My work.
A selection of some projects and initiatives
I have devised, planned, and executed.
Content marketing
Content planning
Content management
Content strategy
Copywriting
The business had brought on an SEO agency to improve the performance of the (almost) global website, while at the same time I had identified content as a significant gap: in fact, they didn't have any content marketing at all.
Working with the agency to make sure each piece was optimised for ranking against targeted terms for priority segments, I introduced a content marketing programme. After I defined the positioning, approach, and executional plan, Archives Explored became the central pillar in a multi-year plan to increase lead generation through organic SEM across five international regions.
I designed and implemented a content marketing project on the website combining short- and long-form content pieces on various topics to increase inbound traffic and leads for priority products. I wrote many articles, blog posts, and case studies, as well repurposed content into HTML previously locked behind paywalls in PDFs. Alongside this I managed the overall project, commissioning content both internally and externally, creating the webpages and architecture, and made sure that on- and off-page SEO was done.
This content marketing project:
Increased total website traffic by over 10%
year on year
became the source
of over 20% of
yearly lead generation in EMEA
My Berlin Wall
piece stayed in the
top 20 results for
over four years
It also had qualitative benefits in both sales-marketing alignment and cross-functional confidence in marketing: sales said it was extremely useful in helping them close opportunities; and the North American sales team used it for the same reason, even though it didn't benefit their regional website metrics.
Here is a multi-year 600+ page content hub I built, managed, and created over 300 pieces for.
Consistently ranked in the top 20 search results for over 3.5 years, competing with the BBC, National Geographic, and many other highly respected websites.
Long form content
“Evergreen” pieces targeting perpetual search activity, aiming to get consistent ranking to help long-term discoverability and brand-building.
An original piece covering the events leading up to the moon landing.
A repurposed conference session edited into a podcast with a full transcript.
One of multiple webinars I ran which had >50% attendance rate and a ~10% attendee to qualified lead conversion.
Short form content
Targeting predictable spikes in search activity to generate quick returns for a short period of time, typically tied to notable dates or events.
An original piece created and published the day after his passing.
A repurposed product presentation, including a video I made.
Various blog posts.
Brand development and management
Positioning
Product development
Pricing
Sales-marketing alignment
​After several years of inconsistent yearly performance, the leadership team identified the need for a secure, consistent baseline yearly revenue as a strategic priority. Alongside this was a desire to revive purchases from inactive and lapsed accounts, as well as boosting sales of legacy products. At the same time it had become clear that there was a demand among universities to quickly accumulate large amounts of the product to backfill gaps (which was typically hampered by the high cost of purchasing them individually), and to provide a large amount of the product to improve their reputation to existing and prospective patrons. The final catch: as this wasn't in the budget set at the beginning of the year, there was no money available to support it!
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Working alongside a sales lead we were tasked with developing a new product package that would address this need, with the caveat that it could not be a subscription-based payment. Using the results from the market research project I had introduced and run earlier in the year, we could align it with the customer's priorities and purchase decision drivers: one the one hand, the need to quickly and cost-effectively fill gaps in their offering to students and faculty; on the other hand, to improve their reputation by having as much of the product available, an important part of better student acquisition and staff retention.
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The result was Gale Accelerate, a product package that allowed the university to instantly access a large quantity of new and legacy product via a three-year payment plan, helping them to manage the cost while gap-filling at a large scale. It was innovative for the industry, with no equivalent being available from any other company. I designed a customer oriented positioning and identity while working with sales on identifying target accounts. With this done, I delivered the sales onboarding process, created the suite of sales support material, and managed the post-sale aftercare including bespoke website pages and internal promotional material for customers.
£1.9 million new revenue against an initial target of £500k
Minimum 30% margin on every sale
Reactivated 7 accounts against an initial target of 3
Operations and processes
Automation
Sales-marketing alignment
Lead management
Data management
As a small community business, Denleigh and their sister company Salisbury Joinery needed to improve their lead management process without adding extra work to an already small sales team. Historically there had been issues with leads not reaching sales, too many poor quality leads coming through and wasting the team's time, and insufficient information for them to assess where a lead should be in their priorities. A previous incumbent had created a process, but it was causing a lot of these issues as it covered what marketing needed, but didn't extend beyond it into what sales needed.
