When striving to compete against industry leaders, challenger brands face unique hurdles and opportunities in today’s marketplace. To stand out and disrupt the status quo, these brands need dynamic marketing strategies and the ability to move quickly and tap into innovative thinking. We know because we help these brands find on-demand talent every day to help them achieve their goals and grow. We took a deep dive inside the Wripple platform data and other sources to identify the top growth-driving projects that can help challenger brands thrive. Here’s what we found.

1. Website/App Development

A well-designed website or app is foundational to a brand’s credibility and can serve as a powerful conversion tool. With a smooth user experience and conversion-focused design, challenger brands can effectively guide visitors from interest to purchase, increasing both engagement and revenue.  

You’d be hard-pressed to find a company without a website, but often a company’s “starter” site requires considerable redesign as the company grows, its goals change, and consumers’ expectations for seamless experiences increase. Over 20% of Wripple projects are related to website design and development. Some specific website projects include:

• Re-platform existing websites to improve performance and scalability
• Landing page assessment to help optimize pages for conversion
• Launching an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to validate a new concept with minimal investment
• User Experience (UX) research to better understand user needs and create a more intuitive site experience

Key Roles and Expertise:

• Web/App Developers: Experts skilled in coding languages such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, and often with platform-specific experience in WordPress, Shopify, or custom solutions. Developers typically specialize in either back-end (structure, logic, and data) or front-end (visual elements users interact with) development.   ‍
• UX/UI Designers: Specialists who use research to create user-centric designs that are visually appealing and intuitive. This usually involves wireframing, prototyping, storyboarding, and process flows. ‍
• Web Designers: Creative thinkers who design the visual look of the website, app, or individual pages. Their focus is on layout and usability and a specific understanding of web design is crucial.  ‍
• QA Specialists: These experts oversee website and app testing, ensuring all functionality works as expected and that the site or app meets quality standards. ‍
• Content Writers: They are responsible for all the copy and often work closely with the designer to be sure both design and copy are working in tandem. ‍
• Project Managers: All large projects benefit from having someone managing tasks and deadlines, ensuring team members are communicating and have what they need to do their part.

2. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

There’s a reason that SEO consultants are often listed as one of the highest-paid digital marketing freelance jobs. A robust SEO strategy reaches users who are actively searching for related products or solutions. For challenger brands, this organic visibility is essential for competing with larger brands, driving awareness, and generating leads without relying solely on paid advertising. SEO projects fall into both short-term and long-term buckets:

• Short-Term: Companies often start with an initial SEO audit and recommendation to address immediate issues and provide quick wins like technical fixes and content optimizations. ‍
• Long-Term: Building sustainable growth through SEO takes time and requires consistent content creation, keyword research, backlink building, and ongoing website monitoring and optimization.

Key Roles and Expertise:

• SEO Experts: Professionals with expertise in keyword research, on-page and technical SEO, and analytics tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush. Many SEO professionals are also skilled in reputation management to help ensure your brand shows up positively. ‍
• Content Writers: Skilled writers who can develop search-optimized content that aligns with the brand’s keywords and user intent while also maintaining a natural brand voice.  

3. Content Marketing Strategy & Creation

For challenger brands, this is an opportunity to tell a unique story, educate potential customers, and build credibility. A well-executed content strategy can attract a loyal audience, boost brand awareness, and increase organic reach. It can also support lead generation by providing valuable insights and information to guide customers along their journey, nurturing them toward conversion.

Creating quality content at scale can be a big undertaking. This is why Content Creator is consistently one of the top roles searched on the Wripple platform by companies looking to ramp up their content game and drive results. The two elements of a content marketing program are:

• Content Marketing Strategy
  • Defining target audience(s)
  • Setting goals and objectives
  • Identifying content gaps
  • Researching Keywords
  • Developing content themes
  • Selecting channels and formats
  • Creating a measurement plan
  • Use of tech/automation for planning & creation
• Content Creation
  • Conducting research
  • Planning content across channels – blogs, social media, newsletters, etc.
  • Developing content according to the plan
  • Publishing and promoting content

Key Roles and Expertise:

• Content Strategists: Professionals with a strong background in designing a content program that aligns with business goals, market needs, and search trends. ‍
• Content Creators: Experts with a range of skills and experience across channels who can create high-quality content. This can include writers for short-form or long-form content, videographers, and designers.  

4. Video Production & Marketing

After websites, the next largest category of projects for Wripple clients is video, making up more than 10% of projects. HubSpot's 2024 State of Marketing Research found that short-form video content (aka reels) like you’d find on TikTok or YouTube has the highest ROI.  

