Michael Shearer
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
New Market
Toptal member since April 11, 2023
Michael is an entrepreneur and sought-after growth marketer who brings a unique blend of technical, creative, and analytical skills to the table. With over 20 years of experience in the digital space, Michael has extensive expertise in marketing, analytics, content development, software operations, and more. He drove the success of numerous businesses, having led digital and agile marketing teams at four B2B SaaS startups and two agencies and consulted with nearly 100 businesses.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- ActiveCampaign
- B2B Lead Generation
- Demand Generation
- Marketing
- Marketing Automation
- Pardot
- Salesforce
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Work Experience
ActiveCampaign Specialist
Yoltee, Inc.
- Helped build multiple onboarding sequences in a week's time.
- Advised client on how to structure and configure automation so it would advance users to the next best action.
- Wrote copy for 15 emails in an automated nurture sequence.
Senior Director, Digital Innovation and Strategy
Claravine
- Supported the enterprise sales team to hit aggressive quarterly pipeline and revenue goals, including marketing-led pipeline growth of 76% (2020), 53% (2021), and 31% (2022).
- Developed and executed a comprehensive content strategy as part of an organic search and content marketing program, coupled with social media management, resulting in significant increases in organic traffic and lead generation.
- Delivered a virtual event with more than 3,600 registrants and 1,000+ attendees.
- Generated $9 million in the marketing-sourced new business pipeline (45% of the total pipeline) in three years for a new software category startup.
VP of Marketing
SelectHub
- Led the overall direction of the marketing strategy and management of marketing operations.
- Created a data-driven lead generation program through a search engine, content, email, and internet marketing, growing organic traffic and lead volume to 100% YoY growth (2016 to 2017), 100,000 visitors/month, and 2,000+ B2B leads/month.
- Oversaw the testing, reporting, and analytics culture for a growing SaaS startup.
Founder
NetExperienced
- Implemented 14 marketing automation instances, including Pardot, Act-on, and eTrigue.
- Configured, launched, and performed live troubleshooting of an eCommerce and product delivery platform, which led to $1 million in sales in the first week of launch.
- Conceptualized and implemented direct marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies through HubSpot, delivering a 40%+ increase in inbound client traffic.
- Spearheaded project management and delivery of multi-site (12+ sites) and multi-user (100+ users) web publishing environment integrating Kapost (content marketing platform) with WordPress Network Sites.
Director of Marketing
Aromi D'Italia
- Ran marketing for five vertically integrated companies under the parent company, including wholesale sales, manufacturing, equipment sales, cafe design, and retail operations.
- Built, alongside the design team, four new websites for the different business models needing them, growing organic traffic from scratch for each, driving hundreds of new business opportunities for the varied companies.
- Delivered product photography for a new line of bulk-manufactured dessert ingredients.
Project History
Claravine Website
http://claravine.comLed the launch of a new website for a SaaS startup, including implementing a dynamic personalization engine powered by WordPress and Mutiny.
Oversaw project management, copywriting, design, and technical configuration of a new B2B SaaS website with over 200 pages. I also implemented new SEO best practices that resulted in organic search going from 7,000 users to nearly 10,000 users/month in less than four months.
SelectHub Content Library
Executed startup marketing tactics by building 100+ pieces of top-ranking content for organic search traffic and leading conversion efforts.
I led the content development and marketing strategy from scratch for a lead generation startup, leading to more than 100 pieces of content ranking on page one of Google and driving tens of thousands of visitors per month.
Analytics Nexus
Executed a virtual event with more than 3,600 registrants and 1,000+ attendees.
Built and marketed a virtual event customizing the entire registration and delivery in a WordPress environment linked to Pardot marketing automation for registrant and attendee customized nurturing and follow-up.
Education
Master's Degree in Management
American Public University - Online
Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems
Drake University - Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Skills
Core
Google Ads, Marketing, Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Campaign Management, Digital Marketing Strategy, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Content Creation, Content Strategy, Marketing Operations, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Performance Marketing, Content Marketing, Social Media, Video Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Advertising, Paid Advertising, Facebook Ads, Go-to-market (GTM) Strategy, Social Media Strategy, Funnel Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Social Media Management, Marketing Leadership, Brand Marketing, Link Building, Email Marketing Automation, A/B Testing, Product Marketing, Pay-per-Click (PPC), Influencer Marketing
Platforms & Tools
Pardot, ActiveCampaign, Content Management Systems (CMS), CRM Systems, Google Ad Manager, HubSpot, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads Manager, Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Business Models
Business to Business (B2B), SaaS Product Marketing, Software as a Service (SaaS), B2C, SaaS
Other
WordPress, B2B Lead Generation, Demand Generation, Paid Search, Content Writing, Startups, Salesforce, Web Analytics, Management, Data Reporting, Personalization, Web Content, eCommerce, Split Testing, Paid Media, Hotjar, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Direct to Consumer (D2C), Shopify, Growth Marketing, Project Management, Event Marketing, Website Redesign, Direct Marketing, Internet Marketing, Startup Marketing, B2B Marketing, Business Development, Customer Marketing, Automation, Marketing Attribution, Reporting, Content Syndication, Website Optimization, Digital Strategy
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