About

The inventors of Mindset-Driven Marketing.

Kristin Zhivago

President

Kristin Zhivago, president and founder, has been helping CEOs and entrepreneurs increase their revenue for decades.

Recently Kristin and her team rolled out the concept of Mindset-Driven Marketing, a way to focus all your offers on the customer’s mindset when they set out on their buying journey. Matching offer to mindset results in a very rewarding result: increased sales.

Kristin has literally written the book on how to sell the way your customers want to buy, and has trained marketers worldwide. She and her team have built a digital marketing machine that works for a variety of industries, products, and services.

The conversations you’ll have with Kristin will provide relief, practical next steps, and inspiration. As clients who have been with her for years will tell you, she is an exceptional managerial resource.

If any of your performance “arrows” aren’t going up, we work on them until they do. That’s what we think of as the whole point of marketing and sales efforts.

Today’s successful marketing demands best-practice approaches and constant attention to the success of those approaches. We all move quickly when something isn’t working as it should, improving and experimenting until the arrows start moving in the right direction.

So many clients come to us after “spending so much and not getting anything for it.” You won’t have that problem with us, because we keep working on the issue—whatever it is—until your arrows start moving in the right direction.

You get to see what’s working — and what we’re doing — 24/7.

Our Ops Center client portal is an amazing way to see your stats and marketing activity. We are proud of this, as it gives you “everything you need to know about what’s going on” in one place, available 24/7.

This proprietary client portal gives you an inside look at traffic, conversions, your most popular pages and articles, visitor demographics, channel success (e.g., search engine optimization, paid online marketing, email marketing, etc.), site maintenance, influencer marketing, account-based marketing, and more.

We have worked closely with clients to give them exactly what is most helpful, providing real-time data that they can view from a variety of perspectives.

You get to work with professional, experienced digital marketing professionals who work as a tight-knit team.

Digital marketing is highly specialized, and changes constantly. We are well past the age of marketing generalists. Only someone who works in a given area every day, and has successfully done so for years, can make the right decisions and consistently carry out the right tasks so your marketing works as well as it can.

Many digital agencies use the model where there is one “heavy” at the top and many interns doing the work. But interns don’t have the experience to know why something isn’t working or what would make it work better. The right specialist can make an enormous difference; we’ve had this proven to us over and over again.

We find them—so you don’t have to. We manage them on your behalf. We support them with ironclad project management systems, and we treat them right. Our team consists of a core infrastructure management team, creative specialists (writers, developers, graphic designers) and channel specialists (online ads, social, content marketing, websites, influencer marketing, account-based marketing, etc.). This guarantees that you have the best people working on all of your marketing efforts.

Kristin founded Zhivago Partners in 2017, after decades as a revenue coach; she helped CEOs and entrepreneurs grow their companies by understanding what their customers wanted to buy from them and how they wanted to buy it. Kristin was the first woman to sell machine shop tools in the U.S., and spent much of her career in the tech industry. When the web emerged in the mid-nineties, Kristin started working with all types of companies. Kristin has done marketing and sales department turnarounds for companies of all sizes, including IBM and Dow Jones. Now, she and her ZP team enjoy working with mid-size companies that have built a solid business but need help with their digital marketing. She personally loves the fact that Zhivago Partners is “a safe place for nice people to work,” and thrives on the tech-driven fast pace of today’s markets. Kristin and her husband spent decades sailing together, including having a 48-foot catamaran built in South Africa and sailing it home to New England in 2009.

Sandra has spent her entire career in the field of technology. She started out as a technical writer, then moved into systems design, implementation, and management and disaster recovery. Eventually, Sandra also began doing web design and development and served as Chief Technical Officer for a medium-sized manufacturing company. In 2012, Sandra decided to become a consultant and refocus her career on the type of work she enjoys the most: content development and editing.

Becky is a solutions-driven project and product manager. She has a demonstrated record of achieving success using strategic development, roadmap creation, and the management of relationships, work processes and milestones, and completing deliverables within budget. She has 10+ years of project management experience, has earned PMP and CSM certifications, and has a degree in computer science with a minor in math. Prior to working with Zhivago Partners, Becky held positions at AccelerEd and the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority.

Lindsay has spent her career working in a multitude of industries, but has found a home in digital marketing. Most of her career has been in the financial services industry, as she holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance, but she has also dabbled in aviation and influencer marketing. Lindsay has a heart to help others and has found her passion is project management and client success, where she uses her organizational and interpersonal skills to help others stay accountable and achieve their goals. Lindsay and her husband live in Kansas, where they were both born and raised, with their two young children. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, writing, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.

