Closing the Growth Gap

Marketing agency Kammann Rossi initially concentrated on corporate publishing but by 2007, it had expanded its remit to encompass digital strategies and communications. However, it felt that there was even more that it could be doing in the online space, says Carsten Rossi, the agency’s CEO.

“We were looking for a better way to acquire clients for ourselves. The traditional methods – outbound marketing, going to pitches – weren’t as efficient anymore, and we found that we were trapped in a growth gap. We needed a better way to generate leads and close deals.”

Carsten’s research led him to discover HubSpot and the inbound methodology.

“We were already using some inbound techniques through point solutions such as Sprout Social, Scoop.it, Hootsuite, WordPress and MailChimp, but we lacked unified analytics. The HubSpot software offered a way to integrate all of our efforts and prove ROI.”

Kammann Rossi decided that all-in inbound was the way forward, both for itself and its clients. It did consider other platforms, including Marketo and Pardot, but HubSpot offered the most comprehensive service.

“HubSpot’s technology was nearly perfect, but what really convinced us was the way that HubSpot partners with agencies. It has a great onboarding process, there’s the Academy and networking events; everyone goes above and beyond to help you succeed.”

The decision was made, and Kammann Rossi signed up to the HubSpot Partner Program in 2015.

An All-In Approach

Kammann Rossi began by using the HubSpot growth stack – a combination of the Marketing, CRM and Sales software – on its own website.

“As content creators ourselves, we were in a great position to take advantage of all the features on offer. We created ebooks and articles on Landing Pages, published posts through the Blog App and used the Social Inbox to create more awareness and reach. Within weeks, we noticed an uptick in both traffic and leads.”

The agency keeps track of all the information that it has gathered on its prospects through the CRM, which gives its a clearer view on the status of all its deals.

“We’ve been able to close the gap between marketing and sales. Our salespeople now know exactly how our leads have interacted with us, and they use the Sales Pro software to close deals in an effective, customer-centred way.”

Kammann Rossi targets B2B companies with turnovers ranging from €5m to €10m, and it quickly signed up its first inbound clients. They were impressed, says Carsten, by how the agency had leveraged the HubSpot software for itself.

“We were selling from a position of strength – we were able to market our own experience with HubSpot, and our clients knew that we truly believed in the company and the product.”

80% of its customers use the growth stack, which allows Kammann Rossi to produce integrated strategies that directly address their specific needs and challenges.

“At the start, we had to do a certain amount of education with our clients around the inbound methodology. But nothing speaks louder than proof of ROI, and we can show them the concrete value of all our activities through the Marketing Analytics Dashboard.”

This has led to clients signing for more services and longer contracts – today, 60% of them are on retainer.

Great Results and Big Ambitions

Since joining the Partner Program, Kammann Rossi has increased its leads by 5X and 65% of them come through inbound. It has a number of clients on the HubSpot software and has become a Silver Tier Partner. Its customers are also benefitting, says Carsten.

“The smaller companies we work with typically have low levels of incoming leads; we can boost them by 7X within six months. When we work with larger businesses, usually for a specific department, we find that we can increase turnover by an average of 60%.”

As far as future plans go, Carsten is so convinced of the power of the HubSpot Partner Program that he is going to create a specialised inbound agency within Kammann Rossi.

“Our inbound clients have increased agency revenue by €500,000 and we know that we can grow that number. We currently have seven team members working on our inbound activities. Over the next two years, we want to increase that to 20.”

He would recommend the HubSpot Partner to any other agency that is looking to differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace.

“My advice is to try the software for yourself, because there’s nothing more convincing than seeing your own traffic and leads increase. And then when you do sign up for the Partner Program, you’ll be in a great position to sell and market your experiences to clients.”