Content Marketing, Sales Enablement

Professional Services Provider Drives 900+ MQLs, $209M in Opportunities

972
MQLs reported in the last year
$209M
Open opportunities
55
Closed sales
Industry

Professional Services

Company Goals
Sales cycles for contracts worth millions of dollars are often three to five years in length. Through strategic content marketing campaigns and sales enablement improvements, the team sought to reduce sales cycle length, increase qualified hand-offs to sales and effectively track ROI.

Partnership with Kuno

Why Kuno Creative?

The global professional services company provides food service to hospitals, universities, school districts, stadiums and other businesses. They initially were looking for an agency with  expertise in content marketing, sales enablement and HubSpot. 

Expectations of partnership

The Fortune 500 company sought an agency that could work strategically in the B2B space, bring new ideas to the table, execute at scale, all while remaining within the established brand. Kuno’s team of strategists, brand journalists, graphic designers and paid media experts provided needed proficiencies and speed to market. 

Benefits Kuno offered

A well-documented process, in addition to industry experience allowed Kuno to make an immediate impact in reaching the company’s target market. Creativity, informed by audience insights, helped the Kuno team create content and campaigns that attract attention, driving engagement and cultivating sales-ready leads. The partnership, now more than seven years strong, has grown to cover numerous verticals, including professional services, healthcare and education.

The Challenge

The organization had approached marketing only in a traditional sense—tradeshows, flyers, conventional advertising and so forth. At the beginning of our relationship, the goal was to launch a strategic digital marketing plan to help shorten their admittedly lengthy sales cycle. 

Over the years, challenges have become more pronounced: standing out from the competition, engaging buyers throughout the sales process, establishing numerous touch points in a crowded digital space, navigating a pandemic and tracking everything to demonstrate ROI. 

Kuno provided a full team of digital experts, including strategists, brand journalists, designers, paid media managers and HubSpot experts. Our process provided speed to market and our deep experience in the B2B, healthcare and educational spaces helped us craft and deliver compelling content that appealed to targeted audiences. 

food service company

The Strategy

At the Start

Kuno started by developing buyer personas for each target audience. Our brand journalists conducted one-to-one interviews with internal stakeholders and customers. These buyer personas ensured our messaging was on point and we leveraged appropriate digital channels to reach the right audiences. 

Ongoing Services

From there, we charted customer journey maps detailing the awareness, consideration, evaluation and decision phases, and how we can effectively reach these audiences at each stage. Campaigns included creation of more than 200 pieces of thought leadership content over the course of the relationship, including guides, case studies, video production, email communications, digital advertising/optimization, and in-depth landing pages that engaged visitors. The team also managed the organization’s HubSpot portal, creating automation and reporting. Recently, the strategy has also grown to include account-based marketing efforts, connected TV (CTV) ads and association partnerships. 

thought leadership image

Results

Last fiscal year, the B2B marketing team reported a total of 972 marketing qualified leads, $209.9 million in open opportunities and 55 wins where contacts showed increased engagement through marketing content. 

results image

Key Stats

972 MQLs

Marketing Qualified Leads

$209M

Open Opportunities

55

Closed Sales

Client Quote

"We first contracted Kuno for their digital marketing expertise, and relied on the Kuno team to plan and execute a robust, full-service inbound marketing strategy. They are knowledgeable, creative, proactive and responsive, and have proven to be indispensable partners over the years. I view Kuno as an extension of my own marketing team and a true business partner.

Our relationship has grown over the past four years to include marketing efforts beyond digital. Kuno has created numerous print collateral pieces for us, and they have produced award-winning videos for our brand as well. The Kuno team truly exceeds our expectations time and again, and has succeeded in increasing our brand awareness and helped to generate new business for our sales teams. They consistently add value to our organization’s marketing efforts, and help us all succeed."

Sr. Director of B2B Marketing, Professional Services

Future Vision

Now approaching a nearly decade-long relationship, the mutual goal continues to be engaging leads, moving them through the sales funnel and making seamless hand-offs to the sales team. Kuno is excited to keep bringing new ideas for reaching relevant audiences on new channels and in new ways to help the company increase market share and retain existing business. 

Kuno Can Help Your Company Achieve Similar Results

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