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+ The New VAR Mindset

+ Post-Sale Support Needs Marketing and Sales Alignment

+ 7 Steps to Harnessing the Power of Customer Stories at Events

THE ENLIGHTENED TECHNOLOGY BUYER:

Marketing to a New Age of Informed Decision-Makers

T oday’s B2B technology buyers wield an ever-increasing amount of power. It’s hard not to notice!

At LinkedIn, we are always curious about how the technology buying landscape continues to evolve. With improved access to information, there are new and endless ways for decision-makers to exercise autonomy in their quest for a specific business solution. In fact, the data in support of rising customer democracy is so strong, we lovingly coined today’s new paradigm for B2B technology buying behavior, “The Age of Enlightened Technology Buyers.”

What does this mean for marketers? We’ll unpack this and more in our second edition of UNDERSCORE: A Magazine for Technology Marketers, by Technology Marketers. Our focus this year revolves around how to best capture the attention of community-minded and support-oriented customers. We’ll spotlight why marketers must hone in on understanding the needs of digitally savvy influencers and where the buying committee turns for trusted information.

To further your journey toward marketing nirvana, we’ve also made sure to include unique LinkedIn data and insights, peer stories and industry-specific marketing perspectives — all designed to help you and your teams work smarter, not harder.

We are inspired by the way technology continues to play a paramount role in our everyday lives. As each of you continues to unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation, we look forward to telling your stories in the future!

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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Meghan Brockmeyer and Jade BonacoltaEditors in Chief

22 MARKETING COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY

Why playing to audience needs and business outcomes is so important

24 A ROADMAP TO THE SHORTLISTTips for putting yourself front and center with buyers

25 FIND THE OFFICE PETS!Can you spot all 31 office friends?

26 MAKING A MONSTER OF A MARKETING CAMPAIGN

How HPE differentiated its brand to better connect with customers

FEATURES04 TECHNOLOGY TODAY

A cheat sheet of marketplace dynamics

06 AFTER THE SALEPost-sale support requires alignment between marketing and sales

07 INSIDE TABLEAU’S #KIDSEXPLAINDATA CAMPAIGN

Tableau checks all the boxes with a campaign that people (not just B2B buyers) love

08 THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT How technology buying has changed as peer information and online sources shape the purchasing journey

13 THE NEW VAR MINDSETA roadmap for more effective channel marketing

14 DEFINING VALUE IN A GROWING IoT LANDSCAPE

5 marketing approaches to help build and sustain market share

16 HARNESSING THE POWER OF CUSTOMER STORIES AT EVENTS

How Oracle is bringing the customer experience to life

18 THE RIGHT AUDIENCE, THE RIGHT TOOLSFour technology companies realize success using new targeting options from LinkedIn

20 LINKEDIN’S GUIDE TO B2B VIDEO AT EVERY STAGE OF THE TECHNOLOGY BUYING CYCLE Is your video strategy operating in isolation?

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

08 THE ENLIGHTENED TECH BUYER JOURNEY

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TECHNOLOGY TO DAY

A Spotlight on Industry Insights

Where should today’s marketers be placing their focus? We aggregated data points most impactful for technology marketers, presenting both headwind challenges and untapped opportunities.

By 2023, the managed services market will swell to $282B, a 56% increase.1

$282 Billion

EMERGING AREAS FOR IT SERVICES DEMAND:2

• Blockchain technology• Augmented reality (AR)• Artificial intelligence (AI)• Internet of Things (IoT)• Cloud computing

81%of industry leaders are saying a more inspired B2B piece can help in making better buying decisions.

97%of Millennial ITDMs watch technology-related videos. Members are 20x more likely to share a post with video than any other type of content.3

Making Content Useful to Technology Buyers

Marketers must continue to adapt to their buyers’ changing preferences. Strong content drives results.

IT Integration and Service DemandsTechnology integration is a growing concern for buyers, along with a need for IT services and staff augmentation.

The IT Workforce ShakeupAlthough the skills gap is big, it comes with an opportunity for technology companies to offset with as-a-service offerings.4

TOP SKILLS EMPLOYERS WANT IN 2019:4

• Cloud computing• Artificial intelligence• Analytical reasoning• People management• User experience• Mobile application development

It’s a Cloud-First World and Guidance is NeededCloud subscriptions continue to soar, and applications and middleware software are set to hit $293B, with the bulk of budget dedicated to SaaS.5 In 2019, what’s really driving and influencing technology spending is distribution and cloud adoption.

40%

In 2019, cloud subscriptions will account for 40% of all application and middleware.5

20%

The rate of cloud subscription growth in 2019.5

55%

55% of US data stored by organizations and consumers will take place in the public cloud by 2025.6

Marketing and Sales Unite

Organizations are realizing the operational gains from an aligned marketing-sales strategy.

+35%

Uptick in sales pros who say they work “very closely” or “closely” with marketing.7

57%

The percentage of top sellers who rank the importance of working with marketing at 8 of 10 or higher, compared to 41% of their average counterparts.7

The Security Gap is About More than BreachesAlong with the epidemic of unfilled cybersecurity positions, privacy protection mandates are growing and so is the disconnect between security and business needs. The landscape can be overwhelming for buyers.

1.8 MILLION BY 2022

Unfilled cybersecurity jobs are projected to reach 1.8 million by 2022, up 20% from 1.5 million in 2015.8

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Sources: 1ShoreGroup, “5 Managed Services Trends to Watch in 2019,” January 20192Intellectsoft, “IT Services Essentials & 2018 Trends,” July 20183IDG, “MarketingFit Guide: Marketing Your Technology to Millennials,” February 20194CIO Dive, “Cloud computing and creativity: LinkedIn̓ s top skills for 2019,” January 20195CIO Dive, “2019 budget outlook: This is the cloud s̓ world and CIOs are just living in it,” December 20186TechRepublic, “Big data, IoT will drive world s̓ data to grow 5X by 2025,” February 20197LinkedIn, “LinkedIn State of Sales Report,” October 20188Forbes, “The Cybersecurity Skills Gap Won’t Be Solved in a Classroom,” June 2019

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The technology sales journey has always followed a familiar path: Marketers secure customer interest,

sales nurture and close a deal and customer service offers post-sale support.

