Marketing strategy

Staxy | Marketing review & strategic recommendations

Client

Staxy

Project

Marketing review & strategic recommendations

Marketing palette

Target audience & value proposition

Demand generation

Marketing team & budget

Marketing KPIs & alignment with business objectives

Product & systems

Client

Staxy

Project

Marketing review & strategic recommendations

Marketing palette

Target audience & value proposition

Demand generation

Marketing team & budget

Marketing KPIs & alignment with business objectives

Product & systems

Need

Staxy is a multi-modal travel app aimed at making commuting and journeys to (sports) events more affordable, convenient and sustainable. The app provides carpooling, cycling, public transport and walking routes, along with cost-sharing and gamification features. It can track and collect carbon data of individual users and journeys that take place on the app as well as capture data on travel habits and app engagement. The start-up needed a high-level evaluation of its existing marketing approach, accompanied by strategic recommendations to capitalise on immediate opportunities and untapped potential.

Approach

Following a discussion about current objectives and challenges, as well as an evaluation of strategic documents, systems and analytics, we conducted a thorough assessment of clarity and effectiveness in the following areas: target audience, value proposition, product, demand generation, marketing team and budget, marketing KPIs and alignment with business objectives, and systems. We also provided the start-up with a range of ready-to-implement frameworks for persona research and customer journey optimisation.

Results

The report provided Staxy with a range of strategic, practical recommendations. These included refining audience research and strengthening their value proposition in a resource-efficient way, as well as strategies to boost product usage, diversify demand generation, and implement a multi-channel marketing approach. The report also provided insights on fine-tuning the sales funnel, streamlining team configuration and budget allocation, and making the most of their systems for consistent measurement and improvement. The company found great value in these recommendations, recognising their potential to take Staxy to the next level of business operations and impact.

Acumen Academy | Webinar: Marketing Intently & Building Relationships

Partner

Acumen Academy

Project

Webinar: Marketing Intently & Building Relationships

Marketing palette

Ethical marketing

Impact-centered marketing strategy

Accountable marketing

Community wellbeing

Regenerative product

Helpful content

Partner

Acumen Academy

Project

Webinar: Marketing Intently & Building Relationships

Marketing palette

Ethical marketing

Impact-centered marketing strategy

Accountable marketing

Community wellbeing

Regenerative product

Helpful content

About the webinar

In December 2022, I had the honour of being invited by Acumen Academy to give a webinar during their End of Year Summit: Beyond Business as Usual. Part of Acumen, an impact investing organisation that combines market-based efficiency with philanthropic impact (patient capital), the Academy serves a community of social innovators and builders committed to addressing the world’s toughest challenges. It provides the tools, practices and resources needed to create impactful solutions for an interdependent world.

My webinar, titled ‘Marketing Intently and Building Relationships’, explored topics such as: anchoring marketing strategies in purpose, delivering value with every brand interaction, and employing ethical, cost-effective marketing practices to drive meaningful action (including pitfalls to avoid). I emphasised the importance of cultivating community relationships and provided examples of pioneering organisations that showcase the potential of business and marketing as forces for good and activism. Following up on the webinar, I penned down two blog posts on the webinar’s theme. Check them out below:

• Transforming marketing: three pillars to cultivating an ethical, impact-centred approach
• A regenerative community’s journey framework for impact-first brands

Indigenous Lift Collective | Cause Canvas workshop series

Client

Indigenous Lift Collective

Project

Cause Canvas workshop series

Marketing palette

Cause Canvas implementation

Marketing strategy for social impact

Client

Indigenous Lift Collective

Project

Cause Canvas workshop series

Marketing palette

Cause Canvas implementation

Marketing strategy for social impact

About the project

In the summer of 2021, I facilitated a Cause Canvas workshop series for the Indigenous Lift Collective‘s community of women entrepreneurs. Over the course of a few weeks, we had four workshops of two hours each in which we worked together to apply the Cause Canvas to the context of their work and co-create inclusive growth ideas anchored in a higher values-based goal. Here are the goals at the centre of the six participating businesses:

• Supporting women in amplifying their creative gifts by sharing and celebrating the beauty and wisdom of Indigenous being.
• Transforming the world of business by decolonising and creating heart-centered organisations and managers.
• Helping women and empaths get through trauma, grief and exhaustion, find their voice and embody resilience by using the power of music and spiritual teachings.
• Awakening to the use of natural products and natural economy and supporting the livelihoods of Northern trappers.
• Eliminating racism from schools and workplaces – ensuring that Diversity, Equity & Inclusion/Antiracism initiatives are more than performative lip service.
• Empowering Indigenous folks to stand in their power to demand justice and change for a better future.

