Startup acceleration is a cohort-based program consisting of mentorship, educational, and financial components, which are mostly applicable for early-stage, growth-driven companies. The most valuable activity provided by startup accelerators is marketing support, which frequently includes core elements of digital marketing: web development, demand generation, and lead nurturing.

In the third quarter of 2019, I joined the digital marketing team of Key Group Investment Fund. It was founded in 2009 to look for gifted entrepreneurs and implement their ambitious intentions to create successful businesses. Nowadays, Key Group provides the full range of Internet marketing services as a means of promotion of products and services, including SEO, SMM, search advertising placing and maintenance, market analysis, market spending optimization, and online brand reputation management. My top priority was getting the best outcomes for their clients while spending as little as possible.

One of the most recognizable and well-known projects of Key Group is GetTransfer.com – a global P2P transfer bookings and chauffeured car rentals online service, which has over 2 million customers who order transfers through their website at the best prices.

By developing and implementing the best-in-class demand generation strategy based on a combination of paid search, display, and paid social, I was able to deliver over 150,000 transfer requests with an average cost per action of less than $8. At the same time, such an approach had boosted ROI from -60% to +225% in an 8 month period. It is a must to mention that the whole transportation and tourism industry was negatively affected in 2020 - and in some cases nearly destroyed - by the world-wide coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to the main marketing activity of GetTrasfer.com, which was focused on retail clients, I have developed the global digital marketing strategy to promote GetTransfer.com for Business - the ultimate enterprise ground and air transportation solution. As part of that strategy, Andrey Palagin has carried out several market research studies, created marketing personas, identified all the members of the buying center, and detailed the digital marketing mix based on effective b2b marketing communication.

GetBoat.com is another famous project supported by Key Group, designed for yachting and sailing enthusiasts. This peer to peer platform allows chartering or purchasing of luxury boats and yachts around the world on the finest terms. To increase the quality of leads generated by paid traffic, I determined the most valuable markets, set ideal customer profiles, and incorporated several well-targeted SEM and paid social tactics. As an outcome, the average conversion rate increased to 12%, GetBoat.com has started receiving over 1,000 yacht rental and purchase requests per month, which are usually transformed by its sales team into 25-50 deals.

GetRentacar.com is a US-based peer to peer car rental service, which nearly crashed in February 2020 and revived in May. To boost the digital marketing performance of its website, I have allocated all available resources to a few selected markets with developed domestic tourism. The car booking algorithm has been remodeled completely. Since the website was not capable of generating the required quantity of bookings, the additional lead generation via social media tactic was used. In the long run, by September 2020 GetRentacar.com has started generating over a hundred car bookings a month with CPA < $15.

A less popular, highly specialized project managed by Key Group is GetCar.ru - a Russian market-oriented service that helps taxi drivers lease cars to do their job. By taking into account the marketing budget limitations of GetCar.ru, its customer profile, and actual severe economic consequences, I executed an intent-based marketing approach based on Search Engine Marketing and re-targeting, which has helped to overachieve the quantitative and qualitative goals of the aforementioned client.

To summarize, as a part of an innovative startup accelerator team, while being responsible for demand generation management, I demonstrated magnificent results that boosted the digital marketing performance of each account and secured the ROI at a positive level during the crisis of the tourism industry.

Demand generation is an essential part of any go-to-market strategy, which could be defined as an action plan that specifies how a company will reach the target audience and achieve a competitive advantage. The purpose of such a strategy is to provide a blueprint for delivering a product to the end-users. Pricing and distribution should be taken into account as well. In the software industry, a go-to-market strategy is somewhat similar to a business plan, although the latter is broader in scope and considers factors such as funding.

In the mid of 2017, I joined the BCL Technologies team. This Silicon Valley-based company develops document creation, conversion, and extraction solutions that are used to automate a wide variety of manual processes while saving time, increasing productivity and profitability.

The company is supported by the US government and has already developed proprietary technologies through research sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Advanced Technology Program (ATP). These technologies assist in commercializing digital library research from NASA, NSF and DARPA.

As a digital marketing professional, I was accountable for BCL's online products (pdfonline.com) and SDK promotion.

