Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Publications
Accomplishments
Publications
Timeline
Generic

Kelly Johnson

Miami,FL

Summary

I have 20 years of experience building successful, engaging, data-driven brand and integrated marketing strategies for various companies across several industries. I also have a deep understanding of market trends, consumer behavior, and the evolving landscape of digital marketing, with the ability to align marketing efforts with business objectives that consistently delivered measurable results.

Overview

12
12
years of professional experience

Work History

Sr. Vice President, Marketing

Sixt Rent a Car LLC
Miami
06.2023 - 12.2023
  • Led the marketing strategy across all channels in the US, guided by the brand strategy from the global office in Munich.
  • Increased brand awareness in the US to 23% through a creative, engaging, targeted, integrated marketing campaign.
  • Optimized $80M US marketing budget to reduce wasteful spending and increase investment opportunities that drove brand awareness and conversion.
  • Launched Sixt's sponsorship programs with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls, including in-stadium branding and social media content to drive maximum brand awareness for the company in the US.
  • Managed external advertising, media, and PR agencies and developed agency relationships to maximize media investment, budgets, milestones, and timelines.
  • Grew the marketing team from two to four team members by hiring highly talented professionals with the specific expertise needed.
  • Worked cross-functionally with internal key stakeholders (global brand teams, people management, revenue management, customer service, sales department, etc.) to ensure marketing activities are aligned.
  • Reason for leaving: US marketing team was restructured.

Sr. Director, Content & Web Strategy

Lever
San Francisco
07.2022 - 02.2023
  • Led the messaging update and UX refresh for Lever's home page to target the ideal customer persona and position the platform as the leading ATS on the market.
  • Launched content and SEO strategy that increased organic traffic by 21% y-o-y and improved rankings by 39% y-o-y.
  • Created a content marketing center of excellence and built a world-class content team that increased blog production by 28% y-o-y.
  • Developed thought leadership series that drove brand awareness and articulated Lever's point of view about talent relationship management.
  • Drove content and execution of Accelerate - Lever's Fall virtual event that gained 2,000 registrations, 1,100 attendees, and 500 MQLs.
  • Led web team that reduced SEO technical errors by 50% and improved the Lighthouse score by 16%.
  • Partnered with the revenue ops team to create a model that determined how much revenue is driven by organic traffic - Lever's biggest traffic driver.
  • Produced user journey map for key personas to optimize the funnel, Lever.co, and increase conversion opportunities.
  • Reason for leaving: Impacted by 7% reduction in headcount.

Sr. Director, Content, SEO, & Social

Abra
Mountain View, Calif.
10.2021 - 07.2022
  • Created an SEO strategy to increase exposure in online search and drive high-intent organic traffic back to Abra.
  • Owned the planning and execution of all communications and social campaigns to deliver Abra's brand messages through compelling content and storytelling.
  • Created a content calendar that moved beyond channel tactics to support business objectives.
  • Defined and built a social media strategy that shared Abra's unique perspective on the crypto market and engaged the crypto community with quality content.
  • Ensured brand consistency in copy through tone, voice, and terminology for all content needs, including social media and email.
  • Drove content strategy around video and oversaw the production of livestream with our CEO.
  • Developed Abra for All, a crypto education course for underrepresented groups designed to provide information and education about buying crypto.
  • Reason for leaving: Extreme market conditions stopped marketing activities.

Director, Content and SEO

Udacity
Mountain View, Calif.
03.2020 - 10.2021
  • Rebuilt the global SEO and content strategy to drive a 58% improvement y-o-y in tracked KWs ranking on page 1 of SERPs (416 in '19 to 658 in '20).
  • Increased blog production to create 274 pieces of SEO-optimized articles from March '20 to December '20.
  • Grew high-intent non-brand organic traffic to the blog by 97% y-o-y; 74% of traffic occurred in Q4 of 2020 (494K in '19 to 859K in '20).
  • Increased organic traffic to the root domain by 14% y-o-y (3.3M total visits to 3.7M total visits).
  • Launched the Udacity Pledge to Equality Scholarship that awarded ~1K Nanodegree program scholarships to members of the Black community to increase representation in the technology industry.
  • Created the Pledge to Equality Scholarship Career Fair that included seven companies and 100 attendees - with an 86% attendee rate.
  • Ultimately, 10 graduates were placed in part- and full-time positions in various tech companies.
  • Created the Udacity Pledge to Equality Internship program that placed five graduates in paid internships at the company.
  • Drove the strategy and execution for Udacity's first virtual conference AI for Healthcare in the Time of COVID-19.
  • The conference yielded 16,000+ registrations and 11,000+ attendees.
  • Attendance from media outlets such as Wired, Forbes, New York Times, Fierce Healthcare.
  • The virtual conference drove 12% of Nanodegree purchases (116 out of 947 purchases were from conference registrants).
  • Reason for leaving: Poached by former boss and accepted new role at Abra.

