Patch Made a Bold Shift and Exploded MQL Growth by 1,500% with Kalungi

Transforming from a sales-led organization to a marketing-led one

Patch software helps companies retain customers and—equally important—bring back those customers who have left. The company has met with great success in the brick-and-mortar world helping thousands of retail businesses, restaurants, salons, and more with customer retention. But to reach the next level of growth, Patch set out to attract Shopify stores. And needed to up their marketing game to do so.
 
“We never really had a marketing team,” said Mr. Parrish. “We were a sales-led organization that pounded phones and doors to get in front of new people. We would dabble in marketing but without any consistency or direction. With our shift to Shopify, our goal is to be less sales-led focused and more of a marketing-led business.”
 
To help accomplish that, the executive team at Patch interviewed several marketing agencies and CMOs. What the company found was a number of resources were willing to provide guidance but not execution. All except one.
 
Kalungi.

Specializing in helping B2B SaaS companies reach the next level 

Kalungi is a marketing agency that specializes in helping B2B SaaS companies reach their next level of growth by providing short-to-long term engagements until their clients are ready to assume marketing responsibilities and duties on their own.
 
“Not only does Kalungi have the experience and expertise,” explained Mr. Parrish, “they have the people to execute everything from establishing positioning and messaging to building websites and SEO. They’re an all-in-one solution.
 
“Our top two goals were, one, establish a solid foundation from which all our marketing efforts could come and, two, know which marketing check boxes we needed to address to be successful.”
 
In working with clients, Kalungi takes executive teams through a rigorous workshop to define goals, competitive advantages, customer profiles, ideal clients, messaging, and more. The workshop provided such valuable insights that Patch implemented the same approach in one of their other businesses—one with $8 million in annual sales—to further increase focus and maximize growth potential.
 
The agency also has a proven playbook that clients can follow that serves as a guideline and calendar detailing what needs to be done in what order and what time frame to generate results.

All things marketing that a B2B SaaS company needs

“Kalungi helped us migrate our CMS system to Hubspot which was huge, set up an account-based marketing program, establish SEO, everything we needed,” continued Mr. Parrish.
 
“Our website transition was a big win. The transition was great, the design was great. It took another company 18 months to transition our prior site. In comparison, they didn’t do half the job that Kalungi did in three months. The site looks better on the current platform than it ever did.”
 
Said Patch project manager Amanda Short, “Kalungi’s designs are aesthetically pleasing and exceptionally clean. They pay attention to the smallest details, ensuring a high-quality outcome.”
 
Kalungi’s SEO efforts and strategic approach yielded remarkable results for Patch in a short span of time. The company witnessed an astounding 833% growth in website visits and an impressive 128% increase in organic traffic.
 
The agency guided Patch in its account-based marketing (ABM) efforts, taking care of every aspect from comprehensive list building to seamless tech stack integration and copy. Their streamlined approach ensured a seamless handoff to the sales team, enabling immediate alignment and impactful engagement with Patch’s targeted accounts.

A culture fit that generates results

“We considered Kalungi a part of the company rather than a regular outsourced agency,” added Mr. Parrish. “They sent their associate CMO, Antoine Vial, to a ShopTalk conference in Barcelona with our team. The entire team was a great culture fit.
 
“In many cases, agencies tend to agree with everything we say, even if that might not be the best approach. But Carlos Bolaños, their senior Marketing Associate, was willing to challenge our initial thoughts, provide honest feedback, and significantly make a difference in our thinking. His insights into how our customers would perceive our message were extremely valuable.

“When our six-month engagement with Kalungi was complete, the handoff was seamless. The training was well organized, everything was well documented—another big win.
 
“With everything now in place, we’re seeing that results are coming. Things are ramping up big time. Our marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) have seen an astonishing growth of more than 1,500%. We’re definitely going in the right direction."

Kalungi: a great solution

Asked what he might say to a someone considering Kalungi for a marketing engagement, Mr. Parrish concluded, “They have a speed to market that’s remarkable. We were able to establish a solid marketing foundation in six months. Left to our own devices, that would have taken us a year or more. So, if you want a great solution and are willing to pay for a great solution, I would absolutely recommend Kalungi.”
 
Other Patch executives were equally effusive. COO Luke Gordon started, “I feel Kalungi was an advocate for our organization. Their whole approach was to serve and make my job easier. It’s an honest company with an intention to help.”
 
Patch CFO Steve Russell said, “Our relationship with Kalungi was fantastic. Their support and guidance helped us establish a strong foundation for moving forward. Their team was consistently helpful, answering our questions and leading us in the right direction. The expertise they brought in setting up our systems, including the transition to HubSpot and optimizing our lead funnels, made scaling our business much easier. We truly appreciate everything they did.”
 
COO Luke Gordon had this to say, “I greatly appreciate the phenomenal job Kalungi did in establishing a solid framework for our business. Their well-defined processes and comprehensive playbooks were instrumental in propelling us closer to our goals and enabling us to make significant progress.”