Success Story
Learn how I rebranded a startup into a more desirable target for an acquisition.
Reimagining ClearVoice
When I joined ClearVoice, a content creation and talent management SaaS startup at the time, I reinvented the company’s content so successfully that it led to the acquisition of ClearVoice by freelance marketplace Fiverr (NYSE: FVRR) in February 2019 (pre-IPO).
As the Head of Content, I owned the brand and all content channels, not to mention the forging of new processes to reimagine them. My efforts accelerated traffic growth and earned me recognition as one of six key employees in the acquisition, as part of the core leadership team. Here are highlights of my impact…
Issues Before
- First Impression — Generic, unclear value
- Branding — No originality or differentiation
- Mission and Vision — Mission clear, vision lacking
- Messaging — Focused on the what
- User Action — demo, test drive = delay, work
- Offering — Self-service platform, limited scale
- Design — Generic theme/visuals, lifeless palette
- CTA Buttons — Have multiple cool colors
- Social Proof — Testimonial quotes without metrics
- Conversion — No consistent lead form
- Blog — 100s of posts without strategy
- SEO — Lacked strategy and structured content
- Technology — Lacked narrative to support value
- Talent Network — No public content taxonomy
- Operations — Lacked value prop and narrative
Improvements After
- First Impression — Established, trustworthy, offers value
- Branding — Original concepts, differentiation
- Mission and Vision — Mission affirmed, vision clarified
- Messaging — Focused on the how and why
- User Action — start, talk = immediacy, ease
- Offering — Managed services, unlimited scale
- Design — Branded theme/visuals, friendlier palette
- CTA Buttons — Have consistent warm color
- Social Proof — Customer stories with metrics
- Conversion — Consistent lead form
- Blog — 1,000+ new posts with intentional strategy
- SEO — Data-driven strategy and competitive content
- Technology — Narrative reframed to support value
- Talent Network — Launched 50+ public categories
- Operations — Framed value, introduced Teamlancing
Organic Search %
When I started at ClearVoice, organic search accounted for less than 10% of total domain traffic. Through SEO and more focused content strategy, in tandem with expanding the core website more than 50 pages, I increased organic search traffic to more than 70% of total domain traffic — even as the balance of paid traffic from targeted campaigns increased.
Monthly Blog Visits
Rebooting the blog strategy included more intentional article themes structured within content segments (aka “hubs and spokes”), more focused long-form content, and a consistent publishing cadence. After developing the new strategy, I added 1,000+ new posts and grew monthly blog visits from ~4,000 to ~200,000, with the help of 100+ freelancers and contributors managed through ClearVoice.
And proving even more that quality counts, the ClearVoice blog earned award noms from the Content Marketing Institute for “Best Multi-Author Blog” (2019) and “Best Blog Post” (2019, 2020).
Domain Traffic % Increase
With better content strategy, including expansion of the core website, I increased total domain traffic more than 50x. And because a rising tide (i.e., traffic) lifts all boats (i.e., metrics), we dramatically increased organic leads while lowering customer acquisition costs more than 80% (compared to starting point).
You helped me believe we could do it and do it in a better way. We made that pivot from project management to freelancer first in large part due to your vision. You made a huge difference at ClearVoice and helped so many people! I’m the grateful one.
Jay Swansson
Co-founder, CEO of ClearVoice
You were the catalyst to turn the company around.
Jeff Nappe,
VP Engineering at ClearVoice