startup marketing consultant – client stories
When I visit clients it is almost universal that they are not getting enough feedback and interaction from the marketplace. They try outbound campaigns and get .0002% response. So I help them get this interaction. I answer questions like are we priced properly? Are people getting what they need at the website? Is our offer competitive? Data like this tends to be valuable to management because it leads to measurable improvement.
Direct response email marketing
Used third-party email to generate high single-digit response on in-house email campaign. Once we identified a campaign that worked well it could be expanded to third-party media. Client was software as a service website monitoring.
Search engine marketing strategy
Search engine marketing was not providing leads at an acceptable return on investment. Used long-tail search engine marketing strategy to take advantage of less competitive portions of search where return on investment is greater.
Use Google Analytics to improve website
By setting-up goals that made sense with properly calculated goal values we could prioritize website content by value to the business. This allowed the client to improve the website by prioritizing website content value.
Rank the value of potential marketing assets
Found out what potential clients wanted (for example 4% wanted a sales call, 35% wanted a case study, and 70% wanted a whitepaper. This allowed the client to prioritize asset creation and give the potential client what they wanted. Client was software as a service.
Survey lead generation
Used surveys to generate leads that were assigned to inside sales team. Client was VoIP telecom software-as-a-service.
Landing page optimization
SEM was not converting leads. Initiated a/b testing to let us identify better-performing landing pages. Better landing pages improved conversions on all web marketing including SEM and email marketing.
Build sales and marketing capability
Personally called the top 400 companies in the country you probably barely heard of. Those calls led to 100% of new customer growth in that 9 month period and the creation of a complete sales and marketing program. Client was a Good Technology reseller.
Calculate allowable acquisition cost
Use data such as churn, margin, average revenue per customer and cost of capital to calculate the amount that can be spent to acquire customers while maintaining return on investment. Client was conferencing service provider.
Survey customer base to make product decisions
Sent surveys to customer base asking various questions related to the product and the value of features. Fed this data back to the product team. This improved product management decision-making.
Use customer surveys to improve messaging
Customers told us in their words why they selected the service and based on this we found that they liked was not what we expected. This led to changes in messaging as the relative importance of different messaging aspects became clear.
Execute 3 dimensional direct campaign
Combined direct mail piece with a tin-can-and-string to rise above the clutter and create awareness. Client was telecom software as a service provider.
Establish optimal price using surveys
Split list, sent out pricing surveys and calculated expected ROI for different pricing levels. This increased revenue by proving the market would accept a higher price.
Implement marketing automation
Selected among vendors like Marketo, Marketbright, Engage btob and Eloqua. Implemented the tool with Salesforce integration within 4 weeks.
Built a business development machine
This is how I get clients. I researched and contacted 127 companies last year. 15% responded with interest. This leads to meeting a new CEO every 10 days, proposals and deals.
Establish channel program
Client needed a channel program. Set-up an iterative process to a. identify targets b. get channel feedback c. define program d. test program e. tweak and remove bottlenecks and f. systematize and expand. Client acquired a working program where there was none before.
Automated emails based on customer events
Created a portfolio of 12 emails to be sent during 30-day trial, after 30-day trial and after paid customer cancellation. This increased trial conversion and repeat clients.
List segmentation
Everyone in the database was getting the same message. Segmented the list and created communications that matched the segments. This generated more business and a happier list.
Consumer direct mail
Created a direct mail piece that beat all previous versions. This piece went on to generate 40,000 inbound calls over a 3 year period. Client was consumer credit start-up.
