About Me
Empathy, Integrity, Enthusiasm
As a seasoned edtech b2b marketing professional, I use a data-driven, test-fast approach to do three key things:
- ensure a strong, executable marketing plan,
- grow lead generation velocity/ROI, and
- elevate brand awareness and reputation.
Portfolio
Here are examples of some of the marketing campaigns and project work I've delivered.
Multi-Channel Campaign
Reaching the Last 10%: How to Engage the Hardest-to-Reach Families.
Audience: K-12 district leaders, primarily PR and Communications leaders.
Goal: Brand Awareness and Lead Activation.
Anchor Content: Best Practice Guide
Activities: gated download landing page, hero banner, infographic, social media, press release, blog posts, customer panel webinar, newsletter mention, partner webinars, sales slides, print collateral, email campaigns, outbound sales sequences, bylines and social media posts.
Result: This campaign generated a 50% YoY increase in MQLs and engaged prospects in Q1-Q2 2022 associated with >$3 million Annual Recurring Revenue.
Lead Magnet
School Communications Self-Assessment Report.
Audience: K-12 district leaders, district staff and school principals.
Goal: Lead Generation and Activation
Content: 21-question assessment that when completed, generates a report with personalized score and personalized recommendations for 5 areas.
Inspired by 'get your free school website analysis' website CTAs.
Result: Ineffective for ToFL outbound (too big an ask when trust not yet established) but effective on website and MoFL for lead nurture and post-demo booking: used by Sales to gain valuable insights before their initial meetings. Continues to generate 40-50 submissions per month.
New Product Launch
Smart Sites Product Launch Campaign
Audience: K-12 school and district leaders, especially existing customer decision-makers.
Goal: Lead Generation (upsells and new logo)
Context: After the acquisition of Gabbart Communications, a school website provider, late 2022, ParentSquare's product and strategy teams quickly developed a new, robust website offering to enhance our existing communications solution, which we launched in January 2023.
Activities: product messaging and positioning, persona feature-benefit map, press release, brand development, "reveal" webinar, social media, email marketing, outbound campaigns, landing pages, website, partner outreach, sales collateral/deck overhaul, etc.
Result: Marketing generated a record number of webinar registrants and 'talk to sales' inquiries, to the point where Sales asked us to stop all proactive marketing of school websites, as they were at capacity meeting generated demand!
Upsell Campaign
Upsell Campaign Showcasing Customer Champions
Audience: K-12 school and district leaders, especially customer admin users
Context: Many districts using ParentSquare purchase a starter plan that doesn't include all features available. The Customer Success team had an annual upsell target in 2021-22 and asked marketing to help with a Q1 campaign to help drive interest in Secure Document Delivery, a premium feature from existing districts. Marketing also invited non-customer prospects,
Activities: customer panel webinar (4 districts) exploring cost and time savings from Secure Document Delivery, presentation deck, email marketing, social media, blog post, Zendesk updates, video clips, landing page, integrated into customer newsletter, regular monthly customer update webinar, regular CS communications.
Results: Generated inquiries from ~30% of registrants, surpassed annual upsell revenue goal of $2 million for 2021-22 sales year.
Marketing Operations
In late July 2023, I learned through casual conversations with sales leaders about planned changes to the go-to-market strategy for the Sept 2023-August 2024 sales year: disbanding the inbound SDR role and the dedicated upsell sales team.
I immediately pulled together a team and started a project plan for the major CRM changes needed to support this shift and ensure no disruptions to customer or prospect inquiries coming through the website.
Our project team of 6 (SDR, Sales, Marketing, Sales Ops) met weekly for 5 weeks to identify changes necessary and make necessary workflow, reporting and process adjustments. I also created training resources, presented to the SDR and Sales teams, and set up a feedback loop with managers.
Results: Launch of new processes in time for Sept 1st. No lost opportunities, disruption or slowdown in response times to website inbound inquires.
Marketing Warehousing
During my time as Director of Marketing at ParentSquare, I spearheaded the implementation of Axomo to address the logistical challenges of managing inventory and shipping as we quickly scaled the company, to support 100+ yearly field marketing events as well as HR, Sales and Customer Success needs for branded swag, collateral, and customer appreciation mailers.