Director, Content Strategy

Forge Global
San Francisco
01.2019 - 02.2020
  • In the first month, led the marketing and PR efforts for the rising fintech company's successful rebranding.
  • Created a robust content strategy (leveraging in-house subject matter experts) that drove a 460% increase in organic traffic to Forge's blog and positioned the company as thought leaders in the private market economy.
  • Following the rebrand, led a revamp of the PR strategy to cultivate long-lasting relationships between the Forge leadership team and some of the most critical top-tier journalists in the space, garnering the growing fintech company coverage in WSJ, CNN, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CNBC, Inc., Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Recode, and many others.
  • Spearheaded Forge's CSR initiative by forging a strategic partnership with Full Circle Fund, a non-profit tech accelerator fund, to drive awareness to the organization.
  • Led the strategy and execution for high-impact events that drove brand awareness for Forge - such as Forge's Open House, SALT Conference, The WSJ Future of VC Summit, and The WSJ D Tech Live Conference.
  • Built and maintained the company's overall content calendar and drove alignment from internal stakeholders on editorial themes and content.
  • Led an organic SEO strategy that increased organic reach by 30% and paid search strategy that increased impressions by 136%.
  • Reason for leaving: Accepted new role at Udacity.

Senior Director, Content Marketing

Sensai
San Francisco
02.2018 - 01.2019
  • Established a holistic, data-driven content marketing and social media strategy that increased organic traffic for Sensai's blog by 157% year-over-year.
  • Devised and executed an effective SEO strategy that increased Sensai's page rank by 76% and boosted SERPs for target keywords and keyword phrases.
  • Wrote compelling bylines for the leadership team that positioned Sensai as a thought leader in the artificial intelligence and social media marketing space and increased awareness for Sensai.
  • Built a robust content marketing calendar that clearly conveyed weekly content deliverables, quarterly themes, campaigns, and content designed to target desired personas.
  • Analyzed and reported weekly and monthly metrics for Sensai's website, blog, and social media channels to understand how visitors/followers consume and engage with Sensai's content.
  • Led customer journey mapping, in partnership with product and growth marketing, to identify opportunities to surface content to increase conversions or upsell opportunities.
  • Reason for leaving: Company lost funding and closed.

Head of Content

Ripple Labs
San Francisco
09.2017 - 02.2018
  • Developed a comprehensive content strategy for top, middle, and bottom-of-the-funnel content in partnership with the communications and demand generation team.
  • Created a localization plan for target regions - Japan, South Korea, China, Brazil, and India - that was inclusive of SEO, SEM, and social content.
  • Served as global editor-in-chief and established editorial mission and vision for the website, blog, and social channels.
  • Built an editorial calendar that provided visibility into quarterly themes and weekly content deliverables for Ripple's blog, which had nearly 500,000 monthly average page views.
  • Drove partnerships with marketing leadership, product marketing, customer success, and sales to construct impactful thought-leadership content.
  • Developed a small team of seasoned content and social media marketers, and provided mentorship and opportunities for personal and professional development.
  • Reason for leaving: Reduction in marketing team headcount.

Director, Content Marketing

Reputation.com
Redwood City, Calif.
02.2016 - 09.2017
  • Owned and defined a successful content marketing strategy that not only increased conversion, but also boosted traffic to Reputation.com's blog by 20%.
  • Created an editorial calendar that incorporated input from the product and sales teams and delivered 100+ pieces of content in 2016.
  • Worked closely with demand generation teams to create content assets for specific audiences and personas for targeted CPL and Net New Nurture campaigns.
  • Led the visual rebranding and messaging strategy for the website that redefined the company's value proposition and established Reputation.com as the leading enterprise online reputation management provider in the market.
  • Launched an SEO strategy that aggressively targeted keyword terms driving traffic to Reputation.com and its competitors - increasing organic search traffic by 10%.
  • Developed a style guide that ensured all content is on-brand, has a consistent tone of voice, was visually consistent, and optimized for search.
  • Built a solid social media strategy that amplified Reputation.com's content and increased engagement on LinkedIn by 17%.
  • Reason for leaving: Accepted new role at Ripple.

