Marketers targeting enterprise customers traditionally struggle with a long and complex sales process, dealing with buying committees of 10 or more that can deliberate for up to 18 months, putting them through seemingly endless hoops. When the pandemic struck, enterprise sales—with the exception of essential business-continuity services including security, communications and logistics—ground to a halt. This left the rest of the B2B world scrambling for traction.
Chandar Pattabhiram, chief marketing officer of Coupa, a business spend management platform, recognized the need for repositioning. During three weeks in March, Pattabhiram and his team revamped their messaging to place an emphasis on resilience—appealing to chief financial officers who would see the downturn as an opportunity to position their companies for future success. Since then, Coupa has been one of Silicon Valley’s high-flyers, with its stock more than doubling, a result at least partially fueled by its rapid repositioning.
CMO discusses how Coupa sees the downturn as an opportunity to position companies for future success.
Read the full Q&A on Ad Age: How the Pandemic Inspired a Marketing Campaign That Embraces Client Resilience
Listen to the Episode: Today’s Resilience is Tomorrow’s Excellence