The Cause Canvas is a strategy framework for organisations committed to sustainable change and inclusive growth. Consisting of nine elements that revolve around your dream for a more just and sustainable world, the framework guides you through questions that are key in amplifying your cause – all the while staying true to your foundational values and engaging in lasting relationships with everyone involved. Excited to apply it to your business? Download your free copy and get in touch if you need support in implementing it.

* The screenshot below has been blurred for confidentiality purposes.

CoPartnerUp | Marketing strategy

Client

CoPartnerUp

Project

Marketing strategy

Marketing palette

Purpose, values, collective promise

Communities/Personas

Key messages

Organisational and marketing objectives

Customer journey

Content strategy

Client

CoPartnerUp

Project

Marketing strategy

Marketing palette

Purpose, values, collective promise

Communities/Personas

Key messages

Organisational and marketing objectives

Customer journey

Content strategy

Need

CoPartnerUp is a community and platform where changemakers from around the world come together to create conscious partnerships for social and environmental impact. Founder Claudia Marras was looking to develop an inclusive marketing strategy rooted in purpose and clear values, catering to diverse stakeholders. This also involved ensuring persona clarity, shaping a clear promise and impactful messaging, and crafting a robust content strategy.

Approach

We implemented the Cause Canvas, our marketing strategy framework for impact-first organisations. Throughout a series of workshops, we worked together to distill and articulate CoPartnerUp’s purpose and values, and understand the communities it addresses. This allowed us to develop a value proposition that takes into account the diverse personas involved (what we call a collective promise), craft distinct key messages and map the customer journey for each. We also formulated SMART marketing objectives aligned with CoPartnerUp’s overall goals to ensure that the marketing efforts drive real impact. Lastly, we created a content strategy aligned with the customer journey of each persona.

Results

CoPartnerUp now has a fresh and comprehensive marketing strategy, firmly anchored in its purpose of bringing changemakers together and cultivating impactful partnerships. The Cause Canvas workshops helped Claudia achieve clarity around how to best communicate and foster CoPartnerUp’s vision, and engage all its diverse communities in the process. The framework also played a key role in shaping a content strategy and repository attuned to CoPartnerUp’s personas and their customer journeys, and designed to strengthen its positioning and create meaningful change.

I had the opportunity to use the Cause Canvas at an important stage of redefining CoPartnerUp, the platform where changemakers from around the world come together to create partnerships for change. I needed clarity on how to engage the various stakeholders, making sure not to exclude anyone. The process was intense, but with Laura’s guidance I was able to achieve the clarity I was looking for and figure out how to develop a content plan that would share our mission and co-create our vision with those who will join us. I am confident that with this clarity we will be able to reach those who wish to join our community and create meaningful partnerships. I recommend the Cause Canvas to anyone looking for a comprehensive tool and outstanding guidance to help them better define to whom and how to communicate clearly and effectively to create lasting positive impact.

Claudia Marras, Founder

CoPartnerUp

TBB by EIT InnoEnergy | Buyer personas & key messages

Client

EIT InnoEnergy | The Business Booster (TBB) event

Project

Buyer personas & key messages

Marketing palette

Data analysis & audience segmentation

Buyer persona research

Buyer persona profiles

Key messages

Client

EIT InnoEnergy | The Business Booster (TBB) event

Project

Buyer personas & key messages

Marketing palette

Data analysis & audience segmentation

Buyer persona research

Buyer persona profiles

Key messages

Need

Every year, EIT InnoEnergy organises The Business Booster (TBB) event to help foster new business opportunities and investments in innovations that will speed up the energy transition. TBB brings together some of Europe’s most promising sustainable energy startups as well as industry, investors and policy makers in the energy ecosystem. In order to ensure consistent growth and impact, EIT InnoEnergy needed to gain a deeper understanding of TBB’s audiences and sharpen the key messages for the event.

Approach

We started the project with an in-depth analysis of the event’s audiences from previous years, which indicated clear audience segments, key purchase patterns and potential buyer personas. The next step was to conduct a series of interviews to confirm the buyer personas, analyse the qualitative data and start building the persona profiles. To further validate and complement the persona research findings, we also conducted a survey of EIT InnoEnergy’s relevant segments of the database. Based on all the findings, we developed tailored messages that address the goals and challenges of the different personas.

Results

EIT InnoEnergy now has an in-depth understanding of TBB’s audiences’ backgrounds, goals, challenges, purchase preferences, communication preferences, common objections etc and can easily tailor its content to make sure it resonates with each target group. The key messages concisely explain the value of TBB in addressing each persona’s needs and speak the (potential) customers’ language. In addition, EIT InnoEnergy received a series of strategic action points and content ideas to help boost their marketing efforts for TBB across channels.

