Quick Return on Investment: How Netkodo Acquired 3 Key Partners in Half a Year?
In just 6 months, Netkodo acquired 3 strategic, long-term business partners for white-label cooperation. They achieved a full return on acquisition costs after completing just the first project for each partner.
This success was made possible by implementing a precisely targeted communication strategy and consistent Account-Based Marketing (ABM) activities on LinkedIn.
About the Client
Netkodo is a specialized software house that focuses its expertise on the Shopify e-commerce platform.
The company delivers advanced technological solutions, including building dedicated online stores from scratch, executing complex system migrations, and developing custom applications and integrations for Shopify.
Netkodo's business model rests on two pillars: providing services directly to medium and large e-commerce stores and engaging in strategic white-label collaborations with digital marketing and e-commerce agencies. In this latter model, Netkodo acts as an invisible technological partner to agencies, carrying out advanced Shopify projects for their end clients.
Before partnering with the marketing agency, Netkodo relied almost exclusively on a single client acquired through previous activities.
Challenge
Netkodo faced a series of strategic business challenges that significantly limited the company's growth potential:
Stagnation in business development
The lack of proactive marketing and sales activities resulted in almost complete dependence on one client. This situation generated high business risk due to the lack of revenue stream diversification and prevented scaling operations.
Untapped market potential
Despite having valuable competencies in the dynamically growing Shopify ecosystem, the company was unable to effectively reach its potential target groups – both agencies seeking technology partners and stores needing support. The existing market potential remained unexploited.
Ineffective value communication
The existing website and communication materials did not reflect the actual scope and quality of Netkodo's services. The offer was presented in an unclear manner, and the technical language was incomprehensible to the business audience. This constituted a significant barrier in the process of generating inquiries and building credibility.
Lack of a defined market strategy
The company's activities were not based on clearly defined target groups or a consistent communication strategy. This led to scattered efforts and a lack of measurable results. Netkodo representatives themselves accurately summarized the initial situation by stating: "it couldn't be worse, because they weren't doing anything," which illustrates the scale of the challenges.
Limited online visibility
The lack of systematic activity in key B2B communication channels, especially on the LinkedIn platform, prevented the building of brand awareness and expert position. The company owner's profile remained inactive.
Technological and analytical barriers
The company struggled with the so-called "technical debt" in the area of its online presence and encountered difficulties in properly collecting and analyzing data regarding website traffic (Google Analytics problems), which hindered data-driven decision-making.
Business goals
In response to the identified challenges, the following strategic business goals for cooperation were defined:
Diversification and ensuring revenue stability
Acquisition of new, regular clients from two key segments – digital/e-commerce agencies (in a white label model) and direct e-commerce stores – in order to minimize business risk and build a stable, predictable revenue stream.
Launching an effective lead generation process
Creation and implementation of a systematic process for acquiring qualified leads, i.e., valuable inquiries from companies genuinely interested in Netkodo's services and fitting the defined ideal client profile.
Revenue and profitability growth
The direct goal was to translate marketing and sales activities into measurable revenue growth by signing new, profitable contracts for ongoing cooperation.
Building market position
Establishing Netkodo's position as a recognizable, reliable, and leading expert in Shopify solutions on the European market, which long-term supports sales processes and builds brand value.
Increasing brand visibility in key channels
Significant strengthening of the company's online presence, especially on the LinkedIn platform, perceived as a strategic channel for reaching B2B decision-makers.
Our actions (Implementation of the chosen strategy)
The implemented strategy included comprehensive actions on several levels, from strategic foundations to tactical execution:
Analytical-strategic phase
Deep business analysis
A detailed analysis of Netkodo's business model, their unique selling proposition (USP), past challenges, and market potential was carried out.
Precise definition of the Ideal Client
Profiles of companies constituting the most promising target groups were identified and characterized in detail. For agencies, criteria such as size (by number of employees) and location (specific countries where we started communication) were defined. The defined ICP was a fundamental strategic tool, allowing marketing and sales activities to be concentrated on the most promising market segments.
Building marketing foundations
Development of a content marketing strategy
A communication plan was created, aiming to systematically build Netkodo's image as an expert and provider of advanced Shopify solutions. Content marketing in this context meant creating and distributing valuable, substantive content (e.g., analyses, guides, case studies) to attract the attention of potential clients and build their trust.
