How FreshBooks reaches more small businesess

Dummy text: Using our features integration, this e-commerce business is able to quickly broaden their motivational content offering.

FreshBooks is an all-in-one accounting and invoicing tool for small business owners. Built-in 2003 after he accidentally saved over an invoice, Mike McDerment spent the first 3.5 years growing FreshBooks from his parents’ basement. Since then, over 24 million people have used it to save time billing, and to collect billions of dollars. It’s grown to become the #1 cloud accounting solution designed exclusively for small business owners.

Their problem:
Not reaching customers

The FreshBooks team wanted to get their story out to more potential customers, so they turned to journalists and traditional PR. After they didn’t get the traction they hoped for, they decided to try podcast tours. They already had an in-house team who were charged with paying for ad spots on certain shows, so they weren’t strangers to the podcast world.  They knew that podcasting sponsorships worked, and wanted to see if they could tell the FreshBooks story from behind the guest seat.

Our Solutions:

So Lindsay, Director of Communications & Community, got to work finding the right shows, and pitching Mike to be a guest on them. Because she wanted to do things the right way, this took time. She knew how much hosts and producers put into their shows, and wanted to respect them - not spam them. This meant finding shows where Mike could actually bring value to the listeners, and crafting each pitch to be personal and thoughtful. Her work started paying off, but she realized it wasn’t sustainable to keep doing things the way they were. Instead, she wanted to find a way to do more personal, thoughtful, brand-building outreach - but with limited in-house resources.

FreshBooks tried a traditional PR agency, but quickly realized what they were getting was a shallow, 1 size fits all approach, rather than a unique relationship-based approach.

“When I did try to work with our traditional agency, I realized quickly there was a difference. You need expertise in this space. Podcasting is its own unique channel, and we really wanted someone who knew podcasts inside and out.”
Lindsay Lapchuk
Director of Communication

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