Nicole is available for hire

Nicole Elizabeth Smith

Verified Expert in Marketing

Marketing Expert

Location

Como, Province of Como, Italy

Toptal Member Since

November 9, 2022

Nicole, a seasoned digital marketer from the US, now in Como, Italy, brings over 12 years of experience in marketing, management, and content strategy. Partnering with brands like Verizon, Birchbox, Fiat, and international startups, she's achieved milestones such as 2,000% organic social media growth and 300% sales increase through innovative marketing strategies. Nicole's adept project management and collaborative approach have propelled brands globally, driving transformative business growth.

Project Highlights

Software Migration | Monday.com

Led the design, development, and technical migration from Asana to Monday.com for an international eCommerce company's internal content factory team of over 120 FTEs.

Product Marketing | Abarth

Planned and developed marketing strategies and sales opportunities for after-sales products, the most profitable Abarth business line, with €17 million out of €29 million total turnover in 2018.

Website Redesign | Franklin University Switzerland

Managed and coordinated the university's website launch and redesign, including a new interface and CMS migration in 10 languages.

Expertise

Content Production Content Strategy Digital Marketing Marketing Automation Marketing Operations Marketing Strategy Project Management Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Work Experience

Global Marcom Content Strategist

2023 - PRESENT

ESAB - Global Marcom

Developed and executed region-specific content strategies for ESAB's North America (NAM) and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions.
Implemented SEO and app store optimization (ASO) strategies, improving search visibility. Content strategies boosted ESAB's Google Authority score, leading to a 20% increase in targeted keyword visibility in six months.
Led a Semrush clean-up project, enabling the team to use the tool effectively and set up streamlined dashboards for enhanced performance tracking.
Utilized SendGrid to improve lead conversion rates, demonstrating the email campaign's effectiveness in engaging and converting B2C customers in the MEA region.

Digital Marketing Consultant

2015 - PRESENT

Freelance

Served as a marketing consultant specializing in troubleshooting and devising effective digital marketing and remarketing solutions, digital communication, and online reputation management for projects across diverse industries.
Led marketing, product marketing, project management, research, and innovation projects for SMBs and multinational companies.
Delivered strategic analysis and marketing recommendations, including brand strategy, based on consumer and market insights to define the most suitable business models and create digital marketing and public relations strategies to meet objectives.
Cultivated strong relationships with clients' internal stakeholders and team members to keep projects on track and ensure process and marketing performance.
Delivered large-scale marketing projects and content operations: spearheaded comprehensive marketing campaigns and streamlined content management operations for multiple clients.
Used AI platforms such as Jasper to analyze data, automate tasks, and provide insights.

Marketing Operations Manager via Toptal

2023 - 2024

Meggitt - Main

Developed and executed dynamic video marketing strategies, enhancing e-learning content with engaging, tailored videos and integrating multimedia elements to ensure seamless transitions and cohesive storytelling.
Employed efficient project management. Coordinated video editing tasks and schedules to ensure timely delivery of e-learning content. Maintained clear communication with stakeholders to address challenges proactively.
Contributed to continuous improvement. Identified and implemented innovative solutions to enhance video content and workflows, boosting productivity and improving the e-learning experience for users.
Focused on continuous improvement. Played a key role in identifying video content and workflow enhancements. Implemented innovative solutions to boost productivity and enhance e-learning quality, fostering an improved user experience.

Senior Content and Communications Manager

2023 - 2023

Contents.com

Developed and managed the Contents.com global brand communications team and associated content, marketing, brand licensing, and trade marketing strategies to increase brand awareness for the SaaS, AdTech, and B2B enterprise business units.
Defined and implemented cross-channel content and digital communication to increase customer engagement by ensuring customers knew us, understood our product and message, and saw us as a thought leader in AI and a trusted SaaS company.
Oversaw and executed event planning, community management, communication planning, and all public relations communication for internal and external stakeholders on all channels, including offline, online, and social media like Sprout Social.
Addressed Contents.com's target groups and audiences by developing the right relationships with the market's opinion leaders, brand partners, bloggers, and media (which included press releases).
Handled the development of marketing collateral, ensuring consistent brand message and tone of voice across all digital touchpoints to strengthen corporate and personal branding initiatives.

Team Lead Content Operations

2021 - 2023

Westwing

Effectively led and contributed to restructuring a team of over 120 FTEs in content production, integrating content operations as a core function to enhance operational efficiency and alignment with organizational goals.
Led operations, logistics, and project management across content management and production executions, including all creative projects, video production, entertainment marketing, and various processes for the department.
Led digital transformation and content migration project to Monday.com, setting the technology plans, data dashboards, and workflow management automation and reports.
Co-developed a new global content request collection process, quarterly resource, and output plan.
Led the implementation of a new project management tool migration project, transitioning to Monday.com to streamline daily workflows, track resources, and establish an expense-tracking system.
Managed A-Z production operations from kick-off meetings to being onsite for productions, ensuring smooth execution and adherence to project timelines and quality standards.

