Presentation deck from SaaStock 2019

1. Building Brand to
Generate Demand
Acquisition and awareness from the start
Alison Murdock
CMO, SocialChorus
@svrocks
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2. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
What this talk is about…
● Choices + focus + foundation
● Growing brand & demand: examples
● Do’s and don’ts
● Q&A

3. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
Choices & Focus
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4. / BRAND & DEMAND
You don’t have to choose.
=
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5. / BRAND & DEMAND5
Your company’s
identity,
personality, and
the extension of
your value
proposition.
● Your story
● Mission, vision, values
● Messaging
● Logo & look
● Website
● Customer experience
● Case studies
● How your product works
What is brand?

6. / BRAND & DEMAND
What is demand?
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● Account-based marketing (ABM)
● Inbound
● SDRs
● Email strategy
● Content marketing
● Targeted ads
● Personalization
● Paid search
Building
awareness,
educating
buyers to
consider you,
driving to an
action.

7. / BRAND & DEMAND7
Brand
Your story
Mission, vision, values
Messaging
Logo & look
Website
Customer experience
Case studies
How the product works
Social media
PR
Analysts
Ads
Content syndication
Events
Product marketing
Positioning
Everything Intersects
Both
ABM
Inbound
SDRs
Email strategy
Content marketing
Targeted ads
Personalization
Paid search
Demand

8. Slide
/
Building your marketing is like
mobilizing a small army. You need
strategy and tactics. Winning is
possible but not easy.
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9. / BRAND & DEMAND9
Focus: Only 2 Strategies, 1 Per Category
Brand Demand

10. / BRAND & DEMAND
Answer these questions.
1. What is your vision for this company?
2. What are your business goals for the next two years?
3. Who is your “champion” customer? Who else is influential?
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your product?
5. Why do you win or lose against competitors?
6. What obstacles stand in your way? (money, people, technology)
7. Where do you have gaps in your understanding of your market?
By diagnosing where you are today and where you want to be in the future,
that’s how you set your brand and demand strategy.
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11. / BRAND & DEMAND
Figuring Out Your Go-to-Market Strategy & Plan
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GOAL:
What are your goals? Why are they worthy goals above all the other possible goals?
CHALLENGES:
What are your strengths and weaknesses? Make a realistic assessment of where you stand with
all internal stakeholders.
INSIGHTS:
Look for obvious and non-obvious insights to inform your approach. What are the gaps in
understanding or data you are missing?
STRATEGY:
This your approach and a simple description of how you will take advantage of insights to
overcome bstacles.
TACTICS:
The top tactical steps in your plan that connect to your strategy, goals and are measurable.
KPIs:
Identify the KPIs that really matter and will indicate if you should do more, change, or adjust.
KPIs are your barometer for whether your strategy is working.

12. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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Brand & Demand
Examples

13. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Goals
Get 150 opportunities to 50% close to
support 60+ net-new deals in 2019.

14. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Challenges
Deals are getting stuck mid-way through
the funnel.
Champion has
to build
consensus to get
the deal funded.
A large portion
of deals end in
do-nothing or
delays.
Stakeholders don’t
know us and how
we differ from
other solutions.

15. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Insights
Comms buyer is not enough anymore.
Analysis of closed/won
show there are many
decision makers. Ex:
The c-suite is involved,
deal closes.
HR is in most of deals.
IT can push to do
nothing in favor of their
priorities.
Comms buyer can’t be
depended on to get to
a close . We need to
involve and educate
others sooner.

16. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Approach
Sales & marketing partner on account-
based marketing to win big and more often.
Focus on accounts that
are most likely to buy
and have the highest
potential LTV.
Influence and educate
key stakeholders with
messaging and
materials specific to
their roles (HR, IT, C-
suite).
Drive leads to first call
but actively nurture
open opps that risk
getting stuck mid-way.

17. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Goals
Position workforce communications as an
enterprise software category, and
SocialChorus as the leading provider of this
technology.

18. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Challenges
Customers and prospects need to grasp the
full potential of our platform to connect
their companies, so our category becomes
a “thing.”
We are reaching
must-have, but
the category is
still early and
growing.
Customers need
more training to
leverage the
platform and see
huge results.
Programs with
poor adoption
and 0-1 exec
champions are
likely to churn.

19. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Insights
Customers want to learn about what’s
working for others and measure success—
which benefits our quest for ROI.
Impact of internal
comms on the
organization is not well
measured—Comms Eff
Survey + IC Index
popular
FutureComms and
Customer Forum
almost tripled in size
since 2017—how-to
content in high
demand.
Buyer needs
ammunition that our
platform will connect
their organizations and
deliver tangible results.

20. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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2019 Approach
Expand our POV, and demonstrate how a
workforce communications platform is
business critical for the enterprise.
Current POV has
helped us win over
comms, and expand
messaging to win over
other stakeholders.
Single source for
employee comms is
resonating with
everyone.
Test positioning with
customers, prospects,
analysts, and press and
take final version to
market.

21. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
© 2018 Copyright SocialChorus. Proprietary & Confidential
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Case Studies

22. Goals:
Win specific target accounts in US
Challenges:
● Low brand awareness
● Selling off spreadsheets – no
sales/marketing systems
● Market too broad – not defined or vetted
● Smallish budget☺
Advantages:
● Core product way better than
competitors
● Great data about consumers
● Good initial customer targets
● PR in place – some traction
Case Study – Verto Analytics - Impact of Brand + Demand
Strategy:
● Create brand exposure with
research & content and target
named accounts with demand gen
Key Tactics:
● Content marketing – blogs and
reports leveraging Verto data
● Rebuilt website – optimized for
conversions
● Used PR as a channel for publicity
KPIs
● Win 5 net-new accounts out of 100
named
● Measurably grow conversions &
awareness25 / BRAND & DEMAND

23. Content Strategy
26 / BRAND & DEMAND

24. 27 / BRAND & DEMAND
Social Media Love

25. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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● Won 6 named accounts
● Database growth: 195%
● Qualified inbound leads: 1400%
● Social media growth: 455%
● PR coverage: 900%
● Website traffic: 916%
Results - over 1 year in market

26. Goals:
Make FutureComms a landmark event for
customers & prospects
Challenges:
● Programming last minute
● Free event - attrition
● Competition for people’s time or no
permission to attend
Advantages:
● Great customers willing to speak
● Attendees willing to learn
● Staff who know how to run an event
● Sales team knew how to get “butts” in
seats
Case Study – SocialChorus - Impact of Brand + Demand
Strategy:
● Theme around role taking charge
and learning new skills
Key Tactics:
● Increase customer day and put
together learning track
● Get a few big name/big brand
speakers
● Charge for tickets
● Make product announcements
KPIs
● Ticket sales
● Net-new business
29 / BRAND & DEMAND

27. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
FutureComms

28. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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FutureComms 2018
300+ attendees
FutureComms 2019
400+ attendees
2018
Sourced: $2.05 million of net-new revenue
Closed/Won: $1.9 million
2019
Sourced: $3 million
Closed/Won: $2.1 million
I want to drink the
SocialChorus Kool-Aid
too!
I attended Chicago in
2017. NYC in 18 blew
away my expectations
by a long shot.
Keep up the good work.
You’ve developed a great
product and look
forward to see what’s
coming in the near
future.
Great job - one of the
best conferences I’ve
ever attended, ever.
Results: 2 years since debut

29. SocialChorus Marketing Plan 2019
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Do’s & Don’ts

30. / BRAND & DEMAND
Do’s & Don’ts
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Do
● Stay positive: Visualize what it’s like to win.
● Stay on top of your KPIs & check your metrics weekly.
● Inform and engage your people.
Don’t
● Over-extend yourself. 2 goals.
● Be a short-term thinker—plan for the long-term
● Assume everyone knows (or cares). Restate & refresh.
● Obsess about competitors or the big guys.

31. / BRAND & DEMAND
You are amazing.
Thank you.
@svrocks
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonmurdock/
34 / BRAND & DEMAND