A client in the B2B space offering leadership programs had its previous marketing person leave the team. The client had been looking to hire a full-time person with a broad range of skills, but their limited budget didn’t allow for a combination of senior-level experience and marketing skills.
Traditionally, the need for the programs fluctuated, but most intakes attracted between 20 to 25 students. These mainly came from recommendations, though there were considerate efforts in getting the people recommended from the programs, by previous students.
The objective was to create an integrated marketing strategy, including events, deployed on several channels to ensure constant communication and increased interest in the leadership programs. This strategy was meant to support the internal sales team and make their meetings more productive, converting more leads to clients.
The client had challenges recruiting an expert to develop and implement a marketing strategy. Our team started with an audit of the market, the competition, and the client’s assets. Based on their objectives and the specifics of the audience, we identified needs on:
Once we mapped out the channels we would focus on, we developed a strategy, monthly budgets, and lead targets and then started implementing the plan.
The project team included our agency team (a campaign director and a content marketer), other freelancers and agencies we managed (digital ads, PR, design, video), and the client’s internal team (sales and event support).
The STOICA's Account Director acted as a Fractional Chief of Marketing for the client, who then obtained a marketing team instead of one full-time professional.
As in a new job, the first 90 days were focused on setting up the materials that we needed to support the sales strategy better:
We were experienced in working with the target market (senior professionals in medium and large companies from all industries), so we could hit the ground running.
We’ve set the communication pillars, focusing not on features (information about courses, teachers, or networking) but on the benefits for the target market (e.g., becoming a better leader, learning from peers facing similar challenges, and getting a 360-degree view of business).
We wanted to ensure that clients contacted us honestly, thought the marketing assets spoke to them, and could easily differentiate between other programs and our clients.
We also highlighted aspects encouraging conversion, such as FOMO (fear of missing out), focusing on why students should start a program now. We also began planning events with a set registration deadline and events that would show interest in the courses before the application deadline.
To begin with, we’ve updated all marketing materials to include the messaging agreed above. Then, we’ve created new ones – articles, brochures, testimonials, interviews with alumni and lecturers, to highlight the USPs established.
Finally, we started deploying them on all agreed-upon marketing channels, such as social media, digital ads, email marketing, partnerships with business communities, etc.
It is important to note that marketing is a long-term game, even more so in B2B. Consistency is essential for seeing optimal results. The leads were repeatedly exposed to the clients' messaging, and interest increased steadily. More people attended events, followed the brand on social media accounts, and signed up for the newsletter.
The impact on sales could be seen gradually, but it became more evident after 6+ months:
“The program has evolved so much that now it seems like it’s selling itself” – Academic Director.
After 3 years of working with the client, the program has increased to constantly having 30 to 35 attendees per intake (a 50% increase compared to before working together).
Given the increased interest in it, the client is now attempting to recruit for a third annual intake instead of the two it did previously.