Kuno Creative Earns Three HubSpot Industry Specialization Badges

Every agency will say they understand your industry. Fewer can prove it with results, and fewer still have a third party verify their expertise. The gap between the promise and delivery is exactly what makes finding the right marketing partner hard. The problem is especially challenging in the most complex industries: software, manufacturing, healthcare and medtech. The truth is generic marketing advice doesn't move deals in industries with long sales cycles, technical buyers and strict compliance requirements.

Kuno Creative just closed the credibility gap for our clients and prospects. HubSpot has awarded three Industry Specialization Badges available to partners: Manufacturing, Software and Healthcare.

"HubSpot caps this at three badges per partner, and, given our experience, we didn't want to stop at one," said Paula Zimmer, VP of Client Services at Kuno Creative. "Earning all three means our team can walk into a conversation with a manufacturer, a software company or a medtech brand already speaking their language, not learning it on their dime."

What the Badges Really Mean

HubSpot doesn't hand these out at the agency’s request. HubSpot partners must submit highly detailed, outcome-based case studies, show a dedicated go-to-market presence in the industry and provide proof of thought leadership and a minimum number of actively managed client portals in that vertical. In total, 25 industry badges are available.

Kuno hit the target three times: HubSpot awarded all badges that were applied for.

Manufacturing

Miller Weldmaster, a capital equipment manufacturer, worked with Kuno to connect conventional SEO with an AI-forward search strategy: keyword-driven content, a glossary built for AI Overview visibility, dedicated Perplexity pages and custom GPTs.

The results included:

• 1,867 AI referrals across 2025 and year-to-date 2026
• 21 qualified leads generated from those referrals, including a $119K deal
• 21.56% year-over-year increase in organic traffic
• 139 AI Overviews earned through August 2026, up 297% from 2025

Kuno's manufacturing work also includes AAON, a commercial HVAC manufacturer, along with a dedicated industrial marketing page built around manufacturer-specific value props and testimonials from clients like Amerline, Big Bolt and ElectroShield.

Software

White Cup, a CRM and business intelligence platform for distributors, brought Kuno in for a full-service engagement: rebuilt messaging, launched a 90-day campaign, created nine new case studies, wrote more than 40 blog posts and optimized HubSpot lead scoring.The results:

• 61 deals influenced, worth $1.6M
• 288% year-over-year increase in new database contacts
• 47% year-over-year increase in website sessions
• Over 700K paid advertising impressions, with 10 closed deals sourced directly from paid

A second software engagement, focused on growing topical authority and AI search visibility through a glossary strategy and custom GPTs, saw glossary pages surpass 508,000 impressions in nine months and rank for nearly 300 keywords, with one page reaching Google's first page in about 30 days.

Healthcare

RapidAI, a clinical software platform used in stroke care across more than 2,000 hospitals worldwide, partnered with Kuno on a full rebrand, a new HubSpot-built website and an SEO and content strategy. Six months after launch:

• 1,373% increase in new organic contacts
• 147% increase in website traffic
• Reached the #1 Google ranking for "stroke software"
• 377% improvement in Top 10 keyword rankings

"Healthcare and medtech clients can't afford a marketing partner who's still learning the compliance landscape," said Vanessa Knipper, VP of Client Success at Kuno Creative. "Our work with clients like RapidAI meant writing and optimizing for hospital administrators and clinical teams evaluating stroke care software, not a general audience, and the results show that distinction matters."

These Badges Join an Established HubSpot Track Record

Kuno became one of HubSpot's original partners in 2009, and the relationship has only grown over time. Today, Kuno holds Diamond tier, HubSpot's highest partner status, as a HubSpot Revenue Growth Partner.

The three new badges join six HubSpot accreditations Kuno already holds:

• Content Experience
• CRM Implementation
• Data Migration
• Onboarding
• Platform Enablement
• Solutions Architecture Design

HubSpot opens accreditation applications only during limited windows each year, and a panel of HubSpot experts reviews each partner's case studies and results before awarding one.

Badges prove Kuno understands specific industries. Accreditations document that Kuno executes at the highest technical level inside the HubSpot platform. Together, they cover both sides of what a marketing partner needs to deliver.

Why HubSpot Badges Matter If You're Evaluating a Marketing Partner

A badge alone doesn't close your pipeline. What it tells you is that a third party looked at the work, the results and the ongoing client relationships and confirmed the expertise is real, not just a claim on a homepage. If you're a manufacturer, software company or medtech brand deciding whether an agency actually understands your buyers or is learning on your dime, that verification is the difference.

Let's Talk at UNBOUND

Kuno will be at HubSpot's UNBOUND conference in Boston, September 16-18. If you're attending and want to talk about what industry-specific marketing looks like for your business, find us there.