Azkua | Customer journey & website wireframes

Client

Azkua

Project

Customer journey & website wireframes

Marketing palette

Persona definition

Customer journey

Website wireframes

Client

Azkua

Project

Customer journey & website wireframes

Marketing palette

Persona definition

Customer journey

Website wireframes

Need

Azkua provides coaching programmes and workshops that support professional, purpose-driven women in unleashing their leadership potential and finding more meaning in their jobs. The company needed to optimise their marketing efforts so they could generate, nurture and convert more qualified leads for their programmes. In addition to needing a CRM and marketing automation system, they also needed a strategy and plan for driving effective engagement and conversions.

Approach

In order to ensure that Azkua could attract the right leads, engage them and convert them successfully, a customer journey was needed. We started by refining their persona profiles and then organised a series of workshops to brainstorm the content needed to address the goals and challenges of the personas at each stage of the customer journey. Based on the workshops, I helped map and sequence the actions needed to attract, engage and retain the audience across Azkua’s key channels. We then zoomed in on the website part of the customer journey and I helped build wireframes for the pages that would be key for marketing and sales.

Results

Azkua now has a clear customer journey and content plan to build a funnel that attracts qualified leads, nurtures them with tailored content and converts them into long-term customers. The workshops generated strategic content ideas and actions that empathically address the needs of the personas and can help Azkua consistently position itself as a thought leader in its field. The website wireframes ensured that the website structure and content flow are in line with Azkua’s business goals and meet the needs of potential customers wherever they are in the customer journey.

We worked with Laura to streamline Azkua’s marketing processes and define our customer journey. We now have a well functioning marketing automation system that ensures all relevant data goes through one channel. She also helped us identify our client persona and designed our website wireframes, so we can ensure that all our communications address the client base we want to reach. Laura brings a wealth of knowledge with her and her maximising nature will make sure you deliver on the deadlines agreed at the outset.

Dovile Corrigan, Strengths Coach & Trainer

Azkua

We’ve had the pleasure of working with Laura to set up our new CRM and email marketing system. Laura is a true expert in her field and easily transported us out of the ”dark ages” to a place where we can now easily measure our client engagement, create tailor-made automations for specific needs, and welcome new joiners to our tribe. Laura reviewed and tested several systems before recommending the one that would suit our needs, budget and future aspirations the very best. She also helped us clarify and sequence our customer journey, generate plenty of ideas for our content strategy, and from there develop the wireframes for our website. Professional, detailed, action oriented and quickly responding to our questions and needs Laura is a true asset.

Manuela Damant, Women's Leadership Coach & Trainer

Azkua

Akvo | A to Z HubSpot marketing & sales implementation

Client

Akvo

Project

A to Z HubSpot marketing & sales implementation

Marketing palette

Marketing-sales bridge

Marketing funnel optimisation

Marketing automations

Website and HubSpot integration

Database management

Marketing and sales reporting in HubSpot

Client

Akvo

Project

A to Z HubSpot marketing & sales implementation

Marketing palette

Marketing-sales bridge

Marketing funnel optimisation

Marketing automations

Website and HubSpot integration

Database management

Marketing and sales reporting in HubSpot

1700+

New online leads

27%+

Email campaigns open rate

2mln+ euro

Sales from online leads

Need

Akvo helps governments and non-governmental organisations unlock the power of data for sustainable change. The company needed a system that would underpin its marketing and business development strategy and support the bridge between the two. It also needed to streamline its CRM, develop targeted campaigns, build a funnel that effectively converts leads into customers, and improve its reporting.

Approach

After researching a range of systems, I supported Akvo in acquiring HubSpot Marketing and Sales Professional as the ideal choice for the organisation’s business model. I then managed the implementation of the system across Akvo’s seven offices around the world: from aligning the system’s processes with Akvo’s strategy, migrating all data into a cohesive set-up and integrating Akvo’s website and blog with HubSpot, to building the organisation’s funnel, creating automated workflows that bridge marketing and sales, and developing reporting dashboards. I also provided training for the Akvo staff to maximise the use of HubSpot.

Results

Akvo can now better understand and easily optimise its customer journey from the awareness stage to customer conversion and retention. Because all data and processes are centralised and automations are in place, the organisation can now save a great amount of time on managing its marketing and sales. It can also produce powerful campaigns by easily slicing and dicing its database for optimum segmentation, and can make strategic decisions and reliable predictions based on real-time data. In less than two years, Akvo generated 1,700+ qualified online leads and over €2mln in sales from online leads.

