Sales and Marketing Strategies Used by Technology Companies: Case Leadzilla

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1 Sales and Marketing Strategies Used by Technology Companies: Case Leadzilla Gabriela Butbul Bachelor s Thesis of Business Administration Degree Programme in Business Administration Turku 2018

2 EXAMENSARBETE Författare: Gabriela Butbul Utbildning och ort: Företagsekonomi, Åbo Inriktningsalternativ/Fördjupning: Marknadsföring Handledare: Thomas Finne Titel: Försäljnings- och marknadsstrategier som används av teknologiföretag: Case Leadzilla Datum: Sidantal: 31 Bilagor: 4 Abstrakt I denna studie kommer jag att fokusera på försäljnings- och marknadsstrategier som används av teknikföretag i USA. Mitt mål är att samla bästa praxis, fallgropar och använda verktyg för försäljning och marknadsföring för att hjälpa nya och erfarna marknadsförare att förbättra sina strategier. När du tänker på de största och mest berömda företagen idag, vilka namn kommer du att tänka på? Är det möjligt att Google, Apple, Microsoft var på din lista? Du kan vara en beundrare eller inte, men du känner dem och brukar använda deras produkter varje dag. Under de senaste 30 åren gick företagen som Apple från att vara "ingen" till att vara nummer 5 på en lista bland 500 andra företag. Fler och fler teknologiföretag växer med en hastighet som är nästan omöjlig i en traditionell affärsmodell. Genom att intervjua 13 fältexperter om deras erfarenheter, vilka verktyg deras företag använder och be dem att dela med sig av bästa praxis och jämföra dem med vad en känd marknadsföringsguru tycker, Neil Patel, och ett marknadsförings- och strategiskt konsultföretag för att komma till en slutsats. Den teoretiska referensramen för examensarbetsprojektet består av teorier om strategier för teknikföretag. Metoden som har använts är litteraturforskning och aktionsforskning. Teorin presenteras i första halvan följt av empirisk forskning och avslutats med en sammanfattning. Språk: Engelska Nyckelord: försäljning, marknadsföring, strategi, verktyg, teknologiföretag

3 OPINNÄYTETYÖ Tekijä: Gabriela Butbul Koulutus ja paikkakunta: Liiketaloutta, Turku Suuntautumisvaihtoehto/Syventävät opinnot: Markkinointi Ohjaaja(t): Thomas Finne Nimike: Teknologiayritysten myynti- ja markkinointistrategiat: Case Leadzilla Päivämäärä: Sivumäärä: 31 Liitteet: 4 Tiivistelmä Tässä tutkimuksessa keskityn Yhdysvaltojen teknologiayritysten myynti- ja markkinointistrategioihin. Tavoitteena on kerätä parhaita käytäntöjä, vaikeuksia ja käytettyjä työkaluja myynnin ja markkinoinnin avulla uusien ja kokeneiden markkinoijien parantamaan strategioita. Kun ajattelet suurimpia ja tunnetuimpia yrityksiä tänään, mitkä nimet tulevat mieleesi? Onko mahdollista, että Google, Apple ja Microsoft olivat luettelossasi? Olit fani tai et, tunnet yritykset ja todennäköisesti käytät heidän tuotteitaan joka päivä. Viimeisen 30 vuoden aikana yritykset, kuten Apple, aloittivat nollasta, mutta pääsivät Fortune 500 -listan kärkeen. Yhä useaempi teknologiayritys kasvaa vauhdilla, joka on lähes mahdoton perinteisessä liiketoimintamallissa. Haastattelemalla 13 alan asiantuntijaa heidän kokemuksistaan, millaisia työkaluja heidän yrityksensä käyttävät ja pyytämään heitä jakamaan parhaita käytäntöjä ja vertailemaan niitä hyvin tunnetun markkinointivälittäjän, Neil Patelin, sekä markkinointi- ja strategisen konsultointitoimiston kanssa, saadaan tutkimuksen lopputulokset. Opinnäytetyön teoreettinen viitekehys koostuu teorioista, jotka käsittelevät teknologiayritysten strategioita. Menetelminä on käytetty kirjallisuuskatsausta ja toimintatutkimusta. Teoria esitetään tutkielman alkuosassa, jonka jälkeen seuraa empiirinen tutkimus, joka lopulta päättyy yhteenvetoon. Kieli: Englanti Avainsanat: myynti, markkinointi, strategiat, tekniset yritykset, työkalut

