Portfolio 2026
Ashley Ballasch
Creative Strategist • Digital Marketer • Small Business Owner
Turning creative ideas into thoughtful, effective marketing.
Creative strategy, digital marketing, content, web design and campaigns - from the first idea through launch and results.
01 | ABOUT
So, Who Am I?
I’m a creative strategist who likes turning ideas into something people can actually experience.
My path into marketing wasn’t exactly traditional. I started as a small business owner, building Lash by Ash from the ground up and learning firsthand what it takes to attract customers, build trust, create a recognizable brand, and ultimately turn an idea into a business that lasts.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that as much as I enjoy working directly with clients and building those long-term relationships, I really loved the strategy happening behind the scenes—figuring out how to make everything work together, from how a brand looks and sounds to how it reaches the right people, how the different pieces connect, and what we could be doing better. That naturally grew into a much broader love for creative strategy and digital marketing.
What makes me a little different?
I’m strategic, but very hands-on.
I don’t really want to stop at “Here’s what we should do.” I want to figure out how we’re going to do it—and then help make it happen.
Sometimes that means developing the campaign concept, writing the copy, designing the creative, editing the Reel, building the landing page, setting up the email, launching the ad, troubleshooting the booking flow, and eventually digging through the analytics to figure out what worked, what didn’t, and what we should try next.
My background as a business owner still shapes the way I approach all of it. I know there’s a real business behind every campaign, click, customer, and marketing decision. So while I love making things look good, I’m much more interested in making sure there’s a reason behind what we’re creating—and somewhere for it to go.
Today, my work spans campaign strategy, content creation, social media, paid advertising, email marketing, web design, brand storytelling, events, and digital customer experiences. I genuinely enjoy wearing multiple hats. Give me a big-picture goal and I’m perfectly happy bouncing between strategy, creative, copy, a website, an ad campaign, and whatever problem decides to pop up along the way.
I tend to work very independently and enjoy having the ownership to take an idea and run with it, but I’m also highly adaptable to the environment I’m in. I love collaborating, hearing different perspectives, and being part of a team where everyone brings something different to the table. For me, independence and collaboration aren’t opposites—I’m comfortable with both.
As Creative Strategist for Bella Vida 360°, that versatility has become a big part of my role. As the brand’s sole digital strategist, I work across nearly every part of its digital presence—from developing campaigns and creating content to managing paid media, email marketing, the website and booking experience, and the behind-the-scenes systems that connect it all.
“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”
— Anaïs Nin
02 | CAPABILITIES
Strategy + Creative Execution
A hands-on marketer who can move from concept to launch.
I work at the intersection of strategy and creative execution—developing campaigns, shaping brand experiences, creating content, managing digital channels, improving customer journeys, and using performance data to figure out what comes next.
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Turning business goals into cohesive campaigns.
I develop campaigns from concept through execution, connecting the message, audience, creative, channels and customer journey.
Experience includes:
Integrated campaign planning • Event marketing • Promotional strategy • Audience targeting • Offers & positioning • Campaign optimization • Performance analysis -
Building the pathways that turn attention into action.
I manage digital touchpoints across email, paid social and web, with a focus on creating clear customer journeys and reducing friction between discovery and conversion.
Experience includes:
Email marketing • Lifecycle automation • Meta advertising • Landing pages • Website management • Booking funnels • UX optimization • Analytics -
Creating work that feels like the brand—not just content for content's sake.
I create content with the larger strategy in mind, from campaign concepts and visual direction to copywriting, graphics, photography, Reels, short-form video, and editing. I enjoy translating a brand’s personality into content that feels recognizable and intentional while still giving the audience a reason to engage, explore, or take action.
Experience includes:
Creative direction • Copywriting • Social content • Short-form video • Photography • Drone content • Graphic design • Brand storytelling -
Equally comfortable shaping the strategy and bringing it to life.
I build and manage websites with equal attention to how they look and how they function. My work includes site architecture, page design, copy, landing pages, booking experiences, calls-to-action, mobile usability, SEO fundamentals, and ongoing improvements. I’m particularly interested in removing friction between someone discovering a business and actually becoming a customer.
Platforms & tools:
Email Marketing & Analytics Web design • Landing pages • UX improvements • Booking flows • SEO fundamentals • Conversion paths • Website management -
I like the big idea, but I really love figuring out all the pieces that make it work.
I’m comfortable learning platforms quickly and working through the less-glamorous backend pieces required to actually get an idea live. That can mean building a page in Squarespace, setting up scheduling in Acuity, creating an email campaign, configuring an ad in Meta, editing creative in Canva or CapCut, troubleshooting a booking flow, or digging through analytics when something isn’t performing as expected.
