Espresso B2B Marketing

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of DirectTech Labs. We're an AI and machine learning company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Espresso?

We knew there were two parts of the marketing funnel that were important to us: driving marketing qualified leads (MQL) and turning those leads into sales qualified leads (SQL). We had trouble driving leads, so we were looking for an agency to help us with lead generation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They produce high-quality content for us, and our marketing strategy has been mostly focused on that content. A lot of our work involves educating our market about our product. We have regular calls with them and discuss the topics we want to cover. Espresso creates the content that gets people thinking about the problems we solve in a different and new context. Often, the content is so good that I don't need to edit it or I make only slight edits. In addition, they help us come up with ideas for video content. We create the videos internally and Espresso helps us publish them and improve our YouTube channel.

They also manage our SEO to help us increase organic traffic. They dove headfirst into our business, which has a lot of uniquities. Many people have a steep learning curve when they're trying to understand what we do, but it didn’t take Espresso long to get to know our business and our target market.

We've recently implemented a very hyper-targeted marketing approach to target our top prospects. Espresso manages our highly targeted ads, working with our budget. They also propose new ideas and make recommendations. We only have one marketing person in-house and she’s been very engaged with Espresso.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with both of their partners and a content writer.

How did you come to work with them?

We were looking at a few different agencies and chose Espresso because we liked the way they think. They're smart and understand our business, which many people don't. They had the right answer to every question we were posing, so we knew they'd be a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $35,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our organic traffic has increased and people are engaging with our content. They've been very effective in helping our internal team, which is extremely small, deliver strong results in terms of MQL, content, and overall strategy. Before we started working with Espresso, we had a very hard time generating MQLs. We had to meet with CEOs personally or email our contacts in the industry. Now, we rarely do that. We have a list of a couple of hundred people that are moving through our marketing funnel and many of them turn into SQLs.

Our goal is to have 2–4 SQLs a month because we sell a high-priced product that has a smaller number of customers. Espresso has already engaged a few hundred executives from our list of targeted companies. In addition, they're very metrics-driven and helped us tweak our HubSpot so that we could manage all the analytics.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly or bi-weekly calls and they give us regular progress reports. They keep track of everything internally and share that with us via screen sharing. Also, they're very flexible and shift their hours around to accommodate us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're extremely organized and deliver on promises.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them take their time to get to know your business. They'll do a great opening workshop and ask you a lot of questions. Make sure you bring enough members of your team to the meeting so that they can wrap their heads around your business and clearly understand the context of what you do. We did that and I'm very happy with the results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president of Demand Management, Inc., a global supply chain software company headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., with offices in 34 countries around the globe.

What challenge were you trying to address with Espresso B2B Marketing?

Initially, we were looking for a vendor with SEO experience both within the US and abroad since our previous vendor's expertise were more domestically focused. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Espresso optimized our web performance in the US, Europe, and Asia by providing SEO services on a monthly basis. When our VP of marketing left the company, Espresso essentially took over all of our digital marketing efforts.

They also provide all the copy for our annual magazine, meta tags, and our website. Our team schedules the interviews and translators with the appropriate people, and Espresso's team interviews and writes case studies as needed. 

What is the team composition?

Mark (Co-founder, Espresso B2B Marketing) and Dave (Co-founder, Espresso B2B Marketing) help us prepare for and attend every one of our sales meetings. Maricel (Art Director, Espresso B2B Marketing) provides web, graphic, and PowerPoint design work for us, while Kevin (Copywriter, Espresso B2B Marketing) handles most of the content. They also bring in other members of their team as needed.

How did you come to work with Espresso B2B Marketing?

Our former VP of marketing recommended them to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since August 2011.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our lead generation has increased by over 400% since Espresso started working with us consistently. Additionally, the quality of those leads has significantly improved—they're more qualified compared to previous years.

How did Espresso B2B Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide monthly reports and track everything through our own CRM system. They help us evaluate and incorporate new tools to improve the way we track and manage progress, such as Hootsuite and HubSpot. They're great about communicating and both providing and being receptive to feedback. Mark even flies in to visit us in our office about six times a year.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The talent within their team sets them apart. They've been able to dramatically improve web traffic, online performance, and generate qualified leads, which wouldn't be possible without a team of highly skilled individuals putting in the work to make it happen. They do a lot for us, and they do it all very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Espresso has a structured, disciplined approach, so I suggest going into the relationship with an open mind and to trust that their team really knows what they're doing. What they're able to bring to the table is worth the investment, so give their process a chance, because finding a vendor with their skill set is hard to come by.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Cibo Global. We’re a global brand experience agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Espresso B2B Marketing?

We wanted to drive more engagement with CMOs about our perspective on thought leadership, so we needed resources to help us shape and implement our content marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team provided a wide range of marketing services, including content strategy, email marketing, and content generation for social media, blogs, and email. In addition to advising us on thought leadership pieces, they also gave us insights on how to structure email campaigns to drive conversions.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with their marketing lead, though I also interacted with their VP of marketing.

How did you come to work with Espresso B2B Marketing?

I believe I found them while searching for providers. They had great references, so I reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $5,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work lasted from May 2016–November 2017.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Thanks to their email campaigns and thought leadership pieces, we were able to drive a tremendous amount of engagement, which generated more leads and greater conversions. It was a really positive experience, and they went beyond our expectations.

How did Espresso B2B Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job across the board. We emailed each other every day and held phone calls on a weekly basis. Once in a while, we would meet in person if we were trying to kick off a new project. They used a project management tool on their side, but I don’t know the specifics.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated how experienced they were. They’re very practical, and they were able to bring their own business knowledge to the table.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you know your business strategy because no one else can define it for you.