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Client story: Green Ibex
Building a new marketing function
How do you persuade large organisations to aim for Net Zero when there’s nothing to stop them burying their heads in the sand? How do you persuade them to see sustainability as an asset rather than a cost?
When Jon Jones, CEO at Green Ibex, first reached out to Ros at the end of 2022, he had a mission to take on exactly this challenge. He wanted to grow a consultancy that’d lead the way in helping large organisations to achieve Net Zero before it is too late.
While Jon’s expertise lay in guiding complex projects within large, national and multinational companies, he knew the only way to reach his goals was through effective marketing, but he had no time to manage it himself.
The challenge
The first agency he spoke to recommended Google adverts, but Jon wasn’t convinced they’d deliver a return on investment. We spent a couple of hours with Jon and blitzed through his ideal customer, proposition and buyer journey, to identify his opportunities and priorities. Jon quickly saw that Google adverts would never work because his ideal customer wasn’t searching for businesses like his.
Now that he knew what his priorities were, this presented Jon with a new challenge: he didn’t have anyone to implement his plan. He looked at various marketing agencies but knew that, long term, he would need to have his marketing in-house.
But Jon wasn’t ready to hire. He didn’t know what skills he needed or what tasks he’d want them to do on a day-to-day basis. He needed an experienced strategist and someone who could implement the plan cost effectively - and he knew he’d never find one person to do both.
The solution
It’s very difficult to hire a first marketing person when you don’t have any marketing momentum in your business. Luckily, this is where we add most value for our clients - getting the momentum going.
We partnered with Jon to create a detailed, effective strategy and plan, and then resourced the implementation, while overseeing his strategy. In doing this, we got really clear on exactly who his marketing needed to be aimed at and how they would go from not having heard of Green Ibex before to being a loyal raving fan. We also made sure we knew exactly how to measure his marketing and know it was working.
Once we were all clear on his strategy, we set to work building Green Ibex’s marketing machine. Over the course of 6 months, we worked with Jon to expand his website, create various marketing materials, increase his online presence through social media, and widen his LinkedIn network. Our goal was to give Jon a “marketing machine” that he felt confident enough in that he could hire someone to keep running it.
The result
Originally, we had agreed that Jon would have the option to recruit our employee from us, but in the end we agreed they weren’t the right fit for his business. So Jon hired a Marketing Manager with 5 years’ experience in startups.
To ensure a smooth transition we delivered a detailed handover to Jon's new marketer, including his complete documented strategy and plan. We also provided online training to get her up to speed on how we’d set up Jon’s marketing machine so she could really hit the ground running.
Now, Jon's marketer is crushing it in her new role, and we're still on hand for mentorship, strategic guidance, and friendly advice – whenever she or Jon need it.
Jon said, “I’m truly grateful for your support over the past few months. I’ve learned a huge amount and the company is in a much stronger position thanks to you.”
