The Goal
Performio set its sights on expanding in the US market. To capture the growing demand for the emerging sales performance management market, they needed to increase their brand’s presence and showcase exactly why their product could solve their target audience’s sales compensation problems.
A big part of the process would focus on building trust, credibility, and expertise within the space through brand awareness and strong content marketing.
The Challenge
Performio set its sights on expanding in the US market. To capture the growing demand for the emerging sales performance management market, they needed to increase their brand’s presence and showcase exactly why their product could solve their target audience’s sales compensation problems.
A big part of the process would focus on building trust, credibility, and expertise within the space through brand awareness and strong content marketing.
The Solution
In Motion Marketing sensed that the B2B buyers’ decision-making process was about to change. We worked with Performio on numerous projects to help them achieve their goal:
The name PerformanceCentre was a mouthful and tricky to spell. You may have noticed the British spelling. Our friends at Di Marca helped come up with the name and logo.
This rebranding represented a deliberate shift towards a more international market, particularly the US. We executed the rebrand by creating new collateral and changing the spelling from UK to US English. Everything was updated!
Performio’s messaging got simplified as part of our process. The truth is, no one will buy your product if they don’t understand what it does for them. We helped Performio update its messaging to focus less on features and more on the values and benefits its software brings to customers, such as time saved through automation, better employee satisfaction, and improved productivity.
Xactly was running HubSpot’s content marketing strategy, and it was working. To match a more prominent business’ budget, we utilized Performio’s in-house subject matter expert (Founder David Marshall) to produce content with a unique perspective on sales compensation. His authority and expertise shone through, making the content valuable and engaging for the target market.
The next step was doubling down on Search Engine Optimization and LinkedIn Organic Posts. We identified these two channels as the primary places Performio’s buyers consume content. This plan paid off as Performio grew considerably over the next three years, reaching many B2B decision-makers on these platforms.
The Results
Performio’s LinkedIn followers grew by 3,000%, and now, they absolutely dominate the search engine results. We have successfully gotten Performio’s pages listed for all high-intent keywords like “sales commission software” as well as informational keywords like “ote” and “asc 606.”
These rankings translated to sales. As impressions, clicks, and conversions increased, so did their revenue.
Performio was acquired in 2019 by Stables Partners and grew 110% YoY in 2021. Last year, they were acquired in a deal led by JMI Equity, securing funding of $75m. This equity will allow Performio to acquire first-class talent and further innovate in the sales commission sector.
Examples
To explore how we turned Performio from a small bootstrapped startup into a business with 70% y-o-y growth, we need to explore the varied and flexible range of strategies we used.
Digital Marketing Strategy
Any good digital marketing strategy starts with a clear objective. By defining goals, KPIs, and metrics, you can measure the path you need to take and better understand the effectiveness of each action and decision.
Together, we identified two primary goals:
- Enter the lucrative US market
- Grow and expand the business
We worked closely with founder David Marshall to devise a suitable way to break into the American market. Similarly, we teamed up with Grayson Morris and Aimee Caton to identify areas to scale the brand.
Brand & Messaging
Cracking the American market would depend on several things. One of them was finding a catchy and memorable name. We settled on the name Performio as a replacement for PerformanceCentre. It satisfied the criteria of being short, distinctive, and easy to say.
Secondly, the brand messaging had to be correct. We broke down what is a complex subject and simplified content without sacrificing the authenticity and insights you get from subject matter experts inside the organization.
Search Engine Marketing
Lead generation was a big focus of our search engine marketing strategy for Performio. We ran Google Ads that brought in leads daily. Of course, we ran ads on other channels too. In particular, Captera got great results by giving us high-intent prospects that turned into good customers. The platform provided an incredible ROI and a conversion rate of 8%.
This strategy highlights the importance of looking into less traditional channels to connect with niche audiences. When you understand your target audience, you can more accurately predict where they might be.
Content Marketing
Content was a critical component of positioning the brand. We wanted to ensure that Performio was seen as a helpful authority you could trust.
We set up a blog schedule and planned content that would make an impact. From there, we used our copywriters to deliver insights and articles targeted at our ideal customer’s interests.
The bulk of the content we delivered focused on helping prospective customers with their sales commissions. Performio’s Insights section became a repository for automating incentive and sales plans by answering the questions in and around these niche areas.
A secondary drive for the blog content was to help onboard Performio customers and help them learn about and engage with the platform.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media is a big part of any B2B strategy. However, selecting the proper channels to raise awareness and distribute content is the most important thing. Again, a strong understanding of your target audience is crucial.
We reasoned that LinkedIn was one of the most important social media channels to target. It has a large concentration of B2B decision-makers, which makes it ideal. In Motion Marketing produced a mix of social media content that provided value through business tips and insights.
Additionally, we managed evergreen content posts, boosting brand awareness and enforcing our positioning efforts.
Email Marketing
Email marketing still offers the best ROI of digital marketing channels. We used a mix of email content to engage customers and establish authority with the aim of securing customer retention. As such, we sent out newsletters, product announcements, and software updates.
Additionally, we worked closely with the sales team throughout the buyer journey. We sent out content such as case studies and white papers to push them down the sales funnel.
Video Marketing
Video has fast become the internet’s most consumed format. If we wanted to reach our potential audience base, we needed a three-fold video marketing strategy.
We created explainer videos to help onboard new users and explain the product to increase adoption. Additionally, we edited webinars and turned them into engaging, authoritative video content that could deliver views and awareness over the long term.
Finally, we produced a series of audiograms with industry insights and thought leadership to drive social engagement and lead generation.
Search Engine Optimization
Organic SEO is a fundamental element of a sound marketing strategy. We optimized the website and produced content that we targeted toward educating the user base. Our approach saw us overtake Xactly in important keywords and terms relating to Performio’s niche.
Customer Advocacy
Finally, we created campaigns with the direct intent of securing more customer reviews on platforms like G2 and Capterra. The concentration of high-intent decision-makers on this site made it an ideal candidate for B2B traffic.
We helped move Performio into the Leaders quadrant in G2’s Grid. This achievement was significant because G2 is a trusted source of B2B SaaS product recommendations.