4 BACHELOR S THESIS Author: Gabriela Butbul Degree Program: Business Administration Specialization: Marketing Supervisor(s): Thomas Finne Title: Sales and Marketing Strategies Used by Technology Companies: Case Leadzilla Date: Number of pages: 31 Appendices: 4 Abstract In this study we will focus on sales and marketing strategies used by technology companies in the United States of America. Our goal is to gather the best practices, pitfalls and used tools of sales and marketing to help new and seasoned marketers improve their strategies. When you think of the biggest and most renown companies today, what names come to mind? Is it possible that Google, Apple, Microsoft was on your list? You may be a fan or not, but you know them and most likely use their products every day. In the last 30 years, companies like Apple went from "No-body" to part of the top 5 of the fortune 500 list. More and more tech companies are growing at a rate that is almost impossible in a traditional business model. By interviewing 13 field experts about their experiences, what tools their companies are using and ask them to share best practices and comparing them to what a highly known marketing guru thinks, Neil Patel, and a marketing and strategic consulting agency to come to a conclusion. The theoretical framework in the degree project consists of theories of strategies for technology companies. The method that has been used is literature research and action research. The theory is presented in the first half followed by the empirical research, which is finally concluded with a summary. Language: English Key words: sales, marketing, technology companies, strategies, tools

5 Table of Contents 1 Introduction Background Research questions Structure of the thesis Strategies for technology companies Video Influencers High Value Content Event marketing Marketing automation Re-marketing Interactive tools Methodology Research methods Data collection Data analysis Ethical concerns Research results Sales and marketing strategies Marketing Tools Social Media Marketing Automation Marketing campaign Learning Experience Sales team Advice from the professionals Frictions Market Insights methods Metrics Market, competitors and clients Competitors Discussion Summary Conclusion The reliability and validity of the research... 31

6 5.4 Recommendations for future research References Appendices... 1 Survey... 1 Appendix 2 Draft of first Appendix 3 Draft of second Appendix 4 Draft of last

7 List of abbreviations and glossary of terms Below you will find a list of marketing words explained that I will be using throughout this thesis. ARR = annual recurring revenue, shows the amount of money that comes in every year. B2B = business to business. Business Intelligence = is a technology-driven process for analyzing data and presenting actionable information to make informed business decisions. Buyer persona = is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. Buyer s journey = is a framework that acknowledges a buyer's progression through a research and decision process end up in a purchase. CAC = customer acquisition costs, means the price you pay to get a new customer. CRM = customer relationship management. Like SalesForce. CRR = customer retention rate. A percentage of a company s existing customers during a certain period. Customer testimonials = a written recommendation promising the product or service. EBITDA = earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. F2F = face to face, it is direct marketing. Google Hangouts = is a communication service that allows members to initiate and participate in text, voice or video chats, either one-on-one or in a group. Leads = a potential sales contact. Pain points = problem (that can be solved). ROI = return on investment, the company s profit. SaaS = software as a service. Sales funnel = is a representation of the customers journey, getting from awareness to action.

8 1 1 Introduction When you think of the biggest and most renown companies today, what names come to mind? Is it possible that Google, Apple, Microsoft was on your list? You may be a fan or not, but you know them and most likely use their products every day. In the last 30 years, companies like Apple went from "No-body" to part of the top 5 of the fortune 500 list. More and more tech companies are growing at a rate that is almost impossible in a traditional business model. Even if we may not be able to answer all the questions about the incredible success achieved by technology companies, we know that part of the success of those companies has something to do with sales and marketing strategies and execution. In this study we will focus on sales and marketing strategies used by technology companies in the United States of America. Our goal is to gather the best practices, pitfalls and used tools of sales and marketing to help new and seasoned marketers improve their strategies. By interviewing 13 field experts about their experiences, what tools their companies are using and ask them to share best practices and comparing them to what a highly known marketing guru thinks, Neil Patel, and a marketing and strategic consulting agency, Insivia, suggest. 1.1 Background In today s world, everywhere you look, everything is being automated and almost all human tasks are being replaced with robots. There is only one thing that cannot be replaced and that is our ability to interact with each other. During the summer of 2018, I was working as a digital marketing intern for a Sales intelligence platform called Leadzilla. Leadzilla.io is a start-up that was founded in 2017 by Hugo Levesque, Jonathan van Driessen and Timothy Verhaeghe. Their platform is an ideal customer hunter that is designed to help find sales opportunity and close more sales. Their mission is to help SaaS companies to grow by finding ideal customers and providing sales intelligence to help the sales team close more deals. SaaS means that a company uses software as a service.

9 2 How it works: by analyzing existing customer s archetypes, Leadzilla can find lookalike customers that are more likely to buy the technologies offered by the tech companies. Leadzilla s customer can also search within certain sectors and industries, branches of a company and use filters on companies in specific states/cities. The sales intelligence provided includes: technologies your potential customer uses on their websites (Google Analytics, AdWords, WordPress, Live Chat) website estimate visits, social media and press coverage, number of employees and revenue, find decision makers and provide contact information. (Leadzilla.io, 2017) 1.2 Research questions One of my tasks during my internship was to do research about the tools and strategies in sales and marketing used by technology companies, so new marketers like Leadzilla, and seasoned marketers can improve their marketing and sales strategies. The main research question is: 1) What are the strategies in sales and marketing used by technology companies? After analyzing all methods that could be used to answer those questions, we determine that the best way to gain insights was to conduct interviews with experts leading sales and marketing efforts at various technology companies. To conduct those interviews in a productive way, we had to create a list of questions that would give us the qualitative and quantitative data. 1.3 Structure of the thesis This thesis begins with an overall introduction, followed by a literature review. The literature review in Chapter 2 takes a theoretical look at areas, such as the different tools and strategies that are recommended to be used by technology companies. Chapter 2 is followed by research methodology in Chapter 3, which focuses on describing the research objectives and methods, data collection, analysis process and ethical concerns of the study. Chapter 4 presents the results of the empirical study and Chapter 5 includes the final discussion and summary of the research process.

