Fueling Brand Expansion, M&A in Edtech SaaS

Fueling Brand Expansion, M&A in Edtech SaaS

by | Aug 31, 2021

ENABLED DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH AND POSITIONED SFS FOR A healthy acquisition

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Situation

An educational software company had recently acquired a competitor and wanted to implement a marketing plan to drive revenue increases faster and more predictably.  Science and Magic were brought on to help establish a business strategy, and scale the organization, as well as to help with new product launches, rebranding and more. 

Solution

We helped develop the sales side of the organization, including process, training, and implementation of CRM and marketing automation tech, while supporting the marketing function as well, including website and microsite redesigns, trade show marketing, and ongoing focus on organic and paid search, as well as retargeting, email, and automation. 

CUSTOMER JOURNEY – AREAS OF FOCUS

Figure 1A – Experience Engineering

GROWTH OUTCOMES

Month Turnaround

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increase in revenue

%

Website Traffic

Process yields predictability

SMco helped the grow revenue, enabling SFS to invest in the marketing and sales systems needed to make the organization attractive to buyers. While our channel marketing efforts increased visibility and lead acquisition, our sales systems provided the validation a buyer needed to pull the trigger. 

More than 300 search-optimized blog posts…

 “The Science and Magic team has been willing and able to adapt to our changes within the company. We have evolved from 1 primary product to a brand of educational SaaS solutions. They have been able to build upon our “branding” and transform our digital presence to reflect our new direction.” 

Todd Whitlock

CEO, Standard For Success

WORK SAMPLES: EXPERIENCE ENGINEERING

 

Experience Engineering is all about delivering the right experience to the right person at the right time. One of the ways we help with this is through video messaging. For Standard For Success, we helped deliver video ranging from short promo videos for products to introductory UI videos, even a mini-documentary feature on The Information Matrix with Laurence Fishburne. 

Modular Trade Show Booth Design

Science and Magic created a group of modular components for trade show marketing, with QR-driven mobile experiences.

Content Strategy and Planning

Science and Magic developed an omnichannel content strategy and managed all planning and execution.

Social Media Monitoring and Management

Science and Magic implemented a robust social media strategy focused on thought leadership.

Audience Alchemy Dashboards – Channel Metrics

Science and Magic created custome dashboards to track key channel metrics for the marketing team.

Brand Identity – Business and Mobile Experience

SFS Business card design incorporated virtual business card experiences for each team member, triggered via QR.

Revised Brand Architecture and Identity

Expanded SFS brand architecture to accommodate multiple product portfolio

Social Content

High-engagement graphics, video and animation for social media.

Infographics Design & Promotion

Engaging, traffic-driving, lead-converting infographic content

State Report Cards

In-depth state of the industry content delivered in “report cards”

Automated Live Chat

Science and Magic programmed response flows for a live chatbot to route traffic to the appropriate team members at SFS.

Automated Real Time Lead Scoring

Science and Magic automated lead scoring for every contact and website visitor.

Personae Development

Created and targeted multiple target personae based on customer focused selling process.

“Smart Sheets”

Created 20+ digital and trackable one-sheeters that incorporate a mobile experience, printable for trade shows.

Email templates for sales team

Created transactional email templates for each phase of the buying process to support sales team.

Thought Leadership

Leveraged book written by company owner to position as thought leader through speaking engagements and blog content.

GraduationPathways.org

Created microsite to help guide students, parents and administrators through requirements.

Email Template Design

Designed a series of email templates to align with look and feel of the SFS site.

TeacherEvaluation.org

Created Q&A style community resource site for administrators to share ideas about Teacher Evaluation.

Behavioral Tracking and Targeting

Captured all digital interactions over time across entire database.

ENGINEERING EXPERIENCES

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Sales Team Development

Successful implementation of a CRM and marketing automations

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Design and Marketing

Facilitation of website and microsite redesign and trade show marketing

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Search, communication, and Automations

Ongoing focus on organic and paid search, retargeting, email, social, and automations.

In 2021, our client was one of the fastest-growing private companies in the Inc 5000, ranked #3525 overall, and #55 among all education companies.

