Results Accomplished.

From Blueprint to Birdie: How I Diversified a Construction Giant into an Ecommerce Success

Who Are They?

A successful 60-year-old business with a commanding market share in the utility and municipal infrastructure construction business realized the need to diversify revenue streams in order to meet future growth objectives.

Starting Point

With a passion for golf, senior management had a concept for a brand and golf ball to sell via a Shopify store. Moreover, the company tried for 2 years to develop branding and a logo in addition to attempting to secure customized product via online promotional companies.

The Problem

Without experience in establishing a product business, in selling profitability online, in hiring competent vendors, and in not having internal ecommerce-focused support resources, the company was at risk of wasting a good deal of time and money – and the embarrassment of a failed launch.

The Solution

• Expanded the positioning and product line to incorporate higher-margin products and to facilitate merchandising.
• Hired and directed a product accelerator agency to integrate branding, sourcing, web development, and the initial digital marketing campaigns - along with a 3PL vendor- to ensure a successful launch.
• Created and executed an omnichannel marketing plan, hiring and managing additional paid advertising agencies and hiring a dedicated content creator.
• Developed P&L proforma scenarios to establish benchmarks for spending and profitability targets.
• Led reviews with agencies, internal teams and senior management to ensure alignment and accountability.
• Embedded ecommerce into the operational fabric of the company by mentoring finance, accounting and billing team members.

Results

• The Shopify store was launched in 20 months, with 10 golf ball and accessory items and a product roadmap for additional products to be launched within 6 months.
• The first sale was generated via paid Meta advertising within 16 days.
• The first sale via Amazon Marketplace was generated within 52 days.
• 4,000 email subscribers were added within 6 months, reaching a subscriber rate of 1,000/month.
• Break-even was projected within 26 months.

Client Impact

Fully prepared with a brand, a revenue-generating Shopify store, and an influencer and social media presence, the company proudly attended the 2025 PGA tradeshow to announce its arrival to the world of golf.

From Filler to Funnel: How I Turned Overlooked Content into a Scalable Customer Acquisition Strategy 

Who Are They?

Guideposts is a nonprofit publisher with a mission to help people achieve their highest spiritual and personal potential. Founded in 1945 by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the organization has a rich legacy in publishing magazines, devotional books, and cozy fiction. Guideposts sells direct-to-consumer, with a legacy audience and a house list of nearly 1 million names.

Starting Point

• Traditionally, Guideposts relied on direct mail as its primary book launch strategy.
  
• However, with the rise of digital platforms and a need to modernize their approach, the company began shifting toward a digital-first model.
• I was brought in to lead this transition and manage the digital agencies executing paid campaigns to support book launches.

The Problem

• Digital advertising campaigns launched by the agency in tandem with book releases were successful, however, without prior digital advertising expertise management at Guideposts was unaware of the need to challenge the agency in order to optimize campaign strategy for improved outcomes.
• Guideposts was also contending with an aging customer base (primarily 80+ y/o), making customer acquisition and expanding reach to new, younger audiences a pressing concern.

The Solution

• While collaborating with brand managers and creative teams, I noticed that email newsletters featuring recipes connected to the themes or settings of book series -- historically treated as filler content - had exceptionally high open rates.
• Recognizing this as an opportunity to repurpose recipes as a lead magnet in a multi-touch marketing funnel, I devised a strategy that would both acquire new emails and build a pipeline of customers over an extended pre-launch period.
• This approach involved:
  • Recipe downloads offered via Facebook ads, followed up with a dedicated drip email campaign offering a timed discount and automatic enrollment in a bi-weekly nurturing e-newsletter.
  • Facebook retargeting ads with campaigns targeted to drive discount redemption, or to build a content bridge to book shipment dates depending on prospect action.
  • 2 discount redemption reminders via e-newsletter prior to discount expiration and early announcements of future new releases.
  • Developing performance KPI's to assess email, conversion and Facebook ads cost and performance vs prior launch campaigns.

Results

• Recipe ebook downloads totaled 9,584, with 8,701 (91%) representing new customer acquisitions compared to 2,800 new names in previous campaigns—a 325% increase in new customer acquisition.
• Cost per name acquisition dropped to $0.21 versus $0.34 for previous content downloads—a near 50% cost reduction.
• Email engagement metrics significantly outperformed standard campaigns, with open rates of 22% (vs. 14% average) and click-through rates of 7.8% (vs. 5.5% average).
• The recipe-based funnel maintained a healthy list with only 3.2% of new names opting out, demonstrating strong audience alignment.
• Facebook retargeting reached approximately 35% of the download cohort with high frequency, though with room for optimization.

Client Impact

• The success demonstrated that with a properly constructed marketing funnel, digital advertising could achieve multiple growth outcomes for the business.
• This outcome helped shift the internal mindset toward treating content as a growth asset, not just as engagement collateral.