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Conversation
Highlights
In this episode of The Marketing Front Lines, we speak with Verena Gerhardus, Director of Growth at Nelly, a B2B health tech company revolutionizing the patient journey for medical practices. Since joining pre-Series A, Verena has helped scale Nelly from 30 to 100 employees while building a high-performing marketing organization focused on efficient growth. Through their digital platform that streamlines everything from patient intake to billing, Nelly is helping medical practices reduce bureaucracy, improve patient experience, and generate more revenue.
Topics Discussed:
- Transitioning marketing strategy from early-stage to growth-stage startup
- Balancing performance marketing with brand building in B2B health tech
- Leveraging Meta ads effectively in a traditionally conservative industry
- Building a referral engine through social proof in healthcare
- Developing strategic partnerships for sustainable growth
- Implementing product-led growth in a complex B2B environment
Actionable
Takeaways
Optimize Channel Strategy Through Rapid Testing and Focus:
Unlike conventional wisdom about multi-channel marketing, Nelly found success by quickly identifying and doubling down on their most effective channels - Meta ads and referrals. Rather than maintaining underperforming channels for the sake of diversity, they reallocated resources to proven winners. This approach led to hitting revenue targets ahead of schedule and maintaining efficient customer acquisition costs.
Build Trust Through Technical Partnerships and Integration:
Nelly discovered that their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) was heavily influenced by technical integration capabilities with existing practice management systems. Rather than focusing solely on demographic or firmographic data, they prioritized partnerships and customer targeting based on technical compatibility. This insight transformed their partnership strategy from a supplementary channel into a core growth driver.
Leverage Competitive Intelligence for Rapid Campaign Execution:
When receiving intelligence about competitor pricing and customer service issues, Nelly's team demonstrated exceptional agility by quickly developing and deploying targeted campaign creative through Canva and Figma. This rapid response approach, combined with their existing Meta ads infrastructure, allowed them to capitalize on market opportunities in real-time and achieve monthly targets ahead of schedule.
Structure Growth Teams for Scale:
Nelly's marketing organization evolved into three distinct departments: core marketing, presales, and partnerships. This structure enables specialized focus while maintaining alignment across the customer journey. Their emphasis on adding dedicated performance marketing and social media resources shows a clear understanding of where additional scale can drive growth.
Implement Product-Led Growth Strategically:
Rather than forcing PLG across their entire product line, Nelly is strategically implementing it for their basic subscription package. Their approach focuses on removing friction from the signup process while maintaining high security standards - crucial for their healthcare audience. This targeted PLG strategy allows them to experiment with self-serve motion while maintaining their high-touch sales approach for complex deployments.
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