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Customer story

Shortcut

Establishing the foundation for growth with strategic marketing

About Shortcut

Shortcut is a project management tool sans all the management. It was built by a software team for other software teams, so it really makes project management for software teams easy as pie.

When we initially started working together, our goal was to help them fine-tune their customer acquisition process using great content, paid channels, and experimentation. 

In September 2021, Shortcut underwent a full rebranding process. We supported them in the process and created a lot of top-of-the-funnel content to help the new brand get up and running. 

What else did we do? Read on to find out!

Services provided

Marketing strategy
ICP, messaging and positioning
Content marketing
Advertising

Starting point

What Shortcut needed help with

  • Shortcut wanted to grow. It was challenging as the initial marketing team was a two-person team.
  • They wanted to uncover a more systematic approach to strategic marketing
  • They were looking for new content ideas, strategic guidance, as well as great content
  • They wanted to formulate their acquisition in the best way possible
  • They needed a more systematic approach to paid advertising and campaigns
  • They wanted a strong focus on brand awareness, with detailed tactics and new channel recommendations

Why Shortcut chose Advance B2B

  • The Advance B2B approach to customer research and our vast experience in conducting customer research in general
  • Our structured way of working and a clear and easily understandable sprint and credit model
  • Our content expertise, and having a knowledgeable and seasoned content strategist present already in the initial sales meetings
  • Our deep understanding of paid advertising, SEO, and strategic marketing for B2B tech companies.

"Advance B2B has been an invaluable resource in our growth journey. They spent time learning about our target audience and our specific growth needs, assembled a great team that filled the skill gaps of my in-house team, and consistently delivered high-quality work week after week."

Rudan Zhang
VP of Marketing, Shortcut

Rudan Zhang

Some examples of our work

Our cooperation led us to support Shortcut in many different ways.

  • We helped them clarify the right terminology for their marketing and communication
  • We researched the right messages that resonate with the right audience segments in their target markets
  • We ran many experiments

Shortcut-ad-2

  • In the above ad experiment, we discovered that usability-related messages resonate better with both European and North American audiences than visibility-focused messages
  • On the content side, we built a comprehensive content strategy that relied heavily on the topic cluster framework, with concrete content ideas for every stage of the funnel moving forward
  • To support the content strategy, we gave recommendations based on comprehensive keyword research. We planned and wrote blog posts, as well as blog and website optimizations and SEO updates.
  • We also created a personalized content optimization guide Shortcut can use in the future.

"I have been impressed with the level of professionalism and the sense of true partnership the Advance B2B team brought, and my in-house team has learned many best practices from the AB2B team.”

Rudan Zhang
VP of Marketing, Shortcut

Rudan Zhang

KPIs

  • The number of PQLs, and other indicators like conversions for paid advertising
  • For SEO: Keyword rankings and positions in US, and what keywords are ranking well in each space
  • Website traffic per country for brand awareness

Results

  • Increase in PQLs and MQLs
  • We discovered new channels to target to acquire new users
  • We helped them switch to a new domain with no hassle
  • We passed them a good understanding of what SEO optimization is
  • We discovered the best messages that resonate with both their European and North American audiences

Highlights

Our partnership lasted a year, from January to November 2021.

Everything was smooth sailing from start to finish, but of course, we have to mention a couple of special highlights.

  • Our SEO work and content cooperation were always awesome and super smooth, and we also had a lot of room to experiment and test out new ways of doing things.
  • These experiments resulted in many successful campaigns with concrete results like new sign-ups, conversions, and customers. 

Why did it end?

The cooperation ended because the in-house Shortcut team grew significantly, from two to a 10+ person marketing team.

Let's have a talk!

If you’d like to talk to us about working together, your best bet is our calendar below. Find a time that's most convenient for you and simply book it! You'll be booked with someone from our sales team.

Alternatively, you can fill out this form and we’ll hit you back with an email within the next 24 hours (unless it’s the weekend or a national holiday, in which case we might take a tad longer, you know how that goes).

* if you're interested in working for us, visit our careers page!