Alex Embling founded Strategic IC as a full-service agency in 1995 when the internet was still its infancy, and Google had yet to launch.
“As the web evolved, clients began to understand the importance of improving their sites’ visibility, and that’s where my marketing background came into play. We started doing things like SEO, PPC advertising and content creation,” explains Alex Embling, Strategic IC’s managing director.
The agency proliferated, taking on large clients in the enterprise tech, professional service and pharmaceutical sectors. However, it was using a collection of disconnected point solutions for its online marketing activities, which made it difficult to produce truly integrated campaigns and prove ROI to customers.
“Inbound was a natural transition for us. One of our clients mentioned that he wanted to try the HubSpot software, and I began to research it. Once I saw what the company was achieving and how it could benefit our clients, I was convinced. Within two weeks, I had signed up to the HubSpot Partner Program and was attending INBOUND in Boston. That was in 2014, and we’ve been growing ever since.”
Alex wanted Strategic IC to be its own best case study for the inbound methodology and started by defining the agency’s buyer personas.
“We identified four – the enterprise decision-maker, the enterprise influencer, and what we call the medium-size decision-maker and the medium-size influencer. In terms of size, the enterprise companies we target typically have 10,000 or more employees and revenues of $1 billion-plus.”
The team created a host of content on the inbound methodology, including ebooks and a frequently updated Blog, and added Smart Calls to Action and Smart Forms. They also use the Social Inbox to promote the agency’s offerings across social media.
Strategic IC uses the HubSpot growth stack – a combination of the Marketing, CRM and Sales software. The CRM gives it a clear view of each lead’s journey through the website, while HubSpot Sales allows the sales team to automate and improve their follow-ups with prospects.
The agency began attracting interest and quickly signed up several clients to the HubSpot software.
“Today, we generate 80% of our customers through inbound marketing – they come to our website from social media and organic traffic, and then are automatically nurtured until they’re ready to speak with us.”
Since partnering with HubSpot, Strategic IC gets an average of 8,000 website visitors and 80 leads per month, and it reached Platinum Tier Partner status in under two years. 100% of its clients are on retainers; Alex says that they are signing up to more extended and more lucrative contracts, so the agency now has a more predictable revenue stream.
“Many of our customers buy the Reporting add-on, which allows us to produce reports on virtually any metric from the HubSpot software. Once they can see exactly where their investment is going, and how our work is making an impact, they are eager to do more with us. We also help them with the sales side of their inbound strategy, offering training on how to follow up with leads in the right way and at the right time.”
“One of our clients is generating an average of 50,000 visits and 150 leads per month. Over the past year, we’ve contributed $500,000 in revenue to their sales pipeline.”