LEGENDARY SPA 

As Legendary’s first in-house strategic marketing and brand leader, I develop and execute comprehensive marketing strategies to support the beauty spa’s rapid growth. My role involves elevating the brand through creative partnerships and collaborations, refining the customer experience, and building a robust marketing function for our innovative and quickly scaling beauty business.

* Develop, lead and execute comprehensive marketing strategies from conception to analysis to support business growth, brand awareness, and customer engagement.
* Spearhead digital marketing efforts, focusing on SEO, email campaigns, social media management, digital ads, content creation.
* Lead brand strategy development and ensure consistency in brand voice, design, and execution for all branding and marketing initiatives.
* Direct product marketing strategy for launch and growth of new services and products, including positioning, messaging, and go-to-market plans.
* Implement and optimize marketing operations, including the marketing and CS/CX tech stack.
* Develop, launch, nurture, track, and analyze collaborative brand partnerships with Chicago-area businesses.
* Develop customer experience and client communications to ensure positive and sticky brand experience for every client.
* Establish, lead, and manage affiliate marketing program.
* Nurture and manage influencer marketing relationships and identify key creators for collaborations.
* Create and lead website overhaul and migration to Shopify, and manage website content, optimizing for user experience, conversion rates, and SEO.
* Pitch, secure, and strategize activation and pop-up opportunities to maximize ROI based on audience and business goals.
* Oversee paid advertising efforts, ensuring they meet budgetary and performance goals.
* Conduct thorough market research and trend analysis to identify new opportunities and keep us ahead of the curve.
* Optimize marketing resources and budget.

Director of Marketing & Brand 

* Created recruitment marketing strategy for Chicago hair salon, including developing new website pages, optimizing web presence, creating recruitment marketing funnel, and developing new social media strategy, resulting in 4x job applicants within a month.

* Drove significant growth for Chicago endurance coaching service - within 90 days increased organic search traffic by 28%, direct traffic by 67%, nearly 100% rise in user engagement and 116% increase in lead generation.

Focus areas: SEO Optimization, Digital Marketing

Small Business Digital Marketing & SEO Specialist

behindthechair.com

- Strategized and collaborated daily with CEO, other senior leaders, and across departments to ensure optimal ROI from platform serving 15K+ subscribers 
- Designed and led strategic planning, research, and analysis to create and deliver content aligned with subscriber interests, trends, and BTC brand and goals, resulting in 58% increase in unique visitors to content and 15% increase in viewership.  
- Built and managed scalable process for moving online hairdressing education concepts from ideation to delivery  
- Produced 20+ for-purchase classes, managing workflows, timelines, guest presenter/influencer bookings, flights, design coordination, and recordings/filming
- Collaborated with social media manager to evaluate and enhance content distribution strategy across owned and affiliated channels. 
- Led, mentored, and directed 3-person team responsible for conversion marketing strategy, editing, website management, and production support

Director of Content & Programming, BTC University

Hologram Sciences

- Created, managed, and implemented content strategy, growing brand awareness, trust, and loyalty across multiple brands for a high growth direct to consumer (DTC) startup  
- Led and managed editorial calendar, pool of 10 freelancers and 3 creators, and all communications, ensuring adherence to editorial standards, timely delivery, and consistent representation of brand values, voice, and visual identity across social media and editorial and storytelling content 
- Implemented the company's first influencer marketing and creator management platform and onboarded company stakeholders
- Achieved 1.9 million video views on TikTok after launching the company’s first TikTok channel and grew followers to 18k in two months with zero paid investment while maintaining a 10% engagement rate on the platform  
- Increased engagement by 217% across all social platforms through an effective social media channel strategy 
- Wrote 4 and edited 30 original content stories aligned with strategic content and communications strategies

Director, Content Marketing & Editorial

- Completed 56 strategic content projects, including press releases, blog posts and content strategy plans, while maintaining a perfect 5-star rating
- Kind words: "Great working with Lauren! If you need assistance, look no further and just go ahead and hire Lauren - you will not be disappointed. I can tell you that I am delighted with the work she did! She asks you the right questions to get the answers she needs to make an impressive-looking document. She did so on time, effortless, and the collaboration was professional. I feel better prepared now for the next steps, which is a huge relief!"

Freelance Content Strategist

- Led content strategy, client editorial strategy, audience growth, and content marketing for the #1 trafficked website in the world for hairdressers 
- Created and iterated content creation and editorial processes for 30+ different advertising programs while simultaneously optimizing the in-house editorial/content creation processes, resulting in 2,000 content pieces annually 
- Curated and created compelling content for video production, content photo shoots, editorial photo shoots, livestreams, social media, in-person educational classes and print media, working in partnership with brands and creators
- Increased new site users by 41% year over year and grew email list by 40K+ through top of funnel content strategy
- Increased campaign effectiveness by collaborating with advertisers and optimizing content SEO, resulting in top Google search result spots for numerous brands and increasing organic search traffic by 20% YOY
- Led and managed team of 5 writers/editors in creating deadline-driven content across multiple platforms and enhanced their performance through mentorship and training, achieving stellar performance ratings from the team multiple years in a row

Editorial Director

Managing Editor

Emmi

- Created editorial strategy for company blog based on key company priorities and Google Analytics data, resulting in increased blog views
- Built relationships with key subject matter experts at the company to translate their work into thought leadership editorial pieces
- Trusted with executive communications, including speaking presentations, award submissions and executive decks

Communications Manager

American Medical Association

- Overhauled monthly medical education newsletter disseminated to thousands of physicians, organizations, and hospitals, resulting in increased open and click rates to AMA-owned channels  
- Developed and executed strategic editorial plan aligning AMA-owned content to medical and health policy news providing crucial, up to the minute health policy information to physicians  
- Led and collaborated with Medical Education Team to innovate content for medical students, increasing engagement and membership enrollment

Communications Specialist

American Association of Endodontists

- Redesigned and relaunched quarterly print newsletter and monthly e-newsletter  
- Managed all publications, including storyboards, writing assignments, copyediting, layout, printing, distribution, and budget 
- Winner of the Association Media and Publishing 2013 EXCEL Award for Most Improved Newsletter

Communications Coordinator

National Safety Council

- Created and executed editorial plans for company blog and internal blog, amplifying NSC work and impact 
- Developed web copy, email blasts, press releases, and other communications content  
- Developed and maintained media relationships to secure press coverage in numerous states

Brand and content strategy leader with 10+ years of experience in increasing audience engagement,  loyalty, and conversion through strategic marketing. 

I’ve conceptualized and overseen hundreds of strategic content campaigns, which have increased organic search traffic, new site users, email subscribers and  social engagement. I've created, built and scaled multiple departments and established processes that optimize organizational efficiency.

Taplio

Lauren Rees's Linkedin Analytics

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Lauren Rees's Linkedin Analytics

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Lauren Rees's Linkedin Analytics