Our Story

Ryan Thomas – founder of Explorer Marketing LLC – is a third-generation visual artist and storyteller with the heart of a salesman.

His grandfather is an award-winning photographer and life-long writer. He passed his skills and knowledge to his son, who became an award-winning photographer just like him. When Ryan was a child, his dad and grandad were preparing for a typical family photo-outing. This time was special, though, because this was when Ryan’s father gifted him his first camera. Ryan shot through all of his film on the first outing and was excited to get more.

Ryan fell in love with photography and the art of visual storytelling. He was mentored by his father and grandfather in the art of storytelling through photographs and writing. His grandfather presented his collegiate slideshow lessons on a projector, teaching Ryan about visual composition, color, contrast, storytelling in photography, and so much more. When digital photography emerged, Ryan’s father taught him to use post-editing software like Photoshop and Lightroom to transform raw photos into unique and stunning photographs.

After finishing his education, Ryan decided that his life would be better if he weren’t tethered to one location. He embraced the life of a nomadic outdoorsman. He traveled all over America. He backpacked across mountains. He became an avid climber of rocks and ice, and snow. He paddled rivers and sailed the sea. He worked in a variety of industries: he was a wilderness guide and volunteer photographer with Outward Bound, he was a groundskeeper at a hostel, built an ice castle, was a ski instructor, and worked in a seafood processor in Alaska, then he found his way on a commercial salmon fishing boat shortly after.

During his travels, he decided to expand the family-skillset beyond photography and writing. He became a self-taught videographer, graphic designer, and blogger. He built his first social media platform by sharing his vlogs, blogs and photos across platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and his website. He began studying social media strategy, content creation, marketing, analytics analysis, and more. This was the pivotal moment when Ryan Thomas dove deeply into his study of digital marketing.

Ryan began spending more time learning about digital marketing and content strategy than actually developing his content. He received formal training in Digital Marketing, Advertising, Content Strategy and Social Media Marketing. He read the latest news about the ever-changing algorithms of search engines and social platforms. He began partnering with businesses owners to help them develop websites and content strategies for their small businesses. His interest deepened, his skills developed, and his passion ignited.

Ryan’s focus shifted from building his own platforms to serving his partners. Seeing the joy and excitement in developing content for small businesses, Ryan decided to make Digital Marketing his mission – thus creating Explorer Marketing LLC.

Since then…

Explorer Marketing has built a team of innovative and inspired marketing professionals who are dedicated to building businesses through digital platforms.

We’ve been serving businesses to build their revenue through digital advertising, content marketing, and SEO using social media, search engines, and email.

Our clients love working with us, and they love the results we deliver for them – so if you’re ready to embark on your next marketing journey, contact us today.