Laura is one in a million. I have never encountered a person with her unique mix of high-level strategic thinking and brilliantly detail-oriented executive skills. Laura is creative, determined and enthusiastic as well as a great sparring partner whose solid and thoughtful advice is to be taken seriously. She can navigate complex situations and deliver on a project against all odds. I always trusted her to pick up and enrich the brief on the fly and make things happen. Usually exceeding expectations, she was ahead of the curve in bringing innovation when the organization most required it. During her time at Akvo, Laura improved our marketing efforts enormously. Thanks to her, we’ve been able to roll out consistent marketing campaigns and generate qualified leads like never before. She used her creativity, intelligence, abundance of energy and entrepreneurial drive to make a marketing strategy that worked, brought results and hit the bottom line.

Alvaro de Salvo, Head of Marketing & Communications

Akvo

Akvo | Marketing & content strategy

Client

Akvo

Project

Marketing & content strategy

Marketing palette

Marketing strategy

Personas and key messages

Customer journey

Content strategy

Website revamp

Online campaigns

Client

Akvo

Project

Marketing & content strategy

Marketing palette

Marketing strategy

Personas and key messages

Customer journey

Content strategy

Website revamp

Online campaigns

1700+

New online leads

27%+

Email campaigns open rate

2mln+ euro

Sales from online leads

Need

Akvo helps governments and non-governmental organisations unlock the power of data for sustainable change. The company needed to generate more qualified leads, boost business development and kick-start more projects in key sectors. In order to achieve this, Akvo needed a more strategic approach to marketing and a stronger alignment between marketing and sales.

Approach

I developed a marketing strategy primarily focused on inbound marketing principles. This included defining Akvo’s buyer personas, developing marketing messages, optimising its customer journey and supporting a full website revamp. I also implemented the HubSpot system to bridge marketing and sales. In addition, I laid the foundation for Akvo’s Data Journey blog and put together a content strategy that addresses the goals and challenges identified during the persona research phase and is key in lead generation and nurturing campaigns.

Results

In less than two years, the new practices resulted in 1,700+ qualified online leads and over €2mln in sales from online leads. In addition, Akvo now has a more strategic and structured approach to marketing, a clear understanding of its customers’ journey and a value proposition that better resonates with its customers’ needs and goals.

Alvaro de Salvo, Head of Marketing & Communications

Akvo

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation | Digital strategy

Client

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Project

Digital strategy

Marketing palette

Web analytics

Content strategy

Marketing strategy

Website revamp

Social media

Email marketing

Client

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Project

Digital strategy

Marketing palette

Web analytics

Content strategy

Marketing strategy

Website revamp

Social media

Email marketing

About the project

As Global Marketing & Communications Advisor at SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, I drew up the organisation’s digital strategy for its 26 country offices. The strategy is based on a website and social media audit I conducted, is aligned with SNV’s marketing strategy and includes thorough guidance on how to strengthen SNV’s digital presence. It also outlines ways in which SNV staff worldwide can effectively contribute to online initiatives and provides guidelines to ensure content quality and consistency across all SNV’s digital channels in the 26 countries. The strategy is key in:

• Cultivating relationships with key donors and partners through engaging online content.
• Effectively promoting SNV’s products, programmes and publications across digital channels where donors are present.
• Positioning SNV as thought leader in its relevant sectors and as key contributor to the Sustainable Development Goals through online campaigns.
• Strengthening the SNV brand by ensuring a cohesive tone and voice across the organisation.

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation | Website revamp

Client

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Project

Website revamp

Marketing palette

Website strategy & structure

Project (website revamp) management

Web analytics

Content strategy

Marketing strategy

Client

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Project

Website revamp

Marketing palette

Website strategy & structure

Project (website revamp) management

Web analytics

Content strategy

Marketing strategy

15%

increase in monthly visits

80%

decrease in bounce rate

15%

increase in monthly unique visitors

45%

increase in number of pages/visit

About the project

As Global Marketing & Communications Advisor at SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, I initiated and managed a major website revamp in order to improve the user experience, increase engagement and return rates, better showcase SNV’s impact, boost the organisation’s thought leadership around key products and decrease website costs in the long run.

I conducted a website audit, identified bottlenecks, developed user stories and wireframes for new functionalities and worked closely with web developers on the implementation. The end result was a dynamic, engaging and flexible website, supporting SNV’s business objectives. New functionalities ensured:

• A focus on campaigns and important calls to action.
• Extra visibility for news, blogs, social media updates, multimedia, new publications –based on specific campaigns.
• More exposure for SNV’s multitude of activities (through project updates, infographics, social media integration, videos).
• Support for boosting thought leadership around key products (through regular fresh content, extra exposure, infographics, calls to action).
• A more intuitive user experience (through consistency, better search functionality, clearer and engaging language, prioritisation of content based on web analytics).
• A more flexible content management system.