Chief Marketer recently chatted with Andrea Brody, who joined Riskonnect as CMO last year. The B2B cloud-based software firm offers integrated solutions to help companies understand and manage factors that can impact shareholder value.
Brody shared the opportunities and challenges the Atlanta-based firm faces in connecting with B2B decision makers
CHIEF MARKETER: What your biggest marketing challenges?
ANDREA BRODY: Companies like ours in the risk market have a lot of buyer personas. There is no real common persona that says “I’m the chief risk officer.” We have to sell to IT, to the CIO, to internal auditors. Our biggest challenge is trying to reach these buyer personas when things are coming together and they’re searching for a solution.
CM: How do you position the brand, to be there when those B2B prospects are ready to buy?
AB: We need to create compelling events, and convince people they need a new way of doing things. Our average deal is nine to 12 months, and we need to [help people realize] they need to do things differently. We need to create that story of integrated risk, so people know their risk profile. We need to convince people that “you think you’re doing a good job [managing risk], but you’re really not.” They need to realize they need a new way of doing things.
You May Also Enjoy:
- Q&A: Heineken Taps into the Power of Experiences
- CMO Q&A: Rishi Dave on the Transformation of Vonage
- Q&A: Nutrisystem Leverages Influencers
CM: What type of content helps best tell that story, and create the compelling event?
AB: In my experience, the content that engages and helps drive conversion is practical things, like guides on the top risk measurements. People want to be educated. You have to give them something that they didn’t now before and show them whether they’re keeping up [with the competition]. Practical content and thought leadership both have a role—thought leadership drives branding, but the practical, “top 10 tips” type converts more quickly.
CM: Do certain content formats resonate more with your audience?
AB: It’s a combination of things. No one these days really likes long whitepapers, so we try to keep things 10 pages or less. People want infographics, videos, snackable things. If they’re at the beginning of the buyer’s journey and need more education, [prospects] might need more strategic, longer piece. But as we move through the process, then they want to see videos and customer testimonials.
AB: How do you gauge marketing attribution?
CM: Marketing has to be an integrated approach. To see what channel moved the dial and provoked the person to buy, we look at marketing ROI and [consider whether] we have the pipeline coverage and what the marketing budget is in relation to revenue.
CM: What are the big trends in B2B you see for 2019?
AB: There’s more for B2B marketers to leverage with account based marketing. The challenge is doing it without breaking the bank. It’s all about engagement and knowing which accounts could be better customers. I’m also seeing a lot of direct mail campaigns coming across my desk, [as part of] in ABM campaigns.
Network