Squarespace • Meta Business Suite • Meta Ads Manager • Canva • CapCut • Acuity Scheduling • OrderPort • Google Analytics
03 | THE BEGINNING
Lash by Ash
Building a Beauty Brand Clients Returned to
My Role
Founder and independent business owner
Brand strategy and positioning
Client experience and retention
Service and pricing development
Website and booking management
Social media and content creation
Promotions and client communication
Scheduling and business operations
7.9K
Visits
5.8K
Unique Visitors
I founded Lash by Ash in 2018 and built every part of the client experience from the ground up—from branding, pricing and service design to booking, communication, retention and day-to-day operations.
In an industry where clients have no shortage of options, sustainable growth depended on more than attracting new appointments. I focused on creating a consistent experience that made clients feel comfortable, understood and confident returning.
Client satisfaction has always been central to how I run my business. I listen closely to feedback, personalize each service and continually refine the experience to ensure clients feel cared for from the moment they book through every appointment that follows.
Growth Built on Loyalty, Not Constant Acquisition
14K
Pageviews
For a recurring-service business, the strongest measure of success isn’t how many people book once—it’s how many choose to come back.
Across five years of recorded Square data, Lash by Ash generated nearly 3,000 client visits, with clients returning an average of 15.8 times. Approximately 96% of classified visits during the reporting period came from returning clients, demonstrating a business sustained by long-term relationships rather than one-time appointments.
The Lash by Ash experience was designed to feel personal, comfortable and dependable. Client feedback consistently highlighted the same qualities I worked intentionally to build into the brand: professionalism, quality, cleanliness and an environment where people felt welcomed and at ease.
Metric:
Result Recorded client visits———————————2,978
Average visits per client—————————————15.8
Returning client visits—————————————1,802
Share of classified visits from returning clients———96%
Based on Square customer insights from August 2021–August 2026. Square’s “returning visits” metric represents the share of classified visits made by returning clients and should not be interpreted as a formal client-retention rate.
04 | FEATURED WORK
Bella Vida 360°
Boutique Winery, Tasting Room & Event Venue
Role: Creative Strategist | 2025–Present
As Bella Vida 360°’s sole digital strategist, I manage the brand’s digital marketing from strategy through execution. Rather than working within a traditional marketing department, I independently oversee the interconnected pieces of Bella Vida’s digital presence—developing the strategy, creating and launching campaigns, managing the platforms behind them, and analyzing performance to determine what comes next.
My role extends well beyond content creation. I handle much of the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that connects marketing to the customer experience, including website management and optimization, event and landing pages, online booking pathways, email campaigns and automations, Meta advertising, audience targeting, analytics, tracking, and ongoing troubleshooting.
On the creative side, I develop campaign concepts and messaging, write copy, design promotional assets, create and edit social content, produce photography and video, and maintain consistency across channels. For events and promotions, I often manage the entire digital rollout—from the initial concept and campaign strategy to the webpage, booking experience, email, organic content, paid advertising, and post-campaign analysis.
7K+
Website visits YTD
8.8K+
Pageviews YTD
6.3K+
Unique visits YTD
+6,136%
Yoy Website Visits*
05 | CASE STUDY
The Flowers of Bella Vida 360°
Turning a small event into a sold-out experience.
THE CHALLENGE
Drive awareness and ticket sales for a 25 seat wine-and-art experience while building a more measurable paid-media process.
Bella Vida partnered with a local artist to create an intimate paint-and-sip experience on the hilltop: a guided floral workshop, wine, and just 25 available seats at $95 each.
With a limited audience and a limited number of tickets, the goal wasn't simply to generate awareness. We needed the right people to discover the event—and give them enough reason to actually book.
THE APPROACH
I developed the digital campaign around the experience rather than simply advertising an event.
From the initial positioning and visual direction to social content, email, the event webpage and paid Meta advertising, each touchpoint was designed to tell the same story while giving customers a clear path to reservation.
As the campaign progressed, I monitored traffic and booking activity, tested different paid creative, refined targeting, shifted spend toward stronger-performing ads, and introduced more urgency as remaining availability decreased.
And when I realized our original conversion tracking wasn't capturing the full booking journey, I corrected the setup—giving us stronger attribution for the campaign going forward and a better measurement framework for future events.
THE RESULTS
The campaign turned a highly limited, one-day experience into a sold-out event while giving Bella Vida a stronger framework for measuring and optimizing future digital campaigns.
Not every conversion happened online.
While conversion tracking was not fully configured at the beginning of the campaign, several of the final reservations and walk-in guests specifically reported discovering the event through Bella Vida’s advertising. Because those bookings occurred offline, they were not captured as Meta-attributed conversions.
