Strongpay
Drive leads by building Strongpay’s digital presence through strategic, audience-first content marketing initiatives and thought leadership.
MY ROLE
Content Strategy
Graphic Design
Copywriting
PROJECT TYPE
Internship
DURATION
5 months
TOOLS
Canva
Figma
Overview
Strongpoint Partners is a tech-enabled retirement services platform supporting small- to mid-sized businesses through a nationwide network of 20+ Third Party Administration (TPA) partner firms. The company delivers integrated retirement, payroll, and HR solutions with one clear mission: making retirement work for everyone.
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Strongpay is Strongpoint’s payroll technology platform built to deliver accurate, compliant, and efficient payroll processing. Designed to integrate directly with retirement systems, Strongpay helps businesses reduce errors, streamline workflows, and stay aligned with tax and retirement requirements.
As a Marketing Intern, I supported digital communications for the corporate brand, its partner firms, and Strongpay.
I played a key role in driving engagement through LinkedIn, email campaigns, magazines, and presentations, while also assisting partners with sales collateral development, website redesigns, and LinkedIn optimization.
The Challenge
Despite a strong customer base and a robust set of unique and useful features, Strongpay lacked a cohesive digital presence to clearly communicate its value, mission, and offerings, or to consistently engage its clients and prospects.
It was time to elevate the brand’s communication within existing brand guidelines while positioning Strongpay as a trusted, credible resource in the payroll and retirement planning industry through strategic thought leadership content.
The Strategy
My initial approach began with a comprehensive market review, a LinkedIn performance analysis, and competitor research to identify industry trends, audience behavior, and content gaps, while also establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. These foundational steps were critical in shaping a data-driven and people-centric content strategy designed to effectively engage Strongpay’s target audience.
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Segmentation
Since Strongpay is a payroll company, I segmented the audience into four primary groups:Â
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Lack dedicated HR or finance teams and manage payroll independently.​
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Struggle with time-consuming manual payroll and limited automation.
Small and medium-sized business owners​​
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Focus on payroll accuracy, cost control, and financial reporting.​
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Require error-free, compliant, and scalable payroll processes.
Finance managers
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​Responsible for employee benefits, onboarding, time tracking, and payroll.​
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Prioritize seamless integration with existing HR systems.
HR managers​
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Responsible for employee benefits, onboarding, time tracking, and payroll.​​
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Value bulk processing, automation, and reliable compliance support.
Accountants and bookkeepers
While Strongpay already offers robust features that address these needs on the website, those capabilities were not clearly highlighted in the existing LinkedIn content strategy.
To bridge this gap, I built a structured content framework aligned to each audience segment and launched a strategic content calendar focused on industry updates, payroll insights, compliance education, company culture, and thought leadership. I collaborated closely with Rob Ruff, Vice President of Strongpay to develop accurate, high-value content that positions Strongpay as a trusted payroll authority.
The Numbers Say It All
Hover each item to discover the growth
4,152
866%
Impressions
increase from Q2
11.4%
3.5x
Engagement Rate
times higher than industry average
1,941
1,870%
Reach
Increase from Q2
20,000
62%
Website Visits
Increase year over year
Work Worth Scrolling and Interacting...
Here’s a collection of my work: real content, real results, and moments that helped the brand’s voice stand out across channels.
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Click on each image to view the content live
I created the social media content plan by transforming long-form blog content into educational LinkedIn posts that delivered timely payroll and regulatory insights to HR and finance audiences. ​​​
​At the same time, I showcased Strongpay’s culture by featuring employees through internal events like #StrongpayWeek, new-hire announcements, and real team culture-focused photos.
Using carousels and grid-based formats, I made complex payroll and retirement topics more accessible, highlighting the team and expertise behind Strongpay and strengthening audience engagement. This brought a more human, relatable voice to the brand.
EBook & Webinar
I planned and executed the promotional campaigns for the Strongpay webinar and eBook, two free resources launched to existing clients and later opened to the public to drive new lead generation. The campaign combined LinkedIn content on Strongpay with cross-promotion from Strongpoint’s LinkedIn page, along with a targeted e-newsletter campaign to clients and partner firms to maximize reach and awareness. ​
​​To support the eBook launch, I led the development of the eBook landing page, designing the full audience journey from first touchpoint to conversion.
The launch flow began with awareness through LinkedIn and email announcements, followed by traffic directed to the landing page, where I applied storytelling-driven copy with strategic calls to action. This audience-centered funnel approach guided users intuitively from discovery to download, strengthening engagement and driving qualified leads.
180
Attendees
12.5%
Landing Page Conversion Rate
SEO & Keyword-Optimized Blog
I collaborated closely with Strongpay’s Vice President to optimize monthly blog content for SEO by strategically adding internal links and clear calls to action for sales engagement.
The blog covers regulatory updates, payroll best practices, and executive thought leadership. To extend each article’s reach, every blog post is supported by a dedicated LinkedIn post designed to drive traffic and increase visibility.
"I’ve had the opportunity to work with Valerie during her marketing internship at Strongpay, and she’s made an exceptional impact from day one. Valerie brings a level of dependability and follow-through that’s rare at any career stage, let alone as an intern. Her turnaround times were consistently fast, but never at the expense of quality. She produces thoughtful, polished work and always delivers what she says she will. She’s creative, eager to learn, helpful, and consistently reliable.
Beyond her skills, Valerie is simply a pleasure to work with. She’s collaborative, positive, and approaches every task with professionalism. Whether we needed support on content creation (copy, images, events, blogs, PowerPoint), campaign coordination, SEO, social content planning, or internal marketing projects, she jumped in with enthusiasm and a genuine desire to contribute.
Valerie is hardworking, friendly, energetic, and someone any team would be lucky to have. I’m confident she’ll excel in whatever role she takes on next, and I highly recommend her without hesitation."​
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Robert Ruff
Vice President of Strongpay
Key Takeaways
Accuracy really matters in complex industries. Writing about payroll and retirement isn’t something that anyone can guess their way through. This project reinforced how important it is to do my research, ask questions, and lean on my team for fact-checking to make sure everything is clear, accurate, and trustworthy.
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People connect with people, not just products. When I wasn’t sure what direction to take, the audience data always pointed me back to people-first content and storytelling. Featuring real team members and designing the eBook funnel around the audience journey proved far more engaging than simply listing product features, and guided users more naturally from discovery to download.