Building thought leadership through outsourced marketing

When People Hub wanted to grow beyond word-of-mouth, they partnered with Kanary Digital to scale their marketing. Together we built a strategy that showcased their people-first leadership style, grew their LinkedIn following by 33%, and positioned them as thought leaders through campaigns, content, and events. The result: measurable growth, stronger brand visibility, and a long-term platform for ROI.

The Challenge 

People Hub had built a strong reputation in leadership and commercial training – largely through the strength of their network and generating word of mouth. While trusted by their existing network, they had big ambitions to grow their reach beyond referrals.

Without an extensive database or consistent outbound strategy, much of their high-quality content risked going unseen. The challenge was clear:

• Grow their audience and extend their reach.
• Build brand awareness around what sets them apart – their people-first leadership style, deep expertise in change, and ROI-driven results across commercial sectors.

Our role was to spotlight People Hub’s distinct approach while creating the infrastructure to scale it.

The Strategy

As People Hub’s outsourced marketing team, we went beyond campaign execution. We laid the foundations for long-term growth by:

• We started off by creating an in-depth marketing strategy for People Hub.
• We carried out marketing research, competitor reviews and internal stakeholder interviews to get a picture of People Hub and the marketing they are operating in.
• From this, we helped to shape their value proposition, tone of voice and messaging to make them stand out in a crowded market.
• Following this, we worked as People Hub’s outsourced marketing team to create integrated campaigns that balanced short-term lead generation with long-term pipeline growth.

Every tactic was tied back to business goals – ensuring measurable impact at every stage of the funnel.

Building Thought Leadership

White Paper Campaign

We supported People Hub from ideation to execution, producing a flagship white paper created using insights from a roundtable event we supported them on.

To maximise reach we:

• Created 2 blogs + 2 guides as supporting content.
• Promote via LinkedIn ads and organic posts.
• Built a dedicated website landing page + pop-up.
• Launched email marketing workflows, achieving 32 automated completions and ~200 personalised outreach emails.

Thought Leadership Webinar

We built on the white paper momentum to deliver a high-value webinar:

• Co-developed the theme, content and creative assets.
• Targeted niche promotion via email + LinkedIn.
• Outcome: 56 sign-ups, 39 attendees, NPS 100.

The event didn’t end at delivery. We repurposed content into social snippets and provided practical attendee resources, alongside a follow-up video clarifying any outstanding questions.

Scaling Engagement

Social Growth

Our LinkedIn-led strategy focused on authentic, people-first content. In just 8 months (Jan-Aug 2025) we achieved:

• +33% YoY growth (+154 new followers)
• 19.7k organic impressions
• 21.7% engagement rate (over 4x higher than industry average)
• 783 reactions, 115 comments, 21 reposts

We introduced the “Hubber Approach”, spotlighting employees through video interviews, cultural posts, and stories that brought People Hub’s values to life.

Email Marketing

Starting from zero, we:

• Built and scaled an email list with +322 subscribers in 5 months.
• Designed MailChimp templates + workflows.
• Ran 15 targeted send to nurture and convert leads.

The Results 

Though outsourcing their marketing functions to Kanary Digital, People Hub transformed their marketing approach.

• Established a scalable thought leadership platform.
• Grew brand visibility with measurable social, email, and campaign results.
• Nurtured existing leads and deepened relationships.
• Strengthened their friendly, values-led “Hubber” identity while driving ROI.

Looking Ahead 

With a strong foundation in place, the next phase focuses on sustained growth and visibility:

• Leveraging major events for brand exposure – such as their sponsorship of the CIPD ACE 2025 and speaking opportunity, where we’ve positioned People Hub as a thought leader. For this, we’ve been handling research, proposals, and planning. Speaking slots and tailored campaigns extend reach, credibility, and ROI.
• Creating a webinar series that spans across all their areas of expertise, targeting specific audiences for greatest impact.
• Continuing to build authentic connections through culture-led content.

For People Hub, outsourcing marketing isn’t just about campaigns – it’s about having a strategic partner who builds alongside them.