** Update – Imvision was acquired by Intuit. We were lucky to play an integral role in the marketing division until the acquisition was accomplished. Read more

In a nutshell:

When we started working with Imvision, it had already had some early client wins and was getting ready to grow its marketing and execute a broader GTM strategy. We had our work cut out for us: build a marketing infrastructure (website, CRM, social channels, content), establish core processes to drive traffic and engagement (PPC, content, social, email, media), accelerate opportunity creation while raising brand awareness (EEP, partners, outbound) – and all in a way that can cut through the noise in a hyper-competitive landscape. 

The operation was scaled within just a few months when marketing VP Omer Primor came on board.. From that moment on, we had the ultimate stakeholder to work with. And right then is when we were asked to speed up the operation and exceed limits in a very short period, in order to fill out legacy gaps. 

About Imvision

Imvision API security solution helps enterprises open up without being vulnerable. It’s about making sure that every interaction between people, businesses, and machines can be trusted.

Imvision’s platform helps enterprise security leaders, including Fortune 500 companies, discover, test, detect and prevent API breaches. It automatically gives every API the protection it deserves – at any scale, across the entire lifecycle.

By using NLP-based technology to analyze each API’s unique dialogue and understand the application’s behavior, security and development teams can stay ahead of attackers, focus on what really matters and minimize time-to-remediation.

Bottom line first: 

So how do we measure the marketing ROI? Simple – we maintain tracking and measurement reports. Here’s a little taste of our  parameters (without revealing absolute numbers or any other company-sensitive information):

• 850% increase in leads
• 300% increase in opportunities
• 240% increase in the number of customers
• 230% increase in website traffic
• 430% increase in blog traffic
• 800% increase in LI followers
• 370% increase in monthly website users

The very beginning – Onboarding and setting up the marketing fundamentals

In order to close marketing gaps, we had to start with developing a design language and crafting the core values, running a messaging sprint, building a new website, adapting sales collateral, and setting up other inbound elements.

Core messaging and story: After conducting thorough keywords research and running an intensive messaging workshop with the Imvision team, we finalized the story elements and created a messaging deck.

Website: The basic website was replaced with a new and extensive (WP) website that was robust enough to win lead-gen and SEO challenges. As always, we put a lot of effort into the specifications document PRD, and that means incorporating all requirements from design and dev, including integration with external tools (such as tracking tools, marketing automation, forms and so forth) and including technical SEO requirements. We then onboard the right vendor and supervise the design and dev operation closely. We create all the content and… Meet Imvision.ai’s website: (https://www.imvision.ai/)

Company’s social owned channels: LinkedIn was pre-defined as the main channel to leverage. We used the internal team profiles and a lot of hacks related to the LinkedIn algorithm in order to leverage this important B2B channel and turn it into a hub for sales opportunities and a distribution channel for content. 

Analytics and tracking: Data-driven marketing is the basis to inbound, lead-gen and demand gen. We were quite occupied with ensuring that we were properly measuring  important metrics right from the start. We invested in tracking multiple inbound parameters by aggregating data from separated decks such as Google Analytics, Hubspot, Social ad decks and others. We are still adding more metrics on an ongoing basis.

Building an inbound marketing machine, feeding sales, and business KPIs

Targeting CISOs is extremely challenging, any cyber security marketer will tell you that. CISOs and their teams are the target for so many advertisers – the competition is beyond imagination. We focused on building value-adding strategy through content and pushing it by using ultra accurate targeting technologies (ABM).  

Content, quality content, and some more impactful content: When we first started, the internet lacked top-quality API security-related content. Great opportunity on the one hand, but also a challenging start for marketing content creators. We started with “free” top-funnel value-adding articles and then moved to more advanced content types such as guides, eBooks, survey reports, and so on. This content factory was well orchestrated by the VP marketing, who also brought a lot of value managing professional webinars and expert sessions. Meanwhile, we were busy not only with the writing, but with operations as well (landing pages, Hubspot automation, etc.). 

Check out Imvision’s rich resource library and Blog 

We see 430% increase in blog traffic since we started focusing on it 

Focused PR activities: As we were still aiming to get above the radar, we used PR activities to announce big milestones, new partnerships, the hiring of key industry personnel, industry surveys, etc. We used (and continue to use) PR announcements as part of the inbound machine – promoted in a measurable way, filling their role in earning the trust of the target audience. 

Robust paid media planning and execution: Media planning is done with careful attention on creating an ultimate funnel that best fits a natural customer journey – from awareness through engagement, all the way to sales discussions. We include multiple relevant media channels in order to leverage the ‘cross-channel amplification effect’ and make sure to create content that fits top, mid and bottom funnel. And we never forget the cyber landscape – everything must be done with consideration to this unique industry, from targeting tricks to content creation know-how to specific creativity in ad copy and creative 

Establishing nurturing strategy and running multi-channel lead nurturing activities: Today, we’ve happily reached the much-anticipated point where we generate leads and know how to create diversified value-added content scale. We even had to start operating structured nurturing activities in order to nurture MQLs until they are ready for sales conversations. 

Among the activities in this basket are: building relevant content that fits nurturing,  creating multiple touch points with every prospect and maintaining account level analysis, following up with leads in a timely manner, alternating between bulk emails (such as newsletters) with personalized ones, running sophisticated drip campaigns, and more. 

Conclusion

We’ve accomplished a lot in about a year and a half, but there’s still a lot more to do and many challenges to overcome. Inbound marketing is an ever-evolving operation, as more technologies and ad-tech players enter the game, and as historical data is gathered, there are more and more actionable insights to leverage for continuous improvement.