10 2 Strategies for technology companies 3 According to Insivia, which is a strategic consultancy and a digital agency, the seven key strategies used by technology companies are video, influencers, high content, event marketing, marketing automation, remarketing and interactive tools. Because of the increasing competition for attention on digital channels, technology companies in the B2B sector are reaching the right decision makers and using the right channels to increase their sales funnel (Insivia). Because of the constant noise of others trying to market their products, it is a struggle to be heard. Insivia thinks that, to get the decision makers to engage, the company needs to look for the right tools and strategies and to prove to them that they understand the challenges and have a unique solution to solve their problems in a cost-effective way that almost guarantees positive ROI. 2.1 Video Technology companies are using more videos in their marketing strategies to introduce their company because almost everyone has the time to watch a two to three-minute video that is entertaining and might bring value to them. According to their statistics in 2017, a company can increase conversions by 80% by introducing a video on a landing page. (Insivia). The main points to focus on when creating a video is to have a great story that is easy to understand, for example a step-by-step on how to use your product or on how your company was started. To help the brand stand out from others, create funny and humorous videos. Insivia also recommends using useful content in videos and also to create animated infographics. Animation makes it more colorful and easier to present facts. Insivia shares an ascend2, which is a company specialized on research-based marketing, report from 2015, Top three most effective types of video content: Customer testimonials (51%); Explainer/tutorial videos (50%); Demonstration videos (49%). (Insivia, 2017) Example: Dollar Shave Club. Their ad stands out from others and is humorous that captures their target audience. Dollar shave club have a humorous video ad that explains how you can order shaving blades for only a few dollars per month delivered to your door. As a comparison they mention brand name shaving blades that cost 20$, where 19$ of that goes to a famous tennis player Roger Federer. (club, 2012). After this ad was launched in 2012, by 3 months they had 4.75 million views on YouTube (Pullen, 2012). The company earned

11 more than $3,5 million in revenue in 2012 and was bought by Unilever for $1 billion in 2016 (Blakely, 2017) Influencers Insivia suggests having influencers as a marketing strategy. Decision makers are looking for others who are experts in the field. Because of the constant noise of others trying to market their products, it is a real struggle to be heard. More and more technology companies are partnering up with influencers, who have credibility in the industry, to reach their social media audience and up their integrity. Influencers already have a loyal relationship with their followers. Companies are trusting and relying more on others to share their experiences with the product or service they offer. The company explains the steps to follow: to identify your target buyers, determine industry influencer and finally build social credibility. By identifying your target buyers, you can understand who they are more likely to follow online and what content they read. After the first step you can identify the industry experts your target buyers are following. The next step is to give the influencer value (weather it s money or something of value) since they won t give free access to their audience on social media. By developing high quality content like whitepapers, blogposts or webinars will give the influencers more value. A source on Insivia from Thomson Influencer marketing study shows that influencer marketing is the fastest growing online customer acquisition method with 22%, followed by organic search 17% (Aragon, 2016). According to Hubspot more than 50% of Internet users say they follow some sort of celebrity or influencer account on social media. (Hubspot, 2018). Daniel Wellington is a Swedish watch company and is a great example in this case. They were the first brand to understand the potential of influencer marketing, especially on Instagram. The brand would send the watches as a gift to an influencer who would then post a picture with the watch adding the hashtag #DanielWellington. The influencers would also get a promotion code that their followers could use to get a discount on the watch. (Mottola, 2016) Flight Media writes that you don t need to be everywhere on social media to get results, even focusing on one channel would be the best for your business. In the case of B2B companies, that channel could be Facebook or LinkedIn. For B2B technology businesses it is obvious that they have to have a LinkedIn profile. As for Facebook, there are many benefits! It is

