Joe Fino | Professional Summary

Work Experience

Principal, Digital Experience & Strategy

Unexpected Creative

July 2020 – Present, Baltimore, MD
I lead digital experience and strategy for agency clients across real estate, civic, education, arts, and hospitality. I own the work end to end: information architecture, UX, conversion, web development, and the platform decisions underneath. Strategy through execution, measured honestly.

• Provide strategic leadership across every account: digital strategy, content, CRM, SEM, SEO, and social.
• Manage development teams, freelancers, and in-house staff to ship the work while staying hands-on in production across disciplines.
• Diagnose what is actually broken before recommending a fix, then own the build that follows.
• Advise clients on emerging technology, AI imagery and animation, and digital best practices.
• Recent work:
  • For a national brand, found organic traffic declining beneath headline session growth, rebuilt the site’s information architecture and conversion paths around the problem, and made the platform call to support it.
  • Cut a client’s paid dependency and rebuilt their audience on owned and earned channels, lifting engagement 75% on zero ad spend.

Partner & Director of Marketing

Watchtower Brewing Company

2018 – Present, Aberdeen, MD
Co-founded and led all brand and marketing for a craft brewery from concept through grand opening in December 2025, building the identity, the strategy, and the audience before the doors ever opened.

• Developed the full brand identity: naming, logo, visual language, and positioning.
• Built the taproom experience concept, merchandise program, and event programming from the ground up.
• Grew social media to 3,400+ followers before opening through organic content and community building.
• Secured press coverage including The Baltimore Sun and WMAR-TV.
• Created and executed the full marketing launch plan across digital, events, and local partnerships.
• Post-opening, ran paid campaigns that tripled Thursday trivia night revenue, from roughly $500 to $1,500 per night on $225 in spend.
• Drove the first Tower Rocks festival to 250+ attendees and the brewery’s highest-grossing taproom day to date.

Creative Director

Red Dog

July 2016 – July 2020, Baltimore, MD
At the Red Dog Agency, as Creative Director, I led all projects and was responsible for the overall quality of work produced by the agency. My responsibilities included:

• Developing new business opportunities and expanding the agency’s client base
• Managing a team of designers, developers, copywriters, and social media specialists to execute projects and meet client needs
• Developing comprehensive marketing plans
• Designing and developing websites for clients
• Directing layout, design, and copywriting for all projects
• Determining and monitoring production schedules to ensure timely delivery of projects
• Providing work direction and guidance to staff to ensure projects were executed to the highest standards
• Developing new client presentations and proposals to showcase the agency’s capabilities and services
• Collaborating with clients to understand their business goals and create custom solutions to meet those goals
• Continuously staying up-to-date with industry trends and technologies to ensure the agency is offering cutting-edge solutions to clients.

Affiliate Professor

Loyola University of MD

Spring 2019 & Fall 2021, Baltimore, MD
In my role teaching the course CM312 and CM202, I taught students conceptual understandings, design principles, Web usability, and SEO associated with website design and development. Students spent much of their time learning HTML & CSS before moving on to complete their final project which was a personal portfolio website built using WordPress.

Managing Director, Digital Strategy

Forge Integrated

2015 – 2016, Washington, DC-Baltimore Area
Brought on a second partner and rebranded the consultancy as Forge Integrated, combining branding, design, and digital communications to help clients reach their goals. Led digital strategy and ran the business, then moved the client base to Red Dog.

Principal, Chief Digital Officer

Ingenium I/O

2013 – 2015, Washington, DC-Baltimore Area
Built Ingenium I/O out of my long-running independent consultancy, JoeFino.net, taking it from no clients to a profitable business in the first year. Served clients across industries with web, digital strategy, SEM, social, and content, managing freelance development teams and driving all new business.

Director of Marketing Technology

Crosby Marketing

2008 – 2012, Annapolis, MD
I led and managed all aspects of digital production. The team consisted of in-house Developers, Designers, Production Artists and external freelance talent. I was responsible for all production of Interactive, Web, and Mobile development for the agency, while working hands on to produce client work. While at Crosby Marketing I was responsible for integrating digital into every aspect of the agency, including training and mentoring staff to help raise their Digital IQ to facilitate better communication with clients when discussing digital strategies.

• Established and articulated a clear technical vision for the agency’s development processes
• Identified and implemented opportunities for process, technology, and organizational improvement
• Remained current with new technologies, products, best practices, attending conferences and training
• Participated in new business estimates and pitches
• Served as the face of the development team, directly working with clients
• Provided hands-on leadership for all development efforts
• Managed team members as well as freelancers
• Mentored junior members of the team
• Gathered requirements and documented all processes
• Coordinated project schedules and traffic for digital production
• Worked with all of the integrated teams at Crosby to produce high quality work for clients across all disciplines

Director of Interactive

Planit Advertising

2006 – 2008, Baltimore, MD
Led and managed a high performance, award-winning team of Project Managers, Web Developers, Designers, Production Artists, and 3D Animators. My team developed and executed a variety of Interactive projects including unique client web designs, email marketing, viral campaigns, online and mobile advertising, application development, 3D animation, and motion graphics.

• Created estimates and proposals for projects
• Ensured delivery of high quality work on-time, and on-budget
• Maintained departmental budgets and forecasting
• Collaborated with sales, programming, email marketing, and SEO staff, to develop concepts and strategies
• Conceptualized, presented and executed high-quality and effective multimedia solutions and strategies, including audio, video, animation, and interactivity, to create and enhance clients’ web experience
• Explored opportunities to integrate new technologies into existing accounts and production processes
• Worked with account staff and business development to identify new business opportunities and participated in the execution of proposals and presentations
• Provided leadership within the agency and with clients in the strategic planning processes
• Worked closely with other members of the agency’s Sr. Staff to facilitate efficient workflow, effective creative development, and smart strategic planning processes