Adapting to change and driving revenue through field marketing
In their widely acclaimed book, “The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty,” Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman and Rick DeLisi provide an in-depth look at why loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not how spectacular its service experience might be.
Most customers, the authors found, don’t want to be “wowed”; they want an effortless experience. Digging deep into countless case studies, “The Effortless Experience” found that too many companies are so entrenched in the concept of exceeding service expectations, they are numb to everything else.
In the ever-changing world of field marketing—one that has evolved significantly over the past few years, this notion is more than profound, especially as companies continue to adapt to rapid changes in technology and customer behavior.
Michelle Radlowski, Senior Director, AMS & EMEA Regional Marketing and ABM, DigiCert, says for the industry’s marketing strategies to stay relevant and effective, it must stay in a customer-centric mindset. “With every activity or campaign, we need to consistently ask: What does the customer need? What are they looking to hear from us? Are we doing this campaign because it makes us feel good or is it because it resonates with the customer how we can help meet their security needs?”
”Field marketers are strategic business partners to sales; they’re goal-oriented revenue marketers, and also targeted and customer-centric minded.
Rebekah McAdamsVP, Global Field & Channel Marketing, Varonis
DigiCert, a digital security company based in Lehi, Utah, provides public key infrastructure and validation required for issuing digital certificates or TLS/SSL certificates, acting as a certificate authority and trusted third party. For the past 16-plus years, Radlowski has seen a mindset shift in the field marketing landscape, focusing on building trust and partnerships with sales, distilling noise and the continuation of cultivating field marketing to grow even more with time.
“Latane’ Conant, CMO of 6Sense, sums up what I believe field marketing is,” Radlowski says. “They are the future CMOs of the world—you’re the on-the-ground experts in your market, the quarterbacks of the go-to-market plan, the alignment builders between sales and marketing, and the masters of the mind-blowing moment.”
Radlowski believes field marketers are more than just event coordinators or party planners focusing on “menus and venues”, but instead the masterminds behind killer events. “Field marketing is a critical component of the customer experience revolution. They are the end-to-end creators of the programs that engage our target accounts in meaningful ways—all with their eyes steadfastly trained on the organization’s business objectives.”
By operating outside the box of just event people, field marketers can act as strategic business partners to sales teams, serving as a critical part of full life-cycle marketing. “We have the unique opportunity to sit in marketing, but live on the ‘pipeline battlefield’ with our sales team,” Radlowski says. When it comes to delivering seamless customer experiences, Radlowski likes to share the analogy that each of these components should be a spoke in the field marketing flywheel: digital, email, webinars, third-party content syndication, events, through-partner marketing, incentive to meet campaigns through LinkedIn conversations, etc.
“Today’s full stack marketer should also be able to think in terms of all these areas, and incorporate those components into their regional field marketing strategy or engage those on the broader marketing team that can advise and help,” Radlowski says. “When I hire a field marketer, I’m looking for someone who can look at a region, dig into all the nuances, identify gaps and opportunities, then work cross-functionally within the marketing team to build a marketing strategy.”
”Field marketing is a critical component of the customer experience revolution. They are the end-to-end creators of the programs that engage our target accounts in meaningful ways.
Michelle RadlowskiSenior Director, AMS & EMEA Regional Marketing and ABM, DigiCert
Data and the New Landscape
To talk about the evolution of the role of field marketing, Rebekah McAdams believes the conversation should start with what field marketing is not, i.e., not just event planners. The VP and Global Field & Channel Marketing of New York City-based security software platform Varonis says today’s field marketers are not just task takers you can throw something over the wall to and expect them to do.
“Field marketers are strategic business partners to sales; they’re goal-oriented revenue marketers, and also targeted and customer-centric minded,” McAdams says. “The role of field marketing really did start at the event coordinator stage, which means it was pretty tactical and logistics focused. Then, as a field marketer, we were still event heavy, but we are more of a business partner to sales and much more goal-oriented and ROI focused. That means we wanted to make sure that any investment we were doing generated revenue for the business.”
Today, McAdams says field marketers have evolved into full stack, revenue, marketing managers. Breaking down their roles shows they have strategies focused on goals, objectives and data, including a combination of online and offline programs. “We must be true business advisors to sales and aligned with sales leadership. Most importantly, there must be a customer experience focused truly at the heart of everything field marketers do—and that should be data.”
When it comes to digital communications to field marketers’ customers, it is important to know that today is a digital era, which means people consume information very differently than they did years ago. That means being able to create a balanced mix.
McAdams says this is where today’s field marketers must have a close collaboration within the corporate marketing organization. “The first place people may go is your website. How do you want customers to understand what your company does and how you can solve their problems in an easy consumable way? It means being mobile friendly. If you can invest more then definitely do chatbot.” McAdams says digital targeting also can be done through digital ads on websites where your customers may consume information. Depending on who you are targeting in your account and persona base will drive the strategy of your digital tactics. And while email is alive and well, she advises being brief, relevant and value-based.
“When it comes to events, we definitely still mix virtual and in-person engagements,” McAdams says. “Virtual definitely helps you expand your reach outside of a certain local metropolitan type area. But when it comes to in-person interactions, those are definitely the strongest when it comes to networking and relationship-building for sales with their customers. Again, relevancy of the content and who you are targeting, no matter the medium of how you are engaging with your customers, is extremely important.”
More than anything else, data remains at the heart of what field marketers need to be successful. Having the ability to purchase an intent type tool—6sense, demandbase, Zoominfo, etc.—will help provide better data insights for your marketing needs. “When you can look at what type of content your targets are engaging with, what keywords they’re searching, location-based information that helps you refine down your strategy,” McAdams says, “utilize this information to personalize your communications to the accounts and personas you’re speaking to.”
Into the Future
While there is no crystal ball to help field marketers predict the future, Radlowski and McAdams both say the best course of action is to stay on top of the latest technology trends and be creative. In a time where it is easy to get stuck in the status quo and do the same thing over and over, the key is to always test and try new things.
“AI can be used to make our jobs easier in certain ways, to be more productive, creative, so don’t be afraid to try it,” McAdams says. “There is a lot of noise, so you have to stand out and that is done through research and personalization.”
As the landscape of marketing continues to evolve, today’s field marketers are proving their adaptability and resilience by embracing new strategies and technologies that can drive revenue in unprecedented ways. By blending digital tools with traditional face-to-face interactions, they are forging stronger connections with customers and delivering personalized experiences that resonate.
Surfing the Maze
How the Cybersecurity Marketing Society can help you
When you’re built by cybersecurity marketers for cybersecurity marketers, there is no slack in what you get as a member of the Cybersecurity Marketing Society. In a space that has its share of complicated, ever-changing protocols, the group helps equip cybersecurity marketers with the best information, resources and connections to grow their career and succeed.
First introduced as a Slack channel by co-founders Gianna Whitver (now CEO) and Maria Velasquez (Director of Demand Generation for NetSPI), the group has grown into a network of like-minded professionals complete with its CyberMarketingCon events, surveys, job boards and the widely acclaimed podcast, “Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing.”
The private community of 2,000-plus cybersecurity marketers—and growing—facilitates networking, skills growth, mentorship, opportunities and knowledge among its members. Its evolution has been a vital asset for marketers seeking advice, direction and mentorship.
For more information, visit cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com.
