Quick wins build outsourcing company’s confidence in new marketing strategy
An aggressive strategic plan that would revolutionize this B2B company’s approach to digital marketing won early support thanks to a successful cross-selling campaign that targeted existing customers.

Sector
Business process outsourcing
Company size
150 employees
Timeframe
July–September 2020
Services
Advice and training
Strategy

What We Delivered
Marketing strategy
Help with technology selection
Sales strategy
Social media marketing
Lead generation
Sales lead follow-up
Marketing training
Social medial training
Sales training

The Challenge
“Let’s do it all.”
Years of old school, one-off marketing efforts were hurting this otherwise innovative outsourcing company until a new chief revenue officer recognized it was time to do things differently. He looked to lizoke Marketing for a comprehensive digital marketing plan that would both set the direction and dive into the details.
The Ah-ha Moment
“What does your customer need?”
The customer’s needs and habits had changed, but the company’s marketing hadn’t kept pace. We needed to understand the customer’s journey from stranger to superfan and build a plan that would deliver the right experience at every stage.

The Hard Conversation
“How do we get the CEO’s support?”
Selling the chief revenue officer on the strategy was easy. Selling the CEO on implementation would be the hard part. Fortunately, we wrote the plan with the decision maker in mind, outlining how the strategy would achieve specific business goals and including high-level summaries. For the marketing agency that would execute the strategy, we included detailed plans and schedules.
The Solution
“Marketing’s purpose is to achieve business objectives.”
First, we established business goals so we could measure success. Within six months we wanted at least one new high-profile client and to increase the current pipeline by 3x and revenue by 25%. Long-term goals were to triple the number of employees and grow the business outside of North America. The full marketing strategy included brand building; content marketing; a website experience to give visitors something of value at every stage in their journey; martech recommendations to decrease expenses; a business analysis to identify new audiences; and a competitor analysis. I also included a four-month work allocation.

The Outcomes
“Strategy plus support.”
A strategy that sits on the shelf has no value. We needed early results to secure an ongoing commitment from senior leadership, so I trained the chief revenue officer in LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator and HubSpot’s CRM, then helped him draft emails and scripts for a LinkedIn campaign and build his HubSpot pipelines.
Feeling good about our early successes, we passed the plan to the marketing agency responsible for full implementation and my role switched from strategist to liaison. I ensured the agency was delivering results and after the first four months sales had shot up.
Connecting the [marketing] Dots
“An outsider makes change easier.”
Most of my clients come to me knowing something isn’t working, but they struggle to give their challenges a name. They need a neutral third party to uncover the true problem, make innovative (and sometimes initially unpopular) suggestions and provide on-the-ground support that gets results.
The small investment my clients make in an external advisor provides momentum for growth and justification for the change. They get a reassuring ally and senior team member who moves the business forward by both seeing the big picture and sweating the small stuff.
