About JCD Promotions
Most small businesses don’t have a website problem. They have a strategy problem — and nobody told them.
We built JCD to fix that.
OUR STORY
For years, small business owners were sold the idea that a good‑looking website was enough. It wasn’t. They ended up with attractive sites that generated no leads, communicated no clear value, and delivered no return on a significant investment.
JCD was built to be different — an advisor, not a vendor. We ask the questions others skip, explain what others obscure, and build digital infrastructure designed to perform long after launch.
We build websites for your clients, not for you. A site that impresses you but fails to connect with the people you are trying to reach has missed the point entirely.
Whether your clients are individual consumers or large enterprise businesses, the website has to speak to them clearly and move them toward action. If it doesn’t, the goal hasn’t been met. That standard drives every project, every recommendation, and every conversation we have.
When you hold that standard consistently, something happens naturally — people talk. Over the past decade, JCD’s growth has come entirely through referrals. No cold outreach. No paid prospecting. Just consistent results that earn the next introduction.
Carrie Drephal
Founder & Creative Director
Carrie Drephal didn’t set out to build a digital strategy agency. She built something more valuable first — a career that touched nearly every discipline that makes one possible.
Her professional career began in radio and the music industry and expanded through music licensing, event production, operations management, IT training, and project management — across multiple industries, multiple states, and multiple organizational sizes. That breadth of experience built a skill set that’s hard to find in a single person:
- Understanding how audiences think and what moves them to act
- How information is organized and found online — and what that means for a client's content and visibility
- Process discipline and the documentation rigor that keeps complex projects on track
- The ability to manage complexity under real stakes
- Translating technical concepts into plain English that business owners actually understand
- Understanding how audiences think and what moves them to act
- How information is organized and found online — and what that means for a client's content and visibility
- Process discipline and the documentation rigor that keeps complex projects on track
- The ability to manage complexity under real stakes
- Translating technical concepts into plain English that business owners actually understand
JCD became her full-time focus in 2016 — not by grand design, but through demand. A few requests to help local businesses with their websites turned into referrals, which turned into more referrals, which eventually made the decision for her. What started as a necessity became a clear purpose: be the advisor that small business owners actually need, not just another name on an invoice.
One part of Carrie’s background would rarely appear on a typical agency bio — eighteen years behind bars. Pouring drinks, to be specific. Bartending, often alongside other professional roles, shaped some of her most practical skills: reading people quickly, building rapport with strangers in minutes, managing difficult situations with composure, knowing when to talk and when to listen, and staying sharp under pressure. That experience is part of who she is — and part of what makes working with her feel different from a typical agency engagement.
CORE TEAM
The people behind the work
CD
Carrie Drephal
Creative Director & Founder
Strategist, advisor, and the person who asks the questions nobody else thought to ask. Carrie leads every client engagement from first conversation to final delivery.
HS
Heidi Swinford
Operations & Client Support
Heidi is the operational backbone of JCD Promotions. She handles a range of technical tasks, manages client communications, tracks projects, and keeps everything moving without bottlenecks.
EXTENDED TEAM
Specialists, not interchangeable contractors
JCD operates with a trusted network of specialists brought in based on project needs. These are not interchangeable contractors — they are long-term professional relationships built on consistent performance and shared standards.
Michelle Borek
SEO Specialist
Michelle has been deeply invested in search engine optimization for nearly two decades — long before most businesses even knew SEO existed – and she has never stopped refining her craft.
Her expertise is grounded in a deep understanding of Google’s systems and ranking behavior and a wide range of SEO tools. She doesn’t rely on generic reports from platforms like SEMrush. Michelle’s approach is targeted to your audience, your industry, and your actual competitive landscape. She attends conferences dedicated exclusively to SEO to stay ahead of changes that affect her clients before those changes become problems.
Erik Kjelland
Graphic Design
Carrie and Erik go back more than 20 years — to their University of Wisconsin–Platteville days. That kind of tenure isn’t just longevity. It’s a shared understanding of standards, communication, and what good work actually looks like. Less explaining, more doing.
Erik is also a musician and songwriter — a background that translates more directly into design work than it might seem. His process starts with understanding the client’s goals, audience, and definition of success, then distilling that into a clear visual direction. Clean, purposeful design that communicates quickly and represents a business accurately.
Brodi Cole
Content & Virtual Assistant
Brodi has worked from a cruise ship crossing the Pacific, the Pan American Highway, and regions across Asia, Europe, and Oceania. She comes to JCD through Freedom Makers Virtual Services, a network that creates flexible career paths for military spouses. Brodi provides professional excellence without geographic constraints.
Her work is grounded in a simple standard: good content is intentional and audience-focused. Within JCD, Brodi manages the company’s LinkedIn presence, email newsletters, and blog content — keeping the brand voice consistent and the content worth reading.
IN PRACTICE
What strategic partnership actually looks like
JCD’s work spans industries, project types, and complexity levels. A few examples:
When a law firm came to us for a redesign, our review uncovered that their previous site builder had used unlicensed stock photography throughout the site — on a law firm specializing in intellectual property. We flagged it, resolved it, and built a foundation they could stand behind.
When clients launch new sites built on a clear strategic foundation, results follow quickly. We have seen multiple new websites begin generating qualified leads within the first two weeks of going live — not because of luck, but because the infrastructure, messaging, and SEO were built correctly from the start.
When ecommerce businesses need more than a storefront, we build systems — sites that manage inventory, track purchase orders, handle phone orders, and process shipping in one integrated environment.
The common thread is not the project type. It is the standard applied to every one.