The Problem
Even in 2025 most construction contractors still rely on offline spreadsheets and magnetic name tags to manage labor.
I have friends and family who work in construction and I spent summers roofing as a teenager. It's hard work. Even the smallest change like when you're supposed to be at a jobsite can waste time and money.
Now imagine that with 500+ workers. They're not on one project. No, they're spread across a dozen in three different states.
Inefficient labor management costs contractors 5% or more annually.
The Solution
RIVET is trying to fix that with a real-time platform for managing labor and forecasting workforce needs years into the future. My job as senior content marketer was earning trust (and supporting sales) with thought leadership and by highlighting customer success stories.
In my time with the company I increased LinkedIn followers by 25% and catapulted social engagement to 20x that of B2B standards, with intentional human-centered writing, creative direction and photography.
Project Details
I joined this seed-round B2B startup as a senior content marketer on a four-person marketing team.
As the lead writer, that meant I had a bunch on my plate across the entire funnel. I was also learning the ins and outs of a brand new industry and customer.
My empathy came in handy here. I immersed myself in the industry by reading trade publications, going to events and listening to contractors to understand their labor struggles.
Then I wrote about them. A lot. Two longform case studies, an eBook,99 blog posts, 66 weekly newsletters. Writing promo campaigns for and producing 12 episodes of the podcast.
I launched a monthly customer-exclusive newsletter too.
I worked directly with my CMO and growth marketer to concept content and strategies, and then optimize copy based on analytics from Google and HubSpot. I also guided our brand and creative manager on video edits, and graphic design for blog and social assets.
This type of collaboration was the rule, not the exception. Because the team was so small it meant we all wore lots of hats.
Working across departments didn't get bogged down in approvals and red tape either.
It just got done.
Creative process
Content Channels
Newsletters
Thought leadership
Company blog
eBooks
Social
Webinars
Video
Account-based marketing
Earned media
Podcasts
Trade show panels
Creative Responsibilities
My job was to reach contractor executives where they were with conversational omnichannel content that educated and drove them to act. I achieved this with:
Content Creation
Organizing and executing B2B webinars
Executive customer speech coaching
Podcast production and marketing
Automated drip, persona and ABM emails for all stages of the marketing funnel
Generating photorealistic AI imagery that sidestepped the uncanny valley and seven-fingered hands
Creative Direction
Graphic design projects from concept to execution
Designing concert-style event posters to commemorate feature releases
Guided podcast and video edits for technical and editorial standards
Photos and A/V
Event and BTS photography
Headshots
Customer photos
Employee video interviews
Building mobile and office video studios
Customer case study and testimonial video interviews
“
Tim brought a rare mix of creativity, curiosity and versatility to the role. Whether it was crafting compelling copy, capturing powerful photography or designing thoughtful visuals, he always found the right medium to tell the story.
— Paul Carollo, RIVET product manager
66
Newsletters
99
Blog posts
3,382
Case study word count
The RIVETER
The RIVETER is the company blog where we would publish thought leadership, the newsletter and hype new features.
I leaned on my journalism background to create and execute an editorial calendar focused on evergreen SEO-friendly topics that keep construction executives up at night: schedule compression, productivity, absenteeism, labor planning, tech adoption.
For editorial consistency, I scheduled themes of a like kind across the channels I managed, per week: several LinkedIn posts, newsletter and the blog.
We also used The RIVETER to publish event recaps where I had the ground team write about what they learned at a given trade show. Then I edited them, built the page in WordPress and added event photos.
When I promo'd these recaps on LinkedIn, I tagged target customer prospects the team made contact with to drive top-funnel engagement.
Skills
SEO optimization
Link building
HubSpot
Google Analytics
Semrush
WordPress
Figma
Headline writing
HTML
Web design
Art direction
Case Studies
The Problem
RIVET needed new SEO-friendly case studies showcasing some of its biggest wins with large contractors, both union and merit across electrical and multi-trade shops.
