The Ask
Targeting the Elusive Defense Industrial Base (DIB)
ISI, a specialist in Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and NIST compliance for Department of Defense (DoD) contractors, partnered with Cordelia Labs to maximize lead generation following a new website launch. The objective was clear: use digital media to significantly increase Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) within their extremely niche audience.
Cordelia Labs faced significant hurdles that prevented standard B2B campaign execution:
- Impossible Industry Targeting: DIB contractors span thousands of industries, making broad industry filtering ineffective.
- Vague Job Titles: Decision-makers ranged from managers to C-suite, making traditional job-title targeting inefficient and expensive.
- Competitive Landscape: Competitors were spending more than ISI, using a standard, crowded media mix primarily focused on Search and LinkedIn.
The core challenge was to outsmart the competition by raising awareness of ISI’s specialized offerings and delivering high-quality leads that convert.
The Insight
A Deep Dive into Reddit’s Intent
While Cordelia Labs covered the base channels (Search and LinkedIn), they recognized the need for a non-standard awareness strategy. They looked beyond the typical LinkedIn image and carousel ads to find an audience engaged in honest, niche conversations.
The Strategy Pivot to Reddit:
Cordelia Labs realized that, while Reddit had a small percentage of business-related content, it was the perfect venue for ISI. Unlike LinkedIn, where data is formal and self-reported, Reddit’s users are in a casual, “after-hours” mindset and congregate in communities seeking brutally honest, specialized, and community-driven information—precisely the context needed to discuss complex, high-stakes topics like CMMC.
This insight allowed Cordelia Labs to bypass the expensive, crowded firmographic targeting on LinkedIn and instead target users based on their expressed technical interests and compliance chatter.
The How
Testing, Refining, and Hyper-Focus
Cordelia Labs structured a campaign to test the Reddit hypothesis, focusing on driving DoD contractors to assess their CMMC Certification readiness.
Initial Launch: Campaigns launched across a spectrum of subreddits, ranging from broad topics (e.g., cybersecurity, cybersecurity news) to narrow, specific topics (e.g., CMMC, NIST Controls, Defense Contractors).
Early Results & Optimization: The launch generated a high volume of clicks and a spike in organic traffic coming from Reddit. High fives all around, right? However, initial MQL conversion rates remained stagnant.
Data Deep Dive: By drilling into the data, Cordelia Labs discovered a key performance split:
- Leads were only converting from the narrow, specialized subreddits.
- Traffic from broad subreddits (e.g., generic cybersecurity) was high, but users did not spend much time on the landing page or complete the forms.
Strategic Pause: Cordelia Labs immediately paused all broad-topic subreddits and reallocated the entire budget to highly-specific, high-intent communities.
Resulting Efficiency: This pivot decreased the overall traffic volume but dramatically increased the conversion rate and the total number of MQLs, successfully hitting the client’s goals.
The Result
Outperformed Expectations
Cordelia Labs’ strategic use of Reddit delivered exceptional results, validating the power of contextual, niche targeting over expensive, broad firmographic targeting:
Campaign Duration: January through May (5 months)
Reach & Traffic: Delivered over 2 million impressions and close to 10,000 clicks
MQL Goal Attainment: Reddit successfully delivered 55% of the total MQL goal for all paid media campaigns during the period.
Overall Impact: Reddit contributed 21% of the total MQLs (Search + LinkedIn) during the flight period, proving its viability as a B2B lead-generation channel for highly niche audiences.
