Michelle
Golden leads a winning team of professionals to develop
and implement marketing programs from start to finish.
Golden Marketing supplements your existing marketing department
or serves as your outsourced marketing department.
Whether you know exactly what you want, or you need help
deciding what will work best for you, we can help.
See our .
Read about:
Michelle Golden, CPF, President & CEO
 Michelle delivers results and improved operational
health exclusively to professional service firms. Golden Marketing Inc., is not a typical consulting firm.
Michelle's frank, logical approach and sound understanding of how to help firms succeed make her, and her team, a trusted authority and a valued resource to professional service firms worldwide.
She began consulting in 1999. Now she facilitates, trains, and counsels professionals from solos to the big 4 and her company supports them in implementing marketing plans and processes. Michelle holds the Certified Professional Facilitator designation from International Association of Facilitators.
To inform professionals on practice management and business development, Michelle authors a high-traffic blog () that is read and respected by David Maister, Gerry Riskin, and other top experts in professional service firm operations.
Not one satisfied with status quo, she is a Senior Fellow of , the think tank founded by author, speaker and change agent, Ron Baker, to develop and promote practices that advance the professions.
On her own and representing VeraSage Institute, Michelle is a frequent speaker for CPA and law firm associations, state CPA societies, lawyer groups, and marketing organizations including International Association of Business Communicators and Association for Accounting Marketing.
She wrote "Service Excellence: The Cornerstone of Marketing Success," a chapter in the AICPA's upcoming book: The Marketing Advantage: How to Get and Keep the Clients You Want.
Her work and opinions have been featured in numerous publications around the world including:
• ABA, Law Practice Management
• National Law Journal
• Law Practice Management
• Journal of Accountancy
• Practical Accountant
• Accounting Today
• AICPA's CPA2Biz
• CCH’s CPA Practice Management Forum
• INSIDE Public Accounting
• Recovery Magazine (European publication)
• Syriez Magazine (Japanese accounting pub)
Contributing to the advancement of professional services marketing, Michelle remains involved in the Association for Accounting Marketing (). She was AAM's 2001 Volunteer of the Year; a two-term board member and secretary; membership and conference committee chair; planned 1996-2003 conferences; founded AAM’s
member list serve in 2000, and was its administrator until 2005.
Michelle is the former U.S. Regional Representative on the board of the International Association of Facilitators (), and she has assisted in the production of IAF's 2007, 2008 and 2009 conferences.
Her 20+ year career includes leading the marketing departments of an 80-person CPA firm and a 400-person law firm. For ten years prior to working in firms, she was an accountant in the headquarters of two public healthcare companies.
She's a native of Orange County, California transplanting
to Missouri in 1990. She attended Santa Ana College, Irvine
Valley College, and Columbia College majoring in Business
with a dual emphasis in Marketing and Management. She now lives
in St. Louis with her husband and three of her four children. Her eldest son is abroad, serving in the US Army.
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Susan M. Sassmann, Senior Marketing Associate
 Appreciating the opportunity to work with multiple firms implementing varied strategic initiatives, Sue joined Golden Marketing in 2005. Her ability to manage numerous projects effectively is a tribute to her organizational skills.
Sue is always ready to step up and pitch in to get the job done. Whether she's using approaches she's familiar with or tackling something new to her, she's able to take it from 'big picture' to actuality.
Some of Sue's current work includes:
• Maintains accounting news portal (blog) called Accountants Round Up
• Managing marketing plan implementation
• Consulting regularly with firm personnel including coaching and training activities
• Handling large mailing campaigns reaching key contacts and referral sources
• Research and writing website content and print collateral
• Writing bios and press releases
• Research and drafting of a guide for those going through the process of divorce
• Development of internal processes
She brings a wealth of knowledge in a range of marketing functions including:
• Event management
• CRM project leader
• Communications
• Budgetary and expense management of up to $500,000
• Practice area development
• Proposals
• Research and development of collateral materials
• Recruiting event planning
For 10 years, Sue was part of the growth and success of national law firm, Thompson Coburn. During that time, she participated in the substantial development of the client realtions department and in marketing efforts through two mergers.
Sue is a member of Association for Accounting Marketing. She attended Southwest Missouri State University where she earned her BS in Communications Management, cum laude, and minored in Journalism. She, her husband, and three daughters reside in the greater St. Louis area.
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Jen Nahlik, Copywriter & Internet Marketing Specialist
 Jen brings fresh ideas and a new perspective to existing strategies for Golden Marketing’s clients.
Jen’s experience in the world of search engine optimization provides an advantage for professional service firms looking to maximize their online visibility.
She has written and edited content for over a hundred different websites, while monitoring and reporting on the success of her clients’ search engine rankings. Working with a number of diverse companies and industries, Jen has managed both organic search and pay-per-click marketing campaigns. She maintains a thorough knowledge of modern standards and practices for building a strong presence on the web.
Writing compelling, keyword-rich copy is a challenge Jen tackles with a passion. With her BA in Journalism from Webster University in St. Louis, she has been writing in various styles and capacities for eight years. The last four, she’s spent becoming adept at copywriting for websites, striving to help businesses highlight their best qualities and excel within their markets.
Jen is a life-long resident of St. Louis, currently living in the suburbs with her husband.
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Katy Vaninger,
Marketing Associate
 Katy joined Golden Marketing as a marketing associate in August 2008 after completing a summer internship program. Katy implements detailed style consistency standards across the board for firm collateral; drafts press releases, copy, and proposals; manages several websites; and assists with the design and content development of client newsletters.
Katy jump-started her marketing career through several internships in the St. Louis area, where she organized survey results and wrote press documents, and assisted with preparations for a fundraising event.
With her willingness to learn and take initiative, Katy has found a good fit with Golden Marketing Inc. She has developed enthusiasm and a knack for accounting and law firm marketing. She looks forward to learning about design and getting more involved with web marketing. A native of Trenton, Illinois, Katy is a 2008 graduate of Saint Louis University (SLU), where she earned a B.A. in communication and a certificate in creative and professional writing. At SLU, she completed coursework in developing integrated communication campaigns. She currently lives in St. Louis.
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Rae, Professional Editor/Proofreader
Rae is a lifelong avid reader with a love of editing. Formally trained in editing, she has honed her naturally sharp eye for grammatical and stylistic inconsistencies on numerous projects including books, computer manuals, articles, as well as many collateral pieces and website pages for professional services firms.
She's a perfect “second set of eyes” that professionals can rely on for reviewing work and ensuring their technical writings are understandable to the layperson.
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Jeanette, Graphic Design
A gifted, versatile designer, Jeanette blends classic styles with innovative treatments in her professional designs. She manages multiple national accounts (including Fortune 100 companies) meeting budgets and tight deadlines while concentrating on innovative design techniques.
Jeanette has extensive experience in the professional services arena having been senior designer for a major national law firm. She expertly handles
concepting and implementation of marketing ideas for projects from corporate collateral material to exotic automobiles. She's a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts—her emphasis in graphic design and her minor in advertising.
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Rusty, Graphic Design and Web Developer
Rusty handles virtual projects seamlessly. His style is
fresh and clean exhibiting an excellent sense of balance.
He is the artist behind Golden Marketing’s 2005
identity makeover and this website. His work includes
design for Glaxo Smith Klein, Levi Strauss, Warner Bros.,
and Disney.
Rusty's talents include identity packages, Web
production including Web video, streaming, all elements
of Flash animation, search engine optimization (SEO), and multi-media (CD-Rom, DVD, etc) production.
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