PortfolioMetrix

The Need

The senior management team at Discretionary Fund Manager, PortfolioMetrix, first contacted us when the existing Head of Marketing was leaving the business. The directors were interested in exploring whether a period of outsourcing would add a new dimension to their marketing approach.

High on the list of priorities was an agency able to manage their marketing automation platform, SharpSpring.

Putting The Sharp In Sharpspring

After a short introduction, we quickly got on top of how SharpSpring had been set up and how it was being used in the business. Moreover, we were able to identify opportunities for improvement.

Amongst other things, while the library of content was excellent, it was evident to us that it had not been tagged to allow the buyer journey to be effectively nurtured and monitored.

We swiftly organised the content into identified steps in the buyer journey and used the power of SharpSpring's automations to track interactions and serve the 'next best' piece of content to individual visitors each time.

The lead scoring was then refreshed to allow prospect engagement to be monitored and the hottest prospects seperated from the merely curious.

Unleashing The Content

With the core infrastructure now in better shape, attention could turn to new activities.

One of the things we observed early on was that PortfolioMetrix was not in regular enough contact with its database. The content coming out of the Analysts was first class, but it was largely being left to be found on the website.

We took hold of the content and recommended the creation of a regular "Adviser Insights" email. This put the information directly into the in-box of the growing database of IFAs. By delivering the newsletter on the same day and at the same time every two weeks, awareness and appreciation of the content quickly grew. We saw engagement in the form of open rates and click-through-rates rise, which in turn fed through into the lead scores.

With us taking the lead on producing and distributing the newsletter, it only left the senior management team with the task of having to sign it off.

Making it social

Another form of hitherto under-exploited distribution was social media. We created and implemented a strategy for LinkedIn blending organic with paid-for content, which, overnight, increased the reach and allowed the content to be easily read, liked and shared.

On the right page

Value-adding content, used in the right way, has huge potential for lead generation, so we developed dedicated landing pages for the guides and whitepapers that were being produced on a regular basis.

The landing page builder within SharpSpring came into its own here, allowing new pages to be quickly created and hosted without needing to disrupt the website or call on developers. Once built, the landing pages could then be seamlessly linked to the email nurturing sequences that we would build to sit behind them.

“We could not have done any of this without the great support we've received from you over the past two to three years”

From Data Comes Insight

PortfolioMetrix was founded by analysts and data experts, so it came as no surprise to us that the demand for insight into the marketing activity was incredibly high!

We built a bespoke set of reporting tools to create a comprehensive monthly marketing report, which spanned the full buyer journey - from search activity to management of the sales pipeline.

Google Analytics, SharpSpring and social media analytics were brought together in Google Data Studio for processing and then output into the report alongside a full accompanying commentary.

A Journey Complete

The marketing operating model for PortfolioMetrix was always openly stated as being to eventually bring all capabilities back in-house, and this was finally achieved just over two years later when the reins were handed over to the new marketing team.

With templates and best practice established, the first migration was of the social media activity, and this was followed several months later by the email marketing and content distribution.

We now remain in the background, always on standby to help with any specific challenges or queries that might arise, be they with SharpSpring or anything else.