12 5 easier to get prospects attention because when they are using Facebook, they want to be entertained. Also, it is less costly to advertise on Facebook and has better quality targeting options. Facebook has an average cost per click of $0.27 (McLeod, 2017) compared to LinkedIn s $2-$7 (McGaw, 2015). Over 70 million businesses are using Facebook pages. 20 million people use Messenger to communicate with customers and 5 million businesses are actively using paid advertisement on Facebook. (Roberts, 2018 ). For Flight Media, changing from LinkedIn to Facebook increased dramatically by 189,66% from 2016 to 2017the results for the average number of leads per month (Media, 2018). 2.3 High Value Content There are two things technology companies need to realize when it comes to high value content: the rule of reciprocity and of the struggle to be heard. In the article of Insivia there is a quote by Brittany Rothnem, principal at Rothnem Integrated Marketing about the rule of reciprocity. The Rule of Reciprocity is that when you provide something of value, the recipient feels the need to give something in return. This may not happen right away. But eventually, the more value you provide, the more prospects will rely on you for high-value content and give you their time in return. (Insivia). Create high value content by telling better stories and personalizing personas for each buyer, by building credibility for each person individually so that they will all come together and buy your solution. According to Flight Media, technology companies have to generate leads, an online catalog is not enough anymore, you need to speak to your prospects. You need to know how to solve their problem which means you can only do that if you know their problem. Be able to reach out and speak to the prospect s pain points. By creating high value content you will show your prospects that your business is the leader in the industry, they will remember you. (Media, 2018). A great example of a technology company that exceeds in high value content is Hubspot. Hubspot writes blog posts about issues that their customers care about. (Hall, 2018) As seen in Figure 1, the content usage matrix, which is originally designed by SmartInsights, represents the buyers journey and is used to choose what content can be used in different scenarios, depending on the buyer personas. From the left to the right is at what stage of the customer journey, Starting from the top to bottom is the engagement experience type. The upper left corner is where the prospect is most emotional, and it has captured awareness. (Insivia).

13 6 With each one-fourth of an area showing the purpose of the content, to entertain, educate, inspire or convince your reader. Let's have a look at each of these goals and how to reach them: If your goal is to drive awareness with emotions, you should aim to entertain your readers. You can do this by creating content like quizzes, games, competitions, articles, e- books or branded videos. If your goal is to drive awareness rationally you should aim to educate your readers, the key here is to share interesting and relevant content to help your readers make informed decisions. Create content like reports, articles, guides, infographics and whitepapers. If you goal is to drive conversions with emotions, you should aim to inspire your readers. At this point you have built a level of trust with your readers, so now you wish to inspire them. By sharing positive reviews and by using forums to interact on a more personal level with your prospects. Organizing events is also a great way to encourage them to engage with your brand. If your goal is to drive conversions rationally you should aim to convince your readers. Last one is to create content to seal the deal. This content has to be persuasive and convincing, this could be webinars, product features, demos or checklists. (Inggs, 2015) Figure 1. Content Usage Matrix. (Smartinsights, 2017)

14 2.4 Event marketing 7 The New York Times bestselling author, Neil Patel, says the battle between inbound and outbound has been discussed ever since digital inbound marketing surged in popularity in the early 2000s. Even though traditional outbound marketing strategies, such as cold call and outreach are not popular anymore, they can still be effective. (Patel) The difference between inbound and outbound marketing is that inbound marketing focuses on making the customer come to you. In other words, you are pulling them towards your business. This can be done for example by search engine marketing. This method is considered to be two-way communication. (Yuan, 2015) Outbound marketing is pushing a message out on to a large population. This is considered to be traditional advertising method and one-way communication. The best results are achieved when using both inbound and outbound marketing. For inbound marketing to work effectively, the clients need to know that your business/product/service exists. Therefore, you need outbound marketing to do that. (Wilson, 2016) Even though digital marketing has become such a huge thing, having face to face interactions are still very important. To be able to separate contenders from pretenders, buyers will want to know the people and culture behind the brand. One of the best ways to achieve this is event marketing. According to Regalix statistics shown on Insivia, 91% of B2B marketers today invest in event marketing. (Insivia). Especially start-ups might have difficulties being seen in the marketplace so live events is a great way to show one or two wow factors about your product or service to create awareness. For businesses who have been in the market for a while, it might be more important to generate sales leads face to face. For this to work it is crucial to be well prepared, reach out to prospects to drive awareness about the event and might be even a good idea to prepare a booth. According to statistics of Regalix shown on Insivia, the most effective channels to use to market events both online and offline is by with 84%, followed by website with 68% and social media 68%. (Insivia) Michael Brenner writes an article in Marketing Insider Group about event marketing, where he shares that marketing industry is best in class when it comes to event marketing. One of the most renown marketing events is Mozcon, organized by Moz.com. (Brenner, 2017).

15 2.5 Marketing automation 8 In the digital age, companies that want to remain relevant and master the field of marketing need to adapt to the new reality. Marketing automation helps companies to attract customers, engage with them and spread word about their product or service. (Pozin, 2013). According to Hubspot, marketing automation is a software to help marketers connect with prospects with a personalized touch. (Hubspot). It can be a full-time job just to keep one social network active, when a brand wants to be active and relevant on multiple social media, that is where marketing automation can really shine (Patel). Insivia comments that the three best marketing automation tools are Marketo, Eloqua and Silverpop. (Insivia) Marketo is a great tool to use for managing and segmenting lists but also delivering rapid-fire content. One negative aspect about the tool is that if your web page has a high amount of web traffic it can slow down. Eloqua is considered the best tool for customer and prospect insights. Eloqua is very powerful, but it comes at a cost. The learning curve is difficult and common feedback from users is that the interface is not intuitive. Silverpop has a solution that is easy to work with in mobile, text and SMS marketing. The drawback on Silverpop is that it tends to slow down when processing large data sets. 2.6 Re-marketing Insivia explains that most companies are missing an opportunity by not putting a serious and thorough plan specifically for customer re-marketing. One of the benefits of remarketing is to increase lifetime value for existing customers. Insivia recommends using customer portals for them so that they can log in and design the page as an information hub. The information that should be available range from new product announcements, customer surveys and company news (such events, news coverage and milestones). Insivia reminds you to remove them from your marketing automation program. What you want to do is to create a different plan specially for them. The program should include things like workshops, webinars and live events in their areas. In the last step, Insivia suggests to build a community to keep the customers engaged with your brand.

