Revenue up 164% by building an inbound marketing framework

circus Inc. provides SaaS to recruitment agencies. The company wanted to take up digital marketing for B2B as a new way to win customers, but felt its lack of know-how in the field was a problem, and began work with us in October 2020.

We asked Mr Yabe, representative director, and Ms Tawata, head of marketing, about the background to asking NowVillage for digital marketing support, the effect, and what they expect next.

Digital marketing taken up from zero, to accelerate growth

First, could you tell us your roles and teams?

I am Takashi Yabe, representative director of circus Inc. I am Juri Tawata, head of marketing.
Under the principle of bringing a new standard to HR in Japan, since founding in 2017 we have run
CIRCUS, a job database for recruitment agencies.

What does your team do, and what are its goals?

The marketing department’s goal is simple: increase new meetings. We work day to day to maximise new meetings within a limited budget.

What marketing were you doing before you asked us?

Mainly outbound marketing centred on cold calling.

What problems did you have before coming to us?

Outbound was going well, but to grow further at speed we felt inbound marketing alongside it was essential. For that we wanted to build a structure that reliably generates leads through digital marketing, and quickly, but we had no knowledge or know-how internally and did not know where to start.

How did you come to know us?

I had known Mr Imamura for some time, and had asked him for help in digital marketing even before he founded NowVillage.

Why did you choose us?

Unlike other marketing firms, Mr Imamura had run an operating company in his previous role and had a distinguished record, and that counted for a lot. Most consulting firms are specialists in one area. That is fine in itself, but at our stage the service is still evolving and the situation changes daily, so we wanted a partner who could support us from a wider view. On that point, NowVillage’s knowledge not only of digital marketing but of growth hacking and of running a company was decisive.

Revenue up 164%. A huge effect, growing faster than we imagined

Once consulting began, what did you work on?

We had no grounding in digital marketing at all, so you built a digital marketing strategy for our situation from zero. Since then you have supported us in carrying it out.
Keeping what was good about the existing work and design, we proposed a careful campaign redesign from a more specialist point of view.
Building a new service page
Managing various forms of web advertising
Support for running social media accounts
You proposed and handled the digital marketing in one place. For the service page you oversaw everything from the wireframe to the writing and the design, and it still converts at a very high rate.
Beyond that, you also support the stages after digital marketing: raising the win rate in meetings, and planning seminars to generate leads. By now you support us across a wide range of areas outside digital marketing altogether.

What did you set out to achieve?

The goal is to maximise the number of meetings for a given budget. We work out the upper cost we can invest per application, then control cost to stay within it while maximising applications, and we do that together with NowVillage.

Could you tell us the measurable results of the work?

The results are in the chart above.
Since NowVillage began supporting us, both membership and revenue have grown considerably. Membership growth matters, but the point is that revenue has grown even faster. Working with NowVillage to raise the quality of our meetings improved the win rate by roughly a factor of two. I think that was critical to the revenue increase.

That in turn raised the cost ceiling we can spend on winning applications, creating a virtuous circle in which we generate still more leads. With a company that only supports ordinary digital marketing, I do not think we would have had this result.

You also support our social media, and a Twitter account started from zero grew rapidly to around 2,000 followers in three months. Twitter is now one of our promotional channels, and we feel the effect not only on awareness of the company and the service but on seminar attendance and on recruiting contractors.

Has the work changed the atmosphere or culture inside the company?

Definitely. Sales spend less time cold calling, so the team can concentrate on meetings. And since starting digital marketing, partly because our presence online and on social media has grown, it feels as though more people know CIRCUS and selling has become easier. Concentrating our time, and raising awareness of the service: I believe both contributed to the large rise in win rate.

An unusual marketing firm that will tell you this is not the time for marketing

Is there anything from working with us that stayed with you?

Above all, that although you are a digital marketing company you said this is not the time for marketing and turned to supporting us in other areas.

We do not only ask you for consulting; you also speak at marketing seminars for our clients. Marketing problems are common to every industry, so your talks are very well received by our clients too. Providing useful information even to our clients adds value to our own service. You support us right into customer success.
As you can see, you support us across so many areas that I sometimes wonder what it was we asked you for.

What characterises NowVillage, I think, is that you are not the usual vendor who says that is outside our scope. You look into things outside your area, introduce the right professionals, and we feel strongly the stance of doing anything that benefits our company. In a working relationship, that is very reassuring.

Aiming for the next stage with a partner we can trust

Where are you now, and what do you expect from us?

We want to strengthen our in-house capability, including hiring and training a marketing team, so we would be glad to build that team together with you.

What do you think characterises NowVillage?

As I said, that you commit to the growth of the business. Unlike an ordinary marketing consultancy you do not just propose measures to increase lead numbers; beyond marketing you also give us advice from the user’s point of view, which from inside the company turns out to be a blind spot. Rather than simply proposing digital marketing measures, you think with us about what the business needs to grow, which is a great help. And rather than theory, you hold a great deal of digital marketing know-how grounded in real experience, this is what happened when we did it ourselves.

Which companies would you recommend our services to?

Companies that want to grow using digital marketing, of course, but because you commit to growth through a wider range of methods, also:
SaaS companies about to strengthen digital marketing
Companies that want to work on revenue and operating margin, not only marketing
Companies that want to take up new marketing channels such as social media
I would recommend you to companies like those as well.