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HOW PORTFOLIO-BASED CTAS DROVE 180 INTERESTED REPLIES FOR A VIDEO PRODUCTION COMPANY

A B2B video production company targeting SaaS marketing teams used trust-first email structures and “Can I send examples of past work?” CTAs to generate engagement across 69,000 cold emails globally.

Creative Services B2B Video Global Market
~69,000
0.26%
180
42

A B2B video production company needed to build pipeline among SaaS and technology companies—marketing teams who know they need video content but haven’t prioritized outsourcing it. The challenge: video production is a considered purchase where prospects need to see quality before committing.

Generic cold email about “video services” gets ignored. The company needed messaging that demonstrated creative credibility while reaching the right budget holders—marketing directors and CMOs at mid-market software companies.

With a global target market spanning North America and EMEA, the campaign needed to work across cultures and company sizes.

Target Audience

Seniority C-Level, Directors, VPs, Managers
Department Marketing (dominant), Executive, Product, Sales
Company Size Mid-market sweet spot (51–200 employees = 55% of positive replies)
Geography United States (40%), United Kingdom (24%), Germany (6%), plus Israel, Canada, Singapore
Industries Computer Software, IT Services, Financial Services, Internet, Marketing & Advertising

Messaging Approach

Two active campaigns ran simultaneously: a broad TAM Takeover and a keyword-based targeting campaign. Both focused on SaaS companies with 100+ employees globally, reaching CEO/Founder plus roles above Manager in Product, Marketing, Growth, and Demand Generation.

Multiple message variants tested informal vs. formal vs. energetic tones, with component-level performance tracking across each variant.

The portfolio-share approach—offering to send examples of past work rather than pushing for a meeting—emerged as the dominant strategy, letting prospects evaluate creative quality on their own time.

“Can I send examples of past work?” was the #1 CTA at 34 replies

For a creative services company, showing beats telling. This portfolio-share CTA generated 37% of all tagged positive replies. The #2 CTA—offering a custom 3-minute video with ideas—added 23 more. Combined, “send something” CTAs generated 62% of positive responses.

Portfolio CTAs > meeting CTAs by 4x
Trust-first email structures dominated

‘Trust > Value Prop > CTA’ was the top-performing structure (33 replies across all tones). Leading with credibility signals—past clients, results, experience—before pitching created authority. This audience needs to trust your creative quality before anything else.

Trust-first = #1 structure
Informal tone + medium length was the winning formula

The single best-performing combination was Informal + Medium + Trust > Value Prop > CTA (12 replies). Medium-length emails (52% of tagged positives) outperformed short (25%). This audience wants enough context to evaluate creative capability.

Medium length > short for creative services
Marketing Directors were the #1 converting title

While C-level generated 25 positive replies, Marketing Directors (20) and Marketing Managers (16) combined for 36. This is the rare case where mid-level marketing roles outperformed executives—because video production budgets sit with marketing teams, not the C-suite.

Marketing roles > C-level for this service
Seniority Department Company Size Replies
C-Level Executive 51–200 employees 25
Director Marketing 51–200 employees 20
Manager Marketing 201–500 employees 16
Mid-Level Marketing 11–50 employees 10
VP Marketing 51–200 employees 7

Based on enriched contact data. Some replies had incomplete profile information.

Ideal For

  • Creative services companies (video, design, content production)
  • Agencies selling to marketing teams at SaaS companies
  • Companies with a strong portfolio that demonstrates quality
  • Services targeting mid-market companies (50–500 employees)

Success Factors

  • Portfolio-based CTAs that let prospects evaluate your work on their own time
  • Trust-first email structures that establish credibility before the pitch
  • Medium-length emails that give enough context for a considered purchase decision
  • Global targeting with strong traction in English-speaking markets

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