Disruptive CRM Platform Attracts Investment, Customers
Consistent headlines, national media tours and killer content marketing have lead to national industry leadership in the retail technology world for ENGAGE.cx. In addition to closing a seed round right after their media tour with Write2Market, the company is now on the radar of a select few West coast venture capital firms through introductions from Write2Market.
The Problem
One of the big modern day challenges in the retail world is creating a consistent, singular customer experience across any number of customer touch points. Our client ENGAGE.cx solves that with the world’s first B2C CRM–Their Relationship Cloud delivers personal relationships in the moment, when it matters most.
With their innovative omnichannel software, CEO and co-foudner David Trice of ENGAGE.cx recognized that they had a superior product in need of widespread exposure. Originally, David and his team did marketing in-house or chosen the conference sponsorship route, but it didn’t yield the results they needed in terms of exposure to investors–or to new customers.
“We have attended previous conferences on our own–we chose to have a booth and spent a significant amount of dollars, yet we saw no leads,” David said.
Engaging the right public relations agency
ENGAGE.cx turned to Write2Market to grow their leads and industry share of voice. “The process with Write2market created an amazing marketing plan,” Trice said. “The way that we are packaging and the way we are talking about it has been the biggest improvement we have felt and it forces us down a successful path.”
Solving for traction
Following our Triple A Industry Leadership Methodology, Write2Market is orchestrating a content marketing and public relations strategy for ENGAGE.cx’s customer engagement platform–and validating it along the way through media tours and investor introductions.
“Utilizing a repeatable process for both content development and story strategy as well as strong industry relationships, we have watched ENGAGE.cx turn stories into sales with industry innovators like Smart Furniture.” says Director of the Retail Practice Joé Lloyd. “Their educational content, delivered with consistency has led to huge increases in qualified site traffic. That traffic is also converting–ENGAGE.cx’s first webinar we created, for example, had 35 quality registrants and a 75% attendance rate.”
Reflecting on the successes he had at NRF and with the public relations program, David shares that, “I do wish we had hired an agency sooner. Earlier, we had tried but it didn’t work, so we had almost given up on agencies. Without the relationship to help guide as, such as Write2Market did with NRF, it would have been a costly show with little to no value.”
Public relations: proving out traction and results
Consistent coverage across the retail and marketing technology world in top publications such as CMO.com, Direct Marketing News, and Chain Store Age is bringing ENGAGE.cx the recognition they need. ENGAGE.cx has closed its first investment round, a $2.9M Series A, receiving high praise from industry analysts. Their content marketing and blog program from W2M, combined with strong social strategy and execution, has also led to an increase of visibility of over 1000%.
“You have to know how you want to go to market,” Trice advises other entrepreneurs. “For us that was leveraging thought leadership. We had the ‘ah ha’ moment–and our agency is different. I would recommend that you find what you are looking for in a partner agency. Anyone can put out press releases. Finding a true partner with skills you can leverage is a lot harder.”