The Process
We flew to meet Tessiers Mechanical and Duro Electric onsite at their respective offices in South Dakota and Colorado.
My CMO interviewed the executives, and I ran production. Once we got back home, my CMO gave me outlines she wanted the written drafts to hit so they'd align with her video edits.
I transcribed the hours of footage with AI and then got to work, treating them like business interviews I'd written in the past.
Highlighting RIVET's collaborative platform, relatable construction struggles and both hard and soft business wins.
Duro Electric
Duro's previous Workforce Management tool failed them pretty hard. So they switched to RIVET and it's been "completely 100% better."
I never mentioned the competitor's name. Instead, I focused on all the improvements Duro had seen since switching. Like not being on tech support all the time, the platform's reliability and how RIVET bolsters team culture.
“Moving to RIVET really changed how effective we could be at getting our jobs done. Even if the rest of my day goes to shit, RIVET seems to be at least one piece that works for me and doesn’t break.”
Tessiers Mechanical
In the case of Tessiers, I wanted to drive home how thoughtful the executive team is about not burning out its employees and making sustainable labor decisions.
With RIVET, the company can schedule workers out years in advance. Because employees know there's work for the foreseeable future, they aren't sandbagging it at the end of a job.
This has helped 10x labor productivity at the shop.
“We have to be responsible with labor so we’re not over-allocating resources and essentially running people out the door because we’re grinding them into dirt."
eBook: The Blueprint for Workforce Management
Project details
The Problem
RIVET's pre-seed size meant that every scrap of content had to be repurposed to maximize ROI. The first season of Construction is Hard was a primer in podcast form, educating listeners on the basic construction workforce management business practices.
The problem was, not everyone we talked to listened to the show. We needed an asset that could be left behind at a sales visit or handed out at a trade show.
The Process
Construction is Hard is extremely personality driven. Hosts Brian Witt and Gary Fuchs have incredible chemistry and a distinct diction. They also share decades of experience in construction.
Translating that to the page was crucial to this project resonating with contractors.
To ensure I captured their personalities, I transcribed the podcast episodes in Dovetail and then edited them for flow and clarity. Writing my own text in their voices where needed. I distilled the main points into succinct, conversational copy across 24 pages.
Outcome
The Blueprint became one of our most valuable marketing assets and served as a natural educational tool for prospects. To drive value even further, it was used as the basis for a webinar.
Overview
Before I started, the visual order of the day was graphs and product screenshots. Organic engagement and CTR were low.
By focusing on the human element of our platform -- photos of the people who make it and use it, customer proof video testimonials -- weincreased the engagement rate by an average 50%.
We posted three times a week, and adjusted content types based on metrics.
We also used LinkedIn's native articles feature to repurpose blog content in ways that required minimal time and production investment beyond the initial lift.
20x
LinkedIn engagement vs. B2B standards
+25%
LinkedIn followers
2x
Supported 2x revenue growth YOY
Top-performing LinkedIn Posts
Customer Advocacy: The Workforce Management Champions
One of the easiest ways to build credibility, trust and drive sales is with customer testimonials.
The Workforce Management Champions are a rotating group of contractors from around the country leading the way for modern labor management.
Each spring, RIVET's leading customers came to Detroit for a two-day workshop to discuss how they use the platform, what features they value most and their biggest labor challenges.
The Champ Summit was our marketing Super Bowl. My role was capturing it all on camera, be it event and BTS photos or customer testimonial video interviews.
Then, taking all that footage and crafting an editorial-style customer testimonial blog campaign.
Creative Process
I worked with my CMO to develop interview questions, and assembled a green-screen studio in our conference room.
I filmed customers and took BTS photos while the CMO and VP of revenue interviewed them. Then I repurposed the cut videos into an evergreen blog campaign, social posts and newsletter fodder throughout the year.
This series of customer testimonials was used across ABM campaigns, social and blogs, driving millions in pipeline coverage.
