Besedo
A complete, scalable solution for better content moderation
When I joined Besedo as CMO, hired by CEO Petter Nylander (previously CEO of Unibet and TV3), the brief was clear enough: the company was spending a fortune on agencies, customer acquisition costs had got out of hand, and nobody had fixed it yet. Besedo helps digital platforms fight fraud, hate speech, harassment, and bad actors at scale. Good product. Broken marketing.
Not only was I the CMO, I was also the OMG – Only Marketing Guy™, and as such, I needed to dramatically reduce costs while increasing lead quality and volume. Classic marketing math, if I’ve ever seen one.
The challenge was to compete against well-funded competitors with significantly larger budgets through smarter, more efficient marketing strategies.
What we built
I brought marketing operations in-house and redesigned the entire digital presence from the ground up. I rebuilt the website around conversion, then built out a content engine with eBooks, webinars, podcasts, and blog posts. Every piece had to do two things; teach prospects something useful about content moderation, and make Besedo the obvious next call.
I set up HubSpot so the right content reached the right prospect at the right moment, without anyone having to manually manage it.
Company
Role
CMO, 2022-2025
Milestones
Successfully increased inbounds by 24% while lowering Cost Per Lead and CAC by 38%
Reversed a negative trend in organic traffic and increased traffic by 46% YoY
Cut the marketing budget by 47% and still grew inbound leads year over year.
The redesign of the Besedo website and brand with a modern and exclusive feel.
Rather than working with expensive agencies, I partnered with specialized freelancers who excelled in their specific domains, what I called one-person wrecking crews, which allowed us to maintain quality while dramatically reducing costs.
The content and SEO strategy became particularly crucial. With the help of my friend Peter from SiteSanity, we conducted research and optimization to try and make Besedo top of mind for digital platforms seeking content moderation solutions.
The audience was technical with platform developers, trust and safety leads, product teams as the core ICP. They could smell a sales pitch from a mile away. So we stayed useful: newsletters, case studies, developer content that treated them like the experts they were.
Highlights and wins
Over three years, I reduced the marketing budget by 47% while increasing inbound leads by 33% and nearly doubling website traffic. These marketing efforts generated consistent inbound leads that carried Besedo’s new business for over three years, attracting high-profile clients including Vivino, Vox Media, Etsy, and Rockstar Games.
The efficiency gains proved remarkable. We consistently competed against competitors with marketing budgets containing at least one more comma while maintaining lead quality and customer satisfaction.
The eBooks and webinars became standard references for platform developers building out their trust and safety stacks. We knew it was working when competitors started citing our content.
Reflections
Turns out you don’t need a big budget. You need a clear story, the right content, and the discipline to say no to everything that doesn’t move the number. Besedo was three years of proving that.
Content moderation isn’t a glamorous product category. Most people don't think about it until something goes wrong. But the platforms that get it right – that catch the fraud, the harassment, the illegal content before it reaches real people – those are the ones that last. Working on that problem for three years made the lean budget feel like a small price to pay.
At Besedo I was truly a Swiss Army Knife, designing, writing, editing videos, etc.
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“Jonas has been instrumental in positioning Besedo as a recognized global leader in our industry. What truly sets Jonas apart is his remarkable creativity and resourcefulness. His strategic approach and dedication to excellence have made a tangible difference in our global reach. Jonas is an exceptional marketing leader who consistently delivers outstanding results.”
Petter Nylander, CEO
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