16 9 Wordstream.com has written an article of the best re-marketing ads. They also mention a shocking 88% of online buyers abandoning their charts before completing a purchase. Bestbuy.com made a gentle advertisement to remind them to complete their purchase as a re-marketing strategy. (Sagin, 2018). 2.7 Interactive tools Technology companies benefit from having interactive tools, for example: interactive infographics, quizzes, solution builders and product tours can help because prospects feel more engaged and get higher quality lead generation. Also, by adding real-time factor for an example, a calculator, gives your page more value. Insivia shares a quote from Adam Frankel, CEO of Frankel Interactive: Interactive content will continue to be relevant for the B2B segment. In the near future, more mediums will surface, enabling marketers to better utilize digital channels and explore new formats to accommodate B2B marketing collaterals. (Insivia). The Pew Research quiz is a great example of using an interactive tool (quiz) to get prospects to engage. Paw Research made a quiz, how well can you tell factual from opinion statements?, because of this year s hot issue about fake news it has been shared 67.6K times because it was a trending topic at the time. (Moeller, 2018). 3 Methodology The goal is to gather the best practices, pitfalls and used tools of sales and marketing to help new and seasoned marketers improve their strategies. 3.1 Research methods The method used for this thesis is a real-time action science. Action research focuses on planning, acting, observation and reflecting. (Perry, 2004, p. 310) The purpose of doing an action research is to find effective solutions to problems that occur every day in specific situations. (Stringer, 2007, p. 1). The research is an investigation that put people in context, so they understand the problems and they can be characterized by. The seven key question strategy, which are who, what, why, when, where, how and how much. As kids we were taught to learn the five W s, also when learning a new language. It helps you cover the basics, situations and context. Even journalists use the five W s for

17 10 writing an article. In the case of consultants, it is useful to add the two H s, how and how much? (Mind). This is a brainstorming technique. Do a test run of the answers by answering them and having a specific topic in mind. It is important to remember not to worry too much if your answers are expressed or even good. The goal behind this technique is to get quantity and not quality. Once you have completed the test run you can pick out the best ones. (Foley, 2011). 3.2 Data collection The goal is to get insights from experts in sales and marketing. I interviewed CEO s and other high-ranking officers such as VP of sales and marketing. The interviews took place on online video conference. The tool that I used is Google Hangouts. One of the interviews was done by phone, survey and another by Skype. I made a master template on Excel with all the contact information with the help of Leadzilla s Intelligence system. I started sending out cold s to technology companies around the United States. The s were sent to 1229 people from 285 different companies in the U.S. By sending out three different s, I succeeded to get 13 interviews. Even before I ed them, I went through their LinkedIn profiles to double check if they are the right person to contact and for them also to notice that I am showing interest in them by visiting their profile. In order to make the cold s more personalized, I used yet another merge. This way it was easier to follow who has opened the , clicked in it or for some didn t go through at all. With this tool I was able to send out hundreds of personalized s per day. First, we divided them into groups of 50 contacts. When finished, we ended up having 25 groups. Each day I would send out s one group at a time. The interview consists of 21 questions about tools and strategies, challenges, market insights and competitors. It would take about 30 minutes of their time. 3.3 Data analysis For the purpose of keeping private information private, the interviewees are all referred to as he, without any concern about having nothing to do with the male/female status of the interviewee. The interviews were all audio recorded, and afterwards put in to written documents. Besides one that was filled in with the online survey.

18 3.4 Ethical concerns 11 According to Kvale & Brinkmann, the research raises questions about the objectivity of knowledge because of the issues of reliability and validity. The question is whether knowledge produced in interviews can be influenced only by facts and not opinions. Knowledge produced in interviews does not need to be open to opinion and judging, not black-and-white, but having to do with figuring out the quality of things without measuring them with numbers, interviews may be an unemotional and factual mode of question or investigation. (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009, p. 244) 4 Research results The 13 persons I interviewed have the titles of CEO s, Head of Marketing, Cofounder, VP of Sales, Manager, President, VP Marketing, Marketing Manager, Creative Director, Account Director and a Sales Director. Some of the interviewees wanted to remain anonymous in the next chapter where I present the results of the interviews I will address them by interviewee followed by a number. As shown in Table 1, there is a list of the interviewees. There is also the function of the candidate in the company and where the business is located in the U.S. The method of the interview is also shown in the last column which includes Google Hangouts, phone call, Skype and survey. The results of the empirical study are presented in this chapter. First asking the question and then answered by the interviewees. Table 1. Interviewees Information. Position Company State Method Interviewee 1 CEO San Diego Google Hangouts Interviewee 2 Head of Marketing California Google Hangouts Interviewee 3 Co-Founder Chicago/ Illinois Google Hangouts Interviewee 4 VP of Sales New York Google Hangouts Interviewee 5 Manager Paris/New York Skype Interviewee 6 CEO Chicago Phone call Interviewee 7 Vp of Marketing Cleveland/Ohio Google Hangouts Interviewee 8 Marketing Manager Ohio Google Hangouts Interviewee 9 CEO Autsin/Texas Google Hangouts Interviewee 10 Creative Director/Partner Texas Google Hangouts Interviewee 11 VP of Sales Texas Google Hangouts Interviewee 12 Account director New York Google Hangouts Interviewee 13 Sales Director Texas Survey