For challenger brands, this medium allows brands to communicate in ways text and static images cannot. From product demos and customer testimonials to “behind-the-scenes” looks, video content can help humanize a brand, build trust, and engage users across multiple platforms, including social media, websites, and emails. Here are examples of types of videos that have been done by Wripple freelancers for our clients:

• Explainer Videos: Used to explain your company’s core offering or educate your audience on an aspect of your product or service. ‍
• Training Videos: These can be used to train employees or customers on a specific topic or skill and are usually very detailed. ‍
• Hype Video: A short, high-energy video to build excitement for an event or brand. They are high-impact and compelling. ‍
• Short-Form Video: Generally, 5 to 90 seconds, they are for marketing purposes and designed to grab attention and be easily consumed and shared.

Key Roles and Expertise:

• Videographers and Editors: Professionals with a strong command of filming, editing, and storytelling techniques. ‍
• Video Marketers: Specialists in video SEO, platform-specific strategies (e.g., YouTube optimization), and audience targeting for ad campaigns. ‍
• Animator/Motion Graphics Designers: They create animated graphics and visual effects that can be an entire video or elements within a video. ‍
• Scriptwriters/Copywriters: Writes the script, ensuring it aligns with the goal of the video and the brand. ‍
• Creative Directors: Leads the creative vision, including storyboarding, style, and overall aesthetic of the video.

5. Email Strategy & Execution

Email remains one of the highest ROI channels in digital marketing. Challenger brands should focus on crafting an email journey that offers value, builds relationships, and nudges recipients toward action. A strong email strategy also offers a direct channel for promoting new products or services and re-engaging inactive customers, thus sustaining engagement and driving conversions over time. An email strategy can include the following:

• Target audience(s)
• Clear goals and objectives
• Email types (e.g., newsletters, welcome, transactional)
• List management
• List segmentation
• Email design recommendations
• Testing and optimization plan
• Measurement plan

Key Roles and Expertise:

• Email Strategists: Channel expert who applies fundamental marketing principles to define email strategies and best practices that will achieve brand goals. They typically have experience with sequences, audience segmentation, and crafting emails for maximum engagement. ‍
• Copywriters: Skilled writers can write compelling subject lines, body text, and CTAs that align with brand tone. ‍
• Marketing Automation Specialists: Experts in platforms like HubSpot, Klaviyo, or Mailchimp who can set up automation flows and track campaign performance. ‍
• Email Developers: Designs emails and codes them using HTML and CSS with a thorough understanding of the limitations of email design and requirements across various email clients.  

6. Growth Marketing Strategy

A strong growth marketing strategy enables challenger brands to identify the most effective channels and tactics quickly. This agile approach maximizes limited resources and improves ROI by focusing on what works, helping brands scale sustainably without wasting resources on unproductive strategies.

Growth marketing is a holistic approach focused on experimentation, rapid testing, and data-driven adjustments to optimize across the entire customer lifecycle. Growth marketing can be boiled down into three components:

• Setting up multi-channel campaigns
• Tracking performance across customer touchpoints
• Continuous iteration based on data insights to increase the effectiveness of each campaign

Key Roles and Expertise:

• Growth Marketers: Professionals with a deep understanding of A/B testing, customer lifecycle management, and analytics. ‍
• Paid Media Specialists: Experts in paid channels and programmatic advertising who can optimize ad spend to maximize reach and conversions. ‍
• Data Analysts: Individuals who can analyze campaign data and identify trends, insights, and areas for improvement.  

7. Data Analytics

Data analytics is crucial for understanding customer behavior, marketing performance, and overall brand health. By analyzing data effectively, brands can improve their targeting, refine messaging, and optimize their overall marketing funnel, ultimately boosting both customer acquisition and retention.

One of the most common data analytics projects that clients come to Wripple for is dashboard creation, which helps marketing clients visualize performance tied to their KPIs. Oftentimes, this work reveals insights along the way that help drive new ideas and potential growth opportunities. Other data projects might include:

• CRM platform consulting and implementation
• Customer segmentation analysis
• Campaign performance analysis
• Predictive analytics for lead scoring
• Marketing attribution modeling
• Churn prediction and retention analytics
• ROI analysis for marketing spend
• Market trend analysis

Key Roles and Expertise

• Data Analysts: Professionals skilled in data interpretation and proficient in tools like Google Analytics, Tableau, and Excel. ‍
• Data Engineers: Experts who ensure accurate data collection, integration, and warehousing, creating a reliable foundation for analytics work. ‍
• Business Intelligence (BI) Specialists: Business intelligence professionals who help translate data insights into actionable strategies for brand growth.  

For challenger brands, growth is a complex journey that requires a multi-faceted approach. From establishing a robust digital presence to leveraging targeted marketing and data insights, each of these projects plays a critical role in building a brand that not only stands out but also scales effectively. With the right expertise and a clear strategy, these growth-driving projects can help challenger brands not only compete but become leaders in their markets.