Huddlers in the News

Although it seems like ancient history, when the economy was booming, many B2B brands saw themselves as growth catalysts. Promising help with acquisition, these brands offered a vision of unlimited success for customers. One such brand is Reltio, a data management platform, whose new website in February 2020 touted “winning in the experience economy” as its reason for being. Then the pandemic struck.

For Jakki Geiger, Reltio’s CMO, it was a pivotal moment. Recognizing that the message was potentially tone-deaf as many businesses went into survival mode, Geiger asked her team to find a new promise. Mining their brand’s corporate mission, Reltio shifted from a message of winning new customers to one of serving, protecting and retaining current ones—demonstrating agility in the face of disruption.

Read the full Q&A on Ad Age: How the Pandemic Inspired a Strategy Shift from Customer Acquisition to Retention

Listen to the Episode: Rethinking Your Brand Promise…In a Hurry

Listen Here | From Renegade Thinkers Unite, Episode 201: One CMO's System for Aligning Sales and Marketing

With 25 years in the tech industry, Conversica CMO Rashmi Vittal knows a thing or two about sales and marketing alignment. She knows that it’s about “company-wide enablement” as opposed to “sales enablement.” She knows the value of a simplified product message. And she knows the common excuse, “Well, I gave leads to sales and they just didn’t do anything with them,” just won’t cut it.

In this week’s episode, Drew and Rashmi discuss her nine-square “Alignment Between Sales and Marketing” grid. It’s a simple yet thorough model, one that recognizes that achieving alignment is about constant evolution and clear communication. Be sure to tune in to hear how Conversica applies this grid in action, as well as how they’ve pivoted in 2020.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

The absence of physical events in 2020 created a void for B2B marketers, many of whom rely on them for up to 80 percent of their leads. Marketers also count on events to educate, celebrate and entertain customers, partners and employees. Budgets are lavish, and hard-core digital marketers including Adobe’s Ann Lewnes praise their effectiveness. It wasn’t a surprise when big brands, including Adobe and IBM, staged virtual events in April.

While the brands benefited from early-mover advantage in terms of attendance, the overall experience could not compare with their stellar physical events. Looking to do better, the CMO of Skillsoft, the learning management system software and content producer, used design thinking to reimagine a virtual event experience from the ground up.

Read the full Q&A on Ad Age: How a Learning Tech Company Reimagined Its Global, 24-Hour Virtual Event

Listen to the Episode: Raising the Bar with Virtual Events

Listen Here | From Renegade Thinkers Unite, Episode 199: Today's Resilience is Tomorrow's Excellence

What does B2B excellence look like in a downturn? When faced with this question, the software company Coupa quickly adopted a story of resilience. The decision to change its messaging allowed Coupa to change buying committee perspectives on its offering—if the prospect’s goal was to preserve capital and mitigate risk in the long-run, Coupa had the solution to get there.

Coupa’s strategy has proven effective, and the company’s skyrocketing stock is proof. In this week’s densely packed episode, CMO Chandar Pattabhiram uncovers how they pivoted under pressure, harmonizing their messaging and releasing it to a 100% digital world. He also shares valuable insights, like Geoffrey Moore’s concept of “provocation selling,” the 4 P’s of pivoting, and how Coupa is taking action against social injustice.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

Most B2B marketers consider internal audiences important. Before a new campaign is launched, employees are gathered in a town hall in which the big news is shared by senior leadership. These are often followed by departmental sessions and the distribution of new sales materials. For many companies, indoctrination stops there.

Not at IT service management company Boomi, a Dell Technologies business. After announcing its new corporate mission of “accelerating business outcomes,” the sales team was required to become accredited on the new brand story and the new sales pitch. Other employees were encouraged to share the story on social media. Explains Mandy Dhaliwal, Boomi’s CMO, “Our brand ambassadors are our staff. If we don’t believe in our technology, who will?” Unifying the staff behind the campaign accelerated marketing results for the brand, whose share of voice and lead flow increased.

Read the full Q&A on Ad Age: How Employee Buy-in Drove Results for a B2B Marketing Campaign

Listen to the Episode: Why Dell Boomi is Booming

When Amy Messano joined Altair as CMO in early 2019, the global tech company was in the middle of an acquisition spree that radically reshaped it. With 30 or so new companies merged into one, Messano had to make sure it became a cohesive branded house and not a chaotic house of brands. To do that, Messano and her team spent close to a year conducting research among their 3,300 employees and hundreds of customers, ultimately developing a new vision for the brand. Then the pandemic struck.

Not wanting to appear tone deaf, Messano considered holding off on the launch. But a bit more research with employees and customers revealed that their new rallying cry, #OnlyForward, was actually a welcome message of positivity in a time of uncertainty. Messano discusses how the rebranding came into being, how the team gained employee and customer buy-in and how they knew their efforts were indeed well-timed.

Read the full Q&A on Ad Age: Why the Pandemic Didn’t Stop a Global Tech Company’s Rebrand

Listen to the Episode: Decoding Your Company’s True Brand Purpose

Just months ago, B2B marketers had lofty growth plans focused on driving a large quantity of leads into their sales funnels. Today, with so many businesses struggling and lead-generating events off the table, those plans have been torn up. Many marketers are now making customer retention their top priority, which is a victory even if it means making contract concessions.

Couchbase, an open-source database software company, has found success with this approach. Because "customer-centricity" is part of the company’s core values, Chief Marketing Officer Peter Finter said it is easier to demonstrate increased empathy for customers—which translated into “we’re in this together” messaging, making training courses free and flexibility on terms. “We want to take pressure off our customers,” says Finter.

Read the full Q&A on Ad Age: How Customer Retention Is Replacing Acquisition during the Coronavirus

Listen to the Episode: B2B Values to Solve Any Marketing Challenge