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Demand Gen and Attribution for B2B

Demand Gen and Attribution for B2B

by | Aug 31, 2021

WE built and scaled a demand gen program for a multi-location services business

And then we handed it off to the client's internal team. It's a thing of beauty, really.
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Situation

A private equity backed fire protection company in acquisition mode needed to build and streamline its demand generation program as new companies were constantly being acquired and integrated into the core brand. 

Solution

SMco planned and delivered a demand generation program from the ground up. Our deliverables included media buying and planning as well as supporting a new SDR program, reporting for finance stakeholders, implementing a CRM and marketing automation function, and advising on hiring an internal team. 

CUSTOMER JOURNEY – AREAS OF FOCUS

Figure 1A – Experience Engineering

OUTCOMES

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Web Traffic Increase

%

Market Qualified Lead (MQL) Growth

%

Sales Opportunities Increase

%

INCREASE - MARKETING's CONTRIBUTION TO REVENUE

When growth marketing

actually means growth

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Built from the ground up

When we started, brands weren’t centralized, no media was in market, and attribution was just an idea that was being tossed around. 

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Systems to handle scale

Media buying scaled to market, content marketing to support the brand growth, and reporting to satisfy information-hungry private equity financeers. 

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Revenue Growth

Let’s cut to it, this is what really matterd. We were able to prove an 11x increase in marketing’s ability to generate revenue. 
  • Web Traffic 23% 23%
  • Market Qualified Leads 83% 83%
  • Sales Opportunities 483% 483%
  • Closed/Won Revenue from Marketing 1122% 1122%

The Results Speak for Themselves

Our approach delivered seven-figures in net new revenue pipeline, a 23% lift in web traffic, 83% increase in MQL’s, 483% increase in the number of opportunities created for Sales, and a 1,122% increase in closed/won revenue directly attributable to marketing sources.  

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Increase in Marketing's contribution to revenue

The Science & Magic Corporation of America was critical to the launch of our marketing and demand generation program. They are experts in all they do and helped us scale our SEO and SEM programs so we could meet our marketing and company targets and goals.

If you are looking for a partner with expertise in everything from Google Ads to content development to customer marketing, then you’ve found them! Thank you so much Science & Magic!

-Marketing Director

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90-Day Transformation from B2B to D2C

90-Day Transformation from B2B to D2C

by | Aug 31, 2021

wholesale to ecommerce in 90 days

When the pandemic hit, our client needed to pivot...fast. We helped them make it happen.
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Situation

A private equity-backed licensed apparel company wanted to pivot to an ecommerce-focused D to C model, integrated with its current B to B model. After an initial failed in-house attempt, Science and Magic were brought in to help quickly transform a traditonal wholesaler to an eCommerce company.

Solution

We rebranded, moved the client’s ecom operation to a headless commerce tech stack, implemented a marketing automation program, and deployed dynamic ad campaigns in search and social, as well as leveraging their NFL license partnership through an auction site experience we developed alongside their ecom platform.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY – AREAS OF FOCUS

Figure 1A – Experience Engineering

OUTCOMES

Monthly ecom revenue increase

conversion rate increase

site traffic increase

Day Turnaround

90-Day Turnaround

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Campaigns by black friday? no problem.

We pulled the necessary levers to have the client’s inventory synced into the new ecom environment out of Microsoft Great Plains. That was a feat in itself. 

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New Revenue model brings new questions

How fast can we grow? How do we budget for tech, personnel and media to get to our goals? All questions we were able to assist with. 

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New Team? We've got their back

To grow more quickly, the client acquired a competitor’s marketing team to level up their internal capabilities, and to get ready for the ride that was about to get even more exciting…

MICROSITE: AN ONLINE AUCTION EXPERIENCE

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an entirely separate auction site experience w/ the NFLPA

Our client’s partnership with the National Football League Players Association included a tie-in to the NFL’s My Cause, My Cleats that required building a stand-alone auction site experience where people could bid on items, in addition to the main e-commerce site. We built this experience alongside their new e-commerce platform, all within six months of our initial engagement.

INCREASE in Monthly Ecom Revenue

Results were a precursor...

All of our work was just setting up the client for where they were ultimately headed, M&A land. It’s not that we worked ourselves out of a job, but we kinda did. 

From zero to new business model?

Let's build it