What the engine delivered
The challenge
A PE-backed European CRM leader operating across 6+ countries was generating only 56 MQLs per month at €520 each. Over 90% of ad budget flowed into generic Google SEA — broad keywords like "crm" absorbed 43% of spend but produced only 27% of leads. There were zero lead magnets, no gated content, and marketing and sales operated in silos with 14 different lead phases and no shared MQL/SQL definition, creating a handoff black hole where leads disappeared.
Our approach
- Stretch embedded as ad-interim Growth Marketing Manager, owning the budget and targets end to end across six workstreams: validating ICP and repositioning messaging; diversifying into paid social on Meta, LinkedIn and Reddit plus a full Google SEA restructure; building a UTM and attribution layer with language-specific dashboards; establishing regional growth leads and in-house content; introducing lead scoring (fit × readiness) with differentiated follow-up flows; and designing every process and dashboard for a permanent hire to inherit. Over 300 ads were deployed and 11 gated resources, 9 email nurture flows, and CRO testing were launched across all 6 markets.
The result
Within three months of launching the rebuilt engine, monthly MQLs grew from 56 to 388 (+331%) with continuous month-over-month improvement. Monthly pipeline rose from €375K to €1.3M (+157%) while cost per MQL fell from €520 to €388 (−25%) — achieved by pruning €17K of dead keyword spend, expanding from 2 active paid channels to 6+, and building a content engine that generates leads independently. The full engine was documented and handed over ready for a permanent hire.
It wasn't one campaign or one tactic. It was the system: diversified channels, content that converts, marketing aligned with sales, and continuous experiments to find what scales.
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