How do you build greater brand awareness when trying to expand your presence within a market? And how do you do it while getting the best return on your investment?
UK-based Zengenti, creators of the Contensis, an enterprise headless CMS with an integrated deployment platform. Contensis powers websites for world-leading organisations across various industries, such as higher education, local government, and the private sector. Rich in experience, the company was ready to grow in 2022 and set its sights on expansion in the private sector.
To better reach untapped markets, Zengenti needed new tools to get their product, Contensis, and satisfied customer voices in front of new prospects.
“With clients in the public sector, we are a recognised CMS; however, in the private sector, it’s a totally different ball game,” explains Liv Turner, Campaign Manager. “We’re very experienced in what we do, but we needed to make sure we were getting in front of the right people to build greater brand awareness in a saturated market and do so with a smaller marketing budget compared to many of our competitors who are not privately owned in the same way we are.”
In October 2022, Zengenti connected with G2 to help expand its presence outside owned channels. Their goal was to boost awareness and build social proof, and they were particularly interested in leveraging G2 Badges to showcase Contensis’ performance relative to competitors.
“We saw other SaaS companies promoting their G2 badges on their websites, social media, and beyond and we thought, ‘What are we missing out on here?’” says Turner, who knew how powerful leveraging social proof in their marketing programs could be.
They were missing out on a lot because visitors who see a G2 Badge are more likely to trust the product and convert into a sale.
“The first thing I do before I book a holiday is go to Tripadvisor to compare and contrast hotels to find the best deal and fit. G2 is like the Tripadvisor of the SaaS world", Turner shared, "so it seemed obvious to me that it was essential to reach our growing customer base.”
A G2 Badge is automatically generated if your product is a top performer in a G2 Market Report and Zengenti was on a mission to earn their own, as well as ask their Contensis community to write real product reviews that would inspire new prospects in the private sector.
Turner and the team set a goal to obtain quarterly G2 badges and receive 50 reviews within the first year of working with G2. Those reviews are priceless because more than 90 million people annually — including employees at all of the Fortune 500 companies — use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews.
Other goals included:
Zengenti used smart review generation tactics beyond the G2 platform to capture the voice of their customers, including personal outreach and support email follow-ups, but the most successful tactic was a recent in-person event, they say.
“The most exciting and impactful moment for review generation was at an event we hosted in London. We set up our laptops at one of the event tables and asked clients to write reviews on the spot. We had massive success with that,” says Liv Turner, Marketing Campaign Manager, who noted they also captured a video review that “elevates their profile.”
At the event, each attendee had a QR code on the back of their name tag that took them to a landing page asking them to leave a review. This personalised touch resonated with their audience, and to date, has been the most effective way to generate reviews.
The Zengenti team also notes that G2 Compare Reports that feature a side-by-side comparison of up to four competing products based on satisfaction ratings and highlight the leading product for each metric are “getting us in front of new people and in places where we probably weren’t appearing before.”
In a year, Zengenti met or exceeded all of the goals they set when partnering with G2!
Zengenti captured 54 reviews highlighting the voices of their customers in the last 12 months alone, with about half of them originating from their in-person event efforts. In total, they have 62 reviews with a 4.4 Average Review Score.
Since launching with G2, Contensis has earned multiple badges of its own to promote on its website, social media, sales decks, and marketing presentations—33 to be precise.
“We’re also thrilled to have been awarded a ‘users love us badge’ in the Digital Experience platforms, Headless CMS, and Web Content Management Software categories,” Turner says.
Additionally, Contensis has been featured in 52 reports across WCMS since Winter 2023 and, more recently, 22 reports from Spring 2024 in the Headless CMS category. Very recently, Contensis earned a spot in the Leader quadrant of the enterprise segment in both WCMS and Headless CMS categories.
“We smashed our goals with G2!,” Turner shares. “The G2 reviews, comparison reports and badges are building our brand awareness as a supplier that people trust and a product that people know they're getting good value for their money. We’re excited for what’s next with G2 as we continue to grow.”
The Zengenti team continues to leverage the knowledge of their G2 account managers who, they say, are always exposing them to new ideas, strategies, and ways to use G2 to optimise sales. One of those strategies is Monty for Sales, a new AI selling assistant. Armed with the organisation's enablement content, Monty quickly learns the ropes and communicates effortlessly with potential customers, resulting in a surge in demand and empowering Sales Teams to achieve more in less time. “It’s really early days, but we are curious and eager to see how it goes,” says Turner.
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