BCL easyPDF SDK is a powerful PDF Programming Toolkit designed specifically to help programmers develop and maintain PDF server and PDF desktop applications. It is developed from the ground up to fit well in an environment where programmability, quality, speed, and reliability are of the utmost importance.

The ultimate digital go-to-market strategy based on organic and paid search channels has delivered additional traffic to the website. As a result, it raised the number of download leads for SDK by 42.88%. As part of the strategy, in 6 months my team developed over 30 different web assets, published over a hundred articles, and conducted 10+ digital marketing campaigns that have increased the performance of SEM by 368.79%. CPC was reduced by 60.25%.

A unique approach was used to generate organic traffic. We leveraged modern SEO and content syndication techniques combined into solid digital PR tactics. Therefore, search engines appreciate PFDOnline.com as an important tool and source of information for PDF developers. For a long period of time, the site was ranked #1 for such queries as PDF SDK, PDF API, and online converter.

BCL has gained several competitive advantages, including brand awareness and over 2M visitors on the website per month. It has signed several long-term contracts with well-known companies such as Adobe, Prompt, Sony, Abbott Laboratories, etc.

SDK and online cloud products have become the main source and stable of income of BCL Technologies.

Another Silicon Valley-based company, a well-known RPA industry leader - Automation Anywhere Inc. (AAI) had made me an offer to join their demand generation team in November 2018. The biggest marketing challenge for me was to develop a go-to-market strategy for the new Robotic Process Automation Platform and to create a stable flow of leads via their website.

The new platform's strategy was based on paid search as the main channel and used on social media together with display campaigns. Within 4 months after the launch date, it delivered over 27,500 sign-ups with a Cost Per Lead at less than $50.

As an additional effort, and the main one to getting Marketing Qualified Leads faster, my team used a new approach to implement SEM campaigns in the cognitive automation solution. Global SEM campaigns were designed to engage business users who were interested in a particular solution (provided by the company) and convert them into MQL in fewer efforts. As of now, this campaign generates more than 350 leads per month on search engines with a CPA under $150.

As a general result of our joint efforts, AAI website's audience has increased by 389.88%. Furthermore, digital marketing channels have generated over 2,730 MQLs globally (vs. 1,988 MQLs that was planned).

Residential Investment Management is the handling of financial assets and the daily oversight of residential real estate by a third-party contractor, who takes responsibility for sales, marketing, maintenance and upkeep of properties. This process also includes devising a short- or long-term strategy for acquiring and disposing of real estate portfolio holdings for both individual and corporate clients.

CBRE was the first international real estate consulting firm to be established in Bangkok. Since opening in June 1988, we have grown to be the market leader in real estate services in Thailand. By the end of 2013, it has approximately 800 property professionals, enabling the firm to provide strategic advice and execution for sales and leasing for all types of property, property and project management, valuation and advisory, and research and consulting.

CBRE Thailand’s new project marketing team provides professional advice for developers. It provides fully integrated services for project marketing including design consultancy, marketing consultancy and sales management for new projects. With an extensive database of residential purchasers and investors and our in-depth market knowledge, CBRE has proven to be the market leader in residential project marketing in Thailand.

CBRE assists buyers in sourcing residential properties based on their specific requirements and budget. We advise purchasers on the location and details of each property. Our team discusses the requirements of each client and comes up with a choice of properties to view before taking clients on property inspections, advising them on the terms and conditions of purchase, and concluding the transactions.

Andrey Palagin's main achievements include: more than 1250 residential investment deals were closed with a total volume more than 100 million USD; an effective European and Russian investor relationship system created, the percentage of successful real estate deals increased threefold; the company has penetrated to Russian investor-oriented market and received a perceptible income increase.

Sales volume vs. CPS (THB)

In February 2012 following an incredible 12 months of sales at The Palm, CB Richard Ellis, Thailand’s most successful property consulting agency had their contracts extended a further 12 months by the Developers at The Palm. CBRE re-entered the Pattaya market after a few years away with The Palm as their first development in December 2011. Since then, they have successfully sold 75% of The Palm, over 2 Billion Thai Baht’s worth of sales totalling 421 units.

