Summary

I stepped in as a fractional content manager to cover an 8-month parental leave at Preply Business, managing a team of 8 freelancers and publishing 65 articles that contributed to the team’s SQL and MQL targets.

Highlights

Client: Preply Business

Industry: Corporate language learning

Problem: The B2B content manager was leaving for 8-9 months of parental leave. As the only content person on the B2B team managing the content production system with freelancers, the team needed someone who could step in immediately without disrupting workflows.

Solution: I took over full content management responsibilities, including managing 8 freelancers, hiring additional writers, handling admin work, collaborating cross-functionally, and delivering a handover when the B2B content manager returned.

Outcome:

• Published 65 new articles over 8 months
• Contributed to the marketing team’s organic traffic, SQL, and MQL targets
• Maintained consistent publishing cadence for new content and optimizations
• Managed and hired freelance writers to maintain production needs
• Delivered a detailed feedback document with efficiency improvements for future content operations
• Organized a smooth handover with zero disruption to ongoing projects
• Delivered bi-weekly reports to the B2B Marketing Manager and monthly organic traffic and revenue metric reports to Marketing and Sales

Here’s how I kept production running.

The Problem

Preply Business’s B2B content manager was going on parental leave for 8-9 months. They were the only content person on the B2B marketing team and had built a content production system working with a team of freelancers.

The team had pipeline targets tied directly to content performance and couldn’t pause production. They needed someone who could step in, manage a distributed freelance team, and keep everything on track without a steep learning curve.

Challenges

• Immediate ramp-up required: No time for a lengthy onboarding process. I needed to understand processes, team dynamics, and production workflows fast enough to avoid any gaps.
• Managing a distributed freelance team: Coordinating 8 freelancers (7 writers and 1 WordPress Ops Specialist) while maintaining quality and consistency.

The Solution

Before I started, the team prepared detailed handover documentation and clearly defined scope, deadlines, and expectations. This foundation let me hit the ground running.

Over eight months, I managed the entire content production process:

Team Management

• Managed 8 freelancers (7 writers, 1 WordPress Ops Specialist), assigning tasks, creating detailed content briefs, editing content, overseeing deadlines, and handling contracts and invoices.
• Hired additional freelance writers as production demands grew.
• Handled all administrative work (negotiation, contracts, and invoices), so nothing fell through the cracks.

Content Production

• Produced B2B articles aligned with Preply’s brand voice.
• Maintained a consistent publishing cadence for new content and optimizations across all three quarters.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Reported bi-weekly on the content production to the B2B Marketing Manager.
• Reported monthly on organic traffic and revenue metrics to Marketing and Sales departments.
• Collaborated with the B2B SEO Growth Manager on keyword and topic priorities to ensure content aligned with SEO strategy.
• Created design briefs for the in-house design team to coordinate visual assets for blog posts. aligned with campaign goals and SEO strategy
• Worked with the design team to request and coordinate visual assets for blog posts.

Handover and Knowledge Transfer

• Created a handover plan and organized handover sessions with the returning B2B content manager to ensure a seamless transition.
• Delivered a detailed feedback document outlining ideas to increase production efficiency and improve content quality based on what I observed during the contract.

The Outcome

Over eight months, we published 65 new articles. Combined with previously published content and lead magnets, these contributed to the marketing team hitting their organic traffic and pipeline targets.

What others said:

Nadiia Mykhalevych, who led Preply’s content marketing team at the time, described our collaboration this way:

“Aleksandra is one of the most professional and dedicated individuals I’ve had the pleasure of working with. She stays true to her values, bringing empathy, kindness, and a collaborative spirit to every project.

We worked together on maternity covers for two of my direct reports at Preply, and she did an excellent job every time.

Her clear communication, creativity, openness to new challenges, and strong sense of responsibility make her an invaluable asset. I was incredibly fortunate to work with her, and anyone would be lucky to have Aleksandra’s support in content marketing!”

Renata Chies, B2B SEO Growth Manager at Preply Business and one of my key collaborators, shared her thoughts about our collaboration:

Nicolette Filson, one of the freelance writers I managed during the contract, shared her impressions:

Beyond the deliverables, I left the team with actionable recommendations for making their content operations even more efficient, insights that came from being embedded in their workflows and seeing opportunities an external perspective could spot.