Independent media brand
Grew a media brand's revenue 42% in a year
- Role
- Director, Growth and Partnerships
- Stage
- Founder-led
- Model
- B2B and B2C
- 42%Revenue growth year over year
- +134%New customer acquisition, January to September, year over year
- 45%Reduction in subscriber churn
- 20%Share of annual revenue from a new partnership channel
A subscription media brand that sells to readers and to brand partners needed to grow both at once, with a small team.
The situation
The business sells to two audiences. Readers buy subscriptions. Brands buy partnerships and advertising. Both had to grow, and margins had to improve while they did.
What I did
I report to the founder and CEO. I run the team covering digital marketing, customer service, and finance, plus two outside agencies.
On the consumer side, I reworked paid acquisition and rebuilt how we keep subscribers. That meant new campaigns on the same ad spend, AI-driven customer service workflows, faster ticket response, and an AI-driven retention offer for people about to cancel.
On the partnership side, I built a new revenue channel with outdoor and consumer brands.
Underneath both, I led the systems work: a subscription billing migration, a website rebuild, and a new customer service ticketing setup. I also built a cross-channel KPI dashboard covering acquisition, cost, and churn. It is what we use to run the business and to report to the board and investors, alongside the CFO.
The result
Revenue grew 42% year over year with better margins. New customer acquisition grew 134%, and in a like-for-like quarter with flat ad spend, cost per new customer fell 44%. Churn fell 45%. The new partnership channel delivered 20% of the year’s revenue.