Software and Consulting
Business Challenge:
The Company had just completed five acquisitions enabling it to broaden and further strengthen its product line. However, the Company had little brand recognition in the marketplace and was virtually unknown to potential buyers even though its technology had been validated by analysts as being more integrated and scalable than the competition (Rational Software). In fact, some of its newly acquired stand-alone brands had greater awareness than the overall Company brand. As a result, the Company was being left out of large scale RFPs and was not getting invited to participate in enterprise deals.
The Solution:
Without deep budgets, the Company needed to do something radical to start getting enterprise traction in the market. A multi-channel branding and data-driven demand generation campaign was launched directly identifying the competition (Rational Software) in an effort to educate prospects that another viable option was now available. New materials to support the performance-based ad campaign included: corporate brochure, case studies, product data sheets, white papers, webcasts, podcasts and events.
As a result of the integrated marketing campaign, sales doubled and the pipeline grew more than 400% enabling the Company to expand operations globally. Prior to launching the campaign, the Company aggressively pitched media and tech analysts (without an agency) and secured favorable product reviews, analyst write-ups and was included in industry reports which they used as third validation to support the new brand campaigns and create more awareness. To maintain the momentum and promote specific product offers, additional direct response, telemarketing and digital campaigns followed.
Healthcare IT: Software, Hardware and Services
Business Challenge:
The Board of Directors had just hired a new CEO and executive team to come in and overhaul the Company as it was declining rapidly due to an unstable product platform, horrific customer reviews and defections, and media and analyst backlash. The new team was challenged to quickly fix the technology platform, restore market confidence and build back market demand.
The Solution:
Product development was completely overhauled and a new technology platform was rolled-out to stabilize the products and fix outstanding issues. Simultaneously, marketing and sales were also being "re-engineered". After drastically realigning spend and developing new positioning and messaging, a multi-channel content, branding and data-driven demand generation campaign was launched. Elements included: corporate brochure, case studies, product data sheets, white papers, advertising, direct response, Website, eMarketing, demos, newsletters, events and sales support tools.
Within 12 months, the Company became profitable, achieved 24% revenue growth and net income of US$485,000 versus a US$32 million loss the previous year. In addition, the Company was able to relaunch its brand and successfully reposition itself as a market leader and visionary through events, tradeshows, and testimonials which helped it secure multiple analyst validations, glowing and consistent media coverage, favorable product reviews and numerous prestigious industry awards.
Global Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing Solutions
Business Challenge:
The Company had not won a single new North American client in 15 months. While they entered numerous RFPs they were consistently losing every pitch and did not understand why. The only new business was from existing European clients adding new projects. If something was not done fast to turn the business around, they feared they would have to do significant downsizing.
The Solution:
A deep-dive competitive and market review was initiated which quickly uncovered issues with pricing, service level agreements, service bundles and an overall lack of technology innovation. The competition was out-pricing them with more compelling offers and more innovative product/service bundles. They needed to change the language and reset the playing field.
A new strategy, messaging, positioning and go-to-market plan was developed. The program was launched with a multi-channel content, branding and performance-based demand generation campaign which included: advertising, service brochures, white papers, sales support tools, direct response, digital, Website and events. Prior to the launch of the campaign, the Company embarked on a three-week media and analyst tour which was organized and booked within 30-days (without an agency) and consisted of 70 media and analyst briefings. This resulted in more than 100 feature articles and 7 analyst reports being published.
As a result of the new buzz and third-party validation, the Company was able to start winning deals by being more competitive on pricing its service bundles. The integrated campaign was instrumental in helping to build a €1.3 billion NA pipeline within 12 months.
DTC and B2B Ridesharing Services
Business Challenge:
The Company was quickly expanding into new cities throughout NA where it had virtually no brand or awareness. Without any large advertising budgets or agency support the Company had to develop a launch template to generate buzz so that it could differentiate itself from Uber and Lyft and other local service providers in these hyper-competitive marketplaces.
