ADOTAS – It’s quite the quandary — as a startup, the key to building business is getting the good word out. However, limited resources (such as a small staff) can easily stifle marketing efforts. That’s where a company like Portland, Ore.-based Act-On Software, which focuses on marketing automation and CRM management for companies large and small, can be a real boon.
Below is a case study detailing how Act-On enabled startup HA Advantage to get its email marketing program off to a roaring start.
Act-On Software Case Study: HA Advantage Goes from ‘0 to 60’ Using the Act-On Marketing Platform
As with any start-up, the key to success is ramping up quickly. HA Advantage’s seasoned marketing group of two, while short on resources, is certainly not short on a vision or ideas. They knew it was just a matter of finding the right solution that would enable them to launch their strategies and messages quickly. More important, they needed a solution that would give them the ability to immediately start generating inbound responses and leads for the sales team.
“It’s all about creating conversations, and deploying strategies that help keep those conversations alive,” said Aaron Bolshaw, direct marketing manager for HA Advantage.
From the onset, HA Advantage knew that email marketing was going to be a large component of their marketing mix. However, the key was finding the right platform that could help them not only launch email campaigns, but give them the tools to effectively nurture prospects through the pipeline, including scoring and efficiently distributing qualified leads to sales.
Finding That One-Stop Solution
“The process of launching and managing campaigns is always very time-intensive. In the past I’ve had to rely on a team of graphic designers, html resources, writers and CRM system integrators just to get a campaign out the door and working correctly,” Bolshaw said.
The typical labor intensive and expensive model of executing and managing campaigns was never an option for this fast-paced startup as they quickly short-listed different marketing vendors. While they found many solutions that would automate and manage different components of their marketing strategies, their end-goal was to not have to work with multiple systems, platforms and resources as they had done in the past.
Simply put, they wanted to find “Something that did everything” — and did it well with analytics and engagement features.
Key requirements included:
- Salesforce integration
- Strong email functionality
- Proven email deliverability
- Lead scoring
- Robust reporting
- Automated nurturing
- Ease-of-use
With Act-On’s comprehensive marketing platform, not only were HA Advantage’s main requirements satisfied, the additional functionality — without the additional costs — was pivotal in their decision to move forward with Act-On. Additional features such as:
- Next Generation Website Visitor Tracking – providing essential insight on prospect behavior, interests and activities.
- Twitter Prospector – built-in tool to easily monitor and engage in Twitter conversations
Plus with Act-On’s “zero” commitment contract — only month to month — HA Advantage knew that they had found the right solution.
Ramping Up
HA Advantage was able to set up Act-On quickly and was launching campaigns in a matter of weeks. And while the system is intuitive and easy-to-use, the live support helped them put fundamental processes in
place to ensure long-term success.
“The system is very intuitive though having access to a superior support team has made the comfort level of using the tool even that much better,” says Bolshaw.
Results
HA Advantage is quickly growing their email database, and has launched over 250,000 emails in just nine months. Based on the tracking capabilities, HA Advantage has been able to monitor and tweak their campaigns while in progress, ultimately improving campaign results.
And while any veteran marketing person knows that “content is king,” having a platform that easily and effectively gets your message out to the market is crucial to a marketing organization’s success.
Moving Forward
As HA Advantage grows, Act-On continues to grow and scale with them. As a SaaS provider, Act-On continues to roll-out new features and functionality regularly.
“From the beginning it’s been clear that Act-On is a partner in our success; they listen to us and continue to focus on improving their already best-in-class platform,” said Bolshaw. “Ultimately, my job is to get people to raise their hand, and with Act-On I’m able to effectively do this.”