In 2019, Budget Insight chose outsourced marketing to accelerate its growth.

Recently acquired by the U.S.-based growth equity fund PSG from the banking group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Budget Insight—now rebranded as Powens—was founded in 2012. This open banking pioneer supports 250 clients in France and across Europe in transforming financial services. It provides open banking and open finance technologies to both banks and startups, enabling them to create greater value for financial services users and unlock new growth potential.

Powens (ex Budget Insight) needed comprehensive support, from positioning strategy to operational marketing, to meet its ambitious growth objectives, expand across Europe, and prepare for a new round of funding.

The priorities of the shared marketing team were clear and numerous:

• Clarifying the company’s positioning;
• Crafting a compelling Value Proposal, and differentiating attractive key messaging;
• Establishing marketing fundamentals in “commando” mode to catch up with competitors;
• Upgrading the visual identity to reflect the company’s positioning and ambitions;
• Redesigning the website as both an expertise showcase and a lead generation tool, with use cases by sector;
• Redefining sales messaging and creating sales support materials tailored to market needs;
• Developing customer success stories to provide proof of the value proposition, highlight client success, and attract new prospects;
• Structuring a lead generation strategy through targeted campaigns and events;
• Launching inbound marketing campaigns to build thought leadership, create high-value content, and generate qualified leads;
• Leveraging social media to enhance visibility, boost employer branding, and support recruitment efforts;

Building a presence within the Fintech ecosystem to establish Powens (ex Budget Insight) as a key player, through partnerships with associations and top-tier journalists.

“Budget Insight is a tech company. Marketing wasn’t initially embedded in our DNA. We needed both marketing expertise, a deep understanding of our ecosystem, and an agile approach suited to our company’s size and hyper-growth strategy. Abiléo’s outsourced marketing model checked all the boxes.

Abiléo’s primary mission was to define our positioning and value proposition, adopt a more distinctive visual and graphic identity aligned with the financial services sector, and increase our visibility in a highly competitive market.

This work led to the redesign of our website and sales materials, highlighting our use cases and client success stories. Producing high-quality content and amplifying it on social media allowed us to boost our visibility and close the gap with other industry players.” N.R, Chief Commercial Officer, Powens.

B2B Marketing outsourcing in France

In 2021, SafetyCulture decided to outsource its French marketing activities to Abiléo to define and ensure the success it’s go to market strategy and launch of its flagship product in France. 

SafetyCulture is a global technology company, that puts the power of continuous improvement into everyone’s hands. Its operations platform unlocks the power of observation at scale, giving leaders visibility and workers a voice in driving quality, efficiency and safety improvements. More than 65,000 customers such as Cole, JetBlue, Mars, Accor, ArcelorMittal, Renault, Safran, Schneider Electric, use its flagship products, to perform checks, train staff, report issues, automate tasks and communicate fluidly. Its operations platform is helping teams in every industry to get better everyday. 

SafetyCulture was looking for a marketing partner to collaborate on its French go to market strategy, raise brand awareness, boost lead generation and make its flagship product launch a success in France.  

Top priorities for the outsourced marketing agency were the following:  

• Build brand equity in France,  
• Deliver end-to-end French customer experience 
• Develop high quality MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) 
• Improve conversion rate of MQL to opportunity,  
• Boost website conversion 

“In July 2021 we decided to hire a consulting firm to find the right partner to support our international expansion on the French market. We didn’t know the appropriate tactics and the channels to use to succeed in France and we needed strategic support to steer us. We were looking for an outsourced marketing agency to work with us on our go to market strategy, help us to identify opportunities and build a profile of our potential buyers in France.  

Ideally a native agency with a deep understanding of the French market but also of the French nuances and cultural differences we needed to be aware of. We wanted to avoid a copy and paste job from our English marketing strategy. It was important to localize our marketing activities to optimize our French customers and prospects experience and maximize efficiency.” 

• Strategic support, 
• Native French agency, understanding of French market & culture specificities 
• Market experience,  
• Diverse range of marketing skills 
• Proof of success, work done with other companies 
• Marketing plan proposal: diverse range of tactics that really answered our challenges. 
• Took the time to understand who we are 

As a new player in a market dominated by established competitors, ACT Group France needed to build both awareness and credibility. From marketing positioning to implementing a lead-generating marketing plan, Abiléo became the sparring partner behind this successful acceleration. 

ACT Group France has been supporting the energy transformation of French companies since 2019. A subsidiary of ACT Group, a global leader in environmental products (CO2 emissions, renewable energies, biofuels, energy efficiency), it was launched by David Maarek, Managing Director France, to provide the French market with an impactful B2B energy performance partner with deep expertise in Energy Savings Certificates (ESC). After securing key references, David decided it was time to take things to the next level. 

Increasing visibility was crucial to reassure prospects when dealing with high-stakes projects. At the end of 2022, David selected Abiléo, a marketing consulting agency, to guide him. After 18 months of collaboration on both strategy and operations, David shares his experience: 

Challenge 1 : Defining the Value Proposition and Key Differentiators for ACT Group France

ACT Group France faced a dual challenge: 

• Building its reputation and differentiation as a new player in a mature market dominated by competitors that are subsidiaries of large French groups (EDF, Engie, etc.). 

• Defining a relevant value proposition for the French market, as its energy efficiency offering differs from the group’s core trading business. 

To clarify the value proposition and differentiation factors, Abiléo conducted a comprehensive diagnosis: 

• Client and partner interviews helped identify customer profiles, their expectations, and barriers to purchase while testing the potential for new offers as the subsidiary aimed to expand its offering. 

• A sector- and persona-based approach allowed Abiléo to identify the most promising market segments and structure the marketing prospecting strategy by target market. 

• Competitive analysis in a highly fluctuating market helped determine which differentiation factors were already claimed by competitors and which ACT Group France could legitimately adopt. Abiléo proposed positioning alternatives inspired by the Blue Ocean Strategy and developed the final positioning through collaborative intelligence workshops with sales managers, the French executive team, and the group’s Marketing Communication department. 

Challenge 2: Launching a Marketing Approach in France While Aligning with the Centralised Marketing and Communication Guidelines from the Netherlands

Abiléo made a point of collaborating with experts in each field in France and the Group’s Marketing and Communication department at every stage of the project. 

Thanks to their international experience, Abiléo’s consultants communicate fluently in both French and English, facilitating interaction with multicultural teams. They led co-construction workshops in English, bringing together teams from France and the headquarters in the Netherlands. Each positioning concept was carefully contextualised to ensure smooth interaction with non-French-speaking colleagues and facilitate decision-making at every step. 

As branding experts, Abiléo ensured that all work complied with the corporate guidelines for brand identity and visual standards. 

Challenge N°3 : Installer une démarche marketing avec un fort retour sur investissement pour les commerciaux

ACT Group France already had a highly effective structure for prospecting and responding to tenders, with excellent technical expertise in addressing client challenges. Defining a marketing action plan required building on internal expertise while delivering tangible value and quick wins for the sales teams. Commercial ROI was an essential KPI to ensure buy-in for the marketing approach. 

During the audit and positioning definition phase, Abiléo organised short, two-hour co-construction sessions to develop key messaging and positioning elements. Sales teams were involved in every step of the marketing process. 

For operational marketing, sales representatives participated in selecting actions and implementing them, and were regularly highlighted on social media. The marketing action plan was executed with agility, focusing on: 

• Quick activation of trade show presence for the year (SIMI, MIPIM, SantéExpo, USH, Renodays, etc.) 
• Creating market-specific content 
• Boosting LinkedIn presence