How ANP Business successfully launched its PR platform ANP Connect
A few years ago, ANP Business faced a challenge: at that time, there was just too little marketing capacity available to realize certain ambitions regarding its services. Thanks to the flexible collaboration with Frank Husmann, ANP Business now has access to external marketing capacity tailored to the organization’s needs. The combination of transparency, commitment, and seniority paid off during the ANP Connect campaign, the SaaS PR platform for media professionals.
Based on years of experience with the media, ANP Business offers organizations a wide range of solutions to bring them into contact with the media. From the ANP Connect PR platform to workshops, the ANP image bank, and services such as commissioned photography.
Not actively searching, but a match nonetheless
Jessica van der Waal, commercial director at ANP Business, talks about how the collaboration with Frank started: “We got Frank’s name through a partner, but we weren’t actively searching. It seemed complicated to bring in an external party, but it felt right to start a conversation.”
Jessica remembers that first conversation well: “It was such a nice conversation, and I immediately thought: we can do something with this. We actually started right away.”
What started as a spontaneous introduction grew into a valuable collaboration. Frank, who immediately understood the media and PR world, quickly added value. He suggested starting small and scaling up from there. This pragmatic and flexible start proved to be a good way to grow.
Within a short period of time, the foundations were laid, such as setting up dashboards and creating content. What’s more, no advertising had ever been used before, which presented a new opportunity.
Continuity during team changes
Over the years, ANP Business has undergone various changes within its marketing team, but the collaboration with Frank and later also with Esther remained a constant factor. Jessica emphasizes the importance of this: “That continuity is really nice. When Frank joined, someone else quickly started in marketing. Later, with changes in the team, it was reassuring to know that you were always there to help out. You know our organization through and through.”
This gave ANP Business the flexibility to scale up or down as needed. It didn’t feel like working with an external agency. Jessica adds: “That’s really the difference with other agencies. Often you have to stay on top of things and chase things down. With you, it feels like you have a remote colleague who thinks along with you.”
ANP Connect campaign: a concrete success
When Charlotte Baay joined ANP as a marketing specialist, one of her first major projects was to bring ANP Connect back into the spotlight. This PR platform, a distribution tool for press releases, had been completely redesigned a year earlier and was given a prominent place in the market. This required an extensive campaign.
Charlotte explains: “We didn’t just want to retain our existing customers, we also wanted to appeal to a new target group. Together with Frank, we tackled this step by step.” The campaign was launched with a combination of Google Ads, LinkedIn ads, and strategic content. This was done in phases, with continuous optimizations along the way.
Charlotte looks back on this process: “What I really liked was that we truly worked together. You didn’t just do the work, you also contributed strategically. That made it a joint effort rather than something we completely handed over.”
The results were impressive: within the campaign period, 21 new customers were acquired and 30 existing customers were transferred to the new platform.
Transparency, flexibility, and commitment
According to Charlotte, the collaboration stands out from other marketing agencies because of its transparency and flexibility: “You are very clear about what you do and there is always room to discuss what is needed. It’s not like we give an assignment and wait to see what comes out of it, but we really work on it together.” She also emphasizes that there are many points of contact, which ensures that the collaboration remains personal and committed.
An extension of our own marketing team
The collaboration between ANP Business and Frank Husmann will continue to develop in the future. Charlotte concludes with a clear recommendation: “Would we recommend you? Absolutely! The collaboration feels like an extension of our own team, and that’s exactly what we need!”