This initiative resulted in significant time and cost savings, streamlined processes, and real-time inventory visibility. The success of the project not only improved operational efficiency but also led to enhanced customer satisfaction, increased employee morale, and strengthened team collaboration.
36 Pandemic Posts in 36 Days
In March 2020, our marketing team had to pivot fast when lock downs began. We stopped lead generation marketing, as school and district leaders had zero interest in being sold to, as they scrambled to shift to remote learning. Instead, our team researched and monitored emerging best practices from our customers, and shared out one tip per day, through the ParentSquare platform, public website and social media, to help amplify inspiring ideas.
HubSpot Automation
Worked with Founder and CMO to agree and establish formal marketing lead generation activities and processes.
Documented our Growth Marketing strategy and processes, established workflows, automations, reports, and dashboards in HubSpot for Marketing Qualified Leads. Defined triggers and scoring for various marketing channel interactions, built out tasks for SDR action, met weekly with Sales and SDR leaders to align and collaborate on inbound and outbound performance.
Results: saw valid MQLs grow by ~450% from 2021 to 2023 (over 2 years, with monthly variability due to the K12 annual sales cycle and to campaign mix).
Messaging & Positioning
During my time as the Marketing Manager at ParentSquare, I successfully restructured product feature messaging and positioning to make it more understandable and appealing to our prospects, illustrating our category-disrupting position compared to the incumbents.
This involved organizing the overwhelming list of features into three categories for tools plus valuable, platform-wide features, and updating various digital, print and sales materials. The project had a national reach and involved collaboration with multiple teams within the company. The outcome was a 100% uptake across sales and even prompted a competitor to mimic our new layout on their website.
My ability to organize complex information in absorbable ways and empathize with the buyer's journey played a significant role in this success. I also received recognition from the head of sales and company founder for my efforts.
Webinars
Tested and optimized a 3-prong webinar strategy for prospects, showcasing customer champions and evangelists, hosted by ParentSquare.
Goal: Brand Awareness and Lead Generation
Activity: monthly webinars from August-May, focused on thought leadership and upsells in Q4, lead gen in Q1 and Q2. The three topic streams included Thought-Leader, Best Practice/Pain Points and targeted 'deminars.'
Result: Delivered 20-50 additional qualified MQLs/month for the sales team, generated high-quality content: repurposed for sales touches, testimonials, customer story proof points, social media, blog, website, video, and email marketing.
Interactive User Training
Summer Camp-themed User Training Weeks
Audience: Customer admin users: district staff, school staff, educators.
Goals: Help admin users use ParentSquare to save time and engage families, reduce support tickets, increase product usage.
Context: Pitched Summer Camp theme, worked cross-functionally with Customer Success to deliver training weeks in a fun, enjoyable way.
Activities: 4 days of content including videos, support articles, key info delivered in daily email and published simultaneously in Zendesk, printable bingo game, live webinar with celebrations/prizes, social media sharing.
Result: Grown every year since 2020, now a foundational program managed by the Engagement Team, serving more than 5,000 educators and admins in 2023 who LOVE it.
Writing Samples
Here are some content and copywriting samples:
• Whitepaper
• Assessment (web)
• Assessment (report)
• Blog Post: 5 Metrics You Should Track
• Blog Post: Customer interview
• Case Study
• Landing Page
• Webinar Recording
References Upon Request
Paula is great at lead generation, demand marketing, and sales messaging. Her deep understanding of K12 marketing and market needs sets her apart as a valuable asset to any team.
She's easy to work with, has a positive and collaborative style and was great at not only delivering results but also at building meaningful relationships with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.
I wholeheartedly recommend her!
Amanda Dempsey
It’s been a privilege to work alongside Paula on the Computer Science Academy Foundation Board. Her vision, along with problem-solving and team-building skills have provided great leadership for our board and for the academy. She’s a bold and creative thinker with a passion for innovation, education and growth - an asset to any forward-thinking organization!