Finding the Right All-In-One Inbound Solution

By 2014, innovative Dutch printing company Xtandit had already taken the first steps towards inbound marketing – the methodology was a great fit for a business wanting to attract customers that were increasingly educating themselves before even speaking with a sales rep. However, the disparate tools it was using could not track the success of its efforts. According to Eva van der Meer, marketing and communications manager at Xtandit, the main problem was a lack of detailed analytics.

“We were using many different tools – MailChimp for email marketing and Tweetdeck for social media, as well as SurveyMonkey and Google Analytics. This approach was both complicated and time consuming, and did not give us the data we wanted. It became clear we needed an all-in-one platform to make our marketing truly measurable.”

Eva set out to find marketing software that would enable her to manage all of Xtandit’s marketing activity and importantly, provide the analytics and reporting she needed. She also needed marketing software that would integrate quickly and seamlessly with its existing CRM tool, Salesforce.

After investigating a number of different marketing automation platforms, she was won over by HubSpot. The software’s ease of use, detailed analytics, suite of tools and CRM integration made it an easy decision for Eva.

Following a demonstration of the platform, Eva was convinced and signed up to become a HubSpot customer.

Attracting B2B Buyers with Clever Content

Eva and her Marketing Communication team took a considered approach and spent the first few months learning how to use the HubSpot software and familiarising herself with the inbound marketing methodology. They also wanted to learn more about Xtandit’s customers which helped inform the company's personas.

“We set up our website on the Content Optimization System (COS) and were delighted with the move. The COS provides helpful tips and guidance to ensure that we’re following marketing best practices”, according to Eva.

Xtandit had already taken the first steps to creating content, such as ebooks and whitepapers. With HubSpot it took this a step further by creating Landing Pages with Forms that visitors complete in order to access the content. Then a Workflow is activated which nurtures the lead until they’re ready to speak with a sales rep. The team, however, also realized that not enough content was being created. That’s when they added a content marketer to the team.

Dionne Dullens, Content Marketer at Xtandit: “Continuously creating content, based on the customer journey’s and buyer personas, is key for the inbound marketing success. No content, means no workflows. No workflows means no handhold for lead scoring. And lead scoring is essential to spot marketing qualified leads”.

Another challenge for Eva was marketing and sales alignment. Previously both teams did not have an SLA in place and lacked visibility into what each team was doing. The HubSpot software helped her tackle this challenge and create a “new era of marketing at Xtandit.”

“HubSpot helps our sales and marketing teams work much more closely together. Our sales reps now have more quality leads available and marketing knows exactly how it’s supporting the business each day. Our sales team can now have more informed conversations with prospects, which is helping us close more deals.”

“When a contact person in HubSpot reaches the level of ‘Marketing Qualified Lead’, I give them a soft sales call. This means that I check what keeps the company busy and what fore they read our content. In this way, we create an extra touchpoint and can ensure we only convert leads to the level ‘Sales Qualified’ when they are actually ready to talk to one of our sales reps”, says Esther Kolpa, Inbound Marketer at Xtandit.

Xtandit Doubles its Leads With HubSpot

Since partnering with HubSpot, Xtandit has increased leads by 2X. This has had a big impact on the business with reps closing deals more frequently.

Xtandit also increased its website traffic by 59%, while organic traffic to the site has grown by 44%. Furthermore, paid media such as LinkedIn advertising has helped to display their content in the right places. Its content and online tools have turned the website into a lead generation machine for the company. In particular, Xtandit’s ROI calculator and benchmarking tools continue to drive significant numbers of qualified leads.

“HubSpot has greatly improved our approach to marketing. We’re now generating record numbers of leads and making more sales. We’re now seen as experts within the business and our work is having a big impact,” says Eva.

“We’re delighted with the results we’ve achieved so far, but know we can do even more,” says Eva. To help Xtandit accelerate its marketing activity the company plans to double its marketing team and increase the number of sales reps. Xtandit is well placed to exceed the aggressive lead generation goals it set at the start of the year.

“I’m excited about the future. HubSpot is helping us to grow and will continue to play an important part in our future plans. We are confident that with our inbound strategy Xtandit will change from a sales driven company to a marketing driven company,” says Eva.