Chortek Builds a Multi-Channel Campaign for 401(k) Audit Services
Challenge
Chortek’s target audience largely consisted of organizations already familiar with 401(k) audit requirements and likely working with an existing provider.
The challenge was not simply explaining why an audit may be necessary. Chortek needed to demonstrate the value of its structured process, practical guidance, responsive team, and ability to complete an audit efficiently.
The campaign also needed to:
- Reach a specialized audience without overwhelming their inboxes.
- Build awareness ahead of important audit deadlines.
- Reinforce Chortek’s message across multiple channels.
- Measure interest beyond direct form submissions.
- Give the sales team better insight for future outreach.
Approach
Chortek turned to Cultivate to transform its existing marketing assets into a more comprehensive campaign.
The first phase introduced the campaign to a smaller audience, allowing the teams to evaluate the initial strategy and identify opportunities to strengthen the messaging and content.
Cultivate then expanded the initiative into a five-month nurture campaign designed to share useful information over time and keep Chortek visible as audit deadlines approached.
The campaign included:
- A strategic email nurture series.
- A dedicated campaign landing page.
- A three-part educational video series featuring Chortek subject matter experts.
- Supporting campaign content and creative.
- A paid LinkedIn advertising strategy.
- Audience data verification before campaign activation.
Because email inboxes are increasingly crowded, Cultivate recommended pairing the nurture series with LinkedIn advertising. This gave Chortek an additional way to reach its target audience, reinforce campaign messaging, and direct prospects to educational content.
Cultivate also created a custom HubSpot engagement-scoring model to track meaningful activity across the campaign. Contacts receive points for actions such as opening emails, clicking links, visiting campaign content, viewing videos, interacting with advertisements, and submitting forms.
Based on their accumulated activity, contacts can be categorized into low-, medium-, and high-engagement groups.
Impact
Although the campaign is still underway, Chortek now has a connected framework for promoting a specialized service across email, content, video, advertising, and sales outreach.
The strategy has established:
- A coordinated five-month nurture campaign.
- A verified and clearly defined target audience.
- A multi-channel approach spanning email and LinkedIn.
- Centralized campaign reporting within HubSpot.
- Visibility into engagement beyond form submissions.
- A more informed foundation for outbound sales follow-up.
- A repeatable model for future service campaigns.
Rather than measuring success only by direct inquiries, Chortek can evaluate how contacts engage throughout the campaign and identify those demonstrating increased interest over time.
Key Lessons Learned
1. Begin with a focused pilot.
Starting with a smaller audience allowed the teams to evaluate the strategy before expanding into a longer campaign.
2. Pair email with another channel.
LinkedIn advertising reinforces campaign messaging outside the inbox and creates additional opportunities to reach the right professionals.
3. Measure more than form submissions.
Engagement scoring helps identify contacts who are actively consuming content but may not yet be ready to request a conversation.
4. Verify audience data before activation.
Reviewing newly sourced contacts before adding them to email or advertising campaigns protects data quality and email deliverability.
5. Build campaigns with future growth in mind.
The campaign provides Chortek with a repeatable framework that can be adapted to promote additional services and areas of expertise.
Creating a Repeatable Campaign Framework
By combining educational content, strategic nurturing, LinkedIn advertising, verified audience data, and HubSpot engagement scoring, Chortek has created a more complete approach to marketing its 401(k) audit services.
The campaign allows Chortek to stay visible during a longer decision-making process, better understand audience interest, and prepare its sales team for more informed follow-up as the campaign progresses.