Kari Cappetto
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal member since July 22, 2024
With 20+ years of experience, Kari specializes in paid social and nurturing client relationships. As a results-driven professional, she brings proven strengths in growth marketing and strategic planning, offering professionalism, dedication, and leadership. Her expertise spans various industries, including beauty, retail, wellness, fitness, skincare, fragrance, healthcare, and education. Kari has a track record of meeting and exceeding goals while ensuring account profitability.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Creative Testing
- Facebook Account Management
- Facebook Ads Manager
- Instagram Account Management
- Marketing
- Paid Advertising
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
- Strategy
Work Experience
Owner and Growth Marketing Consultant
Ekco Media Consulting
- Excelled scaling budgets to significantly increase revenue through strategic planning, optimization, and rapid testing. Developed and executed strategies that met immediate goals while ensuring long-term sustainability.
- Leveraged data-driven insights and innovative approaches. Identified and capitalized on opportunities to enhance performance across marketing channels. My expertise allows me to tailor strategies to each client’s unique needs.
- Committed to ongoing testing and optimization, kept campaigns agile and adaptive to market changes, positioning businesses for sustained success.
Senior Digital Growth Marketing Manager
Primer
- Worked with clients to determine the most effective plan and strategy to drive increased performance and significant company growth.
- Ran various paid social accounts ranging from $100,000 monthly to large ones, achieving $1-$2 million monthly.
- Committed to optimizing and adapting strategies that guaranteed sustained success and long-term profitability.
- Worked with clients, including Rocksbox, Hero Health, FitOn, and State Bags.
Senior Digital Growth Marketing Manager (Consultant)
22nd Century Media LLC
- Developed digital strategies through Facebook, paid search, display, remarketing, and email to drive online traffic and revenue, supporting the company's 15 online newspaper publications.
- Devised and led the company’s first social media program, effectively expanding audiences and increasing awareness of publications.
- Improved the usability, design, content, and conversion of company websites while reviewing new technologies to keep the company at the forefront of developments in digital marketing.
- Collaborated with the offline marketing team to develop and launch the company’s 1st integrated marketing program to create a unified and seamless marketing experience.
- Managed the planning and budgeting of all digital marketing.
Digital Growth Marketing Account Director
Lever Interactive
- Led strategic account management, aligning digital marketing efforts with client business objectives to drive measurable success across all channels.
- Spearheaded client strategy development, overseeing budget allocation, performance monitoring, and goal-setting to ensure optimal outcomes and actionable recommendations.
- Collaborated seamlessly with account and media teams to ensure timely delivery of campaign milestones and project objectives.
- Delivered innovative, data-driven solutions to resolve complex business challenges and unlock growth opportunities.
- Revamped multiple accounts, reducing cost-per-action while driving substantial year-over-year revenue growth through strategic restructuring.
Senior Media Manager
iCrossing
- Acted as the lead search marketing media manager for retail, service, and B2B commercial clients, driving strategy and execution across accounts.
- Implemented testing strategies and oversaw daily budget management, optimizations, and the launch of campaigns, keywords, ad copy, and landing pages.
- Led account strategy and recommendations, resulting in an 85% year-over-year (YoY) revenue increase for a key client.
- Delivered comprehensive reporting and analysis on account performance, highlighting current metrics and YoY trends.
- Directed account strategy by generating performance insights and initiating data-driven optimizations.
- Delivered weekly and quarterly client presentations, providing detailed performance updates, future marketing plans, and strategic recommendations.
Senior Affiliate and Growth Manager
FTD
- Managed a profitable affiliate marketing program, achieving substantial year-over-year (YoY) order growth by enhancing brand visibility and establishing FTD as a leading commission-based merchant.
- Directed promotions, incentive programs, pricing strategies, and creative direction to drive effective and profitable results within the program.
- Optimized publisher accounts by providing actionable recommendations and refining promotional offers, including creative elements, copy, and discounts.
- Applied problem-solving skills to analyze performance data, making strategic decisions to guide campaign direction based on insights.
- Negotiated and reviewed affiliate advertising agreements, including rates, commission payouts, and placements, to maximize program effectiveness.
- Drove growth in other online marketing channels, including MSN Network, Google Display, various display networks (Azoogle, BlueLithium, and Vendare), United Online, NetZero, and Earthlink portals.
- Co-managed Yahoo and MSN homepage display buys, including performance forecasting, creative direction, promotion, and messaging.
- Served as the primary contact for program management, handling contract negotiations, creative development, program metrics, and implementation.