19 4.1 Sales and marketing strategies 12 If you could choose only one marketing strategy for your company, which one would it be? I asked the interviewees about their current strategies and favorite tools to deliver their marketing and sales strategies. The first question that I asked the interviewees was if they could only choose one marketing strategy that works best for their company, which one would it be? As Figure 2 shows, there was a split opinion between outbound and inbound marketing. 39% says that outbound marketing is the best marketing strategy for their business and 46% find that about inbound marketing. 6 out of 13 prefer inbound marketing to outbound marketing for the following reasons: Interviewee 3 says that content marketing has a lower customer acquisition cost (CAC), which is cost related to attracting a new customer. Interviewee 5 explains that optimization is important for the customer and publishers in order to make the right strategy. Interviewee 7 believes that people are finding information on their own, so you must be the one who is proactively putting out content that answers people's questions. Interviewee 8 explains that inbound marketing is their favorite because of building awareness. Interviewee 11 feels that by building brand awareness as a marketing strategy, it is better than the other strategies because it gives visibility. Interviewee 13 comments that they want to share their new interesting tools and capabilities with their existing and potential new clients, which differentiates them from many of their competitors, and that is why they also choose content marketing. When it comes to outbound marketing 5 out of 13 feel that it is a better strategy because Interviewee 4 uses events as their strategy because it feels that it has a more human factor to it. You get to meet people and showcase what your product is, what your company is and what you are representing. Interviewee 1 feels outbound is leaner and has a non-scalable form and helps businesses acquire more targeted users. Interviewee 6 agrees, as their company uses face to face meeting, and that it allows you to listen to the client and then you will get to know them and learn how to sell to them and the client learns to trust you. Interviewee 10 also agrees that outbound is the best strategy because we are living at an age where people are suspicious of experts. Interviewee 12 continues by saying it is important that the customer can understand what they can achieve, and the best way is by face to face.

20 Two of the interviewees said that both inbound and outbound are their favorites. One of them could not answer why and the other one said that it had worked the best for their company. 13 Marketing Strategy Both 15 % Outbound Marketing 39 % Inbound Marketing 46 % Figure 2.If you could only choose one marketing strategy, which one would it be? 4.2 Marketing Tools What is your favorite software tool to use in marketing? Interviewees were next asked what their favorite tool to use in marketing is. As you can see in Figure 3, 38% of the interviewees answered that marketing automation is their favorite software tool to use in marketing. Interviewee 1 comments that marketing automation solves the things they need. Interviewee 4 uses Marketo and feels it is the best because it integrates with SalesForce and allows you to get a full understanding of everything that is within their CRM and it retrieves a better breakdown of the audience. Interviewee 7 explains that their favorite software tool to use is Hubspot because it is easy to use, and data and reporting is also good! Interviewee 8 is using the Marketing automation tools like Hubspot, Adobe Creative Cloud, Google AdWords and SalesForce because they are the best at what they can do and what they offer for the dollar value. Interviewee 10 uses Revere Technology Suite as their favorite software tool because it is able to control and say that only good people use their business.

21 14 The second favorite are both sales automation with two votes and marketing also with two votes. Interviewee 6 uses the CRM Inslightly because it is the best to keep an eye on everything. Interviewee 12 says their favorite tool to use is SalesForce because it just works! The following answers were from the interviewee that prefer marketing. The second interviewee uses active campaign because there are multiple ways to accomplish an objective, you can really execute your vision. Interviewee 13 also agrees with marketing because is still the easiest route for them to reach their target audience. It isn't obliviously the only one they use, but it is still the most effective one. The following answers concerns the last 3 categories: Live Chat, Social Network manager and Business Intelligence. Interviewee 3 uses Intercom, which is a customer messaging platform (live chat), because it is easy to use, provides a lot of leverage and is not too pricey. They get to interact with both their prospective customers and existing customers in multiple ways. Interviewee 11 uses a Social Network manager called Hootsuite and the reason for that is because they are used to working with this tool. Interviewee 5 uses Business Intelligence (web analytics) in their company, saying that data is more and more the key. Interviewee 9 explains that they have not yet found the perfect software tool for them to use. Software tools NA Live chat Business intelligence Social Network Manager marketing Sales Automation Marketing Automation Figure 3.What is your favorite software tool to use in marketing?

