Even the most operationally-minded teams can struggle without the right tools. Kalyna Marketing, a B2B agency known for content ops expertise, needed a system that matched how they actually work. This case study shows how adopting Relato helped them streamline workflows, clarify ownership, and focus on creating high-impact content.

As the founder of Kalyna Marketing, Mariya Delano faced a familiar problem: the internal workflows didn’t reflect the team’s operational expertise.

Kalyna is a B2B marketing agency that specializes in content and marketing operations. When companies need to clean up messy content ops, Kalyna gets the call.

But internally, the team couldn’t find a tool that clicked for their own process.

“It was frustrating,” Mariya admits. “We specialize in content operations, and we couldn’t find a technical solution that actually worked for us.”

“It was frustrating. We specialize in content operations, and we couldn’t find a technical solution that actually worked for us.”

Too many tools, not enough structure

The ops frustration wasn’t for lack of trying. The Kalyna team tested them all — Airtable, Notion, and ClickUp. Mariya even hired an expert to try to make Notion work specifically for content operations.

Nothing worked.

The fallback? Google Docs. Every draft started with a wall of tables to track statuses and comments — a system Mariya described as “a terrible solution.” It worked, but barely.

Then came the breaking point: a high-stakes project with overlapping deadlines, dozens of assets, and more than ten contributors per post, including internal experts, external writers, designers, PMs, and SEO leads.

“We were burning hours just tracking down the right files. And we still ended up with edits in the wrong version sometimes.”

“We were burning hours just tracking down the right files,” Mariya said. “And we still ended up with edits in the wrong version sometimes.”

Something had to change.

Testing Relato and getting the team on board

As a self-described software junkie, Mariya had already heard about Relato. But this time, the need was real. The team was stretched, and past tools had only created more friction — complicated layouts, disruptive pop-ups, clunky workflows.

“I had to reassure the team that this wouldn’t disrupt how they write or create,” Mariya said. “Relato wasn’t about reinventing our process — it was about smoothing the pipeline.”

After testing the platform herself, Mariya got a walkthrough from David, Relato’s founder. He personally onboarded Kalyna’s project manager and helped tailor the setup to fit their process.

Once Kalyna signed on, the rollout moved fast. After Mariya experimented with the tool herself, David — Relato’s founder — provided a personal walkthrough to onboard Kalyna’s project manager.

Soon, the whole team was sold.

“People kept asking, ‘Why isn’t this in Relato?’ So we ended up moving everything over!”

“I was originally planning to move only new projects into Relato to ease the transition,” Mariya said. “But people kept asking, ‘Why isn’t this in Relato?’ So we ended up moving everything over!”

With David’s lightning-fast support (so fast the team jokes he never sleeps), they quickly customized their workflows.

“David is amazing to the point that my project manager, Jen, and I have a joke at this point about how David doesn't sleep and is somehow always responding to our questions. We are to this day trying to figure out how he does that."

An unexpected bonus: clarity

The migration solved their workflow issues and gave the team a chance to reset.

They used the moment to clarify their process: when SEO should weigh in, how design and publishing align, and where to loop in stakeholders.

“Implementing Relato ended up being a gift. It pushed us to define our process clearly, and now everything runs much smoother.”

“Implementing Relato ended up being a gift,” Mariya said. “It pushed us to define our process clearly, and now everything runs much smoother.”

What started as a small experiment quickly became the new standard.

Content ops that finally fit the way the team works

Today, Kalyna runs all of its content through Relato. Each project is organized by client. Everyone knows who’s doing what, what stage each deliverable is in, and what’s next.

The result?

"People are now able to be more self-directed," Mariya said. "We're having conversations about the things we should be talking about — the content itself and its marketing goals — rather than 'how do we make this thing work?'"

“We're having conversations about the things we should be talking about — the content itself and its marketing goals — rather than 'how do we make this thing work?”

Her advice for teams considering a better workflow tool:

“How often do you find yourself tweaking your project management tool just to reflect what’s actually happening? Or explaining to someone, ‘I know it says this, but here’s what’s really going on’?”

If that sounds familiar, it might be time to give Relato a try. Sign up for free and start building workflows that actually work.

Organize content, track progress, and keep everyone aligned without the mess.

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How Kalyna Streamlined Content Ops with Relato