Case Study
Rybbon, a Blackhawk Network business
Ariad Partners served as Rybbon's marketing team, increasing leads by more than 265% within the first eight months and ranking 25 of Rybbon's goal keywords in the top 10 within the first year. Rybbon was acquired by Blackhawk Network in August 2021. Rybbon is a digital platform for global delivery of digital gift cards and virtual Visa and Mastercard cards by email, and its e-gift card, incentive, and rewards programs are used by sales and marketing teams for both customers and employees.
The challenge
As a VC-funded startup, Rybbon wanted to accelerate its growth quickly. Without an internal marketing team, it needed an agency that could execute and own project management for every piece of its multi-channel campaigns, run partner marketing campaigns, and set up a referral partner program. Rybbon also needed Marketo expertise to handle complex workflows and its tech stack. The goals: more qualified leads, more conversions, and stronger brand awareness, particularly in the partner ecosystem.
The solution
Rybbon's CEO was a 20-year marketing veteran with enterprise CMO experience and had already completed the go-to-market strategy. That let Ariad Partners skip the initial research phase and go straight to execution:
- Created and launched multi-channel campaigns at a rate of one to two per month, including SEO-optimized content, social media, online PR, and guest blogging.
- Managed and executed all partner events, including Qualtrics and TMRE, from booth design and promotional campaigns to staffing the booth.
- Completed a full SEO audit and began optimizing the site for search, plus a CRO audit of the website and workflows with changes to improve the conversion rate.
- Took over PPC from another agency about six to twelve months into the relationship.
The results
Within the first eight months, Rybbon increased leads by more than 265%. In the first year, 25 of Rybbon's goal keywords ranked in the top 10 and 38 ranked in the top 20. In August 2021, Rybbon was acquired by Blackhawk Network.
"Ariad helped us successfully execute our campaigns. The team is responsive, collaborative and always comes with a can-do attitude. A key benefit for us has been that we get on-demand access to a variety of marketing specialists."
What this means for your business
Rybbon's results came from the same system Ariad Partners builds for SMBs today: content that answers real buyer questions, SEO and visibility work that puts it in front of them, and connected marketing automation that turns interest into tracked pipeline. If you need a full marketing team without hiring one, our inbound marketing programs start with the same playbook.
