Turning Market Complexity Into a Clear Growth Strategy
A leading continuous glucose monitor brand was expanding beyond its core diabetes audience. With eleven distinct healthcare provider cohorts as potential targets, they needed a research-backed framework to prioritize where to invest — and how to talk to each group.
Eleven audiences. One budget. Where do you go?
Stelo's marketing and sales teams had identified eleven distinct healthcare provider (HCP) cohorts as potential growth targets — from primary care physicians and pharmacists to concierge medicine providers and corporate wellness buyers. Each represented real opportunity, but the team lacked the insight needed to prioritize them with confidence or craft messaging that would land with each group. They needed to understand which cohorts were most likely to recommend Stelo, what barriers they faced, and whether any could be grouped for marketing efficiency.
A rigorous, three-phase research design
I designed and led a qualitative research engagement to generate the hypotheses that would anchor a subsequent quantitative study. The work spanned market sizing, internal stakeholder interviews, and AI-assisted analysis to reduce bias and surface patterns across the data.
From eleven fragmented audiences to three actionable groups
My recommendation cut through the complexity: rather than marketing to eleven distinct cohorts, I identified three meta-groupings based on shared mindsets, motivations, and patient profiles — giving the team a framework they could actually execute against.
- Lifestyle-Empowerment HCPs (~79,500 providers) — Concierge medicine, weight-loss clinics, wellness/functional medicine, private RDNs. Proactive mindset; patients pay out of pocket.
- Clinical-Behavior HCPs (~1,043,500 providers) — PCPs, outpatient diabetes clinics, clinical RDNs, PharmDs, OB/GYN. Reactive mindset; largest volume potential.
- Org. Gatekeepers (~11,000 organizations) — Corporate wellness buyers, hospital networks. B2B purchasing lens; value ROI and plug-and-play simplicity.
- Patient Empowerment — universal across all groups
- Ease of Use — "data overwhelm" was a consistent barrier
- Real Patient Stories — trust-builder, especially for PCPs
- Personalized Health Insights — strongest in lifestyle/wellness space
- Confidence & Accuracy — critical for institutional buyers
- Accessibility / Cost — late-stage objection across most cohorts
These groupings and themes were designed to directly feed Phase 2 quantitative testing, giving the Dexcom Decision Science team a validated set of stimuli to pressure-test at scale and inform a full HCP marketing strategy.
Building a Social Media Engine for a State Tourism Brand
Visit Massachusetts needed more than a social calendar — they needed a comprehensive framework to guide content, grow audiences, align paid and organic tactics, and expand to emerging platforms. I developed and evolved their full social media playbook to make that possible.
One brand, six platforms, two very different audiences
The Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism manages a complex social presence spanning Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and YouTube — and serves both local residents looking for new experiences and non-local travelers in active trip planning mode. Their initial playbook needed to be expanded and sharpened: new platforms had emerged, test-and-learn insights had accumulated, and the team needed clearer direction on how each channel should behave, how content pillars should guide creation, and how an influencer program should be structured and measured.
Strategy rooted in how people actually plan travel
I structured the entire social strategy around the traveler journey — mapping content goals, audience mindset, and channel role to each stage from passive inspiration through post-trip nostalgia. This gave the team a clear rationale for every content decision, rather than posting without strategic intent.
I also conducted a competitive landscape audit of peer tourism offices and out-of-category brands to identify best practices and whitespace for Massachusetts to own.
A scalable playbook built for growth
- Distinct roles and posting approaches for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok/Reels, YouTube, Threads, and Bluesky
- YouTube positioned as a searchable video library with SEO-optimized content strategy
- Early-mover recommendation for Bluesky based on 300% DAU growth among MA-aligned audiences
- Paid/organic integration strategy to extend campaign reach via boosting high-performing organic content
- Micro-to-mid tier selection criteria (20K–500K followers) focused on authenticity and geographic relevance
- Partner selection rubric covering audience fit, view rate, content quality, and track record
- Program launched with three initial creators whose videos generated 65K, 40K, and 30K views respectively
- Ongoing measurement approach tied to reach, engagement, and site traffic contribution
A Full-Funnel Messaging System That Moves Students to Action
Capella University needed a messaging strategy that could work across the full enrollment funnel — from brand-building awareness through retargeting — while also being flexible enough to serve both general audiences and priority degree-seeking segments. I built the framework that guided every line of campaign copy.
One university. Many programs. A message for every moment.
