier diversity ecosystems and the small business community, but the firm's operating geography is the United States with no global footprint claim.

Name

Smart Simple Marketing

Legal name

Smart Simple Marketing

Website

https://smartsimplemarketing.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Smart Simple Marketing is a content marketing consultancy that helps large brands, including Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn, engage minority- and women-owned small businesses through proprietary frameworks and a 31,200+ member diverse-owned business community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Content Marketing Consulting

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Advertising Agencies (54181)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAAAAAB

Creative Boutique Agencies

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Advertising Agencies (Full-Service/Creative)

Keywords

• Content marketing solutions
• Small business marketing
• Supplier diversity programs
• Minority-owned business outreach
• Marketing consulting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Emeryville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Marketing Services: Provides results-driven content marketing solutions to brands seeking to engage minority- and women-owned small businesses. Services include marketing strategy, content creation, educational events, and community building programs for enterprise clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Smart Simple Marketing provides results-driven content marketing solutions that help major brands gain market share and deepen loyalty with minority-owned, women-owned, and small businesses. The firm offers marketing strategy, content creation, community engagement programs, and educational events (workshops, webinars, virtual summits) built on proprietary frameworks developed over 17+ years of working with 8,000+ small businesses across 79 industries.

Product overview

Smart Simple Marketing offers a unified content marketing solutions platform targeting brands seeking to engage minority-owned, women-owned, and small businesses. The core offering centers on proprietary marketing frameworks and insights developed over 17+ years of experience, encompassing community building (31,200+ small diverse-owned businesses), educational events (448 classes, workshops, seminars), content creation (10,000+ pieces of original content), and strategic marketing consulting services. The company positions itself as the ONLY marketing solutions provider specializing in engaging diverse-owned businesses that works with the world's largest technology brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Smart Simple Marketing Content Marketing Solutions
• Small Diverse-Owned Business Community Engagement Program
• Thrive NOW Virtual Summit
• Engagement Matters Podcast

Quantifiable outcome

• Built community of 31,200+ small, diverse-owned businesses
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Constant ContactminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSmart Simple Marketing collaborated with Constant Contact during COVID-19, participating as a panelist on the Constant Contact Customer Panel discussing 'Adapting Your Business During COVID-19'. The partnership provided visibility and thought leadership opportunities in the small business marketing space.
• NMSDC (National Minority Supplier Development Council)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSmart Simple Marketing actively participates in NMSDC conferences and events, including the annual Opportunity Exchange. The company serves as a bridge between major technology brands and diverse-owned small businesses through this supplier diversity ecosystem.
• Go Far Consulting (Elaine Betts)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerElaine Betts, CEO of Go Far Consulting, was featured as a guest speaker at the Thrive NOW Virtual Summit, discussing revenue creation during COVID-19. Collaboration for educational content and event delivery.

Scale indicators8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Contently: Content marketing platform and services provider serving major brands with strategy, editorial, and creative content. Strongly comparable in the core offering: results-driven content marketing solutions for enterprise marketing organizations.
• Translation LLC: Independent creative agency working with major brands on culture-driven campaigns, including multicultural and community-engaged marketing. Comparable as a boutique, founder-led agency model serving enterprise buyers.
• Burrell Communications Group: Multicultural marketing agency working with major consumer and tech brands on messaging tailored to African American and other diverse audiences. Highly comparable to SSM's focus on engaging minority- and women-owned businesses for enterprise clients.
• Skyword: Content marketing services and platform for enterprise clients, helping brands develop original content programs. Overlaps with SSM's content-marketing strategy and original-content creation model.
• Walz Tetrick Advertising: Boutique creative advertising agency serving mid-market and enterprise clients with full-service content and creative work. Comparable in scale and operating model to SSM's boutique, direct-sales agency approach.
• Carol H. Williams Advertising: Black-owned full-service advertising agency serving Fortune 500 brands, including tech and consumer companies seeking to engage multicultural audiences. Comparable as a boutique agency purpose-built to serve brand-side multicultural marketing needs.
• The Hatcher Group: Boutique integrated marketing and public-relations firm working with mission-driven brands. Directly comparable to SSM's content-marketing-consultancy model serving enterprise clients in a niche market segment.

Broad incumbents

• Dentsu Creative: Global creative network with dedicated multicultural and diverse-marketing capabilities, including former dentsuMB. Operates in the same space as SSM's enterprise multicultural-content focus but as a large incumbent rather than a specialist boutique.
• Ogilvy: Global advertising agency with an established multicultural practice serving major brands. Overlaps with SSM's enterprise multicultural marketing capability, but at much larger scale and broader portfolio.

Emerging players

• Archer Malmo: Independent agency offering brand strategy and content marketing to enterprise clients. Comparable in the boutique-to-mid-market agency tier where SSM operates, though broader in vertical focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/SmartSimpleMarketing
• Pinterestpinterest.com/smartsimplemarketing
• Xx.com/smartsimplemktg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Smart Simple Marketing