I needed to design and implement better lead management, improving acquisition, processing, and distribution of leads. In addition, I also identified data hygiene as another issue that needed addressing and could be folded into the overall project. I had to decommission the existing process and replace it with a better end-to-end sales and marketing one without disrupting the day-to-day operations.
Firstly, working with sales, we agreed on the lead qualification criteria and distribution needs (which leads needed to go to which rep), as each of the businesses had different sales structures that had different criteria. With this in place, I designed and implemented lead acquisition in HubSpot that aligned with the sales process (BANT) to provide sales with the information they needed to more efficiently asses and prioritise a lead, as well as increasing the amount of information gathered to help sales make a more informed first contact.
This fed into an automated lead qualification process that could: disqualify unsuitable leads with automated follow-up that did not require sales intervention; approve leads if their combination of answers met the agreed thresholds of a legitimate opportunity; or refer them to business development for further screening if they fell somewhere in-between. Once approved, they would be automatically routed to the relevant rep and an opportunity created for them in Pipedrive (which also involved automations in Zapier to bridge between the systems).
Improvements to the sales-marketing relationship, with increased confidence in marketing, leading to more integrated
co-operative initiatives
​More efficient and better quality follow-up on opportunities, with reps able to more efficiently assess the priority and needs of a lead before contacting them
better information for targeting and positioning campaigns, which led to a more nuanced approach to marketing communications
Premium print collateral
ABM
Events
Sales-marketing alignment
Targeting
As a key product portfolio, Gale Historical Newspapers was becoming dependent on sales from a small number of individual products within it. While the well-known names such as The Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, etc. were selling well, many of the lesser-known products were struggling to sell and taking too long to pass the cost of production and become profitable.
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After conversations with sales to find why they were difficult to sell, I identified the need for an initiative that focused on the quantitative aspects of the products, rather than the qualitatively-led marketing that had always been done before. Customers were increasingly asking about the numbers involved in the products, and sales needed something they could give to priority customers that covered quantitative aspects in detail for both individual products and the overall portfolio. One of the roadblocks to better revenue was a gap in sales support, particularly something premium that sales could use for key accounts and furthering opportunities with high potential value prospects.
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After conversations with multiple sales reps, I created a list of the data points that customers would find the most useful. I spent several weeks gathering the data points, both myself and working with the product team to develop new ways of extracting mass amounts of data. After auditing all the available historical marketing and creating a standard format, the qualitative and quantitative were combined in product overviews sheets that utilized both copy and infographic elements. My experience has shown me that print pieces are usually most effective when they involve a tactile interactive element, so I worked with the in-house designer to create fold-out sheets that would sit in a presentation box to give it a premium finish. Each sheet was given a unique URL to a custom landing page to provide accurate off- to online attribution.
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Based on feedback from the sales team, this piece of collateral helped them:
Provide evidence for points that played a significant role in purchase decisions
Progress
opportunities with key accounts and valuable prospects
Get more on-stand enquiries and leads at events
Lone Wanderer
Marketing strategy
SEO
Positioning
Advertising
Brand identity
Design
After 12 years of working in-house up to senior levels and getting fed up with various aspects of it, and some new commitments and projects outside of work, I decided to become self-employed to get a more flexible working schedule.
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I needed to establish myself as a gun for hire, create an online presence where businesses in need of marketing support could find me, find out what they needed to know about me, and make an informed decision as to whether I might be a good fit for them.
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I developed my strategy, deciding who I was going to target and the core of my positioning. After setting my positioning and visual identity, I built the website you're on now, writing all the copy, drawing the various illustrations, and making sure that SEO is on point. Alongside this I planned out and made all the other assets I need, such as Powerpoints, invoice templates, and so on. Then it was on to tactical planning and execution, setting my prices and selecting the best communications channels based on my resources and target audience. My choices of channels are in line with my positioning, as using some of them would contradict it. Using these channels, I have delivered multiple lead generation campaigns to secure a variety of freelance and fractional positions over the last three years.
Did it work? Well, you're here!
Website
Campaign management
