Marketing Wizard - Psychology Nerd - Sunrise Chaser - Magic for Breakfast
I'm Claire Almand. I read people for a living, then build marketing that meets them where they are. Rarecraft co-founder, CMO for a season, and the person on the beach before sunrise with a camera.
See the results: customer acquisition cost fell 90% at MPOWER.
I co-founded Rarecraft with Sagar Somani and Aakash Sethi, two people I conjured growth with at MPOWER. We figure out why customers say yes (and why they don't), then ship the positioning, campaigns, and AI workflows that change the answer.
This is my personal site. For the marketing agency and the team, head to Rarecraft.
The people on your first call are the people doing the work, from the first audit to the last report.
How we work →Paid media, design, content, data, and engineering, brought in when the work calls for them.
Meet the Guild →AI drafts, sorts, and reports, so the senior hours go to deciding what it all means.
How we use AI →You know the price before we start, and it doesn't climb when your ad budget does.
Get a Growth Review →Some people call this fractional. I call it a CMO for a season: someone senior who can read the room, make the calls, and leave the team stronger than she found it. Some companies don't need a whole marketing department yet. They need that.
When you need
Been there: in Nepal, MPOWER's site traffic was up 300% year over year by February, ahead of our first event in March 2026, which drew 1,500 qualified prospects.
Flip for the storyMPOWER was unknown in Nepal, and students assumed an education loan meant putting up family property. One message fixed that: no collateral, carried on national TV and radio.
Learn moreBeen there: MPOWER's growth team went from one part-time MBA student to 10 people across the US and India.
Flip for the storyContractors became employees, and the team grew two layers of management. The whole path is on my career map, with the team-building stops lit up.
Learn moreBeen there: 1.8× revenue on a flat budget in 2023, and 3× qualified leads six months after a year-long shutdown.
Flip for the storyTwo case studies behind those numbers: cutting the paid-ads habit, and restarting after a year-long shutdown.
Paid-ads habitThe restartI take CMO roles through Rarecraft, the firm I co-founded. Start with one senior leader inside your team, and bring in the full team when the work calls for it.
Swarthmore, then behavioral data for clinical psychologists. Still my favorite toolkit.
Psychology at Swarthmore, then two years turning behavioral data into recommendations for therapy and legal cases.
See the map →A restaurant with a gallery upstairs, a Professional Wizard consultancy, and a lot of sunrises.
At The Globe, social and email audiences grew 4×. Restaurants teach customer psychology at full speed.
See the map →University of Maryland, and a laugh that got me hired.
Maryland Smith, marketing and innovation. I helped launch the school's first executive communication program.
See the map →First growth marketer to Director of Growth Marketing, with students from around the world.
Digital marketing was two people when I started. By the end, the team was 10, across the US and India.
See the map →Co-founder and CEO.
A senior marketing team with Sagar Somani and Aakash Sethi that learns why customers buy.
See the map →Case Studies
Mostly customer insight and clean data, plus knowing when to stop spending on what isn't working.
Shifted to organic, referrals, and ambassadors as each matured.
Flip itBreaking the paid-ads habit
Students trusted their friends far more than ads. So budget moved, channel by channel, into organic search, referrals, and student ambassadors.
Read it →The data said women converted better at every stage. So we built a campaign for them, 2025.
Flip itWomen Who Dream
Women converted better at every stage of the funnel. Women Who Dream spoke to them directly, and revenue from women grew 2.2×.
Read it →Loan applications started and loan volume disbursed, April to December 2018 compared with the same months of 2025.
Flip itGrowing up, not just out
Digital marketing was two people when I started. Then came new regions, a relaunch after a year-long shutdown, and a team of 10.
See the map →From the people who worked with me
Writing
Where the spells get written down. The Growth Grimoire is my new newsletter on the psychology behind growth. Claire's Charms are notes on marketing, leadership, and the people behind the work. History of Magic is where the throwbacks live.
The MBArtist files
My first MBA year in 19 old blog posts, and one chalkboard too many.
Read it →The Allen Key Spell
Why people overvalue what they help build, and when extra effort backfires.
Read it →A decade in one post
Ten years at MPOWER, and the people who made them.
Read it →The crests are back from the Guild on my first website.
Meet the Rarecraft founders
Plus our network of independent specialists in design, PR, content, martech, paid media, growth automation, international expansion, AI and data, and product marketing.
Meet the whole GuildContact and booking
Owls fly at night, so this is the right time. A calendar invite works too.
That's Rarecraft, the firm. One of the founders replies personally.
Pick a time that suits you, and tell me what you're building.