Rantalainen, a financial and payroll administration group, is growing and expanding internationally at speed. In under a decade, the company has transformed from a 500-person operation into an organization spanning three countries with nearly 2,500 specialists. Rantalainen’s growth strategy combines both organic growth and acquisitions, which happen more or less continuously.

“Scaling a brand and customer acquisition in an environment like this requires models that actually work,” explains Atte Lindbäck Rantalainen’s Marketing Manager.

The collaboration with SDM brought new structure and system to Rantalainen’s marketing. According to Lindbäck, Rantalainen already had plenty of good content and strong execution, but managing the bigger picture and developing it over the long term needed more clarity and unified ways of working. What was missing was a clearer common thread running through it all.

”We moved away from isolated marketing actions toward managing the whole in a far more planned and unified way.”

A backbone for systematic marketing development

One of the first things built for Rantalainen was a clear reporting model and set of metrics for marketing. A dashboard, task-flow management via kanban boards, and regular sessions with SDM’s experts brought transparency to both the work itself and its results.

You can see immediately where things stand,” says Lindbäck, describing the shift in the culture of how work gets done.

“For the first time, it’s felt like we actually have one real team. Not an external partner on one side and us on the other, but a single group thinking through the same problem together.”

Over the course of the partnership, systematic impact analysis and data-driven development have become the cornerstones of the marketing work. “The MRACE model makes decision-making easier. If we want to build interest in a particular segment or move customers closer to a purchase decision, we can see clearly what actions are needed,” Lindbäck says.

Lindbäck sees the keys to success in the Nordic accounting market as solutions built on existing strengths and on what customers actually value. Rantalainen’s strength lies in a combination of broad industry expertise, personal and quickly accessible service, and the ability to look ahead together with the customer. Data-driven insight and well-built software solutions ensure that the service stays flexible and evolves alongside the company’s growth.

“It’s not enough for a financial administration partner to simply report on what’s already happened. The real value comes from using data to anticipate what’s next, to act as a sounding board in decision-making, and to build a view of the future,” Lindbäck notes.

Quick wins and sustainable growth

During the collaboration with SDM, the quality of incoming leads has risen and average customer size is growing. The results show the right target groups are now being reached more effectively than before. According to Lindbäck, the new approach is producing leads that convert to sales quickly, while also making the right impact on large enterprise customers with long sales cycles.

“It’s felt really good to see how much we’ve already achieved in such a short time. We know what we’re doing and which direction we’re heading.”

Rantalainen’s in-house marketing team is being deliberately supplemented with expertise brought in from SDM. Beyond tactical performance, Lindbäck sums up the partnership as having brought perspective and confidence.

“The way SDM works makes it feel like we have more hands on deck than we actually do. Alongside channel-specific expertise, there’s always big-picture thinking woven in, and that helps us move forward strategically.”