The Solution:
An aggressive performance-based marketing and demand generation campaign was launched utilizing highly targeted print and electronic ads, direct response mailers, multi-channel social media, affiliates, discount deal sites, influencer marketing, mobile user acquisition, PR, blogs and media relations. The campaign focused on the value of planning ahead and booking a designated driver featuring a special introductory rate.
As a result of the data-driven campaign, the Company generated more than 1,014+% new account sign-ups and mobile app downloads, 74% increase in website traffic and 38+% YoY increase in app bookings. The campaigns were so successful that the Company struggled operationally and had to pull back on further expansion as it was not able to hire more drivers fast enough to keep up with demand.
Saas Cloud Services, Infrastructure and IoT Subscriptions
Business Challenge:
Global business demand was changing rapidly as the majority of companies were no longer investing directly in hardware but instead starting to leverage cloud infrastructure. This threatened the Company's viability, as it was a reseller of hardware. In order to survive and adopt to the changing market a new business model was needed that would enable them to become a reseller of cloud software and subscription services. However, to to do this the Company needed to globally recruit its traditional hardware resellers, and convince them of the value to transition together, so that they could both thrive in this new economy.
The Solution:
The Company designed an integrated demand generation campaign which educated resellers on the 8 steps to building a profitable cloud business practice. The data-driven, digital marketing campaign consisted of a blog series and webinar, which was promoted through an aggressive social media campaign, banner ads, infographic, retargeting, PPC, direct response, speaking opportunities, roadshows, media relations and promotions.
As a result of the campaign, the Company was able to significantly boost its global cloud reseller base by 157%.
Software, Hardware and Services
Business Challenge:
The Company's sales were declining and the competition was intense. Several new market entrants were making noise with their focused niche vertical offerings. While the Company had grown very successful by keeping its products and services positioned generically across all industries they started to realize this strategy may now be holding them back.
The Solution:
After completing an in-depth market and segment analysis it was determined that the high-tech manufacturing space was a great target to go after. A multi-channel, data-driven, demand generation/customer acquisition campaign was launched utilizing digital, direct response, roadshow seminars, telemarketing, social media and media relations. The program was designed to educate prospects that they had a security problem and how to solve it. New materials to support the campaign included a white paper, on-demand webinar, case study, brochure, interactive collateral demo, and by-lined articles.
The campaign was highly successful and delivered an 18.68% conversion rate and was used as a template to go after other segments and verticals to raise awareness, establish credibility and create demand.
Cloud-Based Cybersecurity Subscription Services
Business Challenge:
The Company needed to clearly differentiate its services while rapidly securing new clients in an effort to close deals by year end to meet aggressive growth targets. Global competition was intense and prospects were confused by false and misleading competitive offerings.
The Solution:
A multi-channel, performance-based marketing and demand generation/customer acquisition campaign was launched utilizing targeted digital, print advertising, banner ads, direct response, infographics, social media and media relations. The program educated prospects that they needed DDoS mitigation services to protect their eBusinesses in the critical Q4 holiday season, and even if they had protection in place, these services were insufficient against complex cyber attacks. Supporting materials included white papers, case studies and press releases. The data-driven campaign generated a record number of new customer sign-ups enabling the Company to achieve its highest revenue quarter to date.
Healthcare IT: Software, Hardware and Services
Business Challenge:
The Company was in a bake-off situation. The prospect had a decision committee of eight executives representing four disciplines. Each discipline had different selection criteria and the Company needed to communicate its unique value-proposition in a logical, role-specific way to better demonstrate its value-add, address perceived roadblocks and differentiate itself from the competitor's generic one-size-fits-all solution.
The Solution:
An interactive, multimedia guide was developed to organize more than 80 documents by role, enabling the prospect to find relevant and compelling materials to aid their assessment. The guide provided a mechanism to present all of the required materials in a personalized user-friendly, role-specific medium and reinforce the overall value proposition as well as the Company brand and image. As a result of the interactive guide, the Company was shortlisted and ended up wining the seven figure, multi-year contract.