How we used System-Driven Word of Mouth to Break $30m Revenue

Founder500, Sept 2022

… without hiring any outbound sales team (and 100% bootstrapped!)

Muhammad Younas

CEO of vFairs

Quick Intro

Muhammad

Younas

• Started career at IBM after UT Austin

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• Grew up ranks at Bayt to Chief Revenue Officer

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• Took reins of vFairs as CEO �in 2016

Over the next 20 minutes:

• No outbound outreach

I’m going to show you

• Inbound marketing practices we used

• How we optimized the inbound funnel

• How we defined a 7-star experience

• How we scaled repeatable success

• Referral Program

• Copy we use to get reviews

• How to get customers to do video

• You need a reference squad

What We Do At

Setting The Context

Event platform that powers virtual, hybrid & in-person events with white-glove customer support.

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vFairs Revenue Growth

Section 1

Laying Down an Inbound Funnel

Inbound Funnel at vFairs

PAID MEDIA

Google Ads / Bing

OWNED/EARNED MEDIA

Organic / Content / Social

ACQUISITION

INQUIRY

DEMO

SALE

$30 Million

In overall bookings

Our Actual June 2022 Results

PAID MEDIA

Google Ads / Bing

OWNED/EARNED MEDIA

Organic / Content / Social

ACQUISITION

INQUIRY

DEMO

SALE

82,362

Web Sessions

486

65% Take Demo

$1.1 Million New ARR�Bookings (avg $15k ACV)

752

1% Inquire

72

15% Pay

$30 Million

In overall bookings

June 2022

June 1st-June 30th

Kept it Simple: Paid + Organic

Paid Media

42% of lead gen

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• Minimum $10K/month
• Brand-protecting KWs
• Targeting direct/indirect competitors
• Negative Keywording

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Organic

58% of lead gen

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• SEO from Day 1
• Long-form guides
• Topic Clusters/Pillar Pages
• Backlinks from our events

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Most popular long form guide:

Hybrid Event Guide (2022)

Organic Views hit 20,000 Last Month

Organic Keywords

Paid is 42% of our lead gen

​

• Minimum $10K/month

​

• Brand-protecting KWs

​

• Targeting direct/indirect competitors

​

• Negative Keywording

​

Most popular long form guide: Hybrid Event Guide (2022)

Kept it Simple: �Paid + Organic

Most popular long form guide:

Hybrid Event Guide (2022)

Organic: 58% of lead gen

​

• SEO from Day 1

​

• Long-form guides

​

• Topic Clusters/Pillar Pages

​

• Backlinks from our events

​

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Section 2

Creating the Delight Engine

Delight Engine

1- Defining Delight

1- Defining Delight: 4 Pillars

• Super fast response times.�
• Custom 3D visuals.�
• Flexible platform.

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• Done for You. + A protocol for when things go south

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2- Delivering Delight

• Speed + Flexibility? Beefed up the Backend.�
• Custom 3D? Hired in-house 3D Designers.�
• Done for you? Codified Process �+ Train via LMS

2- Delivering Delight: Measuring it

How do we know we delivered?

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• Asked Customers

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• Post-event surveys

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• Ran NPS (using Survicate)

3- Use this copy to get more reviews

• 1,000+ G2 Reviews
• Asking for a G2 Testimonial =>

3- Distributing Evidence of Delight

3- Distributing Evidence of Delight

• 200+ Video Testimonials
• Asking for Video =>

3- Distributing Evidence of Delight

• Shower them with love

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• Gave them awards

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• Launched Referral Program

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• Created a Reference Squad

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Recap: �Delight Engine

In the last 20 minutes…

• No outbound outreach

I showed you:

• Inbound marketing practices we used

• How we optimized the inbound funnel

• How we defined a 7-star experience

• How we scaled repeatable success

• Referral Program

• Copy we use to get reviews

• How to get customers to do video

• You need a reference squad

That’s how we’ve grown vFairs :)

Sept 2022

Muhammad Younas

CEO of vFairs

Thank you!