Production of key marketing materials:
Resources necessary for effective activities were created:
Case Studies: 2-3 detailed descriptions of completed projects were developed. These served as key "proof of experience," tangibly demonstrating Netkodo's competencies and results.
Content for social media: Regular creation of engaging content for company profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook began, including news from the Shopify ecosystem, practical tips, and industry insights.
Online presence optimization: A thorough redesign of the company's website structure and content was planned. New subpages were intended not only to better communicate the offer but also to be optimized for SEO search engines to increase organic traffic, and for conversion to more effectively convert visitors into potential clients. Concurrently, work began on eliminating the identified "technical debt."
Implementation of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaign on LinkedIn
The main emphasis was placed on the ABM strategy, which in a B2B context means concentrating marketing and sales resources on a precisely selected group of the most valuable potential clients. The execution channel was the LinkedIn platform:
Selective research and account identification
A remarkably careful, manual process of market research and identification of potential partner agencies in Europe that perfectly matched the defined ICP profile was carried out. Deliberately, mass activities were forgone in favor of qualitative selection, analyzing each company individually.
Reaching key decision-makers
Within the selected companies, individuals holding strategic decision-making positions were identified.
Personalized outreach
Contact was initiated via the LinkedIn platform, sending carefully prepared, personalized messages to identified decision-makers. This process was supported by automation tools (Expandi) for effective campaign management, however, the key element remained the personalization of the message, supervised by the agency.
Testing and optimization of communication
Systematic A/B tests of different message variants were conducted – comparing, for example, a more educational approach with a direct presentation of a white label cooperation proposal. The tests allowed for identifying the most effective messages, indicating higher effectiveness of a specific approach within the target group.
Utilization of content as sales support
Previously created case studies were actively used in communication as evidence confirming Netkodo's competencies and past successes.
Building a professional network and image
Concurrently, activities aimed at strategically expanding the company owner's contact network on LinkedIn to include valuable industry individuals were carried out, and expert content was published on his behalf, strengthening his personal brand and position as an opinion leader.
The applied strategy, based on showcasing industry expertise and creating content tailored to the recipient, brought concrete and measurable results within 6 months from the start of cooperation:
Before
Dependence on 1 client
Lack of revenue diversification
Limited online visibility
After
3 new strategic partners
Financial security
Increased brand awareness
Acquisition of key strategic partners
Permanent cooperation was established with 3 new agencies that perfectly matched the client profile for white label cooperation. These were companies looking for a long-term technology partner.
Break-even point
At the beginning of cooperation, Netkodo did not conduct any marketing activities, but after 6 months, a break-even point occurred, where marketing activities fully paid off thanks to the acquisition of three key partners for long-term collaborations. A key success indicator is the fact that the estimated revenue generated by the first project carried out for a newly acquired client covered the cost of its acquisition.
Effectiveness of LinkedIn campaigns
The conducted outreach campaigns on LinkedIn were characterized by invitation acceptance rates and response rates significantly exceeding average benchmarks for the IT industry. This confirms the validity of the adopted strategy based on precise targeting and deep personalization.
Growth of the company's intangible capital
Building a valuable network of contacts
The LinkedIn profile of the company owner was enriched with hundreds of valuable, carefully selected contacts from key companies and target markets.
Strengthening the expert image
Systematic content activities and LinkedIn activity contributed to building and consolidating the perception of Netkodo as a reliable specialist in the field of Shopify.
Optimization of marketing activities
Based on the analysis of effectiveness, it was recommended to abandon previously ineffective channels (such as Google Ads), which allowed for a more efficient allocation of the marketing budget. Key work on modernizing the website and analytical infrastructure was also initiated.
The experience of cooperating with Netkodo provides several important conclusions of strategic significance for B2B companies aiming for growth:
Precision instead of scale in B2B In the B2B environment, especially when selling complex services, focused strategies such as Account-Based Marketing, based on in-depth customer understanding and personalization, bring significantly better results than mass activities. The key is the quality of interactions, not their quantity.
Content marketing as an essential element of sales Valuable content, and in particular detailed case studies, are the foundation for building trust and providing proof of competence, necessary to convince demanding business clients.
Strategic role of Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) definition Precisely defining who our ideal client is allows for the optimization of all marketing and sales activities, significantly increasing their effectiveness and reducing resource waste.
Priority on measurability and return on investment (ROI) Making marketing decisions based on data and key performance indicators (KPIs), such as Customer Acquisition Cost (CPA) and Return on Investment (ROI), is essential for building a profitable and scalable business.
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