Client Success Story

Clearcode is a full-service software house,

specializing in building custom analytics, advertising & marketing technology platforms. Since being founded in 2009 Clearcode has become the development arm of many well-known advertising and marketing technology companies around the world.

The biggest challenge facing Clearcode in 2014 was that

the company relied mainly on referrals in order to generate more business. While this allowed the company to grow from just a handful of employees in 2009 to over 50 in 2014, the lead generation was not very predictable and did not allow for the more rapid growth the founders wanted to achieve.

In order to accelerate Clearcode’s growth and build a more predictable lead generation engine, we managed the following:

• Launched content marketing– This included writing several blog posts per month on key topics on advertising technology, and creating guides, white papers, and webinars. This content was optimized for organic search and also promoted through social media, paid search, and display. To help better manage all of these efforts, we integrated Marketo.
• Improved the sales process– We developed a more streamlined sales process, making sure leads were qualified and properly nurtured, and created a process of collaboration between sales and technical teams within the company to win deals. We also integrated the sales process into Salesforce and connected it via API to Marketo to make sure our sales reps had access to lead intelligence. In addition, we created customized sales presentations for each key vertical, process and technology overview documents, case studies, and other supporting sales materials.
• Kicked off outbound sales– Researched and exhibited at a couple key events per year to strengthen Clearcode’s brand and generate additional leads, including Programmatic I/O, AdTech New York, and MarTech San Francisco. In addition, we also developed, managed, and optimized a series of email marketing campaigns targeting key verticals.
• Facilitated productization– We developed and launched 7tag (tag-management system) and 7suite (data management and personalization) as proofs of concept (PoC) for being able to transition service customers towards using Clearcode’s products. We put into motion demand-generation and sales activities to drive product awareness and win deals.

We achieved:

• Grew annual billings by 25% in year 1, and 44% in year 2.
• Increased the size of the house lead database from a few hundred leads to over 8,000.
• Implemented Salesforce and Marketo to streamline demand generation, lead nurturing, and sales.
• Grew website (organic) traffic by 567%.
• After validating the PoCs by being able to sell licenses for 7tag and 7suite, we merged the products with Clearcode’s portfolio company Piwik PRO to offer a fully integrated marketing suite to clients. See Piwik PRO case study.
• Became a thought leader in advertising technology, featured in TNW, VentureBeat, AdExchanger, Media Post, and many more.