The client:
A high-impact food ingredient with world-changing potential (and a long purchase cycle) that was struggling to meet expectations for growth.
Challenge:
After a splashy launch in trades, interest waned, the pipeline stalled and investors were growing impatient with lack of forward momentum.
Initial observations revealed deeper issues:
- Tension between sales and marketing teams
- Lack of internal alignment on goals or metrics
- Current outreach conveyed consumer benefits to a B2B audience
- Current outreach wasn’t getting traction beyond startup R&D teams and CPG innovation scouts
- Budgets were lean and misappropriated
- The product was haunted by market skepticism created by a predecessor with inferior technology
Process:
Our budget-appropriate approach to deeper learning included:
- Primary research with buyers, industry influencers, and technical experts
- Extensive segmentation of the target market
- Internal workshops to align the small and passionate team on key objectives, metrics, and messaging
- Audits and analyses of brand positioning and architecture, messaging, campaign assets, PR and media
Insights:
Our rigor produced many revelations about the company, product and market:
- Adoption of the ingredient required significant changes to prospects’ manufacturing flows
- R&D teams were influencers but not the product’s buying audience
- The brand wasn’t resonating with food leaders driven by the desire to bring healthy food to a hungry world
- Messaging fell on deaf ears if the prospect wasn’t already primed for a “better nutrition” investment
- Prospects’ healthy skepticism needed to be addressed early in conversations
- Different industry segments valued different aspects of the product (not a one-size-fits-all value proposition)
- Each prospect category required a custom business case based on ingredient inclusion rates
- Lack of internal process to organize and access compliance, operations, sales and marketing materials
Brand solution:
- Corrected brand position and expression to attract and engage high-value B2B buyers
- Mapped out messaging and value propositions that support the overarching brand story while addressing the pain points of a highly targeted audience
GTM solution:
- Created a GTM strategy, that prioritized targeted food categories addressing the specific needs of the highest value audience first
- Adopted a three-track strategy for outreach: trade shows for awareness; content marketing for awareness, education and nurturing; and ABM for personal nurturing and conversion
- Redirected media to support the new strategy
Pipeline solution:
- Created a sales support library to help move deals through the pipeline
- Deployed focused, cost-effective social campaigns to get to the right people, decision makers & influencers
- Leveraged customer success stories for credibility and proof-of-concept
Operations solution:
- Implemented ERP and aligned systems with financial reporting needs
Results:
- Sales and marketing worked closely on all aspects of the GTM execution
- Eliminated confusion about product-market fit: they became seen as a B2B brand
- Highly desired prospect brands (large CPG) began to engage with brand content
- Smaller startup prospects started to fill the pipeline
- Technical R&D and Regulatory & Compliance leaders were re-engaged to create movement and foster decision making at prospect companies
- Social media reach and impact increased five-fold
- New investors were brought in after two years
- Successful exit for VC company and other investors, sale of the company, completed in four years