But that version of the journey is quickly becoming archaic and disappointing to customers. A vast majority (76%, according to Salesforce)1 expect companies to anticipate their needs. Most (74%) will actually end their engagement with a company that provides poor support, and nearly a third will then talk about it on social media, according to Forbes.2

In the age of peer-driven technology decision making, this is a big deal for marketers.

Marketers are guardians of brand, and sales runs the relationships with customers. So they must be in lock-step throughout the multiple touchpoints of a sales cycle. This is crucial to ensure that customers’ experiences are valuable and consistent, laying the foundation for upselling, cross-selling and delivering long-term ROI. Here’s how marketing and sales can take an active role in post-sale support.

1. Develop self-guided post-sale support: Much of today’s customer journey is self-directed; 44% of buyers turn to vendor websites to troubleshoot.3 They expect:

• A deep well of interactive information• How-to and product videos• Easy-to-navigate forums or Q&As• Chat (customers vastly prefer it!4)

2. Invest in ongoing sales enablement: Marketing-supported sales enablement is essential to closing and maintaining a deal. Post-sale, think:

• New product features or a new use for current features• Case study of a current customer that offers new insight• A spin on the thought leadership used in pre-sale marketing

3. Create a feedback loop with customer service and product: Activities between these teams should be constantly shared and inform everything from marketing strategy to future product development. In practice, that may be:

• Unearthing new testimonials for the customer service team• Marketing-informed audience intel and customer support content• Team collaboration on FAQs, Q&As, scripts and web content to align the brand experience across every touchpoint• Highly requested features added to the product roadmap

4. Establish consistent brand experience: Through the feedback loop, marketing can ensure that the company is not over-promising and under-delivering. Here’s what it should look like:

• Marketing sets clear expectations with customers, and customer service is in line and ready to support• When the customer service team uncovers gaps between promise and delivery, that information is communicated back to marketing and sales, and they are ready to act

5. Prioritize customer renewal marketing: When customers are engaged post-sale and you’re gathering metrics on how you can better deliver personalized content as well as products and services that compound success, you increase the chance of renewal.

If you’re ready to really motivate your marketing, sales and customer service teams to achieve true alignment, read the full blog, “Is Post-Sale Support the Last Great Marketing Differentiator?” on the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog.

THE SALES PERSPECTIVE | POST-SALE SUPPORT

Post-Sale Support Needs Marketing and Sales Alignment

Mike Weir, LinkedIn Senior Director of Technology Sales

Sources: 1Salesforce, “Customer Expectations Hit All-Time Highs,” June 20192Forbes, “Consumers Are More Willing To Share Positive Experiences Than Negative Ones,” April 20193LinkedIn Global Report, “The Enlightened Tech Buyer: Powering Customer Decisions from Acquisition to Renewal,” 20194Forbes, “Emerging Trends In Customer Communication Preferences,” October 2018

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TABLEAU | CAMPAIGN PROFILE

INSIDE TAB L E AU’ S

#KidsExplainData Campaign

THE CONCEPTTableau’s goal for #KidsExplainData was to explore new ways of increasing overall brand awareness and engagement with audiences not savvy in data analytics. With the recent launch of Tableau Prep, a data preparatory product, the company also needed an ideal way to make data and its extensive terminology easy to understand.

PUTTING IT IN ACTIONAfter socializing the idea internally, Tableau’s marketing team got buy-in to place children of Tableau employees on camera with the company’s former CMO, Elissa Fink. What ensued was an hour of hilarious footage between the five of them, talking clean data, data analytics and more!

Goal setting: “For us, #KidsExplainData was all about increasing awareness and engaging with new audiences in an authentic way.”

Staying true to your brand’s mission: “We couldn’t have done this without remaining transparent and lighthearted. From there, we made sure that Tableau’s company mission to ‘help people see and understand data’ was tied to the entire process.”

Selecting the right medium(s): “From a form-factor perspective, we knew the best way to bring this story to life was through snackable videos, even GIFs, that could capture the essence of kids on camera.”

Adapting a campaign to fit your needs: “What’s great about the #KidsExplainData initiative was that it uncovered broader opportunities to uplevel our discussion on data in general. The audience really resonated with how we compared moments in a child’s life to data.”

Creating connections with our community: “Tableau cares deeply about its community of users, so we made sure to create engagement opportunities through a fun and interactive contest.”

In true Tableau fashion, a compelling idea guided by a clear objective helped the company deliver a marketing campaign that was an instant hit for all ages, while still connecting viewers back to what it’s all about: the data.

Check out the full story on Tableau, including the #KidsExplainData video on the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions blog.

B2B marketers are often tasked with promoting complex products in a quick-witted, culturally relevant way that communicates their full value. It’s not easy!

With cleverly cute roundtable discussions and GIFs, #KidsExplainData from Tableau is a campaign that people (not just B2B buyers) love.

“I HAD ABOUT TWO FRIENDS LAST YEAR.”

“YOUʼRE KILLING ME.”

Source: Tableau Source: Tableau Source: Tableau

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COVER STORY | THE ENLIGHTENED TECH BUYER

THE ENLIGHTENED TECHNOLOGY BUYER:

Marketing to a New Age of Informed Decision-Makers

Understanding the Unique DNA of Enlightened Technology Buyers and How to Support Them

Business technology investments are expanding in scope, involving more purchase decision-makers and influencers, research tools and capital. Forrester predicts these investments will increase 4% up through 20211 — even as the purchase process contracts.

