About
A quick introduction
Melanie Nichols
Performance-driven online and mobile marketer
I have over 15 years’ experience in digital growth/acquisition marketing for entertainment (film, TV and social networking), start-ups and paid subscription services.
After spending much of my career at companies such as Yahoo!, Comcast (Xfinity TV), Hulu and Symantec, I switched to consulting for small to medium-sized business and startups, focused on growth marketing and technical marketing for new products. Consulting clients have included larger brands such as LA Times, EA Mobile, Grindr, Motor Trend and a variety of startups from Ripkord, The Crypto Company, Foodstirs, Little Labs, Cocodune to Opposing Views.
My consulting services include a range of activities from driving free traffic (SEO, partnerships, email etc..) to building ad campaigns on Facebook, Google and mobile networks from low thousands in spend to $1MM+ per year at positive ROI. I also set up marketing programs for success by implementing analytics/tracking systems and conducing thorough competitive analysis prior to spending ad dollars.
Download Printable Resume
Technical Skills
Marketing is continual learning but here are my top skills
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
Research, implementation & optimization
Social Media Marketing
Ad management, content recommendations
Web & Mobile Analytics
Set up of major web and mobile analytics platforms
App Store Optimization
Content, on-page items & linking strategy
Affiliate Marketing
Network & tracking system setup, terms & affiliate recruitment
Marketing Plan Creation & Reporting
Strategy, goals, plan creation & reporting
Work Experience
My current and prior roles
Present
Ondeck Circle
Online & Mobile Customer Acquisition Consultant
Customer acquisition projects for clients such as Ripkord, Kenna Security, Motor Trend, Foodstirs, Opposing Views, Grindr, Ebyline, PepperJelly (Comcast Xfinity, White Sky), Snoopwall LLC and EA Mobile.
▪ Marketing strategy and plan execution for both mobile apps and web including paid search, social ads, display ad networks & DSPs, social media/community management, SEO, affiliates and email.
▪ Management of $100k+/mth Facebook campaigns for both subscription services & mobile apps
▪ Web & mobile attribution/analytics recommendations and implementation
▪ App Store Optimization (ASO) for Google Play/iTunes
▪ Analysis and optimization recommendations for push notifications, ratings prompts, mobile site advertising and in-app upsells. App onboarding recommendations/app tour outlines.
2013
Symantec Corporation (Norton)
Mobile & Online Acquisition Manager
Acquisition marketing strategy for Norton’s B2C mobile and Mac products featuring: Mobile Security/Utilities apps, Norton Internet Security For Mac & Norton Hotspot Privacy.
▪ Planning and launch of Norton Mobile acquisition campaigns through of mobile channels including: mobile search, Google (AdMob), Tapjoy, Millennial Media & Jumptap.
▪ Competitive research and creation of App Store Optimization (ASO) guidelines for a variety mobile app markets including: Google Play, iTunes, Amazon App Store & Samsung.
▪ Marketing lead for requirements, dashboard design and testing of proprietary & third party (Kochava) mobile tracking systems to track app installations, product upgrades and mobile app usage.
▪ Outreach to social media tech influencers and meet/greet events for LA-based influencers.
▪ Project lead for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) across 15+ customer-facing Norton sites.
▪ Creative development (ads and landing pages) for launch of Mac display and DSP ad buys.
Hulu LLC.
Product Marketing Manager
Management of online marketing channels for Hulu Plus subscription service. Paid search (desktop/mobile), affiliate, display and SEO.
▪ Launch of Hulu Plus Google/Bing campaigns. 200%+ channel growth in Q3-Q4 2011, contributing to first 1MM paid subscribers. Advertising budget growth from zero to $300k+ per month.
▪ Negotiation and launch of Commission Junction Hulu Plus affiliate program.
▪ SEO management for Hulu marketing team – on-page, off-page and responsible for providing technical requirements for product team to optimize all pages on the site.
▪ Use of Google Analytics for analysis/reporting. Implementation of multiple filtered profile and funnel configurations. Frequent work on cohort analysis
▪ Implementation and optimization of Google Display Network (GDN) for Hulu Plus.
2011
Fancast/Xfinity TV/Comcast.net (Comcast Interactive Media)
Marketing Manager
Performance marketing channels management, forecasting & marketing analytics for Comcast’s TV site & ISP portal.
▪ Ownership of budget allocation, forecasting, marketing channel reporting for traffic, revenue, video starts, & cost for performance marketing channels.
▪ Rebuilt all paid search campaigns in-house (Google, Yahoo!/Bing AdCenter & Facebook)
▪ Day-to-day management of all campaign (search, content & display) to ensure metrics & all goals met (e.g. Movie Trailer, Full Episodes & Comcast Toolbar campaigns).
▪ Heavy Adobe SiteCatalyst (Omniture) use to track unique visitors, page views, video views etc.
▪ SEO lead for Fancast Marketing team.
Creation of inbound link development strategy (focused on social media/blogs/content syndication) using ComScore/Quantcast and competitive data analysis.
2009
Yahoo! Media
Marketing Manager
Management of online marketing channels [primarily Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Affiliate] for Yahoo! Media properties including Autos, Finance, Games, Health, Movies, Music, omg!, TV & Sports.
▪ In-house management of all SEM campaigns (budgets ranging from $1-2k to >$1mm/mth) to generate awareness, traffic and premium subscriptions to meet business goals (ROI/CPA/revenue/traffic) for Yahoo! Media properties.
▪ Managed Yahoo! Games affiliate program (Commission Junction) - bounties, creative, product feeds & affiliate feedback
▪ Blog outreach for Fall TV social media marketing campaigns engaging TV blogs and fan sites.
▪ Assign projects and managed work flow for Associate Marketing Manager
▪ Advocate for SEO best practices, providing ad hoc recommendations for marketing projects.
2007
Yahoo! Music (LAUNCH)
Associate Marketing Manager
Interactive marketing using Search, Affiliate and other media channels for the world’s largest online music destination. Grew SEM budgets from $5k to $1MM+ per month.
▪ Responsible for new customer acquisition and brand awareness for free and premium subscription music download/radio products via major search engines (Google, Yahoo! Search Marketing [YSM], MSN & Ask.). Campaigns optimized on LTV basis.
▪ Launch & management of affiliate program to drive Yahoo! Music Unlimited trials.
▪ Planning, forecasting and budget allocation for a multi-million dollar media budget. Evaluation of publisher proposals and rate negotiation. Test implementation on sites such as CNET, Shockwave & ad-networks (Tribal Fusion, BurstMedia).
▪ Weekly/monthly analysis & reporting on media performance (traffic volume, CPA & ROI).
▪ Liaison with product management for landing page Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Education & Diplomas
Academic items