Capella University needed messaging that could work harder across every stage of the enrollment journey — awareness through retargeting — while also adapting to priority audience segments like business degree seekers. Past campaigns had too many messages in the lower funnel, lacked consistency across channels, and didn't have a clear rationale for how to talk to prospective students at each stage. The strategy also needed to incorporate performance learnings and new business priorities into the creative direction.
A structured system, not a collection of taglines
I developed a communications plan built around Capella's enrollment funnel, with a distinct strategic task, messaging approach, audience definition, and KPI set at each stage. The plan was supported by a detailed messaging guide that gave copywriters ready-to-use language — organized by key RTB (reason to believe) and comms phase — so creative output would be both strategically grounded and tonally consistent.
A messaging system that scaled across audiences and channels
- Incorporated a priority bachelor's in business audience layer with dedicated messaging at each funnel stage
- Refined the lower funnel by cutting underperforming messages and concentrating budget on proven themes
- Added a readiness/confidence layer across all messaging phases to reduce application hesitation
- Developed engagement-driving mid-funnel assets — teaser content linking to relevant blog posts and site resources
- Support — Emotional at awareness; specific (Career Dev Center, advisors) at consideration
- Relevancy — Skills and accreditation framed for career readiness
- Affordability — Scholarship-led at awareness; specific dollar claims at conversion
- Flexibility — FlexPath format, monthly starts, self-paced billing at every stage
- Transfer — Credit transfer claims that reduce perceived commitment to enroll
The messaging guide served as a strategic reference tool for copywriters, creative teams, and media planners — ensuring that every piece of campaign output, across every channel and audience segment, was grounded in a consistent strategic logic and brand voice.
An Organic Social Playbook Built to Serve Two Audiences at Once
Capella University's organic social presence needed to work harder — for both enrolled students and prospective learners — without feeling like it was trying to do everything at once. I developed a comprehensive playbook that gave the team a defined brand persona, a five-bucket content framework, platform-specific behavior guides, a trend filter, and an integrated boosting strategy to amplify top performers in paid.
One brand voice. Two audiences. Six platforms. Zero ambiguity allowed.
Capella's organic social presence was doing real strategic work — but without a unifying playbook, execution lacked the consistency and intentionality needed to make it count. The brand was posting across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and a newly launched TikTok channel, but there was no shared framework governing what to post, how to sound, which trends to pursue, or how organic content should connect to paid amplification. Meanwhile, the audience challenge was inherently dual-natured: enrolled students and alumni needed motivation and community, while prospective learners needed inspiration and credibility. Getting both right — without sounding like two different brands — required a clear strategic architecture.
Strategy built from the audience out, not the calendar in
Rather than organizing the playbook around a posting schedule, I started with the two distinct audience objectives and built outward from there. For students and alumni, the goal was persistence — keeping learners engaged and connected to the Capella community. For prospects, the goal was awareness and consideration — emotionally framing the benefits of a Capella education and demonstrating how the university delivers on its promises. Every element of the playbook — the content buckets, persona, platform roles, trend filters, and boosting logic — was designed to serve both audiences without competing for the same voice.
A fully operational playbook the team could actually use
- Dual-audience strategy with distinct objectives, comms tasks, and KPIs for students/alumni vs. prospects
- Social persona with core traits, personality guardrails, and platform-by-platform tone examples for both RTB and non-RTB content
- Five content buckets with topic lists, creative execution guidance, and monthly volume targets across all six active platforms
- Trend guardrails covering age relevance, humor type, longevity, student pain points, and pop culture — organized as pursue / consider / avoid
- Hashtag strategy tailored to each platform's current algorithmic role
- Holiday approach framework with tiered guidance from avoid to amplify
- Instagram — Community-led storytelling; 8–10 posts/month with feed-to-Story reposts
- Instagram Reels — Trend-driven short video for prospect reach; 6–8/month
- Facebook — Highest-cadence channel for community and click-through; 14–16/month
- YouTube Shorts — SEO-optimized awareness; repurposed vertical video; 6–8/month
- LinkedIn — Thought leadership and alumni engagement; 10–12/month
- TikTok — New channel launch; native-feeling content to inspire and educate prospects; 6–8/month
The playbook also introduced a formal paid/organic integration model — connecting the organic content team with media planning through a defined 6-business-day trafficking workflow, with boosting decisions governed by clear engagement thresholds (IG 5%, Reels 4%, TikTok 3%) and a $25K initial test budget focused on Meta Reels. This gave the brand a repeatable system for turning high-performing organic content into paid reach — with the data infrastructure to improve it over time.