Tenant Spotlight: Ross Gray, Co-Founder of Cloud Campaign
Ross Gray, Co-Founder of Cloud Campaign
"We are a software platform designed to help marketing agencies streamline social media management. Our goal is to democratize starting, building, and managing a marketing agency. We currently have 23 employees, and we work with about 900 marketing agencies.” - Ross
Our October tenant spotlight is Cloud Campaign, and we were fortunate enough to speak with co-founder Ross Gray, who recently opened their Portland office in the Pearl District. Cloud Campaign - with offices in Boulder, CO, and Portland - provides agencies, freelance marketers, and full-scale companies and firms with a platform that efficiently manages social media.
Just in its fourth year, the company has a client base of over 900 agencies of all sizes, and those agencies manage the brands of companies like Hilton, Ernst & Young, and BMW. In May of 2021, the company raised $5 million from investors, led by Oregon Venture Fund and Access Venture Partners, for expansion and growth in both locations.
Today’s social media tools - connect and engage.
The online sphere is a space crowded with technological solutions for every possible need. Social media has come a long way since the first recognizable site in 1997. To the layperson who connects through Facebook or Instagram with relatives and friends, it may not seem like there's much behind social media. But, online interaction through multiple channels has grown exponentially, and it’s complicated, especially for brands engaging with customers. Maintaining a robust, effective digital presence can be overwhelming for both large and small businesses.
Outsourcing expertise.
The need for brands to maintain relevance in a very crowded online space can be mind-boggling, labor-intensive, and very expensive. Marketing in today's digital world requires a tremendous amount of staff, work, and experience to build brand strategy, create fresh content, incorporate data systems, and measure the results accurately. Hiring outside resources like a digital agency or freelancer is an optimal solution. But agencies and consultants that handle multiple accounts and channels need the right tools to be effective, and that's where Cloud Campaign steps in to help.
Why do brands need social media?
Ross emphasizes what most marketers and brands are acutely aware of - that social media plays a critical role in the success of brands.
"When I went through college, I was taught that a company's website was going to be the first point of contact for a potential customer. However, this has all changed rapidly, and now, social media is often the first point of contact for a customer."
80% of social network users prefer to interact with a brand via social media
Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate over outbound.
79% of companies have seen increased traffic from only 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing.
Users spend 33% of their internet time on social media.
All this to say social media isn't going anywhere, and for businesses to stay relevant and adapt with the times, they need to establish a social media presence if they haven't already."
Part of the community: the Pearl is now home to Cloud Campaign’s Portland office.
“I love how much is here,” Ross told us, “It's great for the team to be able to go to so many great local restaurants/bars, etc for team events. I also love how clean this part of the city is. It's nice to not have to worry about team members who come in very early or leave a bit later.”
Photo: Portland team, community clean-up - Cloud Campaign Instagram
Cloud Campaign's business model recognized the need for social media tools for agencies and freelancers who work with multiple brands. The original plan between founders Ross and Ryan was to "go after businesses directly," but their plan quickly changed.
"Based on early conversations my business partner Ryan had," Ross said, "it became clear that there had been a macro shift in the industry, and instead of businesses managing their marketing internally, they had started outsourcing to a marketing agency/freelancer."
It turns out, Ross told us, that "about 86% of businesses now outsource portions of their marketing." A tool to streamline media strategy and creation, then, would work for agencies large and small.
Establishing an active online presence.
With the onset of COVID-19 and the need for greater online interaction, Cloud Campaign saw the opportunity for growth. As Ross says, the pandemic reinforces the need for companies to maintain an online presence, and Cloud Campaign makes that possible for thousands of businesses.
Although they had continued growth through the past year, it was a time of uncertainty, especially during the onset of the pandemic. Cloud Campaign’s leadership proceeded with caution, including not hiring additional team members at the start of lockdown last year.
“The main reason we decided to reduce our hiring plans was to ensure we had a lengthy runway while there was uncertainty with what was going to happen in the market. This was mainly in March of 2020 when everything shut down and there was definitely a lot of anxiety. That being said, one of the impacts of the pandemic is that it made it even more necessary for businesses to establish an active online presence. This has spurred our industry even more and we were fortunate enough to work remotely for quite some time.”
As things normalize, Cloud Campaign is experiencing robust growth in response to the increased need, and hiring is back on track.
Ross and Milo!
Ross is an animal lover - he has a 100lb brown lab named Milo- and that love translates into his company. There's a whole section of Cloud Campaigns About page dedicated to it (the page lists nineteen "fur babies," the pets of their employees).
Ross’s favorite restaurant is BAE’s Fried Chicken, and his hobbies (free time outside of Milo and work) include snowboarding, soccer, and travel!
Cloud Campaign is located in the 1100 Building - part of the Pearl District Portfolio.
Learn more about Cloud Campaign on their website and blog, and check out the Pearl District Portfolio for more community highlights and updates.
Follow, like, and share on social media @pearldistrictportfolio!
