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Outplacement & Coaching

How CareerBridge Coaching tripled leads while cutting costs in half

An executive coaching and outplacement firm needed to reach C-suite professionals and HR decision-makers — without burning budget on unqualified clicks.

-58%
Cost Per Lead
3x
Lead Volume
$890K
Revenue Generated

The Challenge

CareerBridge Coaching was running Google Ads but struggling with two core problems: their cost-per-lead had climbed to $187, and most of those leads were mid-level managers — not the C-suite executives and HR directors who actually bought their $15K+ coaching packages.

Their account had been managed in-house with a "set it and forget it" approach. Campaigns were broad, keywords were generic ("career coach", "job search help"), and there was no negative keyword strategy. They were essentially paying for clicks from people looking for free advice.

Our Approach

1. Complete Account Restructure

We rebuilt the account from scratch with a tight thematic structure:

  • Executive Coaching campaigns targeting "C-suite coach", "executive outplacement", "leadership transition coaching"
  • HR & Corporate campaigns targeting "outplacement services", "career transition programs", "executive outplacement firms"
  • Industry-Specific campaigns for finance, tech, and healthcare verticals

2. Precision Audience Targeting

We layered multiple audience signals to ensure ads only showed to qualified prospects:

  • In-market audiences for "Business Services" and "Career Development"
  • Custom intent audiences built from competitor brand names and high-intent search terms
  • Demographic bidding upweighted for ages 35-65 with household income in top 20%
  • Remarketing lists for users who visited pricing or "corporate services" pages

3. Landing Page Optimization

The existing landing page had a 2.1% conversion rate. We redesigned it with:

  • Social proof from Fortune 500 HR directors prominently displayed
  • A "Free Executive Assessment" lead magnet instead of a generic contact form
  • Trust signals: certifications, media mentions, years in business
  • Mobile-optimized layout (62% of traffic was mobile)

The Results

Within 90 days of the restructure, the transformation was clear:

$78
New Cost Per Lead
(down from $187)
147
Qualified Leads / Month
(up from 49)
23%
Lead-to-Client Rate
(up from 8%)

The quality improvement was just as significant as the volume. Before the restructure, only 8% of leads converted to paying clients. After implementing the new targeting and landing pages, that jumped to 23%. The average client value was $12,500, meaning each qualified lead was worth roughly $2,875 in expected revenue.

"Viridian completely changed how we think about paid search. We went from dreading our monthly ad spend report to actually being excited about it. The quality of leads improved so dramatically that our sales team asked if we had changed our targeting — we had, and it worked."

👤
Sarah Mitchell
CEO, CareerBridge Coaching

What Made the Difference

Three factors drove the outsized results:

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