In this climate, a savvy and enlightened technology buyer has emerged.

Enlightened technology buyers seek to make informed, rational decisions through a collaborative process, sourcing input from online communities and internal peers to identify, vet, research, purchase, implement and renew new business technology solutions. The result is a competitive vendor landscape and decision-making process with more complexity than ever before.

Technology buyers have a rich pool of resources that guide the purchasing journey. Marketers who fail to adapt the right information, tools and service strategies are missing valuable opportunities.

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Decision-Makers Influencers Implementers/Adopters End Users

Functional Involvement by

Department

IT & Engineering, Finance, Business Development, Operations

Business Development, Accounting, Purchasing, Project Management

IT & Engineering, Project Management, Marketing, Sales, Finance

Marketing, Sales, Finance, IT & Engineering, Product Management, Human Resources

Roles Within the Technology

Buying Committee

Select or recommend new technology solutions to purchase and implement

Provide feedback that shapes the decision-making process and vendor selection process

Manage, integrate, deploy, or drive adoption of new technology

Leverage technology solutions on a daily basis and provide ongoing feedback

Enlightened Technology Buyers are:Community influenced, yet committee driven.While IT remains the driving force behind new business technology investments, the total universe of end users and decision-makers who impact the process encompasses roughly 86% of employees. This committee is informed by each other, but also by the tech and business community at large: 70% are likely to discuss solutions or vendors with their professional peers.2

Digitally enabled and quality obsessed.Enlightened technology buyers are tapping into resources like vendor websites, mobile apps, blogs, forums, discussion boards and product reviews for education, research and input. Nine out of 10 technology buyers look outside the buying committee for digital information on B2B technology solutions — with reviews, surveys and usage stats from fellow technology users making up 51% of these trusted sources.2 Their top concern is to determine overall product/service quality — 91% of buyers cite this as the most important factor when evaluating a vendor.2

Agile minded and outcome oriented.The average technology purchase process is compressed, taking just over two years from start to finish. Today’s enlightened technology buyers have more helpful resources than ever to make informed purchasing decisions, so they demand agility and efficiency in getting the information and support they need from vendors. A quick turnaround and trimmed-down sales process, from research to purchase to implementation, is necessary. Don’t waste time on sales-heavy presentations and jargon.

In the end, what matters most is that the technology purchased delivers on expected outcomes.

2+ yearsThe average technology purchase process takes just over two years from start to finish.

End users and decision-makers who impact the process encompass roughly 86% of employees.2

86%

Key Roles within the Technology Buying Committee

THE ENLIGHTENED TECH BUYER | COVER STORY

Align sales and marketing strategyForty-eight percent of decision-makers

say they often or always experience different messaging from marketing and sales when learning about a new solution, and our research shows that 89% say consistent marketing and sales language about a product is critical.2

This gulf demonstrates the value of partnering to better serve customers and create a competitive advantage over peer companies.

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Make branding a top priorityGiven that new influencers and decision-

makers on the technology buying committee may not know your solution or your name, committing to branding and awareness is a first priority. Pay close attention to your website, which is the top self-sought resource used by potential buyers throughout their discovery process.

You can then scale that branding throughout customer “waterholes” — i.e., the social platforms, blogs, forums, discussion boards and product review websites where customers flock to determine what technology is right for their needs.

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EXPERT TIPS:

• Craft your brand’s unique story to resonate broadly (across the industry, on all key buyer platforms).

• Ensure your story is human, memorable and reinforces your reputation over time.

• Find a compelling way to tell potential customers exactly what you do, free from jargon. Aim for simplicity in your content strategy.

EXPERT TIPS:

• Analyze your highest customer lifetime value (CLTV) clients for key attributes, then create lookalike models to identify potential customers like them.

• Ditch “one and done” single lead forms. Instead, set your sights on earning mass content engagement and multiple downloads from your customers, then tap sales to develop one-on-one conversations.

Enlightened Technology Buyers Demand Wise MarketersUltimately, B2B buyers are looking for investments that actively advance their business initiatives and lay the foundation for future innovation. Marketers can prove that products and solutions tick these boxes in a few ways.

COVER STORY | THE ENLIGHTENED TECH BUYER

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THE ENLIGHTENED TECH BUYER | COVER STORY

Win over current customersIt costs anywhere from five to 25 times as

much money to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, according to Harvard Business Review.3 As an incredibly valuable bonus, reducing customer churn by 5% could increase your company’s profits 25% or more, according to research from Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company (the inventor of the net promoter score).4

Furthermore, our research shows a decline in direct vendor engagement during later stages of purchase, presenting an opportunity to be more engaged with customers post-sale.

Invest in authenticity with reviewsIn today’s B2B marketplace, authenticity

wins. Buyers fully embrace the transparency provided by real user reviews. Peer-to-peer, influencer, practitioner, colleague, and authenticated and verified user reviews are today’s primary sources for pre-purchase guidance.

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EXPERT TIPS:

• Gather firsthand insights from your existing customers. Prompt them to share recaps of their experience with your company and highlight success points.

• Audit the review landscape to look for trends — both strengths and weaknesses — that you can use to transform your customer experience or redefine your value proposition.

• Spot negative reviews? Respond, and use them as an opportunity to solve problems for existing users.

EXPERT TIPS:

• Learn from your customer base and replicate the experience of those who have high CLTV.

• Be consistent with post-sale touchpoints that provide value to your former and current customers and improve their experience with your brand.

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Are you reaching all the individuals who contribute to and make decisions for new technology investments?

Are you influencingall relevant stakeholders? What about their peers?

