The Challenge
FlowFactor was looking for a marketing partner that could help strengthen their position as a DevOps powerhouse and attract new technical profiles. They needed someone that wanted to immerse themselves in their company culture and core business. The partner should also be able to think proactively and come up with their own suggestions for content in the long term.
Our Idea
FlowFactor’s requirements fit perfectly into our offering, since Unmute You always uses a dedicated marketeer for recurrent customers. Customers get a single point of contact assigned to them who can really embed themselves in their client’s company and its culture. We provide a full-service solution that includes copy and design, so the marketeer keeps an eye on the client’s tone of voice and branding as they brief our copywriters and designers. By establishing a long-term partnership, our clients can trust us to keep their marketing running.
"More than once, I’ve had people from other Cronos competence centres and even clients approach me to discuss something I said in one of our thought leadership pieces. – Kilian Niemegeerts, founder and managing partner at FlowFactor
Content workshop
We started our partnership with FlowFactor like we start every partnership: with an in-depth analysis of the customer in a strategic content workshop. This is where we determine the client’s goals, proposition, target audience, values, and USPs (Unique Selling Points). For us, this is the perfect way to gather all relevant info in a structured way so both parties can work as efficiently as possible. It shows us who our clients are, what their core business is, and what they want to accomplish.
Getting to know our client’s personality also helps to establish a baseline for communication. Based on their communication, we can determine a fitting tone of voice. In some cases, we can already discuss some potential content topics. When talking to FlowFactor, for example, we immediately noticed that they were not afraid to be critical of certain buzzwords and trends in the DevOps industry. This told us we should focus on thought leadership pieces when producing content together. That way, the communication strategy matched their identity so their clients and potential future employees would immediately know which kind of company they were dealing with.
Recurrent marketing
After the content workshop, our marketeer started by translating the communication strategy into monthly content calendars. This ensures that all topics and target audiences are covered on a recurring basis, and that FlowFactor would be top of mind for all things DevOps.
As the months progressed, drafting this calendar became easier as we became more familiar with the company and DevOps in general. Of course, all this progress needs to be tracked, which is why our marketeers organise quarterly meetings to follow up on results. Because of comprehensive tracking and analytics tools like Google Analytics, our marketeer could follow FlowFactor’s growth in real-time.
However, our unique partnership with FlowFactor developed beyond recurrent marketing. As the months progressed, we took on a more proactive role. We spotted a few areas where they could improve, and they trusted us to keep them in the loop while we kept improving.
For example, when we noticed that their website could use a branding update, FlowFactor trusted us to manage this project. Together with Bosch and Bordon, we came up with a new design. We provided the content and led the process meetings as the project continued, so FlowFactor would only have to evaluate the result.
With the help of our designers, we also provided FlowFactor with their own clothing and merchandising for the holidays. Because our marketeer is deeply ingrained with FlowFactor and their brand, every briefing and piece of output is automatically aligned in both tone of voice and design. After all, being this kind of one-stop shop is what we’re all about at Unmute You.
Growth and thought leadership
Besides a significant growth in website visitors, we managed to increase the amount of FlowFactor LinkedIn followers by 250%. It is definitely not a vanity metric, since it is relevant for both employer branding and thought leadership. In fact, one of FlowFactor’s most recent employees explicitly mentioned that he applied because of their engaging posts and blogs. According to him, FlowFactor not shying away from having a strong opinion showed that they really were a DevOps powerhouse, and had the knowledge to back it up.
Another part of FlowFactor’s ambition to grow is branching out their expertise and influence: they have launched two subsidiaries in the five years since they started. Together with two other Cronos Group competence centres, they founded StAIble, a subsidiary that focuses on the brand-new AIOps way of working. FlowFactor and Monin also started Hieda, a new company that specialises in open-source data platforms.
Of course, if our clients grow, we like to grow with them. That’s why we are thrilled that FlowFactor has asked for our services on each of those three projects. Our cooperation with Hieda, which started as just our branding starter package, has led to another recurrent marketing assignment. We have also helped StAIble with our branding services and continue to help them find their voice. Since we use the same dedicated marketeer, they can spot interesting topics for all companies at once while keeping their identities sufficiently different.
FlowFactor is one of our oldest and most loyal customers, so we are intrigued to see where their ambition will take them next. Keep an eye on our spaces for more engaging content!
At Unmute You, we have a wide range of offerings to get your voice out there. Looking for a long-term committed partner, or just need help with some branding or a website? Whatever your next idea is, we’d love to help spread the word!
Be sure to check out our services, and give us a shout if you have any questions or ideas.
