The Challenge
Generating predictable pipeline from paid channels
When iWave approached Powered by Search, they needed help hunting the marketing world’s white whale: generating sustainable and measurable growth from paid investments.
iWave hadn’t had success with previous agencies that had failed to deliver long-term return on investment (ROI). They turned to Powered by Search because they needed a proven methodology to generate lasting and scalable results.
Jill McCarville, the VP of Marketing at iWave, recalls,
“We switched from an agency that wasn’t generating as much pipeline revenue as we could have been generating.”
Jill was also dissatisfied with the former agency’s opaque reporting. iWave’s marketing needed to know what was working and what needed to change. They needed full-funnel visibility to guide optimization efforts, and clear reporting to prove the ROI of paid campaigns to key stakeholders.
“We weren’t happy with the previous agency’s reporting. We didn’t have visibility into the number of leads that were turning into customers,” Jill says.
By switching, Jill hoped to generate more Marketing Qualified Leads and Sales Qualified Leads, build out strategies to turn those MQLs and SQLs into demo sign-ups, and gain more transparency into every step of the process.
But just as importantly — Jill wanted a partner that would help iWave establish itself as a market leader. They needed someone to implement a methodology that would help them consistently drive demos through paid and organic sources.
Jill says, “Powered by Search is made up of subject-matter experts who are laser-focused on SaaS and metrics, and that’s exactly what we were looking for.”
“We were working with an agency that wasn’t generating as much pipeline revenue as we thought we should have or could have been generating.”
The Solution
Proven and predictable lead scaling methodology
How did Powered by Search help where other agencies had failed? Using the Predictable Growth Methodology, Powered by Search worked with iWave to create a strategy that would scale iWave’s MQLs, SQLs, and ultimately pipeline revenue.
The first move was a strategic messaging shift. Repositioning iWave’s solution as ‘fundraising software that turns data into donations,’ helped iWave better anticipate their customer intent and get in front of their target audience.
Repositioning and redefining iWave’s messaging underpinned all of the growth efforts that followed. It accelerated demand generation in a big way and set the foundation for the future success of all paid and organic strategies.
Next, Powered by Search helped iWave create and execute ad campaigns to attract perfect-fit leads. Jill and her team were thrilled with the transparent and thoughtful process—and the quick results.
“We are really happy with how Powered by Search manages and optimizes our paid media accounts. We have biweekly calls where we go through results and brainstorm, their recommendations are usually on point,” she says.
An in-depth SEO audit uncovered gaps in iWave’s current strategy. The audit revealed a lot of ripe content opportunities and one huge untapped area for improvement: the website.
Overhauling the website and amping up its technical SEO, would help iWave dominate their niche and maximize organic discovery.
“Powered by Search has made great changes to optimize our SEO. There’s a lot more optimization to be made, but we’re on the right path,” Jill says.
Before long, Powered by Search was running paid media, SEO, and managing the start-to-finish building and migration for the new website. The massive project is still ongoing—but the early results have been amazing.
Specifically: paid media is now consistently one of iWave’s highest-performing channels!
“I’ve never worked with an agency like Powered by Search where I felt like every person was really strong in their area of expertise. I’d have trouble moving to another agency,” Jill says.
“We are really happy with how Powered by Search manages and optimizes our paid media accounts. We have biweekly calls where we go through results and brainstorm, their recommendations are usually on point.”
The Results
Consistent revenue growth year-over-year
The strategies that Powered by Search helped iWave create and manage now consistently exceed every paid media and MQL/SQL goal they set. Individual KPI results include:
- 278% paid media revenue growth year-over-year
- 251% lead volume growth between Q1 and Q4
- 3X increase in MQLs within first two quarters
“We completely turned around our results within 12 months of partnering with Powered by Search. Now, we exceed our KPI targets every month,” Jill says.
Comparing the results of our partnership vs. the experience with the previous agency, Jill says that there’s a dramatic difference in paid media performance across the board.
“For example, we tried different tactics on Linkedin with previous agencies, but it wasn’t a successful channel. It wasn’t until we switched to Powered By Search that Linkedin became a successful channel that generates MQLs, SQLs, and significant pipeline,” she says.
Having access to detailed and verifiable reports enables Jill to track ongoing optimization efforts and share the results with stakeholders. She now recommends Powered by Search to her peers.
“I 100% recommend Powered by Search. They’ve completely transformed our paid media strategy. The results are incredible and we’re extremely happy with them,” she says.