22 Social Media If you could only choose one social media network for your business, which one would it be? As figure 5 shows, both LinkedIn and Facebook are the best social media tools to use in their business. 6 out of 13 feel Facebook is better, and the same result goes for LinkedIn. One of the interviewees, Interviewee 9, feels that Twitter works really well for event sponsorship and ad events. Interviewee 1 thinks that Facebook is a really good technology for buying ads and it is very advanced. It is a great tool to buy ad space. Interviewee 3 says that Facebook allows them to target efficiently and reach a large number of people and it also allows you a good experience for providing video and other contents. Interviewees 5, 6 and 7 all agree that Facebook is a great tool to use for reaching their audience. Interviewee 10 feels that with Facebook they can engage with buyers. The reasons why 6 out of 13 interviewees find LinkedIn the best for their company is because as interviewee 12 explains, you can find the person they need to talk to. Also, you can follow groups and industries. LinkedIn is all about business and it is very insightful continues interviewee 12. Interviewee 11 explains: "It s the greatest tool there is. We use sales navigator. When you are trying to build your pipeline or look for leads prospects that it's it works brilliantly by combining the right keywords, selecting region, job position or job title, you find everyone you need to find." Even on LinkedIn you can reach your targeted audience in an effective way, says interviewee 13. Interviewee 2 mentions that LinkedIn is where the optimizers congregate with an intention to network and get things done. Interviewee 4 agrees that with LinkedIn you can engage with buyers because of the connections of the exact same people and goals are within the enterprises that they are trying to go after. Interviewee 8 uses LinkedIn for the reach of audience.

23 16 Social Media Network Twitter 8 % LinkedIn 46 % Facebook 46 % Figure 4. If you could only choose one social media network for your business, which one would it be? 4.4 Marketing Automation What task or activity would you like to automate in your sales and marketing activities? The next questions that was asked by the professionals was about their challenges when it comes to sales and marketing. I asked the interviewees what they would like to automate in their sales and marketing activities. I got multiple answers, as you can see in Figure 5. Interviewee 1 wishes to automate the optimization towards the goal. Interviewee 2 would want to automate followups, because as he said, they produce 10 times the result because the prospect has already committed once. Respondent 6 wants to automate reporting. Interviewee 3 would like to automate a unique experience. Interviewee 4 wishes to have inbound cadence process and customized decks for certain prospects that they want to have as clients. Interviewer 5 wishes to have data mining and campaign operations automated. Interviewee 6 wants reporting to be automated. The assignment of leads would help the business says interviewee 7. Interviewee 8 say they are already using a tool called Podio. Interviewee 9 wishes to have ROI calculations automated. Interviewee 10 wants more face to face marketing and scheduling automated. Interviewee 11 wants to automate leads. Interviewee 12 explains Our proposal process is complex with our 25 products. Each offer is tailored for each client. I would like to be able to automate the creation of offers and prices, too. The last

24 interviewee wishes to automate prospection for new businesses. Figure 5 shows how the interviewees answers are divided in to internal and external. 17 Internal ROI calculations packaging, pricing reporting Optimization towards the goal External follow-ups an unique experience F2F stuff and time (setting meetings) The assignment of leads would help the business leads prospection for new businesses Figure 5. What task or activity would you like to automate in your sales and marketing activities? 4.5 Marketing campaign Have you ever had a marketing campaign gone wrong? Each interviewee had a chance to tell a story about a marketing campaign gone wrong with a follow-up question, what did they learn about that experience? Here are a few of the marketing campaign stories gone wrong: Interviewee 4 tested the waters by handing out 10 Samsung Galaxy phones to key executives where they embedded a video of them saying they want to have a meeting with executives because they think that their software would be good for them for X reasons. They can't unlock the phone unless they took the meeting with them. In the end they got no meetings and got five phones returned saying they can't accept the gift. Interviewee 7 told a story about a campaign a few years ago when they put out a weekly show out called Outside the box, and it would be aired live and the show