Are you shaping buyer perception throughbrand campaigns, thought leadership and online reviews?

Are you present and engaged within buyer communities?

Are you demonstratingtrust and dependability?

PURCHASE

Are you ensuring a smooth, swift implementation process?

Are you equippingIT and Operations with resources to answer end user questions easily?

Are you offering support and soliciting feedback to help renew, upsell or cross-sell customers?

Provide Support Throughout The Buyer JourneyAsk yourself the following key questions:

Extra Credit:• How is thought leadership helping to enhance your brand’s reputation and exposure to business decision-makers?

• Are you enabling a successful customer journey?

• Are you measuring customer lifetime value versus focusing on pre-sale metrics?

Sources: 1Forrester, “US Tech Market Outlook For 2019 To 2020,” August 20192LinkedIn Global Report, “The Enlightened Tech Buyer: Powering Customer Decisions from Acquisition to Renewal,” 20193Harvard Business Review, “The Value of Keeping the Right Customers,” October 20144Bain & Company, “Prescription for cutting costs,” 2001

COVER STORY | THE ENLIGHTENED TECH BUYER

Drive a better customer experienceAnyone in your organization who touches

a customer, from marketing to sales to customer service, should be tapping into a cohesive strategy instead of a departmental silo. Invest in the total customer experience to provide potential buyers with the product and service quality they deem essential when selecting a vendor.

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EXPERT TIPS:

• Design your website and key secondary destinations like your company’s social pages to be more interactive and to provide more information about your products.

• Add functionality for clients to chat/engage your customer support teams or consider intranet portals that give clients more personal access, like connecting directly to their sales rep.

• Determine how you can better educate your clients’ IT and operations teams so end user questions will be answered more efficiently. Push for the development of demo and how-to videos.

IT CHANNEL | INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

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THE NEW VAR M INDS E T:

A Roadmap for More Effective Channel Marketing

Make your brand matter: You are not the third wheel.The most important quality of a strong VAR brand today is value

differentiation in a crowded marketplace. Customers need and expect guidance, expertise and customization. Is your marketing making this clear?

Target the right people by finding your biggest fans.This step requires careful examination of the customers who will drive

the highest lifetime value. Use these company attributes to create a replicable persona that determines new target audiences — and leverage LinkedIn’s robust targeting features as a key way to capture exact titles, seniority, skills, etc.

Step out of the churn and into the “always on.”A nurture campaign involves multiple coordinated touchpoints across

channels and capabilities. Company updates, employee feed shares, thought leadership blogs, and influencer and employee posts all generate awareness and engagement. Consider going further and deploying video, carousel ads and dynamic ads. These campaign elements should always be running in some form to reinforce your brand’s reputation in the technology space.

Expand how you measure and record success.Channel marketers need to look to their partners to develop existing

and implement new KPIs that indicate long-term success. LinkedIn can advise on and support detailed campaign reporting that demonstrates the economic value to OEMs.

Adjust expectations according to the new view.As a multi-layered campaign comes together, don’t just report on the

immediate returns of each campaign or total social spend. Channel marketers need to shift the expectations of their partners to think longer term — with an ad spend commitment to match. With LinkedIn, marketers can use A/B testing and set up campaigns with different content or messaging, providing more overall control and the ability to enhance ROI.

This can be a difficult shift to convince partners on, but the result is a targeted omnichannel campaign telling your VAR + partner brand story that ultimately produces long-term leads. That’s a different mindset entirely.

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As every move a customer makes becomes more trackable, 93% of CMOs

say they are under more pressure than ever to prove ROI.1 This pressure to perform by any metric necessary is even more acute for channel marketers of VARs (value-added resellers), who are held to their own marketing objectives alongside those of key partners. The result? A “lead gen or bust” mindset.

However, this short-sighted thinking can leave longer-term ROI opportunities on the table. While not easy, integrated nurture campaigns foster higher-quality leads, leading to larger customer lifetime value. In fact, 66% of marketers say that leads created in a nurtured, account-based marketing campaign are more likely to become loyal advocates of a product or solution.2

But how do you transition away from a short-term and transactional lead mentality? Here are five expert steps from the IT Channel Marketing team at LinkedIn.

Jason Carriere, LinkedIn B2B Enterprise Technology Channel Strategy

Sources: 1https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/study-cmos-lack-internal-resources-prove-roi/295466)2MarTech Series, “New Report Shows ABM is Driving Greater Customer Success,” December 2018

How to Build and Sustain Market Share

in a Growing IoT Landscape

65%More than 65% of midsize to large enterprises will use external IoT services for at least half of their solution building efforts by 2021.

This — coupled with the fact that by 2021, more than 65% of midsize to large enterprises will use external IoT services for at least half of their solution building efforts (up from 35% today2) — presents a unique opportunity for marketers to educate buyers, connect siloed decision-makers and garner new mindshare.

M arketo reports that over half the world’s top global marketers expect IoT to

revolutionize the landscape in 2020.1

For marketers in the highly fragmented IoT space, winning over customers requires a dedicated strategy focused on:

• Defining value as a best-fit provider• Overcoming existing knowledge curves• Building long-standing trust with consumers

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MARKETING INSIGHTS | IoT

IoT | MARKETING INSIGHTS

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Make a Case for Continued SuccessA brand’s messaging must be long term — not one and

done. In a confusing implementation space like IoT, marketers must drive conversations as a thought leader and educate partners and customers how to invest for future success.

Bridge Partner and Customer GapsIt can be hard to decipher how individual solutions, platforms, vendors and even customers come together. Vendors

typically approach this in one of two ways: through an open API or via vendor proprietary standards (VPS). For IoT marketers, these different paths present an opportunity to help bridge the gap in potential marketplaces or ecosystems. Choosing a path is a strategic decision that not only involves the IT department, but other functions including even the C-level. This is an opportunity to invest in educational marketing initiatives that empower and draw partners and customers together when using your solution.

