Click With Me Now’s Unfair Advantage
May 6, 2013 by Mike Behr
When the boss’ son becomes the next CEO of the company, they call that nepotism. When the co-founder of a startup also owns a proven brand-engagement agency, they call that good planning.
Three years ago, GRA | MATR worked closely with a health insurance company to launch the first online only Medicare Supplement insurance company. But in undertaking this engagement, we discovered a void in the market. Seniors were hesitant to purchase Medicare online without getting a second opinion from a friend or loved one first. We were sure some tool must exist that would allow users to simply share their browser screen and communicate with a trusted third-party, but shockingly we found nothing of the sort. So we knew we had to build it.
A year later, GRA | MATR’s founder and CEO along with yours truly and a third partner in Silicon Valley launched a new company. We called it Click With Me Now, a one-click, no-download, web co-browsing technology platform that was quickly accepted into a St. Louis tech accelerator program. Just 16 months after its formation, Click With Me Now has closed a round of angel funding, appeared at DEMO 2012, participated as a finalist in South by Southwest’s Accelerator Program, has been called a must-have app by Fox Business News, Inc.com, Mashable, and the St. Louis and San Jose Business Journals, and received demo requests and website visits from 98 different countries.
So how did a start up brand go from obscurity to a worldwide fan base, with a healthy slew of investors and leads? They cheated.
Working with GRA | MATR gave Click an incredibly unfair advantage. Any strong brand starts with a great product or service that people want or need, and Click has a simple, intuitive solution that everyone wants but didn’t even know they were missing. The main problem is that a lot of early stage tech companies develop their products and then try to go to market. It’s too hard to divide your focus. You’re so busy trying to create something viable that it’s nearly impossible to split your efforts and develop a concrete marketing plan.
Our team at GRA | MATR, using its proprietary and proven methodology, was able to help Click develop their brand and then deliver the right content to the right audiences at the right time. In essence, we matched our marketing efforts to the product’s development cycle, funding needs, and how aggressively Click wanted to build awareness.
In the early stages, the GRA | MATR team helped Click establish their brand identity, website, and presentation materials geared towards fundraising. But as the Click team rolled out demos and prepared for DEMO and SXSW, it was incredibly helpful to have a team of marketers that could build buzz and awareness. GRA | MATR helped structure social media engagement, developed and implemented a search marketing campaign, and advised Click on branded swag for the event. At the conference, the GRA | MATR team actively promoted Click by utilizing a street team, who handing out branded chotchkies, and by live tweeting at events where Click was participating, all resulting in positive buzz among the participants. Using targeted advertising, GRA | MATR created a pervasive presence for Click such that people actively approached the team and said they “had to meet us because we were everywhere.”
There’s a lot more to a successful marketing campaign than just a Facebook page and an ad, but the nature of running tech startups makes it difficult to achieve those aims without a solid partner. Working with GRA | MATR from the beginning allowed Click to cement its brand, and the tactical support created a huge buzz for the company, while the team focused its efforts on development and fundraising. These efforts have resulted in a slew of leads and great press, which will be instrumental as the product launches this fall and Click With Me Now aggressively goes to market. As a member of both teams, I can honestly say that without GRA | MATR behind the scenes, there’s no guarantee Click would be where it is today.
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