Mary Macleod’s Shortbread & Knowledgenet.ai – A Partnership in Corporate Gifting Outreach

Company Overview

Mary Macleod’s Shortbread is a Canadian premium shortbread company that has been handcrafting small-batch, high-quality shortbread since 1981. Known for its artisanal approach and loyal customer base, Mary Macleod’s offers a unique line of luxury cookies that blend traditional recipes with innovative flavors. The company has built a reputation for its buttery, rich, and consistently delicious products, which have become popular gifts for both personal and corporate occasions.

As the company sought to expand, it saw an opportunity to scale its reach into the corporate gifting market, a sector where their premium product aligns well with the needs of businesses looking to leave a memorable impression. To effectively capitalize on this opportunity, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread recognized the need to target professionals responsible for corporate gifting within large companies.

The Challenge

Mary Macleod’s Shortbread faced the following primary challenges:

• Reaching Decision-Makers in Corporate Gifting.

The goal was to directly target individuals in large organizations who oversee corporate gifting budgets and decisions. Identifying these individuals proved difficult, as this role is often managed under various titles and departments, such as marketing, procurement, or office management.

• Traditional Outreach And Broad Targeting Approaches Were Not Cost-Effective and Did Not Produce Sufficient ROI.

To overcome this obstacle, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread needed a data-driven, strategic method to accurately identify and reach key decision-makers based on specific job titles, company size, and industry type. They sought a tool that would allow them to better understand the hierarchy within target organizations, streamline outreach efforts, and achieve measurable results in the corporate gifting sector.

The Solution: Knowledgenet.ai

Knowledgenet.ai is an AI-powered platform that provides businesses with a comprehensive database of contacts filtered by job titles, industries, and locations. It allows businesses to quickly identify and target individuals within organizations who meet specific criteria relevant to their outreach needs. Knowledgenet.ai’s proprietary data algorithms also enable users to generate precise queries, refining target contacts to ensure high relevance and engagement in outreach efforts.
Implementation

When Mary Macleod’s Shortbread partnered with Knowledgenet.ai, they prioritized the following strategies:

1. Targeting by Job Titles and Criteria: Knowledgenet.ai enabled Mary Macleod’s to pinpoint individuals who manage corporate gifting budgets and oversee vendor selection in large organizations. By filtering contacts by job titles, such as “Office Manager,” “Head of Marketing,” and “Procurement Officer,” Mary Macleod’s was able to create a focused list of potential leads. This was critical because it meant the outreach efforts could bypass gatekeepers and directly reach the decision-makers.
2. Industry and Location Querying: Knowledgenet.ai’s AI-driven querying function provided Mary Macleod’s Shortbread with a unique advantage. The company was able to filter by industry type—targeting businesses in sectors where corporate gifting is a common practice, such as finance, consulting, and real estate. Furthermore, by selecting specific geographic locations, they could align their efforts with regions that matched their distribution capabilities and customer preferences.
3. Precision in Outreach: Armed with a refined contact list, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread could streamline and personalize outreach. For example, they could craft marketing messages and offers tailored to different industries and roles, appealing directly to the needs and pain points of each target audience.

Results

The partnership with Knowledgenet.ai produced several valuable results:

• Increased Reach and Engagement: By focusing on relevant contacts, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread experienced an increase in engagement rates with potential corporate clients. This precision targeting helped the company build a more robust pipeline of qualified leads, with outreach efforts resonating more effectively.
• Higher Conversion Rates: The refined contact list enabled the sales and marketing team to focus on warm leads rather than broad, impersonal campaigns. As a result, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread reported a higher conversion rate for new corporate accounts, as well as larger average order values from companies looking to make premium purchases for corporate gifting.
• Time and Cost Efficiency: Knowledgenet.ai’s platform allowed Mary Macleod’s to reduce the time and resources spent on ineffective outreach. Instead of investing heavily in mass marketing, the team could allocate efforts towards high-quality leads, maximizing their ROI while minimizing wasted effort.

Conclusion

Mary Macleod’s Shortbread’s partnership with Knowledgenet.ai allowed them to effectively tackle the challenge of targeting decision-makers within large organizations. By leveraging Knowledgenet.ai’s advanced contact filtering and AI-powered querying, Mary Macleod’s was able to hone in on specific job titles and industries, achieving a level of precision in corporate gifting outreach that previously felt out of reach. This strategic collaboration has enabled the company to expand its presence in the corporate market, positioning Mary Macleod’s Shortbread as a preferred choice for high-end corporate gifts.

Through this partnership, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread not only reinforced its brand within new corporate networks but also demonstrated how AI-driven tools can empower small businesses to compete on a larger stage, creating meaningful, scalable connections with top-tier clients.