About Dana S. Holmes – B2C & B2B Growth & Content Strategist

Recent Global MBA with 10+ years of commerce, content and brand growth management for lifestyle brands and agencies via remote and hybrid teams.

EXPERTISE

CAREER EXPERIENCE

Principal Growth & Content Consultant | DANA HOLMES MEDIA| JAN 2014 – CURRENT | NY, NY

Envisioned, launched and run this boutique brand content and growth strategy firm where I develop and execute creative content campaigns and technical marketing strategies through full-time contract and project-based work with virtual and hybrid clients across the United States and UK.

Key Clients Include: Ascendant UK, TKWW, CNN Underscored, BuzzFeed Shopping, Full Picture PR, AOL

• Currently collaborating with a UK growth marketing agency for businesses that are ready to scale in the US.
• Currently curating editorial shopping content for Target at BuzzFeed and advising on live shopping strategy.
• Monitor: Producing data-driven GTM audits of digital marketing strategy to scale traffic, sales and LTV.
• Technical Marketing: Evaluating UX and journeys for quality and clarity, funnel optimization of E-E-A-T.
• Project Management: Creating and executing project roadmaps, creative briefs, analytics and strategic plans.
• Communication & Presentation: Managing agency sales pipeline, client relations and external partnerships.
• Adaptability & Innovation: Constantly exploring new marketing AI tools and use-cases for futureproof growth.
• Storytelling & Editing: Crafting brand voice and editorial style guides to power the creation of optimized high quality editorial narratives.
• Technical & Organizational: Freelance branded, sponsored, SEO lifestyle commerce content writer, editor, spokesperson, trend analyst and content strategist.
• Available for panel discussions, on-air expert & spokesperson opportunities.
• Hosted Meta’s Branded Content Project call on affiliate commerce and branded commerce content strategy.
• Manage budget and operations for each client project and my LLC.

Branded Commerce Content Manager | FORBES | JUN 2022 – JAN 2024 | Jersey City, NJ

Ground-floor business development team member hired to establish the branded and sponsored partnerships content division and develop a lucrative new revenue stream for the 100% virtual commerce editorial team.

Key Clients Included: Meta, Walmart, Kohler, Blue Apron, Nordstrom, BestBuy, The Home Depot, CVS, NordicTrack, Wayfair, Lululemon, Nectar, Vuori

• Built team from the ground up and partnered with editorial, art, audience development, SEO and social teams.
• Developed sales materials for partnerships that ultimately led to $241M in partner revenue in 1 year.
• Researched and produced more than 1,500 RFP responses in one year as a team of 2.
• Wrote and edited or managed production of 300+ campaigns for 40+ clients in 2023.
• Surpassed sales goals by more than 100% year-over-year two years in a row.
• Strategized a suite of 21 branded partnership content offerings plus a slew of large creative content packages.
• Monitored and reported data analytics to optimize content for customer-centricity and conversion.
• Developed editorial style guide, SEO and data research proposal standards, and the editorial calendar.
• Built detailed project management roadmaps for collaborative, efficient, high-quality and scalable production.
• Controlled the departmental budget and managed internal and external teams, including a fleet of freelancers.

Head of Brand & Content | PERION | JUN 2021 – DEC 2021 | NY,NY

Recruited by the global digital ad-tech company to conceive and bring to life a strategic partnerships product for social shopping that ultimately lost funding due to a shift in corporate objectives.

• Architected brand identity, user experience, and production workflows, including content calendar and standards.
• Established unique value proposition, market segmentation, and frameworks for differentiation and scalable growth.
• Unified developers, product managers, social ads manager, freelance writers, and account managers around a single, cohesive vision for the proposed shoppable content platform.

Lifestyle Commerce Editor | WARNER MEDIA | MAR 2020 – JUN 2021 | NY, NY

Moved to CNN Underscored after Great Big Story closed to help scale content amplification and create new revenue opportunities.

• Collaborated with Editorial, AdOps, and SEO teams to roll out promotional commerce programming across CNN.com, Flipboard, Outbrain, and Apple News outlets for CNN Underscored.
• Generated a 300% increase in Outbrain clicks, a 100%+ increase in click-through-rate (CTR), and an overall 300% increase in revenue through fast-paced testing and optimization.
• Steered the creation of a high-impact Father’s Day content package that brought $1M+ in revenue.
• Ensured high traffic and revenue performance through innovative product testing and influencer content strategies.
• Managed freelance staff and calendar to publish myriad revenue-focused gifts, food, health and travel articles and associated promotional content.
• Researched, wrote, edited, photographed and produced promotional and social content as needed.

Global Commerce Content Manager & Editor | WARNERMEDIA | JUL 2019 – MAR 2020 | NY, NY

Ground floor hire, worked cross-functionally with CNN Underscored and CNN Digital to shape business and content strategy for Great Big Story’s written branded, sponsored and affiliate commerce content division. Great Big Story shut down in December 2019.