25/25
Seats Booked
100%
$95
Ticket Price
$2,357
Gross Ticket Revenue
3.1K
Views on Top Organic Content
$14
Cost per Tracked Booking on High-Performing Paid Creative*
Capacity
Not all bookings were digitally attributable. Several last-minute reservations and walk-in guests self-reported discovering the event through paid advertising but converted offline.
Beyond the ticket sale
The event also resulted in additional wine purchases and new wine club memberships, creating opportunities for continued customer relationships beyond the initial event.
06 | SOCIAL
SOCIAL CONTENT + DISCOVERY
Creating content that gives people a reason to stop, engage, and eventually take the next step.
I approach social media as more than a posting schedule. It’s one piece of a larger digital ecosystem—where brand storytelling, audience behavior, discoverability, community engagement, and conversion all work together.
For Bella Vida 360°, I manage the social presence from strategy through execution: identifying what we should promote, developing concepts, capturing and editing content, writing copy, publishing across channels, supporting campaigns with paid media, and using performance data to guide what we do next.
24K+
Instagram content views
in the most recent 90-day period
58.9%
Views from non-followers
expanding content beyond the existing audience
5.8K
Unique viewers reached
Instagram Insights · 90-day period
637
Content interactions
Organic Content + Storytelling
My goal isn’t to create content simply to keep a feed active. I look for ways to translate what makes a brand worth experiencing into content people actually want to engage with.
For Bella Vida, that has included event storytelling, vineyard and venue content, Reels, promotional graphics, educational and informational posts, behind-the-scenes moments, photography, seasonal campaigns, and experience-focused content designed to give potential visitors a sense of the brand before they ever arrive.
Discovery Beyond the Existing Audience
One of the metrics I pay particular attention to is who content is reaching—not just how many people see it.
Over the most recent 90-day period, 58.9% of Instagram content views came from non-followers, meaning the majority of visibility extended beyond Bella Vida’s existing audience.
I use a mix of Reels, shareable content, event promotion, collaborations, location-based messaging, paid amplification, and consistent brand storytelling to create more opportunities for new audiences to discover the business.
Content → Action
Visibility matters, but I’m ultimately interested in what happens after someone sees the content.
During the same 90-day period, Instagram generated: 361 profile visits, 51 bio link taps, 637 content interactions.
That behavior helps me understand which content is doing more than generating passive views—and where social can support the larger customer journey from discovery to website visit, event RSVP, tasting reservation, or purchase.
What I Provide
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Content strategy · Campaign planning · Content calendars · Audience positioning · Promotional strategy · Performance analysis
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Photography · Short-form video · Reels · Video editing · Graphic design · Copywriting · Brand storytelling
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Instagram · Facebook · Captions · Stories · Community engagement · Cross-channel promotion
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Organic discovery · Paid social · Meta Ads · Event promotion · Audience targeting · Website traffic · Conversion pathways
07 | EMAIL
Email Marketing + Lifestyle
Creating emails that give people a reason to open—and a clear reason to click.
Email is one of the channels I use to keep Bella Vida’s audience connected beyond social media. I independently manage the process from campaign concept and messaging through design, audience selection, scheduling, calls-to-action, and performance review.
Campaigns support everything from event promotion and seasonal offers to wine club communication, customer reminders, brand storytelling, and experience bookings. I’ve also implemented automated subscriber journeys to create more intentional touchpoints with new members of the audience rather than relying solely on individual campaign sends.
My approach is to keep each email focused: one clear story, an intentional visual hierarchy, and an obvious next step. After each send, I review performance to better understand what messaging, subject lines, content, and offers are resonating with the audience.
SELECTED PERFORMANCE
2100+
Recipients reached on large campaign sends
38%
Top open rate on a large-audience campaign
804
Unique opens on a top-performing campaign
33%
Early click rate on welcome automation*
08 | WEB
Web Design + Digital Experience
Live websites that connect brand identity with clear customer pathways.
My web work combines design, copy, UX, booking systems, landing pages, integrations, and ongoing optimization. I’ve built websites from the ground up as well as taken ownership of existing sites—improving how they look, function, and support the larger marketing strategy.
Featured Web Work
Bella Vida 360°
WEBSITE STRATEGY, REDESIGN + ONGOING MANAGEMENT
7K+ website visits YTD • 6.3K unique visitors • 8.8K page views
Lash by Ash
WEBSITE DESIGN, BRAND DIRECTION, BOOKING EXPERIENCE
9.5K+ website visits YTD • 6.9K unique visitors • 19K page views
Wicked Art Industry
WEB DESIGN, BRAND TRANSLATION, UX
9.5K+ website visits YTD • 6.9K unique visitors • 19K page views
09 | CONTACT
Let’s Work Together
Have a project, growing business or idea that needs direction? Tell me a little about what you’re working on, where you’re feeling stuck and what you hope to accomplish. I’ll follow up so we can explore whether I’m the right fit to help.