Mastering B2B Digital Marketing: From Vikings to AI | Kristjan Hauksson from The Engine Nordic

Ernesto Quezada: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors on the buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us out at pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Kristjan Hauksson from The Engine Nordic. How are you doing today, Kristjan?

Kristjan Hauksson: I’m doing good, thank you, Ernesto. It’s good talking to you.

Ernesto: It’s great to have you on today’s show, and I’m sure our listeners are tuning in, wondering what The Engine Nordic is all about. Who better to give us more insight than you, being the founder and CSL for The Engine Nordic? So tell us a little bit more.

Kristjan: We date back quite a long history, pre-2000, around when Google was starting. I’m an engineer, programming, playing around with reverse engineering Google and thinking about how search works. It started as a curious interest into the digital world and grew into realizing how valuable this knowledge is in the marketing world. It developed into marketing performance, SEO, business strategy, different CMS systems, and has now evolved into a mature, full-service marketing agency.

Ernesto: Awesome. So that way our listeners who are tuned in can get a good understanding of The Engine Nordic. What would you say is the key problem you solve for your clients?

Kristjan: If I were to pick one, we focus a lot on B2B business. Our key focus is identifying opportunities for our clients and then applying account-based marketing. For example, we may have clients with just 40 potential global customers because their services are so niche. We build what we call a “product toolkit” or “service toolkit” for them. That toolkit includes everything a brand needs to succeed in communication. That’s where our focus lies.

Ernesto: That’s important to hear. Is there a specific vertical or ideal ICP for The Engine Nordic?

Kristjan: Not necessarily. Our team is made up of senior people who have been doing this for a long time, so our ICP is more about the challenge than the sector. The harder the challenge, the more we enjoy the project.

Ernesto: Definitely. Great to hear that. So how would someone typically find out about The Engine Nordic? Do you have a primary client acquisition channel?

Kristjan: We’re fortunate in that respect. Firstly, we’re good at what we do, so word of mouth plays a big role. We have clients who work with us again and again, and if they move to another company, they tend to bring us with them. Secondly, we’re part of TBWA and the Omnicom Group, so we get clients through that network. We also have the Nordic alliance between TBWA agencies, which is important for us. On top of that, I do quite a bit of public speaking at conferences, and of course, LinkedIn plays a role. It all happens naturally.

Ernesto: That makes sense. After more than ten years, it’s working well. For our listeners, you can check out The Engine Nordic at theenginenordic.com. What role does your website play in client acquisition?

Kristjan: The website plays a role, but it might surprise you that it’s not the biggest channel for leads. It serves as a corporate shelf—it has information we use to push our messages. It’s part of the whole acquisition process. We use tools like Snitcher for lead generation and have explored tools like HubSpot. We also run LinkedIn campaigns, IP targeting, and, of course, SEO. So it’s a mix, but the website itself plays a smaller role than one might expect for a digital marketing company.

Ernesto: Interesting. Are there any tools or methods you’d recommend to our listeners for website lead generation?

Kristjan: The foundation is understanding who’s visiting your website. If you’re a B2B company with a limited pool of potential clients, it’s not about getting a lot of traffic—it’s about getting the right traffic and being able to identify and qualify those visitors. Use a system that helps you assess where your leads are in the buying cycle. You can implement things like information-qualified leads (IQLs) and market-qualified leads (MQLs) to identify leads and qualify them properly when they come in.

Ernesto: Great tips there. Let’s switch gears a little, Kristjan, and talk about you as a leader. You’re the founder and CSL of The Engine Nordic. What are some key tasks you focus on in your day-to-day work?

Kristjan: I focus on identifying challenges and opportunities. As a technologist, AI is a new frontier that has come much faster than expected, and it’s exciting. Another focus is the connection between sales and marketing—understanding how to align both sides, ensuring marketing leads at the top of the funnel and sales closes at the bottom. I’m also passionate about exploring new technologies. For instance, I researched Pathmonk, which led to this conversation, and there are so many interesting developments happening right now.

Ernesto: Definitely. It’s an exciting time for tech and marketing. Let’s jump into our rapid-fire round. Are you ready for them?

Kristjan: I hope so.

Ernesto: First off, what’s the last book you read?

Kristjan: It was an Icelandic book about a crisis in the 1960s when a trawler sank, and many lives were lost. My father was on another trawler at the time, and they managed to survive. I didn’t know that part of my dad’s history until recently, so I decided to study it.

Ernesto: That’s a powerful story. Next, what is one single thing The Engine Nordic is focused on most right now?

Kristjan: We’re focused on Odin, a tool we’ve developed over the years. Odin stands for online data, information, and numbers. It aggregates all the data we can find around our clients and competitors. With the recent addition of AI, we’re seeing incredible things and can now automate the process of building ICPs and Personas by pulling in data.

Ernesto: Odin sounds fascinating. Next, if there were no boundaries in technology, what’s one thing you’d fix as a marketer?

Kristjan: I would address the limitations GDPR has introduced. While it’s crucial for privacy, it’s taken away a lot of valuable data that could help target audiences better. That would be one area I’d want to improve.

Ernesto: Great point. Lastly, what’s one piece of advice you’d give yourself if you were to restart your journey as a marketer today?

Kristjan: I’d focus less on attribution and more on econometrics. Coming from a technology background, I was initially focused on attribution models, but I later realized the importance of understanding the broader impact of marketing through econometrics.

Ernesto: Great advice. Kristjan, we’re nearing the end of our show, but before we go, what’s one thing you’d like our listeners to remember about The Engine Nordic?

Kristjan: The Engine Nordic is an Iceland-based company. Iceland is a small country with a rich history—we can still technically speak the language of the Vikings from 1,000 years ago. We’re a team of passionate people who love what we do, and we’re easy to work with because most Icelanders are extroverts. That sums us up—we enjoy our work.

Ernesto: Definitely important. You’ve been doing this for over 25 years, which is amazing. It’s been a pleasure having you on the show today, Kristjan. I also want to thank our listeners for tuning in, and I’m looking forward to our next episode of Pathmonk Presents.

Kristjan: Thank you, Ernesto