Two high-rise towers of the project The Palm Wongamat Beach Pattaya Condominium is the embodiment of style, luxury and prestige. Located on the seafront, the project has a private beach, a multilevel infinity edge swimming pool and large private balconies, each offering a breathtaking sea view. Partial furnishing, complex of public services and an atmosphere of privacy make this project an excellent choice, both for those who want to buy a private residence and those who want to invest.

The Palm boasts exciting facilities that you would expect from a 5-star development. Designer Salas to relax in can be found around the landscaped gardens as well as a large featured overhanging roof terrace directly above the pool bar. An extensive fitness center, a clubhouse, children’s play area, multi-areas for relaxation and a resort designed open lobby, all make for an exquisite welcoming atmosphere to enjoy.

Most recently they secured 5 awards at The Thailand Property Awards and have expanded their interests in Pattaya further with 3 high-profile projects. The continuing relationship between CBRE and The Palm is a testament to their mutually beneficial working relationship.

In 2007, the need to efficiently manage the increased own capital caused the bank to accelerate the development of one more strategic line of business – investment business. NVC LLC was renamed to B&N BANK Management Company. B&N BANK Managing Company expanded the range of services on the stock and financial markets, and the potential of this line was assessed by the bank with a very high results. In July B&N BANK Management Company received a perpetual license of FFMS of Russia to carry out activities of a professional securities market player for securities management.

B&N BANK Management Company Marketing in ’07-08 (RUB)

Andrey Palagin was responsible and developed the 3 years marketing strategy to launch the brand of B&N BANK Managing Company and to increase the portfolio for each hedge fund.

In October 2007 B&N BANK Moscow offices started selling units of the B&N BANK Managing Company. At the same time, the management company became the first asset management company registered as an index investment fund based on a specific industry in Russia. Its main assets were the shares that made up the industry index RTS Metals & Mining.

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B&N BANK is one of Russia’s largest commercial banks organized as an open joint-stock company under the laws of the Russian Federation. The bank demonstrates positive financial results, a high current level of liquidity and capitalization, steady market positions and stable mutual relations within a circle of corporate clients.

Deposits capture campaign (bn RUB)

In its business, the bank pays special attention to the satisfaction of its customers. Its team highly appreciates transparency and confidentiality in their relations. By launching and developing new products, B&N BANK makes cooperation more effective and comfortable.

During 2006-2010, the bank achieved impressive success in the individuals service sector, taking advantage of the great market potential and achievements in the development of a regional branch network. By the beginning of 2010, the number of active accounts of the bank’s private customers reached 500 thousand, and the volume of retail liabilities exceeded 44 billion rubles.

The success of the bank was ensured by an active policy on the market of private contributions, standardization of the product line and all the processes of conducting the deposits. 85.2 million rubles had been set aside in 2009 to promote time deposits, and only 68.5 million was spent. It became possible to increase the bank’s retail passive portfolio by more than 14.5 billion rubles.

B&N BANK’s achievements on the retail market were noted and acknowledged by independent experts, and the bank’s rankings increased throughout the year. Business Weekly, “The Money” placed B&N BANK in the 21st position among the thirty «top retail» banks and in the 27th position in the “Top Credit Banks” rating. “D-Shtrikh” magazine, in its issue for January 2008, placed B&N BANK at the top of “The Best Credit Cards” chart (a comparison of cards with the grace credit period and credit limit up to RUB 150,000).

By way of example, in 2007, Dokhodnaya (Profit-Making) Banking Card was introduced on the market combining the advantages of an ordinary payment card and time deposit profitability, a mortgage credit lending program for the acquisition of cottages, country houses and townhouses. Since 2007, 13 regional branches have launched the Personal Credit Consultant service, etc.

In marketing the “Dokhodnaya” Card, B&N BANK’s marketing units undertook large-scale research of regional markets of debit payment cards, determining competitive price parameters and elaborated promotional programs. The research demonstrated that the bank had developed a product unique for mid-2007, unmatched by its characteristics. In 2007, B&N BANK’s Marketing Department conducted a consistent effort for monitoring and adjusting products of price parameters offered by the bank. Actively expanding regional business, the bank devotes a great deal of attention to monitoring the situation on local financial markets in order to ensure optimal parameters of products and services offered through the bank’s branch network.

B&N Bank: Federal marketing campaigns, B2C products promotion