BY ANITA STIEFEL
ANITAS@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
LEE COUNTY — After working for more than 15 years and building a solid reputation as a marketing professional in Birmingham and the Auburn-Opelika area, Katy Harper Doss decided in 2016 to bet on herself, stop working for others, and go out on her own.
“I never had any plans for this business to be anyone other than me — I intended to make a living for myself and then go to the pool,” she said. “But we kept growing, and I got an intern and then a full-time employee, and it just kept developing.”
Doss is founder and CEO of Here Molly Girl, a full-service marketing, web, and design firm headquartered at 807 Geneva Street in Opelika and serving Birmingham, Montgomery, Columbus, Auburn-Opelika and the surrounding areas. Doss is a seasoned professional who has had her hand in almost every aspect of marketing over her career. The company specializes in creative, strategic marketing which drives business for its clients.
“In a nutshell, we solve problems that connect our clients with their customers,” she explained.
Though it started out small, the company has grown to become one of the premier marketing firms in East Alabama and beyond, with more than 60 clients, six full time employees and a small army of interns and freelancers.
Here Molly Girl combines the best parts of a traditional marketing and design firm with unique aspects that truly benefit its clients, according to its website: “Want experience without all the pomp? Want efficient solutions delivered in an economical manner? Want a true partner for your marketing efforts? Here Molly Girl delivers.”
Services include marketing strategy and implementation, website development and management, search engine optimization (SEO), design, branding, promotion development, and social media advertising The company offers full-service marketing to retainer clients, as well as a la carte services to project clients.
Doss said the professionals at Here Molly Girl can find solutions for the most complex marketing problems, such as helping a business generate the most effective online presence possible through SEO and paid digital ads. “SEO is making sure that Google understands what your website is about and who your website is for,” she explained. “You want everything on your site to be understandable by a robot so that robot can serve that website to the people who will benefit from it the most.
“Paid digital ads ensure your message gets seen by the people you want to see it, whether that’s on Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google, Pinterest, Linkedin, or even Hulu.”
Here Molly Girl works with clients large and small, and they tailor a marketing plan to fit each company’s individual needs.
“We’ve worked with clients throughout the U.S., in industries ranging from healthcare, oil & gas, retail, manufacturing and more,” Doss said. “We love it anytime we launch a new logo and brand for a business, every time we launch a website. We love helping businesses put their best foot forward and telling their stories.
“There’s no better feeling than when a client says, ‘OMG it worked!’ We love creating the ‘it’ that works,” she said.
Doss, a member of the Public Relations Council of East Alabama and an Auburn Chamber of Commerce Diplomat, said she has “an insatiable appetite for helping others maximize their profits.”
“One example that stands out in my mind is, a sales rep for one of our clients said, ‘I’ve made more money since we’ve been working with y’all than I have in my entire career,’” she said. “We are showing results.”
This is likely one of the reasons she was named the 2020 Young Businessperson of the Year by the Auburn Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re good at what we do,” Doss said. “We have a great team that works hard and has fun. I’d put our team up against any other marketing firm in the country.”
But it’s about more than collecting trophies to Doss.
“It really is this dream of working for yourself, starting a business from scratch and then growing it statewide,” she said. “This May will be our eighth anniversary. I’m one of the lucky people who gets to wake up every day and love what I do for a living.”
Doss named her business — Here Molly Girl — after a popular phrase she used so many times calling out to her first beloved pet. She would say, “Here, Molly Girl!” when giving her dog, Molly, a treat, taking her for a walk or giving her a belly rub.
“I wanted the name to be clever, and it just fit. It’s recognizable,” she explained.
For more information about the company and the services it offers, visit the website heremollygirl.com.
Doss is an Auburn native and a 1999 graduate of Auburn High School. She graduated in 2003 from Auburn University, where she majored in journalism.
“I always liked to write,” she said. “I had great writing teachers growing up, so journalism kind of came naturally to me.”
After finishing college in 2003, she started her career in Birmingham and worked in marketing there for 10 years before returning to Auburn and marrying her husband, Alex, who works in development for AU’s College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment.
“We got married on the same day Cam Newton won the Heisman, and we stopped the reception to watch that,” she said.
Their son, Robert, is a sixth grader at Drake Middle School, and the family has two Pit Bull rescues, Heidi and Lillie.