In 2018, Crimson Education initiated itsMarket Entry into the highly competitive Brazilian market for US/UK university admissions consulting. The landscape was dominated by established players with decades of experience. Crimson Brazil began as a startup operation: a five-person team withno existing marketing function, zero brand recognition, and ambitious growth targets. The challenge was clear: execute a successfulmarket entry and then rapidlyscale the business to build a leading brand and drive significant revenue against deeply entrenched competition.
During my interview process, I identified that isolated tactics wouldn’t work for successfulmarket entry and subsequent scaling. I proposed that success required building anintegrated, multi-channel marketing engine from the ground up, rooted in Growth Marketing principles. My core thesis was that sustainable growth demanded a balanced, synergistic, and data-driven approach, leveraging Content, Social Media, Paid Advertising, Events, Referrals, SEO, and Partnerships. This vision for a comprehensivegrowth-focused ecosystem became my mandate upon being hired.
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Tasked with turning this vision into reality, I built Brazil’s marketing function from absolute scratch and meticulously executed themulti-channel growth strategy designed explicitly to position Crimson asthe premier choice for top-tier US/UK university applications:
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Architected and executed a social media strategy that catapulted Crimson Brazil toclear market leadership, despite entering years after established competitors (founded 2013-2017). Grew channelsfrom 0 to 53K+ Instagram & 19K+ TikTok followers within six years,significantly outpacing rivals (e.g., nearest competitor ~23k, others <7k). This rapid growth was driven by a strategicthree-pillar content framework designed for both broad reach and qualified lead generation:
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This balanced approach ensured that while achieving massive follower growth and establishing market dominance, the content consistently attractedqualified prospective students and parents interested in top-tier university admissions, directly supporting the premium brand positioning and making social media a key inbound lead source.
Market Leader on Instagram: Crimson Brazil established the largest following among key competitors by a wide margin, despite launching its page more recently than most major players.
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Personally directed all aspects of high-performing Meta & Google Ads campaignsÂend-to-end – fromÂstrategic planning, creative development (design, copy), and platform setup to audience targeting/segmentation and continuous performanceÂmonitoring/optimization.Â
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This meticulous, hands-on management was instrumental in drivingÂ50% of all leads and 35% of total revenue over three years, consistently outperforming benchmarks and serving as a core element of our rapid growth strategy.
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TheÂexceptional, market-leading results achieved in Brazil led directly to my appointment (concurrently) as Regional Digital Marketing Manager for the Americas, with a specific mandate to leverage the successful Brazilian model toÂimprove the digital advertising performance of the US and Mexico teams. Furthermore, this demonstrated success storyÂhighlighted the strategic value of dedicated regional marketing expertise, contributing significantly to the company’s eventual decision to implement the formal Regional Marketing Manager structure globally.
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Established Crimson Brazil as the highest-producing local content team globally, creating 40+ tailored ebooks/case studies and sophisticated digital quizzes (generating 10K+ organic leads & $300K revenue) to drive organic engagement andestablish thought leadership central to our desired brand positioning.
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Led in-person and online event initiatives that became a key pillar, generating 50K+ new leads and over $1M+ in revenue, contributing 25% of total company revenue andsolidifying our expert positioning.
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High-Impact Referral & Retention Strategy: Developed and managed a high-impact referral program by systematically turningÂclient satisfaction, success stories, and key student milestones into a primary revenue driver. This strategy includedÂstrategic gifting at crucial moments in the client journey, notably leveraging the‘I’m In!’ frame initiative to celebrate success and enhance positive sentiment. Referral initiatives consistently accounted forÂ30-40% of annual revenue, establishing them as aÂcore pillar of sustainable growth and reinforcing our premium brand positioning through authentic advocacy.
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Created and managed the Portuguese website, optimizing 100+ blogs for SEO, achieving higher search rankings than established competitors and significantly increasing organic visibility, crucial forcapturing high-intent prospective clients.
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Established collaborations with schools and institutions, leading to 35+ partnered events and an estimated $400K in revenue, boostingcredibility and market presence.
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LeveragedSalesforce and Marketo not just for tracking, but forholistic analysis integrating both marketing engagement and sales conversion data. This was a cornerstone of thegrowth marketing strategy, allowing us to continuously monitor how marketing initiatives translated directly intosales pipeline and achieved revenue goals, enabling data-driven strategy refinement and optimized resource allocation.
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The execution of this integratedmulti-channel strategy, focused on specific growth levers and clear brand positioning, yielded transformative results within just three years:
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Successfully executedmarket entry and scaled Crimson Brazil into one of the top three leading companies in the competitive Brazilian market.
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Achievedover 250% revenue growth between 2019 and 2022, consistently surpassing annual targets via effectivegrowth marketing.
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Maintained a sustainable and balanced revenue mix (approx. 30% Organic, 30% Paid, 40% Referrals), ensuring consistent cash-flow positivity – a hallmark of thestrategic multi-channel planning.
This experience proved the power of visionary strategy coupled with relentless, integrated execution. Starting with a strategicmarket entry plan focused on growth marketing principles proposed before day one, we systematically built a multi-channel engine designed to achieve specificbrand positioning and outperform established players. The key was thesynergy between channels and the commitment to building a balanced, sustainable growth model from absolute zero. This transformation stands as a testament to building high-impact marketing functions that drive dramaticmarket share shifts, revenue growth, and desired brand positioning, even against formidable odds.