Marketing Operations Manager

2019 - 2021

Franklin University Switzerland

Managed daily operations of the marketing team and collaborated with university stakeholders to develop new program strategies to guarantee financial goals with few resources.
Conceptualized a new digital strategy and co-led the department's restructuring to grow the B2C and B2B2C inbound marketing funnel, focusing on students' customer journeys, high-quality video content, SEO, SEM, and strategic university partnerships.
Created and managed a data tracking and marketing automation system to aid the development of paid media and public relations strategies and ROI analysis.
Evaluated efficiencies of inbound lead generation and marketing tactics, including marketing communications (MarCom) specific to those leads using HubSpot, Slate.js, and Marketo.

Digital Marketing Manager

2018 - 2019

Bluepillow

Implemented a global plan at the EMEA level to execute the online customer journey, handling omnichannel, ROI-based campaign management across digital channels, with campaign monitoring to track and analyze campaign performance.
Deployed a customer management system (CMS) strategy to coordinate with media reporting and managed the corporate website across the EMEA region, improving the corporate brand website's functionality, usability, and design.
Leveraged a strong understanding of all facets of cross-channel digital communication and marketing management, including paid media, public relations, organic SEO, local SEO, website management, data, analytics, and marketing technology.

Digital Marketing Manager

2015 - 2016

Property West Residential

Developed and implemented strategic marketing and sales plans, including real estate marketing, and forecasts to achieve corporate objectives for the 51 communities throughout Southern California.
Promoted properties via marketing initiatives and social media presence at property and corporate levels. Updated and managed social media profiles, marketing materials, and public relations to increase customer engagement and customer acquisition.
Drafted press releases and digital newsletters, developed annual forecasts, and sought to minimize marketing expenses.

Project History

Software Migration | Monday.com

Led the design, development, and technical migration from Asana to Monday.com for an international eCommerce company's internal content factory team of over 120 FTEs.

Managed and oversaw the department's marketing technology stack while providing actionable insights to the client and internal stakeholders. I evaluated all existing content technology programs and recommended updates for changes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of content production. While collaborating with IT developers, I led the full implementation and migration to Monday.com to ensure compatibility with all other existing systems. I designed all workflow automation and reporting dashboards for the content supply chain to measure and optimize efficiencies. After the go-live, I onboarded and trained a team of over 120 FTEs to ensure user adoption, effectiveness, customer engagement, and customer success.

Product Marketing | Abarth

https://www.mirafiorimotorvillage.it/concessionario/abarth

Planned and developed marketing strategies and sales opportunities for after-sales products, the most profitable Abarth business line, with €17 million out of €29 million total turnover in 2018.

Directed strategy on new range re-launch and lifecycle evolution, including the definition of commercial parameters, launch stock, product descriptions, and prices and volumes. Final 2017 fiscal year results exceeded expectations by over 66% in turnover and above 46% in margins.

Website Redesign | Franklin University Switzerland

http://www.fus.edu

Managed and coordinated the university's website launch and redesign, including a new interface and CMS migration in 10 languages.

Collaborated in company restructuring by building a new mission and brand positioning. The website redesign was a strategic project that involved many key internal stakeholders among our cross-functional teams. I led strategy through design ideation, testing, and implementation until launch, mapping the online customer journey and improving cross-channel user experience. Our goal was to grow the digital channels significantly by increasing brand awareness. The strategy and the new website launch resulted in over 140% social media followers and more than 200% traffic to the website. We grew inbound lead generation, nearly doubling year-over-year marketing performance in our conversion rate with the same advertising budget.

Marketing Operations Manager | Parker Meggitt

Led, as a marketing operations manager at Parker Megitt, e-learning video production strategies, which ensured seamless integration and engaging content, and workflow enhancements, boosting productivity and quality of the overall processes.

In this role, I edited and enhanced video content for an e-learning platform, focusing on optimizing engagement and learning outcomes. I collaborated closely with content stakeholders to align videos with educational objectives, employing creative editing techniques to ensure consistency and quality. I effectively managed project timelines and deliverables, ensuring tasks were completed in a timely manner. Additionally, I stayed updated on industry trends and best practices in video editing for e-learning to continually improve the quality of the platform's content.

Education

2011 - 2015

Bachelor's Degree in Communications and Media

Florida International University - Florida, USA

Certifications

AUGUST 2022 - AUGUST 2023

Content Marketing Certification

HubSpot

DECEMBER 2021 - PRESENT

Mini-MBA Certificate

International Business Management Institute

FEBRUARY 2019 - PRESENT

Google AdWords Certification

Google

APRIL 2018 - PRESENT

SEO Professional

Semrush

Collaboration That Works

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