Key Clients Included: Suntory, ASICS, Al Nippon Airways, Germany, Ghana, Vrbo

• Enabled 500% M/M increase in content production and sales with collaborative project management systems.
• Supported multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns for major global brand clients and partners.
• Managed a fleet of global freelancers and internal and external agencies as well as direct reports.
• Collaborated with global sales, legal, digital agencies, editorial, ad ops, SEO and social media teams.
• Created collaborative strategic calendar, assigned, wrote, edited and programmed articles and social content.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Director of Commerce Editorial, PR and Social | IAC | MAY 2010 – DEC 2013 | NY, NY & LA, CA

Hired to expand brand reputation, visibility and revenue via creative content, marketing, product, social media and PR strategies through progressive roles over a 7-year period.  

• Partnered with CEO to shape brand authority, spearhead new programs (including developing the “Giftees” panel-based awards program)
• Achieved 90%+ increase in reach, revenue and social media audience growth Y/Y for three consecutive years.
• Managed public relations, editorial content, social media and creative brand activations.
• Managed internal and external teams, co-promotions, influencers and agencies.
• Developed and directed strategic calendars, goals, plans, tactics, measurement, hiring, coaching and budget P&L reporting.
• Researched, merchandised, assigned, wrote, edited, developed standards for and otherwise produced 1,000s of pieces of editorial shopping and gift giving advice content for all platforms.
• Significantly grew brand presence and reputation resulting in a case study on traditional media being featured in a Wharton School of Business MBA course.
• Featured as commerce expert more than 500 times: https://youtu.be/s-6rqD-l1Mg).

Earlier progressive roles during my tenure with IAC in New York City and Los Angeles include | MAY 2006 – MAY 2010

• Trend Editor and Media Manager (Gifts.com); Public Relations and Editorial Assistant (Gifts.com)

EDUCATION

2024 MBA Global Business Innovation & Leadership | IE University | Madrid, Spain, EU

#1 Online MBA & #6 Global MBA program in the world by Financial Times 2023

Bachelor of Art in English Literature | University of South Florida | Tampa, Florida, USA

Top 5% of Major Cohort, Study Abroad: Nottingham Trent University England, UK

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Trello | Canva | Google Keyword Planner | Looker | CMS | CRM | Monday.com (advanced) | JIRA | Clearscope | Slack | AI Integrations | G-Suite | Figma | Agile Project Management | AI Prompt Engineering | SEM Rush | SEO Tools | Tableau | Trackonomics | Outlook | Adobe | Quickbooks | Excel (advanced) | HubSpot Digital Marketing Cert | AI for Marketing EdX Certification.

VOLUNTEERING

• Expert Speaker on commerce content strategy at the Meta Branded Content Project 2024

• Co-President of K-8 School PTA 501c3 managing 12 VPs and $500k budget, NY, NY 2024 – Present

• Secretary of the Board of Directors for Belgravia Gardens Co-Op w/$2M budget, NY, NY      2016 – 2025

• Co-Founder of a private, experimental supper club, SC30, Brooklyn, NY, NY 2008 – 2018

• Prolific museum, gallery, performance, and concertgoer

• Passionate Global Citizen: visited 20 countries; lived and worked in the US, UK, EU, and China

More about me:

After years spent launching and managing various commerce content initiatives and assisting B2C PR & marketing agencies manage and pitch clients, I pursued an MBA to gain a broad understanding of global business operations. During my recent MBA journey, my curiosity regarding business strategy expanded to include investigating the future of business, AI innovation and entrepreneurship.

I partner best with firms that are aiming to flex with the unpredictable demands of the future. I’m an inspirational, forward-thinking and collaborative leader and strategist who brings detailed organization and creative analysis skills to each project. I thrive on creating new programs, establishing new norms and am dedicated to driving lasting, sustainable value that align with core business objectives.

I’m passionate about identifying business growth opportunities and brand activations as well as creating proposals that help bring them to life. I’m comfortable using data analytics tools to guide decision-making, including Google analytics, HubSpot and Adobe analytics (Looker & Tableau) to build effective optimized marketing programs.

I enjoy pulling all of the content levers from affiliate commerce to e-commerce, print to digital, social media to other innovative models of digital and in-person activation. I created the digital product “Giftees awards” (a crowd- and expert-sourced awards program) from scratch as a brand activation for Gifts.com, where I was director of editorial, social and public relations. I managed the project from pitch to specs, including managing a production team in Romania. I also envisioned and oversaw street team marketing and in-person launch parties for Cinch local shopping app in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as contracted vice president of marketing.

I’m experienced in strategic programming ideation, budget and operations management, and cross-company collaboration. My teams and I have helped launched consumer brands from Israel and Europe in the U.S. via strategic public relations and marketing plans.