Leverage the Proliferation of SensorsEndpoints, sensors and remote devices are everywhere — with massive investment across healthcare, agriculture, retail

and many other industries.4 Given IoT is built around billions of data collectors with nearly unlimited battery life and machine-level intelligence capabilities, it’s safe to say this industry is here to stay. Even if companies haven’t fully developed platforms or strategies that take advantage of IoT, providers are quickly finding new and exciting ways to implement sensors into everyday life. With so many opportunities for success, IoT marketers should cast a wide net of content to increase their relevance in the marketplace.

Stress the Time-Sensitive Nature of Vendor DecisionsIoT is a prime example of big data in action, where real-time analytics, huge quantities of data and machine learning

insights converge. But IoT is actually more complicated and complex than just IT5, so marketers must be sure to clearly communicate the company-wide involvement level — and positive operational impact with potential clients. Traditional technology vendors are often accustomed to longer activation periods for large-scale IT initiatives, and IoT marketers must stress the immediacy of vendor decisions.

Move Beyond Buzzwords to ResultsMarketers must eschew flashy buzzwords in favor of tried and true business outcomes. Clients want to know what they’ll

gain when partnering with your organization, and it’s a marketer’s responsibility to help show how the relationship will be mutually beneficial. Focus on strategic initiatives to catalyze conversations with a wide group of stakeholders, from IT to the C-level. If you’re not talking to the right people, you’re fighting an uphill battle. Show measurable results, however, and you’re in a position to win.

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As advanced IoT capabilities propel intelligent business decisions, new entrants are expected to emerge.3 Here’s how marketers can break through with both B2B and B2C customers: EXPERT

PERSPECTIVEAccording to Gartner, “the IoT service provider market encompasses a broad mix of providers, including but not limited to advisory consulting firms, system integrators, software providers and communications service providers as well as OT providers.”2 While this breadth of players may seem overwhelming, consider them as four key sectors: Endpoints, Sensors, Remote Devices: The little “things” that actually form connections and capture data, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and thermometers.

The Communication Network: IoT devices communicate with each other and external machines via the Communication Network. As this network advances, we should expect to see its migration to 5G.

Data Storage & Access Solutions: These solutions help store and archive data created from sensors or what is captured from the Communication Network. There is an infinite amount of data in IoT, and storage vendors help process and house this information.

Data Management & Processing Solutions: Management and processing vendors organize and sort through IoT data to produce detailed insights, trends and outcomes.

Sources: 1Marketo, “The Marketing Power of The Internet of Things,” 20152Gartner, “Market Guide for IoT Service Providers,” January 20183Gartner, “Gartner Says 8.4 Billion Connected ‘Things’ Will Be in Use in 2017, Up 31 Percent From 2016,” February 2017 4Insider Pro from IDG, “10 Hot IoT Startups to Watch,” May 20185Business Insider, “The roles of cloud computing and fog computing in the Internet of Things revolution,” December 2016

Harnessing the Power of Customer Stories at Events:

How Oracle is Bringing the Customer Experience to Life

There’s perhaps no more compelling a way to espouse the benefits of a brand than straight from the source — the customer. But

for many marketers, capturing the customer’s voice can be an ever-elusive goal. Recruiting customer participation and cutting through the corporate red tape for legal sign-offs pose hurdles in the written case study process. Events, on the other hand, provide an ideal stage for sharing success stories in a live, interactive, peer-to-peer setting.

Oracle recently launched a strategy for showcasing customer successes at Oracle OpenWorld, its annual convention that typically attracts more than 60,000 business decision-makers, IT management and line-of-business end users and features 1,500+ education sessions. In recent years, the Oracle customer base shifted from being heavily focused on product functions to having a more diverse, executive decision-maker mentality. As such, content and marketing for Oracle began to swing from telling product stories to telling customer stories.

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EXPERT PROFILE | SCOTT EWART, ORACLE

Shift with your customer base. Look for success stories that align with your current customer personas and directly address their

business challenges. Ensure that customer candidates can speak to the business impact as it pertains to initial challenges, the decision-making process, solution and results.

Tap multiple sources. Don’t rely on just one source. Before adopting its new customer success approach, Oracle focused

solely on the customer stories coming out of product development. Now, they hunt down metrics-based stories from across the organization.

Allow ample lead time. With more than 500 customer-led presentations and sessions, it took seven months to gather

success stories for OracleWorld. Don’t underestimate the time required to uncover customer testimonial candidates, vet the criteria and enlist their participation.

Prep, prep and more prep. As part of the initial story-gathering, map out your internal processes and project management

procedures. Most customers work with an internal sponsor to craft their story. The company’s speaker management team runs multiple calls with customers before they present at the event to address logistics and details, while its content management team works one on one with speakers on presentations, content and visuals.

Shake it up. To make customer-led presentations more engaging, move beyond the “sit-in-a-lecture-for-an-hour” format. Oracle

created unique ways to deliver customer storytelling at OracleWorld in formats that fostered stronger interactivity and made a bigger impact (see sidebar).

Organize and categorize. Make it easy for attendees to locate which of their peers are speaking at events. Oracle created

a Content Catalog that breaks out stories by topics and business challenges. This also helps to drive renewals for future events.

Measure success. Set up metrics to gauge the impact of your customer voice program. Oracle sends out a follow-up survey

to attendees with questions around customer stories, which sessions they found relevant, whether they felt they gained knowledge, etc. In the future, they also plan to run focus groups to better understand how customer stories are being received and can be improved.

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Oracle teamed with educational leaders, including Stanford University, to design four new, more engaging types of customer-driven information sessions.

