ERB: Building the Content & SEO Engine for a Global Education Nonprofit
As Director of Marketing Communications at ERB (Educational Records Bureau), I built the organization's first real content and SEO engine — turning deep subject-matter expertise into a reliable inbound channel for a nonprofit serving 200+ independent and international schools worldwide.
The Challenge
ERB is a nonprofit assessment and learning-analytics provider trusted by 200+ member schools globally. The organization had decades of subject-matter credibility but no systematic way to turn that expertise into inbound growth. Content was inconsistent, the editorial process depended on heroics, and organic search wasn't yet a reliable lead source.
In education assessment, credibility and trust carry the purchase. The content needed to earn that trust — not persuade around it.
My Thinking
The opportunity wasn't just to publish more. It was to build a system that could compound. I identified that the engine needed to:
Publish consistently, without depending on heroics
Anchor on topics that member schools actually cared about — not what was easy to write
Make ERB's expertise findable by the educators and administrators searching for it
So I focused on two priorities: building an editorial and content production system that could run reliably, and launching an SEO program that would compound over time.
The Approach
The Outcome
25% YoY growth in inbound inquiries from the content engine
30% growth in organic search sessions, establishing organic as a reliable lead channel
20% lift in newsletter open rate within year one of the revamp
Promoted from Marketing Content Manager to Director within 12 months
What I’d Do Next