Most marketing is sold on hope and reported in fog. We built a boutique agency around a single, honest measure of progress — your Upward Score — so you always know exactly where you stand and exactly what you're paying for.
Upstate Upward was founded by Brandon Smalls on a frustration: watching genuinely great local businesses lose customers they should have won — not because they weren't good at the work, but because nobody could find them.
Brandon came to marketing from an unlikely direction. A South Carolina native, he earned a computer information systems degree from the University of South Carolina, spent eight years as a software developer, then added a finance degree from the University of Baltimore. It means he understands both sides of the problem most agencies only guess at: the technology that decides who Google shows, and the numbers that decide whether it's actually paying off.
Ten years in marketing showed him the same pattern everywhere. Agencies overcharged, over-promised, and hid behind reports no owner could actually read. Contracts locked people in whether the work delivered or not. The businesses that needed help most were the ones getting served worst.
So we built the opposite. One accountable partner instead of a rotating team. Plain-English reporting instead of dashboards designed to confuse. The freedom to walk away any month — because we'd rather earn your business than trap it. And one number, the Upward Score, that tells the whole truth about how findable you are, every step of the climb.
We're small on purpose. Boutique means you talk to the person doing the work, and your business gets the attention it deserves.
If we can't show it moved your number, we don't count it as a win. The Upward Score keeps us honest as much as it keeps you informed.
No contracts, ever. If we stop delivering, you should be free to leave. That pressure keeps us sharp — and keeps you first.
We build for exactly how your neighbors search and decide — not a generic national playbook bolted onto your town.
You get a single dedicated contact who knows your business by name — not a ticket number bounced between departments.
The whole industry runs on vagueness — because vagueness is easy to hide behind. We made a score instead. A single 0–100 number for how findable you are, tracked every month, so there's nowhere for us to hide and no way for you to be confused. That's not a gimmick. It's a promise you can hold us to.
We know this market because we're part of it — which is exactly why our clients rank for the searches that actually happen in their neighborhoods.
Baltimore City and the surrounding counties — Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll, and Harford — a market full of local businesses ready to climb.
Get your free Upward Score and a 90-day plan to raise it. No pressure, no contract, one business-day turnaround.