Senior Manager, Content Marketing

Jiff, Inc.
Oakland, Calif.
07.2015 - 02.2016
  • Created a data-driven content marketing strategy that not only resulted in a 50% increase in blog traffic, but also improved SEO rankings for Jiff's blog and resources content.
  • Worked closely with heads of sales and lead product managers to create content that would help force opportunities down the sales funnel or increase product adoption among clients.
  • Partnered with the director of marketing and VP of design to create brand guidelines that codified Jiff's voice, tone, design across all verticals and devices.
  • Launched a social media strategy that furthered Jiff's brand in the market and increased engagement by 69% in Q3 2015.
  • Collaborated with the vice president of growth marketing, vice president of sales, and vice president of design to create a content series that established Jiff as the market-leading enterprise health benefits platform.
  • Reason for leaving: U.S. business was closing.

Sr. Project Manager, Content Marketing

Future PLC
South San Francisco, CA
01.2014 - 05.2014
  • Created a successful workflow for the sales development department, which resulted in a faster response time to RFPs, higher quality of creative work and increased output.
  • Worked directly with the vice president of sales and business development and the vice president of marketing to create engaging content marketing campaigns for clients such as ASUS, Sony, EA, and Amazon.
  • Ensured that creative content met marketing goals, designed new project workflows and systems as needed, and coordinated with internal teams to execute and measure project results.
  • Lead weekly meetings with key stakeholders to brainstorm innovative and engaging sales and content marketing solutions.
  • Closely managed and mentored two project managers who were brought on board to support various content marketing programs.
  • Created a content marketing editorial calendar to help sales and marketing teams align efforts with timely editorial themes.
  • Developed wireframes, site architecture, and content strategy for microsites and landing pages sponsored by ASUS, Sony, and Amazon.
  • Reason for leaving: U.S. business was closing. Accepted new role at App Annie.

Operations Editor, TechRadar.com

Future PLC
South San Francisco, Calif.
03.2012 - 01.2014
  • Built and managed TechRadar’s U.S. editorial team who delivered engaging, accurate, and in-depth consumer technology news and reviews.
  • Worked closely with the general manager, vice president of content, the global editor in chief, and vice president of sales to plan successful advertising solutions for TechRadar’s U.S. site — which has 7 million monthly unique visitors.
  • Drove a solid SEO-focused content strategy for the U.S. site, which resulted in high rankings for TechRadar’s reviews and features, and helped increase traffic 8% month over month, and 105% y-o-y.
  • Ensured all editorial-planning documents were up to date, planned content was delivered on time, and workflow ran smoothly.
  • Managed news coverage for new product launches and popular consumer tech shows, such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3).
  • Led the effort to teach all Future U.S. tech sites TechRadar’s SEO-focused content strategy, which yielded higher rankings for content produced by MacLife.com, GamesRadar.com, MaximumPC.com, and OXMonline.com.
  • Proofread all reviews, news, and features written by the news editor, reviews editors, and freelancers.
  • Managed TechRadar’s editorial budget to guarantee that the staff did not exceed the monthly contributor or travel costs.
  • Promoted to Sr. Manager, Content Marketing in January 2014.

Education

Bachelor of Arts - Broadcast & Print Journalism

Hampton University

Skills

  • Highly productive and entrepreneurial marketing leader and web strategist who built high-performing teams
  • Exceptional ability to build and execute successful integrated marketing programs that drive conversion
  • Strengths in marketing strategy, branding, SEO, digital marketing, public speaking, and media relations

Publications

  • Pros and Content: Own Your Voice
  • POCIT: How Being An Angry Black Woman Saved My Career

Accomplishments

  • 2023 Pepper Content Global Content Marketing Leader
  • 2022 Masthead Media Women in Content Marketing Awards Judge
  • 2021 Masthead Media Women in Content Marketing Finalist
  • 2020 BrightEdge Edgie SEO Evangelist Award Winner
  • 2017 UberFlip EXPY Award Nominee

Publications

  • Pros and Content: Own Your Voice

Timeline

Sr. Vice President, Marketing

Sixt Rent a Car LLC
06.2023 - 12.2023

Sr. Director, Content & Web Strategy

Lever
07.2022 - 02.2023

Sr. Director, Content, SEO, & Social

Abra
10.2021 - 07.2022

Director, Content and SEO

Udacity
03.2020 - 10.2021

Director, Content Strategy

Forge Global
01.2019 - 02.2020

Senior Director, Content Marketing

Sensai
02.2018 - 01.2019

Head of Content

Ripple Labs
09.2017 - 02.2018

Director, Content Marketing

Reputation.com
02.2016 - 09.2017

Senior Manager, Content Marketing

Jiff, Inc.
07.2015 - 02.2016

Sr. Project Manager, Content Marketing

Future PLC
01.2014 - 05.2014

Operations Editor, TechRadar.com

Future PLC
03.2012 - 01.2014

Bachelor of Arts - Broadcast & Print Journalism

Hampton University

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