Dream Local Digital, a digital marketing agency in Rockland, has raised $725,000 and hired a chief revenue officer to help grow its business.
The round, which consisted of debt and convertible notes, was oversubscribed; the company was originally seeking $500,000, according to CEO Shannon Kinney. CEI Ventures Inc. (CVI), based in Portland, led the round, which also included Maine Venture Fund, Maine Technology Institute, the Bangor Angels (which invest as a group), and several individual members of the Maine Angels.
The company, which Kinney founded in 2009, offers a range of digital marketing services to small- and medium-sized businesses, including social media management, search engine optimization and advertising, website development, and email marketing. It currently employs 40 full-timers and is in 65 markets nationwide, according to Kinney. But that’s a number she wants to increase.
“With this round, we can now invest in sales and marketing to reach more customers nationwide and create more jobs,” she said.
A digital marketing agency is not the kind of company venture capital investors usually invest in. VCs typically look for companies with the ability to scale rapidly with the anticipation of a big exit within six to 10 years. But Kinney said Dream Local is “far more than an agency.”
“[It] has been built to scale since the beginning. It’s my third nationally scaled startup serving both small and medium sized businesses and media companies alike,” she said.
She said the aspect of the business that makes it scalable (without the need to just hire more people to handle more accounts) is the development of a proprietary platform, which it calls “ResultsBuilder,” that helps the company manage its accounts and handle the fulfillment of its marketing services. Part of the company’s strategy is to target specific verticals (veterinary offices, for example) and be able to leverage its technology platform to utilize common content for multiple clients in disparate local markets. The ultimate goal of seeking that efficiency is to reduce costs and increase its revenue per employee.
“We can serve a business faster and more efficiently than other agencies, and we can do it affordably. When we make one roofing company, or dentist, or car dealer successful, we can then take those tactics and spread them to roofers, dentists and car dealers nationwide. This scale is key.”
John Burns, managing director of Maine Venture Fund, said: “MVF is proud to continue its long-standing support of a company that is a leader in digital marketing and a constructive corporate presence in midcoast Maine.”
As part of the company’s plans to grow, it also recently hired Ron Belyea as its first-ever chief revenue officer. Belyea was most recently the digital director at the Sarasota Herald Tribune in Florida. Belyea will remain based in Sarasota, but he’s no stranger to Maine. A Maine native, he also served as the former vice president and chief operating officer of VillageSoup Media in Rockland.
“This is a very important time in the history of Dream Local Digital, and I cannot think of another person I’d rather work with to make this happen,” Kinney said.
Kinney said she’s known Belyea for several years, including working together in the newspaper business and later collaborating on some projects in Dream Local Digital’s early days.
“Ron’s deep experience in media and working directly with clients selling digital solutions will make him a tremendous asset for our media partners, and I look forward to getting out in the field with him,” Kinney said. “We have significant growth goals ahead of us, and I’m confident as a team we can hit them.”
