CHRIS OLDAKER

I am a digital, content, and SEO marketer with 10 years of experience connecting people with the brands they love. If you’d like to learn more about me and my previous work, please take a few moments to check out my video resume below!

EXPERIENCE | PORTFOLIO

WORK EXPERIENCE

Callisto Media

Marketing strategist

April 2019 — September 2020

I worked directly with non-fiction authors to develop custom marketing campaigns to drive the success of their new releases across social, email, web, and search. I also build and manage complex marketing automation systems for a team of 10 strategists and coordinators that empower an unreal amount of capacity and efficiency for such a small team.

California College of the Arts

Sr. Digital Marketing Manager

October 2016 — April 2019

Oversaw recruitment marketing for one of the top art and design colleges in the country, which (completely coincidentally, of course) admitted its largest class of first-year freshmen in the school’s history under my watch.

Slim’s Presents

Digital Marketing Manager

June 2010 — September 2016

Rebranded 3 independently-owned and operated live music institutions (Slim’s, Great American Music Hall, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival) into one powerhouse brand producing hundreds of concerts, festivals, comedy shows, and interactive experiences every year, while pioneering digital content marketing strategies in the industry.

PORTFOLIO

Content Marketing - Decision Stage

California College of the Arts

I researched, outlined, copyedited, and search engine-optimized a suite of inbound marketing content for 3 of CCA’s Graduate Studies programs that led to an increase in applications.

Since this decision-stage content was targeted at a highly sophisticated audience of college graduates researching a graduate degree in Design, it needed to be informative, engaging, and authentic without being sales-y. And due to limited budget, it needed to be done with minimal access to copywriters.

I began by conducting interviews with key stakeholders to determine their audience’s most frequently asked questions, which I then used to create a series of questionnaires to be filled out by current students, alumni, and faculty. Their (copyedited) responses formed the bulk of each piece, leaving copywriters only a few intros, closing paragraphs, and headlines to write based on my keyword research.

These pieces, along with many others, funneled into a larger automated lead-nurturing campaign that I built from the ground-up in Hubspot, resulting in a 17% increase in applications in a single admissions cycle.

• content marketing

• strategy

• SEO

Portfolio Guide

California College of the Arts

A 19 page, pocket-sized print piece with helpful advice for students interested in improving their art portfolio to apply for schools. 

I worked closely with admissions stakeholders and in-house designers to craft a quirky, zine-inspired guide that could be given out to students at on-site visits, college fairs, and as a digital premium content offer for inbound marketing campaigns.

• strategy

• copywriting

Undergraduate Conversion Stream

California College of the Arts

An 8-email drip campaign nurturing prospective students towards application.

I analyzed data from admitted student and cancelation surveys to define key decision-making criteria and develop a campaign that addressed common user concerns by reinforcing the brand's major proof points in a fun and engaging way. The campaign helped contribute to a 17% increase in applicants in a single admissions cycle.

• copywriting

• campaign strategy

Website Redesign #2

slim's presents

For my second website redesign for the Slim's Presents brand, I worked with a freelance designer to create a dynamic, fully responsive, mobile-first website inspired by the infinite browse-ability of sites like Netflix. The site was the first deep API integration of the Eventbrite ticketing system into a large-scale venue website.

• strategy

• content strategy

• UX/UI

Email Marketing

slim's presents

In an effort to improve the performance of the brand's owned marketing channels, I implemented analytics tracking data and A/B testing to develop a revised email marketing strategy (and design) that more than doubled clickthrough rates and conversion rates.

• strategy

• design

Content Marketing - Video

slim's presents

In my role as Marketing Manager for Slim's Presents, I focused heavily on content marketing, booking and hosting podcasts, conducting interview pieces, producing exclusive live performances, and creating ongoing web series' that helped to grow brand awareness and affinity with several key audiences.

• video production & editing

• on camera hosting

• directing

Content Marketing - Blogging

slim's presents  /  oakland local

As a marketer, I've focused heavily on content as a way to grow brand awareness and affinity, including developing coverage for several Bay Area publications, such as SFGate, KQED, Oakland Local, and more.

• copywriting

• photography

• content marketing

Website Redesign #1

slim's presents

One of my first projects as Marketing Manager at Slim's and Great American Music Hall was redesigning the clubs’ online presence and defining the brand identity. I took what was previously 2 different identities with separate audiences and websites, and consolidated them under a single umbrella (along with the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival) as Slim's Presents. The new brand and accompanying site focused on building a strong presence as a local, independent music institution in direct competition with the major corporate players that were taking over the landscape.

• brand strategy

• content strategy