Strong commitment that filled the gap left by having no marketer in-house. Consulting and hands-on work, together to the next stage.

Industry: HR services for the tax accountancy sector
Employees: 14
Problem: not enough marketing resource

Mitsukaru Inc., which runs recruitment and M&A support specialising in nationally qualified professions, had no marketing lead internally and little know-how in digital. They had previously contracted several firms and individuals without getting results, and at one point cancelled all of them at once.

Responding to the CEO’s wish to drive digital marketing quickly and firmly, we began working together in June 2022. We asked Mr Jonouchi, Representative Director, about the background, what it achieved, and what they expect next

Time spent building relationships with many suppliers, without the results they wanted

― First, could you tell us your role and what the company does?

I am Yo Jonouchi, Representative Director of Mitsukaru Inc. We founded the company in August 2020, with recruitment and M&A support specialising in nationally qualified professions as our main businesses.

― What are your current marketing goals?

Hitting the targets in our B2B and B2C plans. The main measure is the growth rate of new registrations on our job site.

At the moment NowVillage mainly handles three things: planning and running our YouTube channel, nurturing, and writing articles for SEO. We started YouTube recently, with a goal of 10,000 subscribers in the first year.

Nurturing^※1There we are aiming at a 1.7% increase in total registrations. New customers are growing steadily, so if users who have been with us a while come back for another career meeting, we should reach it. And then articles for SEO: we leave keyword selection, planning, writing and management to you, aiming at high rankings.

*1: A business term meaning developing customers, for example bringing a prospect to the point of purchase, or turning an existing customer into a repeat one.

What were you doing in digital marketing before coming to us?

On YouTube, I had researched it myself and felt it was a blue ocean, so I wanted to start immediately. But when it came to it, we had no one who could plan, direct, edit and run video.

I approached various suppliers, but the more people involved the higher the communication cost, which was a problem. And after all that effort building relationships, we did not get the results we wanted. That is when I heard about NowVillage. Talking it through, you said you would also handle dealing with outside suppliers, so I wanted to ask you for a range of things. The timing of the proposal was good too.

They understand the state of the company and propose what we want before we ask

What decided you on NowVillage?

An introduction from an acquaintance counted for a lot at first. I met Mr Imamura through someone I trust, who told me to leave it to you.

Talking with Mr Imamura, as both of us are ventures, I felt he understood each other’s situation well. And it mattered that Mr Chikuma, who still looks after us, said let me do it, I will commit fully.

What has our service achieved, in qualitative and quantitative terms?

I used to spend my time dealing with various suppliers; since we started, I can hand much of that over. Being able to focus, as the CEO, on the upstream design of marketing, which is what I should be doing, has been significant. In numbers, YouTube subscribers have grown by nearly 750, and I would like to keep growing rather than settle for that.

― Why have you continued for a year and three months?

Above all, there is no stress in the communication. With other companies I always felt they did not understand our business. NowVillage understands us deeply and proposes what we want before we ask. It is no exaggeration to say they move like our own staff.

Consulting and hands-on work together. The level of commitment is different

Where is your marketing now, and what do you expect from us?

On marketing, I feel we have done the minimum we set out to do when we founded the company. Even so, if a finished marketing operation is 100, we are at around 30. I note my tasks in a memo each week and honestly they are nowhere near done; I have around 500 right now. I want NowVillage to keep planning and running things at pace as you have, and as we scale the company we will need marketing to match, so I hope we build that together.

We would be glad to support the scaling. What would you say characterises us?

Being able to hand over the whole of digital marketing, from planning to running it.
I sometimes think we could outsource the whole NowVillage team. As for Mr Chikuma, I would like him to join us.

That is kind. Finally, which companies would you recommend us to?

Ventures like ours with no digital marketing lead internally. And companies that have a marketing lead but cannot cover the detailed, hands-on work.

Speed is everything for a venture. Choosing a supplier that does not commit becomes the bottleneck, revenue does not grow, and plenty of companies go under that way. NowVillage covers both marketing consulting and the hands-on work, which fits a company at our stage very well.

To put it bluntly, rather than assigning a marketer through an intermediary, I would go to NowVillage. The commitment is different.

Thank you.

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Mitsukaru Inc.
HP：https://mitsukaru.cc/
Industry: HR services for the tax accountancy sector
Employees: 14

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