Meet Sarah Herron

With nearly two decades of experience in communications, marketing, and digital strategy, Sarah Herron brings deep expertise across the full media spectrum—earned, owned, and paid. She is known for her ability to turn complex ideas into clear, compelling campaigns and for building strategic frameworks that elevate brands, engage communities, and drive measurable results.

Sarah founded the Herron Group to serve as both a consultant and collaborator—working independently or with a trusted network of creative partners to help businesses and organizations move the needle on visibility, engagement, and growth. She is typically brought in on a temporary or project basis to launch new initiatives, refresh brand strategy, or provide high-level communications support that aligns with operational goals.

In recent years, she has led strategic communications and community engagement for a small business, overseeing brand storytelling, advertising, social media, and a full website redesign with updated collateral. She also supported a healthcare company with communications that spanned patient, employee, government, and community engagement—ensuring alignment with accreditation standards and improving visibility through white papers, internal messaging, and digital content.

Previously, Sarah served as director of marketing and communications for Friends of the Smokies, the philanthropic partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In that role, she led all marketing and communications across Tennessee and North Carolina, supporting major fundraising campaigns, donor engagement, and multi-state events. She provided leadership across media relations, stakeholder engagement, and digital infrastructure, managing a complete website migration, CRM integration, and ongoing team tech support. Her work synthesized web and social media analytics into actionable insights that directly enhanced donor relationships and drove revenue growth.

Sarah has also managed agency and contract work for a diverse range of clients, providing outsourced marketing and communications services from strategic planning to full implementation. Her work includes brand messaging, digital and print collateral, content creation, CRM and CMS integrations, social media strategy, website development, employee training, and executive presentations. She excels at translating digital data into marketing decisions, building online communities with purpose and clarity, optimizing content for both users and search engines, and deploying digital tools that support long-term client goals.

Earlier in her career, Sarah served as the founding director of communications for the Alliance for Better Nonprofits, a regional resource and training center serving 25 counties in East Tennessee. She played a leading role in launching the organization—developing its brand, voice, and digital infrastructure, including the website and integrated technology platforms that remain central to its operations today.

Her leadership and community commitment have earned regional recognition, including being named one of Knoxville’s Top 5 Outstanding Young Professionals and receiving the inaugural YPK Community Impact Award.

Sarah is a founding board member of Clayton-Bradley Academy and currently serves her second term on the Maryville City Council, where she made history in 2020 as the first woman elected to serve.

A Knoxville native and graduate of Karns High School, Sarah earned a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications from East Tennessee State University. She has called Maryville home since 2005 and is the proud mother of two sons, Andy and Adam.

The Herron Group

Along the way, Sarah has collaborated with some of the most talented writers, editors, photographers, producers, designers, and developers in the industry. Through the Herron Group, she can activate a trusted network of creative professionals—tailored to meet each client’s unique goals and deliver results that align with business objectives.