- Led creative direction for online marketing network and display ad campaigns while managing relationships with creative design firms.
- Coordinated with other departments to ensure seamless setup, execution, and merchandise availability for promotional activities.
Senior Project Manager
Central Blacktop
- Provided marketing, technical, and administrative support to the estimating department.
- Coordinated marketing efforts by developing promotional materials and presentations to support departmental outreach and client engagement.
- Analyzed market trends and competitor data to provide actionable insights and support strategic decision-making within the estimating department.
- Developed and maintained comprehensive client information databases, project histories, and estimate records to streamline administrative processes.
- Generated detailed reports and dashboards on estimating performance metrics, contributing to improved forecasting and planning.
- Assisted in drafting and reviewing bid proposals and estimates, ensuring accuracy and alignment with client requirements and project specifications.
- Facilitated communication between the estimating department and other departments, ensuring seamless information flow and project coordination.
Senior Marketing Manager
CNA
- Collaborated with the corporate investment product marketing team to develop and enhance the product website, ensuring alignment with marketing strategies.
- Analyzed statistical performance metrics to support key departmental projects and drive data-informed decision-making.
- Conducted a comprehensive competitive analysis of industry websites, assessing search engine rankings and performance to benchmark against the company's standings.
- Optimized Meta tags for the product website Cnavariable.com, elevating its search engine ranking from near zero to 50 and eliminating the need for external SEO services.
- Monitored and analyzed monthly website statistics to evaluate Cnavariable.com's performance and identify opportunities for optimization.
- Led the web team in researching and evaluating external web developers, selecting the most cost-effective and advanced solutions for redesigning the company’s product website.
Project History
Scaled Beauty Brand Start-up to $1 Million in Sales Within the First Few Months of Launch
Drove revenue growth and business goals through paid Facebook ads. Using strategic targeting, compelling content, and optimized campaigns, I increased brand visibility, attracted new customers, and boosted revenue.
I conducted in-depth research to understand the target audience’s preferences, demographics, and online behavior, gaining insights into potential customer segments and their interests. I developed visually appealing, engaging ad creatives tailored to resonate with the target audience, highlighting unique selling points and product benefits to capture attention and drive action. I performed extensive creative testing of various ad elements to identify top-performing variations, optimizing campaigns based on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per acquisition (CPA). I used Facebook’s retargeting capabilities to re-engage users who had previously shown interest in the products.
Company X’s revenue significantly increased, surpassing initial projections. Continuous campaign optimization and targeted customer segments contributed to an impressive CPA reduction, making the campaigns increasingly cost-effective.
Account Restructure Results in Significant Improvements to Efficiency
Restructured the Meta account to help overall efficiency. Improved cost per acquisition by 13% after the first month, driving 13% more revenue, resulting in a 22% increase in ROAS.
I led the restructuring of a Meta advertising account to improve its overall efficiency. By optimizing campaign structure, refining audience targeting, and implementing more strategic bidding tactics, we saw a 13% improvement in cost per acquisition (CPA) within the first month. This change reduced acquisition costs and increased total revenue by 13%, ultimately resulting in a 22% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS). The combined impact of these adjustments helped maximize the account’s profitability and operational effectiveness.
Creative Testing and Diversity Leads to Significant Efficiency
Improved overall account ROAS by 78% due to testing new creative formats and uncovering new wins to scale within the account.
I spearheaded creative testing initiatives within the Meta advertising account, focusing on experimenting with new formats and messaging variations. By analyzing performance data and uncovering creative combinations that resonated better with the target audience, we identified several high-performing assets that outperformed the previous creatives. These new ‘wins’ were strategically scaled across the account, leading to significant performance gains. As a result, the overall account ROAS improved by 78%, driving a notable increase in efficiency and profitability. This approach underscored the importance of creative experimentation in maximizing ad spend returns and sustaining long-term growth.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Marketing
Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN, USA
Skills
Core
Marketing, Social Media, Paid Advertising, Facebook Ads, Facebook Marketing, Facebook Video Ads, Instagram Growth, Instagram Marketing, Account Planning, Social Media Marketing (SMM), Display Advertising
Platforms & Tools
Facebook Ads Manager, Instagram Ads, Facebook Shops, Google Analytics
Other
Google Docs, Slack, Gmail, Business, Paid Media, Strategy, Creative Strategy, Facebook Pixel, Facebook, Facebook Account Management, Instagram, Instagram Account Management, Creative Testing, Creative Briefs, eCommerce, Brand Building, Shopify, Paid Search, Client Management, Client Relationship Management, Business Development, Project Management, Paid Social Marketing
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