Digital growth consulting · Founded 2008

Growth built by an
operator, not an agency.

I founded, scaled, and sold my own e-commerce company, and I've led eight-figure ad budgets as a digital executive. Ascent Strategies brings 18+ years of full-funnel digital execution (paid, organic, affiliate, CRO, lifecycle) to brands that need someone who's actually carried the P&L.

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Paid SearchSEOAffiliateCROEmail & SMSLoyaltyAmazonLifecycle Paid SearchSEOAffiliateCROEmail & SMSLoyaltyAmazonLifecycle
Why Ascent

Most consultants sell you a deck. I've spent eighteen years on the other side of the table. As a founder who built a skincare retailer to $6.5M and sold it, and as a digital leader steering eight-figure ad budgets.

Ascent Strategies started in 2008 as my own affiliate and digital marketing company, building, ranking, and monetizing sites across insurance, supplements, financial services, legal services, and more. More recently I've opened it up to select consulting engagements, bringing that same operator playbook to brands like Mercy Infusion. Either way: no learning on your dime, no jargon-as-strategy, and no recommendation I haven't personally executed and lived with. You get someone who reads the numbers like an owner, because I've been one.

$5.5M+
single-year digital ad budget managed across all channels at ZAGG
$6.5M
DTC skincare brand built from zero and sold
247%
CAGR achieved in the first two years of EDCskincare.com
18+ yrs
founder & operator experience across DTC, retail & lead gen
Capabilities

Anything digital.
Executed, not delegated.

01

Paid Acquisition

Search, social, display & remarketing. Campaign architecture, bid strategy, and relentless testing tied to CPL, CPA, and ROAS targets that actually hold up.

02

SEO & Organic

Programmatic and editorial SEO, niche discovery, and content that ranks for high-intent queries, not vanity traffic that never converts.

03

Affiliate & Partnerships

Program builds from scratch: recruitment, onboarding, optimization. Top-performer track record on CJ and LinkConnector with 11+ ROAS programs.

04

Conversion Optimization

Full-funnel CRO audits across landing pages, intake flows, and checkout. Find the leaks, fix the drop-off, compound the gains.

05

Email & SMS Lifecycle

Klaviyo flows and campaigns that scaled a list from 80k to 200k. Retention engineering, not batch-and-blast.

06

Loyalty & Rewards

Subscription, rewards, and review programs that turn one-time buyers into a compounding base of repeat revenue.

07

Marketplace & Amazon

Eight-figure Amazon ad management across both 3P (Seller Central) and 1P (Vendor Central), Subscribe & Save growth, private-label launches, and Luxury Beauty vendor approvals.

08

Lead Generation

Aggregator spend optimization, appetite alignment, and quote-to-bind improvement across regulated, high-stakes verticals.

Track Record

Outcomes, with the numbers attached.

Iconomy Ventures (EDCskincare.com)
Founder & E-Commerce Director · Exited
  • Built to $6.5M in revenue and sold the company
  • 247% CAGR from launch to $5.7M in two years
  • Grew subscriber list to 180,000+
  • 30+ Amazon Luxury Beauty vendor approvals
HAIRtamin
VP, Digital
  • Paid search sales up 30% YoY
  • Amazon US sales up 115%, S&S up 227%
  • Email list 80k → 200k via Klaviyo
  • Affiliate program: $500k+ at 11.3 ROAS
Integrated Specialty Coverages
SEM & Affiliate Manager
  • $2M+ annual paid search, beating CPL targets
  • $3M+ aggregator spend optimized for bind rate
  • Automation recovered $7K/mo in lead credits
  • State & airport-radius campaigns above benchmark
ZAGG Inc
Sr. Digital Marketing Manager
  • $5.5M+ digital budget across all channels
  • $3M+ Amazon ad budget managed
  • Cross-platform PPC: Google, Bing, Meta
  • Built KPI reporting for data-driven decisions
Mercy Infusion
Fractional VP, Ecommerce · Current
  • Patient-acquisition engine for IVIG / SCIG
  • Condition-specific funnels (CIDP, MG, IVIG)
  • Intake infrastructure: scheduling → CRM
  • LegitScript-compliant healthcare advertising
Ascent Strategies
Founder · 2008 to Present
  • Founded 2008 as an affiliate & digital marketing company
  • Built & ran 25 affiliate sites at $30K/mo
  • Top performer on CJ & LinkConnector
  • Now also taking consulting engagements (see Mercy Infusion)
How I Work

No retainers for activity. Engagements for outcomes.

Diagnose

A structured audit of where money goes in versus where it comes out. No assumptions, just sourced, verifiable numbers.

Prioritize

The two or three moves that compound. I'd rather fix one leaking funnel than ship ten dashboards nobody reads.

Execute

Hands on keyboard. I build the campaigns, write the flows, and ship the pages myself, or direct your team to.

Compound

Test, measure, double down on what works, kill what doesn't. Growth as a system, not a sugar high.

Let's talk about
what actually moves
your number.

Fractional leadership, project engagements, or a straight second opinion on your spend. If it's digital and it touches revenue, it's in scope.

duke@ascentstrategies.com (714) 752-3722