Trove was a mobile professional networking platform designed to make connecting with new people easier and more authentic.
The product utilized newly-developed AI to automatically populate the user’s most accurate, up-to-date address book, and to provide context around their contacts. Armed with an insightful database of relationships they didn’t even know they had, users could find jobs, referrals, and recommendations through their actual connections — instead of gambling on a LinkedIn search.
Because Trove’s technology was brand new and pretty complex, my challenge was to simplify our messaging and implement a cohesive brand presence across many digital channels. Here’s how I accomplished it:
Trove went through a full re-branding initiative in the spring of 2018 (and further evolved visually over time). As the recently-hired Senior Content Strategist, this was a great opportunity for me to define the way Trove’s brand values translated into real content — for content marketing, within the product itself, for paid advertising, for event materials, etc.
Using a unique methodology of my own design, I worked with leadership and colleagues alike to create a content framework for Trove. The framework would ensure that every piece of content had a distinct purpose and was positioned to support the Trove brand.
As a new brand trying to compete in the ever-changing startup world, we often developed new content on the fly, trying out new ideas or responding to an industry trend. To ground those content decisions in business strategy, I created “proto-personas” and an online brand guide, and led company-wide training on the use of these materials.
As both a member of Trove’s product team and a one-woman marketing department, I regularly evaluated content flows to ensure a consistent story at every point in the user journey. I developed a system for identifying key user questions and blockers, allowing us to proactively reduce confusion as the user moved between marketing materials and the product itself.
I love content, and I love organizing — which makes me part writer/strategist, and part project manager. During my time at Trove, I designed systems for tracking content development, aligning all content with the Trove brand, and ensuring regular management and maintenance of our digital properties.
As the only content expert on a small, multi-functional team, I either wrote both product and marketing content myself, or trained colleagues and our agency partners to create content that looked and sounded like Trove. By the time I left the company, we were consistently producing channel-appropriate content for our website, paid advertisements, social media, email curricula, our blog, physical sales and event materials, and the Trove app itself — all under my leadership.
My work at Trove took many forms, but my driving force always remained constant: as the company’s Senior Content Strategist and one-woman marketing team, it was my job to tell the Trove story by delivering the right content to the right people, at the right time, and in a way that both supported our business objectives and met user needs.
Much of the content I created during my time at Trove is no longer available, as we’ve had to shut down most of our digital properties. However, there are a few artifacts that remain accessible, so if you’d like to see some of my writing up-close, check out these examples:
Training colleagues on the use of personas to guide content development: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1upptqe0FxK9ek-6XAVqOc1bTn37S2nqB/view?usp=sharing
My process for developing website content: https://www.notion.so/adc2d4d76a434b1bb4eea1efa677a54f?v=26671c3a62a64c978573f9daffbab1ec
Simplifying technical content in an informational PDF on GDPR compliance: https://www.notion.so/GDPR-Fact-Sheet-91fa95e6135d43c4bafaca8455a1b9b0
Welcoming new users to Trove in the script for an informal video: https://www.notion.so/Informal-Welcome-Video-1f2374526236459a8d3d3c9f6797e87e