Aryn is one of our client success managers, dedicated to helping clients achieve their lead-generation goals through various appropriate digital marketing methods. She has spent ten years in legal and government positions, and five years in influencer marketing, social media, and brand research. She graduated from Lindenwood University with a degree in HR management. She lives in Saint Charles, MO with her husband and two boys, and enjoys traveling, trying out new restaurants, and golfing.

As operations manager, Cindy handles all of the backend financial responsibilities for the company, including accounts receivable. She is also very involved in infrastructure systems and decisions, including project management and analysis of cloud-based applications that we use to run ZP. Cindy spent 15 years in travel management and group travel. She has a bachelor of science from the University of Texas at Austin.

Loreina manages social media for multiple clients. She creates content and graphics for the various social channels, reflecting each client’s unique value and offerings. She also posts content onto client websites and alerts Google to the new content. Loreina started working as a virtual assistant some years ago, which helped her excel in a number of areas. She has been a website moderator, project manager, customer service manager, personal assistant, email manager, data entry operator, and more. She has experience with eCommerce (Amazon and Shopify). Prior to becoming a virtual assistant, she worked in the pharmacy and criminal justice industry, as a probation officer and administrative assistant. She takes pride in her ability to solve problems and help the operations of Zhivago Partners run as smoothly as possible. Loreina has a degree in business administration, and lives in Texas with her three children and one grandchild.

Jordan runs the Google Ads campaigns for Zhivago Partners clients. He earned his Google Ads and Google Analytics Certifications in 2014. Before working for Zhivago Partners, Jordan worked for a wide variety of companies improving their Google Ads and Analytics accounts. Jordan takes a very practical and statistical approach to online advertising, constantly optimizing campaigns by making both small and strategic adjustments. Jordan also launched a food truck called Revival Chili in 2016, and has since grown his food business to two food trucks and a brick-and-mortar restaurant currently employing 10 people.

Jessie is an SEO expert who excels in helping client websites rank more prominently for targeted keyword phrases. Jessie provides content marketing strategy development and keyword, outside article, and editorial strategy for many of the articles we write for our clients. Jessie has been an SEO/SEM/PPC consultant for 13 years. She develops comprehensive SEO strategies for B2B and B2C clients. She is proficient in on-page, off-page, and technical SEO.

Jeff has been involved in the design, development, and deployment of custom websites, software systems, and network security for more than 20 years. His ability to listen, comprehend the vision, and deliver results sets him apart from others in his field. Jeff has served in various roles, including Senior Developer & Architect, IT Director, and Consultant. He has developed software systems used by the Department of Defense and has donated his time to assist with technology needs for Central American mission organizations. Jeff brings over two decades of experience and expertise to every solution he delivers, while displaying a dedication and commitment reflective of his passion to use technology for the betterment of our society.

Michelle has been working in WordPress and performing SEO work for 7 years. She is responsible for all of the competitive keyword research for all ZP clients, which serves as the foundation for all SEO-driven content that our writers produce. Michelle also conducts daily quality control for all clients, checking websites, online advertising, and email campaigns to make sure everything is operating as it should be. As a result, our clients have very few “site down” or “broken link” issues to deal with.

After graduating from Emory University, Louis spent 4 years in the solar industry, working his way from sales rep to regional manager where he was able to open a new territory and lead a team of 16. He then pursued entrepreneurship, first working at a fintech startup and eventually founding his own sustainability focused company. Louis is responsible for managing and optimizing a variety of digital campaigns, bringing valuable experience in growth marketing, sales, and customer service to our clients.

Laura is the ZP booking agent for the various podcasts that Kristin appears on, and is also responsible for many of the administrative, research, and structural tasks that help to keep the project machine working as it should. She has a degree in Business Marketing from Monmouth University.

Over the past decade, Mike has been producing both live action and animated videos for various brands and non-profits. He puts a special emphasis on understanding each company and their product in order to deliver optimal video branding. Outside of the branding space, Mike is an active filmmaker working on both documentary and narrative films.

Emerald is a graphic designer based in the Pacific Northwest. She has been designing professionally for more than 13 years. Her passion for her work shows through in her commitment to producing beautiful and relevant designs. Emerald received a SAMMY Marketing Award for Best Sales Brochure for a brochure design for Allied Fire & Security, and also had the opportunity to design the Spokane Hoopfest Youtube Logo and the 2021 Bloomsday Finisher Medal. She is skilled in computer science, typography, multi-page layout designs, product advertisements, brand development, and communication. She also worked as a Print Manager for two years. Her passion for art extends beyond the computer; she creates original paintings, makes jewelry, and even started her own Etsy store. Working in different mediums helps keep her inspired and motivated to continue doing the work she loves. Outside of work Emerald loves taking her two dogs out to explore, hiking the numerous trails around Spokane, and getting hooked into another book.

