Hiveclass
A scaleable, high-engagement content stream
Leading content and email strategy to double engagement and grow the audience by 8%.
Challenge
2025 was a make-or-break year for a wellness-focused edtech startup. If the business didn’t gain traction, it risked failing. The marketing budget was tight, and I was executing email, blog, and social with one intern and one designer.
The company had an active email list, but clicks were inconsistent, content was being produced without a real plan, and blog, social, and email largely existed as a box-checking exercise. Growth risked lowering engagement even further. The challenge was to improve opens, clicks, and subscriber growth all at once — without salesy campaigns or low-quality volume, with no money to burn.
Solution
I took over content and email marketing and rebuilt both into a single, intentional system that relied on internal resources and organic audience actions. Starting from scratch, I defined a clear editorial strategy based on what our audience (primarily PE educators) actually needed and wanted. That included conceptualizing and producing an interview video series with real educators and athletes on relevant topics and developing usable curriculum resources.
Despite limited resources, it was important that we didn’t rely on AI to churn out content. We had to make it human. AI was used only for brainstorming, polishing copy, and repetitive/rote tasks, while the core ideas, structure, and voice stayed connected to human experiences and needs.
To make this sustainable, I focused on repeatable content series, light-ish production lift, and crystal-clear planning. Email was redesigned around intent and usefulness with stronger CTAs and tighter alignment with blog content.
Results
Over approximately 10 months, performance improved steadily while the audience grew, demonstrating that scale did not come at the expense of quality.
Email open rates increased from the low-20% range to the mid-30% range.
Click-through rates more than doubled, reaching peaks of ~10%.
The email distribution list grew by approximately 8% during the same period.
Engagement gains were sustained month over month, without reliance on short-term promotions or list-growth gimmicks.
The result was a healthier, more effective content marketing system that increased engagement, supported inbound lead generation, and positioned content as a core driver of business growth. Content shifted from “something we should be doing” to a core driver of engagement, inbound leads, and business momentum.
