How Thought Leadership Drove Navan's 300K-Follower Surge
Challenge
In 2023, Navan – the all-in-one travel and expense management platform – was scaling fast but facing a familiar problem: breaking through the noise in a crowded, legacy-heavy market filled with large incumbents.
Despite a category-defining product and strong market tailwinds, Navan needed to stand out – not just as another travel platform, but as the brand reimagining how teams move and spend.
The challenge was clear: Differentiate the story across business travel, personal travel, and fintech. Build trust and awareness organically without leaning on paid ads. Turn audience attention into qualified inbound demand.
Navan needed a content engine that could do more than communicate features. It had to drive growth.
Solution
We built a full-funnel content system that turned storytelling into a measurable growth driver.
- Thought Leadership That Built Authority: We established Navan's voice around the future of work, travel, and expense automation – publishing original insights that sparked conversation and positioned Navan as a forward-thinking industry leader.
- Social Content That Drove Virality: We shifted focus from brand-first messaging to human-centered storytelling — using short-form video and founder-driven narratives to build emotional connection. This approach grew Navan's audience by 300K+ followers and boosted engagement by ~800%, all organically.
- Conversion-Focused Content Funnel: We overhauled the on-site content journey – crafting educational assets, customer stories, and sales content that converted awareness into qualified leads. The new funnel produced a 5x increase in organic lead generation and drove sustained pipeline growth.
"Once the content flywheel started turning, awareness, engagement, and inbound all scaled together. It became one of our most reliable growth channels."
Results
Navan's 2023 growth story was fueled by more than market momentum. It was powered by a content system built for scale.
Key Wins:
new social followers
growth in engagement
increase in self-serve signups
Sustained inbound pipeline and revenue growth
Navan proved that when storytelling and strategy align, content doesn't just describe growth, it drives it.
"The content engine gave every team something to rally around. Sales had stronger stories, marketing had momentum, and leadership finally had proof that content drives revenue."
Demetra, SVP of Brand, Navan
Explore more case studies
See how other companies achieved similar results with our content strategy.
NavanGrew audience by 260K+ and 5x organic leads with content.
BravadoIncreased engagement 5x and drove 50K new signups organically.
UdacityBoosted site traffic 160% and engagement 300% with developer-focused content.
AurelianScaled brand and content strategy through Series A, fueling $3.5M ARR growth.
Further AIGenerated 2M+ impressions and 25 inbound calls with seed-stage content launch.
Light LabsBuilt founder-led content strategy to expand visibility in food safety.