Employee Q/A
Another way of earning contractor trust? Hiring one of their own, who knows construction problems all too well.
Dustin worked as a contractor for over 20 years. After six months, he liked using RIVET so much joined the team.
I worked with the VP of customer success to develop questions that would build company credibility and organically showcase Dustin's experience in the field.
RIVET x Construction Executive webinar: Labor Planning's Impact on Productivity
Creative Process
The Pitch
Labor is 40%+ of any construction budget. It's a contractor's biggest risk. With effective labor forecasting, they can claw back lost profits.
The Process
First I wrote the initial proposal to the publication. Then I worked across departments to ID a contractor co-host who could talk about their processes and wins with RIVET's platform.
Building Awareness
The main goal of the webinar was attracting leads and getting them into the funnel.
The publication marketed the event as well, and to supplement that I wrote an email and social registration campaign.
The Script
I adapted the script from a presentation given by our CEO at a trade show a few months prior, updating it -- and the PowerPoint -- to fit current messaging and our Director of Sales' voice.
Prep
I scheduled and ran two test runs, coaching external executive co-hosts on their scripts and parts of the presentation.
Production
On the day of, I supported the live webinar by monitoring chat, taking audience questions and advancing slides.
Repurposing
I guided breaking the longform video into clips for social customer proof posts, and drove further value by transcribing key points for thought leadership blogs and LinkedIn native articles.
Construction is Hard
Overview
Construction is Hard is a B2B thought leadership podcast and owned media channel for RIVET. It was already halfway through its first season when I joined the company in August 2023, and then spearheaded production.
I fully produced season 2, and kicked off season 3 with an upgrade to filming in high-quality 4K and a permanent studio. In the first season alone, the B2B thought leadership vehicle reached over 15,000 listeners and was an invaluable top-funnel tool.
Creative Process
I wrote promo materials (blog, newsletter, social, emails) as well, and managed the podcast's LinkedIn page.
To accommodate the hosts' schedules and record wherever they were, I built out a travel studio and flew around the country to record in various hotels and trade show meeting rooms.
In addition to production, I took BTS photos for use on the blog, newsletter and social.
Culture
I treated culture photography like an embedded photojournalist.
My goal was to showcase the personality of our team and office.
Capturing candid moments of our CEO, above, and the staff.
I documented company presence at trade shows to create social assets too.
As office photographer and videographer, I captured the team's personality with event and behind-the-scenes photography. My photojournalistic approach boosted average social engagement by over 50% and gave a consistent visual narrative for earned and trade media, the blog, newsletter and recruiting efforts.
I was also a part of the The RIVET Connection Crew, the office culture team. This cross-functional team (HR, engineering, customer success, marketing, sales) collaborated on activities to build relationships among the staff of 40+.
We organized off-sites including bowling, happy hours, drink and draws, local museum tours and more.
Maybe my favorite part though, was designing concert-style event posters to celebrate our engineering team every time they released a new feature for the platform.
Sometimes the director of product came to me with a concept, or the engineers had a piece of AI artwork they loved that needed typography to go with it.
Others, I concepted and designed from the ground up. For the original pieces I used a combination of my personal photography library, and AI tools like Midjourney or Adobe Illustrator's generative vectors.
From there I looked to classic concert posters for layout and typography inspiration and finished designs in Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate or sometimes all three.
To celebrate, we'd pop champagne and put out a spread of charcuterie at lunch. Those involved would give impromptu speeches, sign the poster, then we'd frame and hang it in the office.
Photo-based LinkedIn posts had 20x engagement and CTR over B2B benchmarks versus everything else we posted.
With that in mind, I'd shoot the party and then post the photos along with a link to either the feature's homepage or our open job applications as a CTA.
Media Relations
A (small) portion of my job was media relations and securing earned media.
I packaged assets, wrote press releases and secured placement in Crain's Detroit Business and DBusiness Magazine.
Ahead of meeting with reporters, I wrote executive media briefings and coached our CEO for interview prep.
Earned Media