Hussain specializes in web development, particularly in WordPress and frontend development. An avid problem solver, he appreciates tough challenges in his work that enable him to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions. Beyond developing websites, Hussain enjoys gaming, hiking, and playing music. Some places that Hussain enjoys hiking most are the mountains around Denver, the gorge in Niagara Falls, and Scarborough Bluffs in Canada. Hussain plays several woodwind instruments and the piano. His music-playing focus these days is classical music on the piano. Hussain also composes original music and occasionally scores student films.

Kelly is a lifelong freelance writer. Her undying love for all things reading and writing began as soon as she was old enough to hold a book and has only grown with time. This fondness has caused her oldest friends, on many occasions, to use the affectionate introduction: “This is Kelly. She words good.” Once a jack-of-all-trades who dabbled in everything from psychology to personal training, she now specializes in tech and fintech topics, primarily for B2B companies.Kelly lives in Ohio with her husband, son, and two 60-pound lap dogs. Her hobbies include sustainable gardening and trying to get lost in the woods.

Joe is an engineer who discovered writing as a passion. A background in technical consulting drives him to write articles that both inform and entertain. Born and raised near Chicago, Illinois, Joe has worked across the country and overseas, emphasizing strong communication as the key to successful projects and professional relationships. From hands-on experience in various industries, including civil engineering, energy systems, and environmental reporting, Joe enjoys connecting the dots across supply chains and stakeholders to make the world work a little better. When he isn’t consumed by his latest project, Joe enjoys unplugging in the great outdoors or reading a good book overlooking the prairie.

Brent’s passion for writing began in journalism where he wrote for his school newspaper in high school and college, and served as editor of several national magazines upon graduation from the University of Texas at Austin. He took this passion for writing into the law where he was an attorney for the federal government for over 10 years, working in the United States House of Representatives and for the Department of Justice. After several years in private practice, Brent pivoted into data analysis and technology attending coding bootcamps in front and backend web development and data analytics. He has worked as a data analyst for large healthcare and financial services companies with a particular focus in data visualization, data warehousing, and process improvement. Brent loves anything on the water from fishing to boating. He is an avid guitarist who writes his own music.

David is a software specialist located in Orange County, CA. He specializes in custom software development and website implementations. He has 20 years of experience in multiple industries including custom software development, wholesale distribution/manufacturing, insurance, and retail operations. David leverages his prior experience to help achieve the client’s vision and provide the end product the client wants. David is proficient with WordPress, Magento, Amazon Web Services, Azure and BI Applications (including Power BI, Tableau, Amazon Quicksight). In his off time he spends his time with his family traveling to as many different countries as possible, and competing in dog sports agility and scent-work events with his two dogs, Freyja and Gyda.

Our systems and processes are amazing.

Yep, that’s right. Amazing. Years of being a revenue coach convinced Kristin that most companies fail most often in two areas: not understanding what their customers really want, and not building processes that help customers and workers.

Kristin’s most famous quote grew out of this observation—and her efforts to help clients improve their processes:

“Branding is the promise that you make; your brand is the promise that you keep.” – Kristin Zhivago

Thanks to our systems, processes, and people, we keep our promises. Every single one, every single day. We have a “Core Infrastructure Team” that builds, works with, and continuously improves our systems. We know where every job is, at every given moment. We have full transparency to clients about what’s going on. Team members assigned to a client know the client’s goals and strategies, and are updated as goals and strategies evolve.

We also have a method, which Zhivago developed, that makes sure we bring in leads for our clients. Zhivago calls it Mindset-Driven Marketing™ where customer research uncovers the very specific Mindset of the customer while on their buying journey. She and her team then craft an offer aimed at that very specific Mindset, and run that offer in the correct channels for that client and their customers, and the leads start coming in.

You get any marketing help you need—digital and non-digital.

Marketing is mostly digital these days, and we are fully immersed in all digital channels and methods. But there are also plenty of non-digital efforts that must also be undertaken. We often become the virtual marketing department for our clients. We have designed trade show booths, created printed pieces, and helped organize events.

We can also play nice with whomever is already working on your behalf. We know that we’re coming into the middle of your marketing movie, and we know how to get along and get things done together.

Whatever it is, we have specialists to work on it. Here are just a few of the things we can help you:

Ultimately, we will get all of your marketing moving in one, solid, revenue-producing direction.

That’s what we’re here for and what we live for.