Caitlin Gustafson
Bogotá, Colombia - | LinkedIn
Summary
Digital marketing professional with a background in writing, search marketing, social media, paid media, and analytics.
Professional Experience:
Freelance – Digital Marketing August 2017-present
Currently accepting freelance and contract work in the following areas: writing - content marketing and editing; paid media including affiliate, social media advertising, and paid search; and digital marketing analytics.
Digital Marketing Manager - Paid Media, Big Lots Stores Inc July 2016-July 2017
Big Lots is a popular discount retailer in the United States with over 1400 stores in 48 states. The Fortune 500 Company is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
As part of the omnichannel and ecommerce team at Big Lots, I was responsible for all digital paid media (search, affiliate, display). This included strategy, vendor management, reporting, budgeting, and execution.
Advocated for digital marketing and growing paid media across the company. Regularly met with and presented to key decision makers within the company such as finance, buyers, merchants, and IT.
Oversaw a multi-million dollar budget for six channels, making weekly changes to optimize spend against ROAS and support business as needed. Increased paid media budget by 50% between 2015 and 2016 while total marketing budget stayed flat.
Strategically bought media to support new initiatives and company goals - new customer acquisition, retention, and reactivation.
Activated two key programs to support the new ecommerce business - Affiliate and Product Listing Ads. Both ended their first year with a strong ROAS and garnered increased investments for the subsequent year.
Managed a successful first pilot with mobile app, Ibotta. Reported on results and secured investment for future customer acquisition campaigns for our younger target demographic.
Directly managed two team members. Oversaw their execution of campaigns and subsequent reporting.
Improved and established processes between vendors. Managed ~10 partners/agencies at any given time.
Led testing with several channels to establish baselines and incremental ROAS to create a mixed media model.
Developed goals and KPIs for most channels. Regularly performed analysis and recommendations for campaigns.
Developed cross-functional relationships with IT and real estate to launch key projects like our store locator, enhancements to our product feed, various data projects to better inform digital spend allocation.
(Sr.) Online Marketing Specialist, Big Lots Stores, Inc April 2015-June 2016
This position originally managed the Ecircular and Search programs and was expanded to include Affiliate and Display after a promotion in April 2016.
Ecircular: Decreased time spent processing circular assets by 60% YoY and increased visits to biglots.com from all Ecircular partners YoY. Managed vendor relationships including content, budgets, new functionality, and spend optimization.
Paid Search: Optimized brand and product campaigns to decrease CPC, increase CTR, and eliminate spend on poorly converting keywords/ads. Drove Google Store Visits campaign to improve reporting accuracy on store visits generated from AdWords.
Display/Online Video: Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure consistent message across display and video channels and optimize spend on platforms with the highest ROAS.
Affiliate: Negotiated placements for Q4 2015 and continued program implementation for ecommerce launch.
Local Search: Drove a 27% increase in growth YoY in organic and paid media channels while staying current with local search best practices. Managed ecommerce testing for store locator functionality and assisted with various integrations.
SEO & PPC Specialist, Web Talent Marketing June 2013 – April 2015
This position was part of a team of Internet marketing specialists at a digital marketing agency in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I managed a number of different clients, executing campaigns for eCommerce brands, trade associations, local businesses, and more.
Organic Search: Optimized client websites to increase visibility in search results for relevant searches.
Paid Social Media: Ran a successful Facebook campaign that increased reach by 20% in two weeks. After one year, engagement and reach doubled, their annual conference saw its biggest attendance yet, and Facebook was their number two (desktop) and three (mobile) top source of referral traffic.
Account Management: Maintained close relationships with multiple clients and media outlets while executing national and local marketing campaigns. Used Google Analytics and other tools to pull monthly reports for client campaigns.
PR Strategy: Earned client placements on Yahoo, Time, The Examiner, Huffington Post, and other industry-relevant sites. As a result of PR efforts one client saw traffic spikes that turned into a 300% increase in goal completions of free trials and overall sales.
Social Media Strategy: Managed Web Talent’s social media marketing. Implemented campaigns and created monthly reports for senior leadership. Increased social site referrals 66% in the first six months of handling social media.
Marketing & Social Media Assistant, Deer Creek Winery May 2012 – June 2013
Worked in the retail setting of the winery, managing wine tastings, customer service, and more.
Implemented a communication system for upper management to disseminate information for staff members at each winery outlet. Doubled as the CMO’s personal assistant and responsible for execution (digital, radio, print, etc).
Doubled Facebook reach in one year by using unique and engaging content.
Wrote and pitched press releases to local media outlets to increase local brand awareness.
Executed local SEO strategies and managed all web development projects including launch of a mobile website.
Marketing Assistant, Natural Options Wellness Center July 2010 – May 2013
Worked in sales and customer service, scheduling services, explaining products, assisting customers.
Organized marketing campaigns to reach students at the local university.
Managed web development, email marketing, and social media.
Planned open houses and contributed to the downtown merchant marketing committee.
Education:
Grove City College - Grove City, Pennsylvania
B.S. Marketing Management
La Universidad de Málaga - Málaga, Spain - Study Abroad
Certifications:
Google Analytics Individual Qualification
Google AdWords & Google Shopping
