Stephanie Benoit

How a cross-functional initiative increased HubSpot Marketplace sign-ups by 966% YoY—starting with one key fix

Background

Company: Beefree (BEE Content Design)
Industry: SaaS, No-Code Email & Landing Page Design
My Role: Customer & Partner Marketing Specialist

At Beefree, we recognized that HubSpot users needed a better email & landing page design experience than what was offered natively within the HubSpot ecosystem. Our goal was to position Beefree as the preferred design solution for HubSpot users for landing pages and email design and to drive adoption through strategic marketing efforts.

In 2024, Beefree saw a 966% year-over-year increase in sign-ups via the HubSpot App Marketplace. The most significant growth shift occurred in Q2, after I led an audit and optimization of the HubSpot Marketplace listing. This work laid the ground work for the success of a larger cross-functional initiative involving Product, Sales, and Marketing, with my focus on customer marketing, co-marketing strategy, and funnel improvement.

Project Brief

The project aimed to strengthen Beefree’s integration with HubSpot and leverage the HubSpot Marketplace, Solutions Partners, and content collaborations to drive more installs and long-term adoption

Goals

Quantitative Goals

  • Increase sign-ups via HubSpot App Marketplace CTAs
  • Improve traffic from HubSpot-related content
  • Boost customer retention & engagement with the HubSpot Connector
  • Increase HubSpot-related product reviews & case studies

Qualitative Goals

  • Strengthen Beefree’s positioning as a HubSpot design tool
  • Improve the user journey from discovery to activation
  • Increase awareness of Beefree’s value through content & social proof

My Responsibilities

  • Developing & leading the HubSpot co-marketing program
  • Managing review campaigns & customer engagement strategies
  • Analyzing performance metrics & refining the marketing approach

Skills Leveraged

  • Content Marketing & SEO – Blog collaborations, link building, case studies
  • Customer & Partner Marketing – Engaging with HubSpot users & partners
  • Go-To-Market Strategy – Refining messaging & positioning
  • Data Analysis & Performance Optimization – Tracking conversion improvements
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration – Aligning Product, Sales, and Marketing efforts

Tools Used

  • HubSpot (Marketplace, Analytics)
  • Google Analytics & SEMrush (SEO & performance tracking)
  • Jira & Confluence (Project management & workflow tracking)
  • Beefree (Email design)
  • Active Campaign & Pendo ( Email & segmentation)

Strategy & Execution

We tackled this project using a three-pronged strategy:

Fixing the customer journey

  • Conducted an audit of the Hubspot Marketplace set up.
  • Updated the links and added UTMs to measure
  • leveraged all of Hubspot’s available tools to supply leads with more information about the brand
  • Collaborated cross fuctionally to update and revise marketplace content

Leveraging content & SEO for marketplace visibility

  • Built HubSpot-specific landing pages to drive organic search traffic.
  • Partnered with HubSpot’s blog team for guest posts & link exchanges.
  • Engaged in social listening & content repurposing for key user needs.

Driving marketplace reviews & social proof

  • Ran incentivized & organic review campaigns to improve credibility.
  • Collected user testimonials & case studies showcasing real success stories.

Process

Challenge: Low adoption & unclear differentiation in the HubSpot ecosystem.
Solution: Created multi-channel campaigns focused on visibility, education, and engagement.
Impact: Drove significant growth in installs, marketplace engagement, and brand recognition.

Some key moments:

  • The Beefree product team interviewed HubSpot users to understand friction points in their workflow.
  • We secured guest post opportunities on HubSpot blogs..
  • Collaborated with Product on refining the HubSpot Connector messaging.
  • Leveraged customer testimonials to help tell the Beefree +Hubspot story

Results & Outcomes

While co-marketing and increased investment helped expand reach in Q3–Q4, the most immediate and sustained growth came from correcting the user journey: fixing broken links, improving message clarity, and ensuring the listing drove to the right destination. This wasn’t flashy work, but it worked.

Company-Wide Impact

  •  +466% increase in traffic from HubSpot-related content & backlinks
  • 173% growth from Q1 to Q2 which continued compounding through Q3 and Q4 with global focus
  • +966% increase in sign-ups year over year from HubSpot Marketplace CTAs
  • Higher retention & engagement due to improved onboarding flow
  • Stronger brand positioning as a top HubSpot design solution

Professional Growth & Achievements

  • Developed a scalable co-marketing framework for future partnerships
  • Refined my skills in growth marketing, SEO, and customer advocacy
  • Strengthened cross-functional collaboration with Product & Sales
  • Established repeatable processes for marketplace optimization