“Make Your Case” — instead of going through a standard

PowerPoint presentation, the customer presents the business challenge they were facing in detail. The audience is then split into small groups to discuss possible solutions, which are shared with the greater group. Benefits: Two-way discussions about real-world solutions

“Brain Smack” — set up like speed dating, attendees are placed

in rows of chairs facing each other. With five minutes on the clock, the pairs are given a topic to discuss, and when the timer goes off, one row moves down the line so everyone has a new partner. Benefits: Networking and fostering relationships

“Homeroom” — a great way for attendees in similar industries

or with similar business challenges to get together and talk about insights they’ve learned, specific sessions they would recommend and general industry knowledge. Benefits: Peer-to-peer sharing

“Flip” — sessions are split in two. In one session, attendees could be

asked to submit pre-work before, and then the second part could be to review the results as a group. Another option is to discuss an app and devote the second half to walk attendees through how to use it. Benefits: Breaks up lengthy content, encourages interactivity

CREATIVE AND COMPELLING SESSIONS TO ENGAGE ATTENDEES

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Scott Ewart, a member of the Oracle OpenWorld Planning Management Team, shares his secrets to bringing hundreds of compelling customer case studies to life at events. SCOTT EWART

Senior Director, Corporate Events

SCOTT EWART, ORACLE | EXPERT PROFILE

ServiceNow Powers ABM Strategy with LinkedIn TargetingWhen ServiceNow, an enterprise work automation solution, made the switch to account-based marketing, the B2B company needed robust targeting capabilities to deliver content to decision-makers with the right job titles and seniority levels within carefully selected accounts. LinkedIn’s capabilities allowed it to target the right people, severely reducing the lead waste of its past marketing efforts. Then, after noticing that a high percentage of LinkedIn traffic came from mobile, ServiceNow incorporated LinkedIn Lead Gen forms and saw a near 100% increase in form fills.

H ighly specified targeting at scale is an elusive goal for marketers, particularly those in tech who are faced with a growing

audience of nuanced decision-makers and end users. Forced to cast a wide net in the hopes of capturing the right few, traditional methods keep costs for quality acquisitions high and strain sales professionals to sift through a lot of go-nowhere leads. LinkedIn offers productive new targeting options to allow marketers to scale their efforts to deliver better leads and more meaningful ROI. See how four key companies realized success.

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100%

INCREASE

ServiceNow incorporated LinkedIn Lead Gen forms and saw a near 100% increase in form fills.

CASE STUDIES | THE POWER OF LINKEDIN TARGETING

MARKETER EXAM P LES : COMBINING AUDIENCES AND INSIGHTS TO DRIVE BUSINESS GROWTH

THE POWER OF LINKEDIN TARGETING | CASE STUDIES

Schneider Electric Sparks Dialogue with C-Suite AudiencesSchneider Electric, a power management company that provides integrated efficiency solutions, needed that granularity to target the customers who would best understand the enterprise-wide benefits of its EcoStruxure product: energy firm CXOs.

In the past, the company utilized publications like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to reach the C-suite, but paid a lot to deliver a one-way message to less relevant audiences as well.

Utilizing Sponsored Content and Sponsored InMails, Schneider Electric maximized exposure to its target audiences, ensuring the campaign reached 14,000 CXOs. The 31% average open rate for Sponsored InMail and 0.5% click-through rate for Sponsored Content both beat LinkedIn benchmarks for this audience segment.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE YOUR INVESTMENT:

1. Stay engaged, keep optimizing. Schneider Electric paid careful attention to how its content was resonating. The company tweaked headlines, images and copy styles to nearly double its click-through rate.

2. Utilize multiple avenues to maximize results. To generate leads at a higher rate, Sage added Sponsored Content to its Sponsored InMail targets. Building awareness reinforced Sage’s value and led to greater follow-through: 4.79% of those who received sponsored InMail after being primed with feed content clicked through to the landing page. Of those, 30% are in the company’s lead database.

3. Develop the audience. Cisco Canada used LinkedIn’s matched audiences feature to determine which insights and characteristics were most valuable, carrying this data over to future campaigns.

Average open rate forSponsored InMail

Click-through rate for Sponsored Content

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31%

0.5%

Personalized Content Drove Big Results for Sage’s Unique SegmentationFor the launch of its cloud-based, real-time business management solution, Sage Live, enterprise software brand Sage delivered growth-focused content to targeted job titles, filtering by small and medium-sized businesses as well as entrepreneurs within set industries.

The company’s eBook was served through Sponsored InMail, and just over half of the recipients opened it. Of those, 9% clicked through to the landing page.

Better Targeting Cuts Cisco Canada’s Acquisition Costs in HalfCisco Canada, the Canadian arm of the worldwide leader in IT and networking, wanted to expand its digital marketing at a lower cost per acquisition, so it partnered with LinkedIn to create several campaigns.

The Cisco Canada team used LinkedIn advertising to showcase a white paper that featured Cisco technology for the manufacturing industry, and targeted IT decision-makers by job role, title and seniority. This reduced the team’s cost per acquisition by 50%.

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For companies marketing technology solutions, video presents a natural avenue to excite users by showing them what it can do for their business. Video fosters a much greater emotional connection as you convey your understanding of their needs and frustrations, and how to help.

Where many marketers go wrong is in thinking of video in isolation.

You don’t want to limit yourself to producing just one catch-all awareness video. Video can support customers at each touchpoint along the funnel, into the sales pipeline and beyond. By setting a clear plan for video throughout the customer journey, you can also optimize your video budget by laying out your production needs at once — producing several more cost-effective videos rather than a single expensive one.

