Industry: Executive Coaching, Digital Education, Professional Development

Christy Rutherford, a highly sought-after speaker and entrepreneur, sought to monetize her expertise by launching a paid private online community for high-achieving women—particularly C-suite professionals and entrepreneurs. The challenge was converting an existing audience into long-term, recurring members while building a high-value community that drove retention, loyalty, and scalable revenue.

I was brought in to design and execute the full content marketing and community-building strategy, leading the development of a conversion-driven ecosystem that supported Christy’s coaching services, digital products, and membership offerings. I oversaw community build-out, content strategy, email marketing, customer journey design, and performance optimization end-to-end to ensure sustained growth and retention

Repositioned the paid community as a premium mentorship and leadership ecosystem

Developed a content marketing strategy aligned with the audience’s professional pain points and goals

Converted one-time buyers into recurring members through strategic email sequences and engagement campaigns

Repurposed high-performing content from speaking engagements, books, and coaching sessions to maximize reach and efficiency

Designed conversion-driven content across email, social media, and community platforms

Built structured funnels to upsell members into higher-ticket coaching programs and products

Unified multiple audience entry points (events, podcasts, workshops, email, social) into a seamless customer journey

Implemented automation and analytics to personalize engagement and reduce drop-off

40% increase in member retention through engagement-focused community design

35% boost in recurring engagement by centering the community around high-performing content

25% increase in paid memberships through optimized content strategy

30% growth in program enrollments driven by strategic content placement

20% reduction in drop-off rates through a streamlined, end-to-end customer journey

28% increase in overall interaction through data-informed engagement optimization

15% rise in community discussions and participation through personalized engagement strategies

This case demonstrates my ability to build high-retention, revenue-generating communities by aligning content, mentorship, and customer experience into a cohesive growth system. By prioritizing value, structure, and audience psychology, I transformed content into conversions and engagement into long-term business sustainability—without relying on volume-based growth tactics.