25 18 could also be seen on YouTube later. He said they were not successful and after they made 10 to 11 episodes they decided to cut it off. The videos were not executed very well, and topics were also not to the point. Fortunately, they did not lose a lot of money. Interviewee 10 told about a marketing campaign that was not their experience but thought it is a good example to tell. President Trump s campaign was "Make America Great again" and the democrats wanted to make the opposite campaign. "America is already great". They stopped this campaign after a day or two. They got so much negative attention on it because poor immigrants did not think America is great. He thinks it was not a smart set to make the opposite, and instead of really listening to what people wanted you to know. But then again, to have America was never great is not a hat anyone wants to buy. 4.6 Learning Experience What did you learn from this experience? (failed marketing campaign) Figure 7 demonstrates the interviewees answers to what they have learned from past experiences. Interviewee 1 and 3 recommends testing the campaign before. Interviewee 9 commented to trust your gut but verify with data. Interviewee 4 states that just because something is appealing to himself does not mean it will be appealing to his prospects. Respondent 5 comments that the environment changes all the time and you need to update yourself. Interviewee 6 says to plan ahead what could go wrong and preparation is the key. Interviewee 7 comments that content is the key. Interviewee 8 feels that the more visual you can be in graphics and videos, the more value it will provide and get them to convert that way. Interviewee 11 suggests to always consult with a company (when making campaigns of other companies) before launching the campaign especially if it is a big company with big pockets and what if the company wants to sue you? Interviewee 10 feels that we tend to assume what people's finer points of their thinking is rather than actually asking. Respondent 12 says if you do marketing, you need to know who you are speaking to and what the client possibly needs from you, and then do the marketing. Interviewee 13 explains: don't leave things too late and plan better. But most of all, learn from your mistakes, because next time you know what to do. Mistakes happen, don't dwell on them.... As shown in Figure 6, testing and planning were mentioned the most. To plan properly, you have to know about the

26 content, make the company visible, be prepared and keep yourself updated. To test well, you have to ask around and not assume the result. Also, verify the gut feeling that you have. 19 Visuality Content Consulting Preparation Update Planning Testing Ask around, do not assume Trust your gut but verify with data Figure 6. What did you learn from this experience? 4.7 Sales team The next question I asked was about their sales team. What does the sales team complain the most about or do they even complain at all? The first reaction of most of the interviewees was the question: what don't they complain about? They complain about everything! But in all seriousness. A few interviewees talked about the product price being too high or not having enough budget. Interviewee 1 comments about product price. Interviewee 2 says they don't get any complaints. Interviewee 3 says that their sales team complains that they should be able to customize their pitches. Interviewee 4 feels that their customer base is not having enough budget for their software due to more competitors coming into the market, spacediving the prices down. Interviewee 5 tells their solution is not answering all the needs of their customer. Interviewee 6 comments one word, reporting. Interviewee 8 says that the team complains about their CRM system. Interviewee 9 talked about complaints of getting fake leads. Workload in combination with extremely tight timings and a lot of things to do? Of course, all of them need to happen right now. Everyone wants to be the most important client, and everyone wants to have an answer right now. says interviewee 11. Even

27 20 interviewee 10 feels that the goals are too high and there is always a competitor that has lower prices than theirs, making it harder to sell. Interviewee 12 explains they complain about internal things like the goals are too high. They fight about territories. There is always a competitor that has a lower price than you. Therefore, they want us to drop our prices. Interviewee 13 talks about that their sales team complains about their high budgets and targets. But if it would be easy anybody could do it, concludes interviewee 13. Figure 8 shows an arrow, starting at the end there is the least answered answer: there are no complaints. For external complaints, the sales team feels they are getting fake leads and their product does no satisfy the customers needs. Then, the next one, is about reporting and the tools that their company uses are not suitable for their sales team. The internal complaints are workload, budgets, prices and customizing pitches for clients. Internal No complaints External Customer needs Fake leads Office Reporting and goals Reporting CRM Tools Workload and tight timings Budget Product price Their high budgets and targets Customizing our pitches Figure 7. What is your sales team complaining the most about? 4.8 Advice from the professionals In the next question I asked what advice they would give to a young marketer? Here are their words of wisdom: Don't over complicate it and over analyze. Start simple and master it. Interviewee 1. Do not assume. Don't fall in love with your own ideas. Interviewee 2.

28 21 Learn how to write (content). Don't be too clever and getting caught up in your own fanciness. Interviewee 3. Don t fall for the hype, don t follow trends, follow your own path. Interviewee 4. Concrete thinking. Interviewee 5. Have empathy (learn from your mistakes. Learn and listen) Interviewee 6 and Interviewee 7. Don't buy lists from random providers. Interviewee 8. Don t assume your target market are idiots and do not assume you can work with magic. Interviewee 9. Be radically transparent even when you have made mistakes. Interviewee 10. Solely focusing on one channel or one platform. I still am a big believer in multi-channel marketing, it depends on the product and target group obviously. Never focus on one channel only. Interviewee 11. Avoid doing the same thing, like if it worked for one, it will work with everybody. Don't think you are smarted than your client. Interviewee 12. Don't do marketing just for the sake of marketing. Plan and research and be precise on what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. Interviewee Frictions What is the biggest friction when it comes to your marketing and sales activities? For the next question I asked the interviewees what the biggest frictions are when it comes to marketing and sales activities in their company. Interviewee 1 feels it is the making of the message, that prospects understand that their business is more for intermediate marketers and not beginners. Interviewee 2 mentions speed, to stay agile with long close cycles. Here is the friction a long sales process. Interviewee 3 says it is product explanation, meaning to explain to the right people the right things about the product the way that they can use it. Respondent 4 thinks that the friction is what qualifies as a meeting with a prospect, so the market. Their marketing is not linked to reality, explains Interviewee 5. Interviewee 6 feels it is challenging getting the client s input. Interviewee 7 comments alignment. Interviewee