LinkedIn’s Guide to B2B Video at Every Stage of the Technology Purchase

MARKETING INSIGHTS | VIDEO STRATEGY

CUSTOMERS OVERWHELMINGLY

PREFER VIDEOAccording to Forbes, three-

quarters of executives watch work-related videos every week, just over 50% share those videos

with colleagues every week and nearly 60% prefer to watch a video on a topic rather than

reading about it1.

1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/03/video-marketing-the-future-of-content-marketing/#fd7b32d6b535

See how video can benefit your brand and reach the enlightened tech buyer along the entire customer journey, from awareness to decision-making.

AWARENESS“Top-of-the-funnel awareness videos should be short and to the point. Most will be discovered off-site, so you want to quickly evoke emotion, educate or entertain, doing everything you can to draw [buyers] in and influence their next action. You might even need to inform them of pain points they don’t know they have.” — Amber Long, VP of Content, PR & Social, gyro

CONSIDERATION“Working with clients, we ask ourselves, ‘What value does this business or product bring to the world, and how can we deliver that as a feeling people can take away?’ It goes back to that old saying, ‘People won’t remember what you say, and they won’t necessarily remember what you do, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.’” — Jonathon Palmer, Global Head of Strategy, Omobono

DECISION/INTEGRATION/ADOPTION“People always think about video as top-of-the-funnel awareness ads in the traditional TV sense, but that’s not where the power of video is today. The customer journey has flipped and marketing is going all the way down to the decision phase. Customers are getting so much information on the web, so marketing is having to do a lot more to help sales and that’s why deeper funnel content is so important.” — Jordan Hagan, Video Strategist, StoryMe

Formats: Short ads, brand-centric teasers, edits from your main video, bespoke trailers

Metrics: Views, watch time, CTA engagement and clicks

Formats: Explainers, case studies, webinars, how-to videos, virtual tours

Metrics: Interactions (comments, likes, clicks, shares) per view, estimated cost per view (eCPV)

Formats: Welcome videos, FAQ sessions, webinars, full-length product demonstrations

Metrics: Leads, quality of leads, click-through rate (CTR), estimated cost per click (eCPC)

Example: HP: “The Wolf featuring Christian Slater | HP” A short video series about cybersecurity for business, told through the lens of a hacker dubbed “The Wolf.”

Example: Slack: “You've Probably Heard of Slack” This video uses a fictional friend to walk you through the different use cases for Slack, and how they help her at work.

Example: Salesforce: “T-Mobile is a Trailblazer” This case story elevates customers by giving them a platform to explain how Salesforce has helped them to deliver across B2B and B2C.

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VIDEO STRATEGY | MARKETING INSIGHTS

KEY STRATEGIES TO DEPLOYA thoughtful approach to attracting and retaining customers is critical, so we examined what top collaboration solution providers are doing on LinkedIn to drive leads and engage professional audiences with content. Consider these suggestions to improve your chances of marketing success.

Think Beyond the UCC Traditional on-premise UCC (Unified Communications & Collaboration) solutions have built established tools and are now looking to innovate and advance current platform capabilities. UCC-as-a-Service (UCCaaS) is also facing change, with most UCCaaS marketers looking for ways to diversify their solutions.

And while these solutions are sometimes seen as “add-ons” by enterprise entity buyers, employees and business units are ready and waiting for innovative, social solutions. Marketers should leverage traditional campaigns and even guerrilla tactics to capture this burgeoning audience.

Sell to Enterprises vs. EmployeesWhile organizations are seeking a one-size-fits-all solution that addresses every issue that arises, many traditional solutions don’t have the innovative social features employees desire.

Vendors and organizations alike are struggling to determine where they should fall in this balance. Seize this opportunity to bridge the gap by highlighting innovative API capabilities and integrations with other solutions.

Also focus on cross-functionality to draw in the different groups. By engaging with both the IT manager/buyer and individual employee end users, marketers can develop partnerships instead of “clients” to make the most of these engagements.

As companies become faster and more nimble, collaboration solutions ensure that employees

reach peak productivity. However, with the rise of mobile, cloud-first and socially integrated applications in the collaboration space, small vendors now compete with older players for market share. Marketers must up the ante in this environment.

Common Challenges:• Growing recognition of collaboration as a core enterprise application

• The difficulty of defining specific platform features and functionality to varying markets

• End users are ahead of IT buyers or management when it comes to collaboration tools

• Lack of IT knowledge or sophistication when it comes to collaboration systems

• Growing numbers of collaboration technologies and integrations on the horizon

• Lack of security and customer protection when it comes to collaboration systems

THE POWER OF TEAMS:

How to Market Workplace Collaboration Solutions

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MARKETING INSIGHTS | COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY

IN A COMPETITIVE MARKET, STRATEGIC MARKETERS CAN ANSWER:

1. Who is my customer̓ s customer and how are my products solving for their unique pain points?

2. What is my prospect̓ s current perception of our tools or services? Why should they care?

3. What are they really looking for from collaboration software? How can we hone in on that — and make them a customer for life?

3 WAYS TO BETTER ENGAGE WITH TODAY’S COLLABORATION COMMITTEES

1. Identify Cross-Sell & Upsell OpportunitiesTake a proactive approach to customer and account-based marketing (ABM) by developing solid, efficient cross or upsell opportunities. Employ native solutions like LinkedIn Sponsored Content and Sponsored Video to identify these possibilities and also to market new features such as security capabilities or integration functionality.

2. Develop Interactive Content PlansCollaboration marketers are often cranking out new content resources for various audiences without understanding how the pieces are being consumed. Focus on leveraging detailed research to learn more about overall messaging and content for your particular market. Then develop interactive campaigns that include video and social media to correspond with traditional content methods like reports and case studies. 3. Drive Targeted CommunicationWith more than one group involved in purchasing, collaboration marketers must be able to deliver highly curated and targeted communication to different personas (each with their own set of requirements). This means the same message crafted specifically for a CIO should not be sent as a direct message to another employee at that same company. Leverage professional networking sites like LinkedIn to target desired job titles and then market specific messages to each accordingly.

