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A roadmap to defining and owning a category
Gainsight, founded in 2011, helps B2B enterprises drive customer success through a roadmap focused on marketing and community engagement. The company's annual Pulse conference significantly influences new business revenue and fosters networking among industry leaders. Gainsight emphasizes online presence through content creation and events to educate the market and facilitate industry best practices.
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A roadmap to defining and owning a category
- 1. 12.8.2016 VP Marketing Anthony Kennada ARoadmap to Defining and Owning a Category
- 2. Gainsight Overview We helpB2B enterprises drive adoption, expansion and renewals at scale through Customer Success • Founded in 2011; Series A in 2013 • $104M Raised • 400 Employees • 6 of the top 10 software companies • 50% of publically traded cloud companies • 20+ industry verticals 2016 @akennada
- 3. Agenda 1. How CategoryMarketing Found Us 2. Building the Online Presence 3. Facilitate Community Through Events @akennada
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- 9. "You need tofind a demographic and a customer that no other software company is paying attention to in a modern way, and help them realize their ultimate ambition. Your software comes way down the road -- your job is to make them be heroes. Make them feel like they are transforming their business in the role that they have, internalizing that there is a company out there that cares about me, cares about my role.”
- 10. Facilitate the exchangeof industry best practices. Create networking opportunities. Celebrate being pioneers. Create community. @akennada
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- 13. Building the Category’sOnline Presence
- 14. Focus on EarlyStage Content • The Kleenex Model • Drive Inbound Leads • Become an Authoring Platform for the Community SEO eBooks Webinars Blogs @akennada
- 15. Teach the MarketHow to Buy @akennada
- 16. Think Beyond TypicalForm Factors @akennada
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- 22. Pulse Conference Annual DestinationConference for Customer Success Industry • Positioned as Industry Conference vs. User Conference • Focus on Customer Success Best Practices and Networking • Heavy Investment on Attendee Experience 2016 Results • 55.1 NPS (Increase of More Than 10 Points from 2015) • 41% of New Business Revenue in 2015 Influenced by Pulse Prospects 63% Customers 37% C-Suite 7% VP 13% Director 20% Manager 35% Other 25% 40% @akennada
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- 24. Pulse Conference isgrowing 63% faster than Dreamforce in first three years. @akennada
- 25. Urgent Messaging Top performingemails communicated urgency around end of promotional pricing bands. Offsite Packages VIP experiences for top tier prospects and customers, include dedicated onsite conference room. Teams Promotions 17% of attending companies brought five or more members of their team to Pulse 2016 @akennada How We Drove 3200+ Attendees
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Editor's Notes
- #2 Poll audience
- #6 I mentioned being a first time marketer, a degree of "first principles" thinking would come into play as I stepped into the role as the first marketing hire. Here's why. This is what the website looked like.
- #9 What fed our conviction was this job title that existed – credit goes to Salesforce They met online for P2P best practice exchange; in person once a quarter to network and grow. But they were marginalized.
- #14 Super important that when someone searches for resources around a category, the first several ranking items in that search are owned by you. Very difficult to scale this as the category becomes more mainstream, but there are specific plays you can run to stay competitive.
- #15 The results are proven –selling value to potential customers before they’re ready to buy will ultimately lead to a sales discussion when they’re ready. We are programmed as consumers to favor products or services delivered by companies perceived to be market leaders.
- #16 In many cases, your target customer may never have bought technology to address their pain before. You have to teach them how to buy. - Challenge we faced was educating market about CS first -- teaching while selling - Prospects had conviction but no budget to spend six figures on technology - Won hearts, needed to win minds - Teach our prospects how to buy Gainsight - Created later stage content, promoted earlier to create process Sample RFP Platform Buyers Guide - Invested in an ROI model - ROI for both the category and then your product - Mobilized early customers as loud and passionate advocates - Today, ROI Workshop core part of sales process
- #17 What happens when everyone starts writing content – your executives, competitors, or even your customers? Suddenly, your channels are inundated with volumes of information. Noise. Explore creative ways to make content more engaging, while delivering intrinsic value beyond what any blog post could provide. Gainsight Mission - help customers lead their world in CS Not just for customers Created a number of programs for helping the community become great Why? Execute on brand promise, opt-into thought leadership, drive pipe, grow TAM CSU PulseLocal
- #19 The community met online and in local offices on a quarterly basis. Why host our own? - If we built it, would they come? - We would play the role of facilitator, not content leaders. Build the stage. - Could we close some business as a result?
- #22 Quick fly by of all programs, live and digital. Live - Pulse USA - Pulse Europe - Pulse Local Digital - Pulse Check - CSU
- #24 Never too early to host your own conference. Registration data became an early indicator for our category growth – shown at board meetings.