Stax empowers companies to run a better, healthier, more efficient cloud. Unlike many of their competitors, they focus exclusively on AWS, offering an intuitive cloud monitoring and management solution that’s design-led and obsessed with customer satisfaction.
As a highly specialised new entrant in a crowded market, Stax was struggling to be recognised as a player – and was burning runway in the process. Without the requisite brand recognition, the startup was teetering on the brink of catalysing their initial momentum into a cascade effect of sign-ups and sales, as the rest of the field gradually gained ground.
They turned to fellow Melburnians, The Walk, for help.
The challenge
Becoming a player among players to step up
growth, fast.
AWS is huge, and so is the marketplace that’s sprouted around it. Established businesses and countless startups constantly vie for market share, promoting a range of auxiliary AWS services.
Stax found themselves in the position of being an unknown brand with a hard-to-explain, technical value proposition. Like many tech startups, they struggled to show customers how their product would benefit them. They needed to boost their brand awareness, explain their value proposition, and get those sales flowing.
The goals
Raise brand awareness
Boost organic SEO traffic
Drive sign-ups — fast
How do you accelerate growth when you’re fairly unknown? Well, for starters, you can stop being unknown with a short-term, high-traffic visibility boost – as long as you don’t lose sight of the long game.
The journey
Collaborating with the design and dev teams at Stax, we worked together to hit the market with quality messaging, set up their SEO for long-term success, and ran a highly efficient digital ad campaign.
The right message, for the right audience
Starting by highlighting the ins and outs of customers’ problems, we honed in on what made Stax’s offering unique. We then turned this into compelling value messaging, delivered through the right channels:
- Case studies built credibility with website visitors to generate more conversions
- Content was featured within strategically targeted newsletters
- Key messages were tailored for specific audience segments faced with different AWS challenges
SEO: as organic as grandma’s garden
Beginning with an SEO audit, we analysed their position, then worked with the Stax team to generate SEO content that would address gaps in their SEO strategy.
The previous analysis came in handy here – knowing what customers wanted, we could target their pain points with relevant content. We don’t believe in traffic for traffic’s sake. Instead, we pursue long-term SEO gains by focusing on content that customers will want to read, and robots will be happy to index – both immediately and into the future.
Getting the word out
We reached millions of potential customers with a targeted mix of SEM, dynamic display ads and dynamically battle-tested landing pages.
- SEM and dynamic display ads ran through intuitive platforms like Google Display & Video 360, targeting key AU and US markets
- Using a state-of-the-art dynamic HTML5 display template, optimising with ad variations was simple and cost-effective
- A/B tested landing pages helped us understand how to speak to the target market and focus on the best performing combinations
The results
The combination of insights, strategy and content delivered through SEO and targeted advertising was a big success. Millions of US and Australian prospects learned about Stax, perused its informative content, and the Stax customer list continues to grow.
New prospects
The Stax brand and messaging got in front of 2.8 million people in the first month of the campaign, acquiring high quality leads they could convert to customers.
Clear long-term SEO strategy
Beside elevating Stax’s current ranking, we also ensured future success with a clear, insights-driven SEO strategy.
Kick-started growth
We helped Stax to launch to a wider market and provided the stepping stones for further growth.
