How Aira Helped an Exciting New HR SaaS Company Use Paid Media to Grow their Startup
The Challenge
Finding a paid media partner who can move fast and be flexible.
Our client, a fast-growing HR SaaS startup, launched its newest product two years ago. They were still in the early stages of testing, and they needed to build out their marketing funnel in order to get more traction and validate product-market fit.
‘We needed to start building a marketing funnel without putting too much investment into it because we didn’t know if this product would stick or if we would need to pivot further down the road,’ Tom explains.
Their product was in the B2B space, so Tom needed an expert partner with in-depth knowledge of B2B multi-channel paid media, and especially LinkedIn Ads, who could jump right in and get started.
‘I wanted to make sure that we found a partner who knew LinkedIn Ads very well since that was where we were going to focus most of our efforts,’ Tom explains.
Most importantly, Tom needed to find a partner who could move fast and be flexible: as a growing, fast-paced startup, their needs were changing all the time. He wanted to work with people who could keep up with their rapidly evolving priorities.
‘Advertising giants like WPP or Ogilvy are used to working with Fortune 500 companies whose targets and timelines look very different from ours,’ Tom says. ‘When you’re a startup, you never know what’s going to happen. Things change quickly, so it’s vital to be fast and nimble.
‘When you’re a startup, you never know what’s going to happen. Things
change quickly, so it’s vital to be fast and nimble.'
The Solution
A growth-oriented agency with an expert paid media team.
When Tom first got in touch with Aira’s paid media team, he immediately felt a positive connection: he especially appreciated how clearly and openly the team communicated.
‘Right from the start, we had very a very clear idea of what we needed to do,’ Tom says. ‘The dialogue was ongoing. We both understood the same things in terms of what we needed.'
They started with a basic agreement to set up paid media and build out the first few B2B campaigns. As the product took off started getting more traction, the startup’s partnership with Aira quickly expanded into marketing automation, sales operations, and sales enablement.
‘Once we validated the product, we needed to quickly scale our marketing efforts,’ Tom says. ‘From there, our relationship with Aira started to evolve. We were no longer relying on them to help us run a couple of experiments here and there to test demand. They became a growth partner, helping us build and optimise all stages of our sales and marketing funnel.’
Because Aira’s team had so much experience in multi-channel paid media and B2B marketing, they were a valuable partner to help the HR SaaS startup grow: Aira was able to run ads and compare results on different platforms, including Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Ads.
The Aira team used their expertise to help the startup capture qualified leads at volume, without draining its budget. This is especially challenging on LinkedIn Ads, where balancing lead volume with cost-efficiency targets is difficult.
More than that, partnering with Aira helped the startup solve the pain points that came up at every stage: building their pipeline, nurturing leads, and then finally sales enablement and closing deals.
‘The Aira team are always so quick to act and react. What’s most valuable to me is how they have been able to meet the many changing needs we’ve had in the last year and a half,’ Tom says. ‘They’ve always made themselves available when we need them. It might sound simple, but whenever we had a fire that we needed to put out, they were always there. Always.’
‘It might sound simple, but whenever we had a fire that we needed to put out, they were always there. Always.’
The Results
An effective marketing funnel with ongoing paid media campaigns
With Aira’s consultancy, the HR SaaS startup continues to grow quickly. Their marketing funnel is set up. In Q2 of 2020, they generated 410 leads in the UK from LinkedIn for a CPL of €107.
And in Q1 of 2021, they exceeded their target for high-quality lead volume by 17%.
‘They’ve proven themselves to be very helpful during a critical time,’ Tom says. ‘And now that we’re scaling up, they’re providing a lot of value to the company.’
Anyone working in a fast-paced environment needs a paid media partner like Aira, he adds.
‘If you want to move quickly and get your business out there, Aira is the way to go,’ Tom says. ‘Especially if your company is a startup.’
‘If you want to move quickly and get your business out there, Aira is the way to go.’