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COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY | MARKETING INSIGHTS

A ROADMAP TO MAKING THE ENTERPRISE SHORTLIST

Gaining market share and building credibility is no easy task. Although new business technology investments are expected to increase 9% this year1, only 20% of IT decision-makers will consider a new technology vendor. Here’s how to get your slice of that pie.

MAKE ONLINE BRANDING YOUR #1 PRIORITYYour website is the top resource used by potential buyers in the awareness stage, as they near deal closure and during implementation. Design an interactive online experience that differentiates you from competitors, offers a wealth of info about products/services and reinforces quality.

ANALYZE YOUR HIGH CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE CLIENTSDive into your past client base to identify the DNA of those most successful customers and create buyer personas. Take this analysis to partners to create lookalike models and go after similar accounts.

INVEST IN CUSTOMER EXPERIENCEImplement customer service tools and functionality that allow customers to solve their own problems. Give them implementation resources and tools, how-to videos and easy access to communicate with your company.

ALIGN SALES, MARKETING AND CUSTOMER SERVICECompanies that design their operations around a cohesive customer journey strategy, rather than forcing customers through cumbersome gates, create natural alignment. This reinforces brand quality by eliminating mixed messages, reduces customer churn and boosts renewal rates.

TAP YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS FOR AUTHENTIC REVIEWSSolicit your biggest cheerleader customers, thought leaders and other users to provide unbiased reviews or info for a case study that shows how your solutions solved their real-world challenges.

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1Forrester, “The Global Tech Market Outlook For 2018 To 2019,” January 2018

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Today’s modern workplace is always more fun with a few trusty companions. See if you can spot all 31 office friends!

FIN D TH E

OFFICE PETS!PICTURE SEARCH | GAMES

For many companies, managing IT can feel like a big, hairy monster weighing down performance and productivity. Legacy

systems, constant workarounds and third-party solutions can grow out of control. Grappling with this challenge is a beast of a problem, so Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) seized an opportunity to empathetically identify with its customers through a campaign featuring the “IT Monster.”

When HPE’s giant red beast lumbered larger than life on screen, it was a novel concept that stood head and shoulders above the competitors’ traditionally conservative ads. HPE dared to go where few technology leaders have ventured to introduce its software-defined cloud solutions to targeted IT professionals — by relating to their pain points with a dose of humor.

HPE’s marketing innovators blazed a bold trail to differentiate their brand and better connect with customers

How a Monster Revealed the Heart of IT

We caught up with HPE’s McKaela Doherty, Senior Director of Advertising, Editorial Content & Social Media, and Chris Drago, Senior Director of Global Media and Social Marketing, to share their insights on how the “Taming the IT Monster” strategy for this global campaign came to life. Working in partnership with agency Publicis North America, the campaign media elements included digital video, display ads, search, social, out of home, broadcast and events.

McKaela Doherty Senior Director of

Advertising, Editorial Content & Social Media

Chris DragoSenior Director of Global Media and Social Marketing

Chris: When you look at other marketing from B2B brands, it all looks the same. We want to communicate in a human way, not just with a talking head. McKaela: The first creative meeting where the monster appeared on a PowerPoint slide, we were sold. Not only was it right on strategy, but it addressed two massive creative challenges: How do you stand out in a very crowded environment, and how do you connect with IT pros in a credible and interesting way?

What was the impetus behind this campaign?Q:

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CAMPAIGN PROFILE | HPE

Source: HPE

HPE | CAMPAIGN PROFILE

How a Monster Revealed the Heart of IT

McKaela: We needed to create internal guidelines and communication around the monster. One thing we didn’t want the monster to become was a mascot, because it represents the challenge, not HPE. Chris: That’s why the monster is not like this ogre. The problem, the challenge, can be our friend.

What special brand considerations did you make for this monster?Q:

McKaela: It actually wasn’t hard to sell the concept even though it’s so different for us. We’re personifying a problem. Part of what made this easier is that at HPE, marketing and sales are well connected. We interviewed countless SMEs internally. We shared this with the head of sales. We even showed it to our own CIO, because she’s a customer. She had some great input on how to make it feel more real.

How did you gain buy-in for the campaign internally? Q:

McKaela: Customer and partner feedback has been very positive. I think it’s even inspired some of our partners to say, “Yes, you’ve got it! This is what I’ve been dying for and I’m really excited about it.” Chris: When you compare the monster campaign to our prior benchmarks, it had a much higher engagement rate. So just from a digital response standpoint, people were interested enough to not only click through but to spend time on more content once they got to our site.

What kind of reception has the campaign received in market? How have you measured it?Q:

McKaela: The IT monster campaign opened up other doors for us media-wise. We’re able to air it while customers watch their favorite Hulu shows, for example. Some of our other advertising wouldn’t have been relevant in that context. This enabled us to do a lot more TV advertising last year, including the Super Bowl — it was highly smart, strategic, and it helped us to get out in front of customers we really cared about in a couple of key markets at a fraction of the price.

Were there any surprises or new revelations along the way?Q:

HOW DO YOU BRING A MONSTER TO LIFE?HPE’s IT Monster, while not a mascot, bears his own unique identity. The company’s marketing team had to be sure they weren’t infringing on anyone else’s monster trademark and took into consideration several factors: What should his color be? How long should his hair be? Should he have ears or no ears? A tail or no tail? Should he be a millimeter bigger?

A new set of internal guidelines was created to protect the beastly brand and ensure that it was something HPE’s customers found relevant and relatable without being silly.

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Source: HPE

Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. With 560 million members worldwide, including executives from Fortune 500 companies, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network.

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