Delivering key marketing hires and talent intelligence for Appfolio
www.appfolio.com
Industry: Real Estate Software
Hiring for: Marketing Ops & Analytics
Partnership model: Retainer
Locations: Santa Barbara, CA (HQ) and Dallas, TX
Founded in 2006 with a successful IPO in 2015, AppFolio (Nasdaq: APPF) is a cloud-based software company constantly advancing how property management and real estate companies grow and operate. Known for their intuitive tech, customer loyalty, and award-winning culture.
Return on Investment
Cut cost by 30% per hire, hired 15%+ faster than goal, and got 80 – 95% offer acceptance.
40+ Marketing Hires
4 key leaders, 46 executors, managers, and strategists. Core divisions built and scaled.
Relocation & Remote
Managed transition to remote. Results: 20% local to offices, 10% relocated, 70% remote.
Dynamic Playbooks
Provided business units with talent and market intelligence. Shared DK tools with team.
The Need
Our recruitment challenge
Scale Marketing & Mar-Tech capacities to achieve the ambitious growth goals ahead. Augment in-house recruitment to navigate the unprecedented workforce and talent competition hurdles faced during AppFolio’s key growth years.
To do so, they needed to:
- Hire leaders that carried culture and unveiled potential pitfalls ahead
- Navigate team builds during covid, which sparked recruitment for remote workers nationwide
- Partner with an outbound recruiting firm for results & efficiency, while aligning with inbound for continuity
- Garner the talent intelligence and demographic data to hire right, and “right now”
- Compete for top talent on a national scale
- Leverage talent pools and reach with the tech and relational pull of a firm with strong marketing function experience
AppFolio needed a strategic recruiting partner with a knack for breaking into national markets heavily dominated by tech giants.
The Impact
Our solution
Digital Knack (DK) built a talent framework that upheld internal processes, delivered key hires, and brought new insights into view – serving as a true business partner to AppFolio’s leaders and in-house recruiters.
We tapped into national tech hubs, established immediate and evergreen talent streams, and increased the interview to hire conversions for Sales, Customer Management, and Marketing divisions. By creating a go-to-market strategy tailored to target audiences and intentional diversification in outbound reach, we helped increase AppFolio’s employer brand and expanded talent reach.
50 hires recruited by DK (entry to executive) across the entire Marketing and Marketing Operations, Automation, and Analytics divisions. Built 95% of the Product Marketing Team, recruited founding members of new Customer Marketing Function, and secured top Marketing Operations talent to scale the Mar-Tech engine for growth path. DK secured 4 key leaders across the Marketing Function (now VP to Sr. Dir levels) and delivered for both local and remote distributed teams.
DK’s Talent intelligence powered a more informed and intentional approach to retain and gain top talent. Interview counsel elevated interview approach overall and hiring managers saved time due to DK Screening with criticality and care – presenting only the top 5% per search.
Alexis Hammond VP Marketing Programs at Appfolio
“As a hiring manager looking to quickly grow my organization with a number of specialized roles, Digital Knack has been integral in partnering to find the best talent. They listen to our needs and understand our business objectives which result in greater efficiency throughout the entire hiring process. I often hear from candidates and new hires how much they truly appreciated the experience DK provided them through their responsiveness, clear communication, and personalized approach.”
Cassie Rosengren CEO at Digital Knack
“Our partnership journey and evolution is years in the making. The people growth we power is in large part, possible because of the incredible trust, camaraderie, and values that AppFolio’s marketing and in-house recruiting teams have upheld. ”