Treating B2B like BFFs

© 2016 Code42 Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Treating B2B like BFFs

HOW ADVOCACY CAN TAKE YOUR MARKETING

FROM SECOND-RATE TO FIRST-CLASS


Business is always personal.


A lifetime of memories…


Even big business is personal.

• Human experiences are what sets companies apart. B2B buyers are people too!

• Engagement/advocacy goes beyond the brand relationship

• Companies can overcome the cold “virtual” relationship

• Engagement and advocacy can help you cut through the noise


Who is Code42?


• Founded in 2001, HQ in Minneapolis, MN

• Offices in Denver, San Francisco, London and

Munich

• Enterprise SaaS company with 420+

employees

• Protect data on employee laptops and

desktops

• More than 39,000 business customers,

including HBO, Adobe, Salesforce, MIT,

Stanford University, National Geographic, etc.

• Poised for engagement/advocacy success


The dark ages


Resulted in:

• Slow, manual process with many disparate

spreadsheets

• Unenthusiastic sales people

• Customers without an avenue for advocacy

• Lackluster case studies

• Frequent fliers

Securing customer references for sales and

marketing activities was a struggle.


Reviews, please

The B2B tech buyer:

• Skeptical

• Suspicious of marketing, trusts peers

• Likes to share opinions and expertise

• Often cannot publicly endorse a product

60% of tech buyers look for reviews during the buying process.

Reviews allow customers to be honest

Reviews help companies overcome the testimonial problem


Launching our engagement/advocacy program

Customer Validation

• Case studies/testimonials/logo usage

• Customer bylines/PR placements

• TechValidate—customer data points, identify

potential evangelists

Customer Engagement

• Code42 AdvocateHub (Influitive platform)

• Code42 user conference and user groups

• Customer Advisory Council

• Communications—newsletter, release/maintenance

notifications, nurturing programs

• Highlight the quality and breadth of Code42 customer base to prospects

• Keep current customers connected and engaged with Code42


Enter Influitive


Who are the Code42 advocates?

• IT manager, sys admin, desktop manager

• Enterprise or mid-market account

• Technical contact at organization

• Happy CrashPlan user

• Participated, or has shown interest in, engagement activities with

Code42


Want reviews? Just ask!

Implemented a customer engagement platform

to create a community of engaged advocates

• Allow us to use gamification to make it fun and to

keep them coming back

• Issued challenges to advocates, pointing them to

review opportunities online

• Gave them points for their reviews, which they

could redeem for gift cards, Code42 swag, etc.

• Keep the ask simple – don’t lead advocates or

tell them what to say


ONLINE REVIEWS


Engagement/advocacy program results

Code42 AdvocateHub

• 768 advocates from 350 companies

• Over 37,000 challenges completed

• 447 online reviews completed

• Customer contributions to blog posts,

presentations, news releases, bylines, etc.


Beyond the numbers

Benefits we didn’t expect:

• Increased visibility in our organization

• Content/testimonials/challenges from our engagement programs have been used in executive

presentations, highlighted to the entire company and featured online

• An army to mobilize to combat online trolling or genuine questions

• Additional headcount for the advocacy/engagement team

• Personal career growth! “It’s possibly the best example I’ve seen of

a company engagement with its customers

in a way that is informative, fun and

rewarding for all parties involved.”


Make it personal.

Treating B2B like BFFs

Marketing

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