ANNUITAS Transforms PR Newswire’s Marketing Department Into Revenue Driver
ANNUITAS Transforms PR Newswire’s Marketing Department Into Revenue Driver
Efforts Earn Client Award for Marketing Team of the Year
Communications products and services provider PR Newswire partnered with ANNUITAS® to transform their marketing department from a cost center to a revenue driver. The Demand Process focused demand generation program implemented by ANNUITAS and enabled by Marketo resulted in a 361 percent year-over-year increase in marketing-influenced revenue for PR Newswire. In utilizing Marketo as the core technology of this buyer-centric program, PR Newswire received a “Marketo Masters: Marketing Team of the Year, Enterprise” Revvie award. The Marketo Revvie Awards program recognizes companies that effectively use Marketo marketing automation software and solutions to attract and engage customers.
“The Marketo solution is an essential tool for enabling the demand generation strategies that drive revenue for our enterprise clients like PR Newswire,” said Carlos Hidalgo, CEO and Principal of demand generation strategy and change management firm ANNUITAS. “The recognition our client earned with the Revvie award demonstrates the success that is achievable through the careful application of buyer-centric, strategic demand generation programs. Because several of our team members are recognized among the most advanced and active Marketo users and advocates and ANNUITAS has been nominated for a Revvie award as well, our clients can be confident we know how to successfully implement a perpetual demand generation program that is powered by Marketo.”
“Winning the Revvie for Marketing Team of the Year – Enterprise is a significant accomplishment and a testament to the work that goes into building a world-class marketing organization,” said Ken Wincko, senior vice president, marketing for PR Newswire. “To achieve our vision, we had to redesign our go-to-market strategy holistically across content, people, processes, data and technology. Our partnership with ANNUITAS was instrumental in making our transformation possible.”
ANNUITAS partnered with PR Newswire to launch a buyer-centric demand-generation program to replace PR Newswire’s tactical marketing approach. This approach resulted in more leads into sales and more buyers into long-term loyal customers. Based on extensive research, ANNUITAS created buyer personas identifying their primary challenges, behaviors and pain points as well as their content consumption preferences. ANNUITAS then mapped specific content to match the buyer’s journey and individual needs, depending on where a potential buyer was in the buying cycle. All of the content was classified into one of three areas: Engage, Nurture or Convert, each designed to achieve a specific goal in the sales pipeline. PR Newswire also leveraged multiple inbound channels with ongoing outbound communications to become a clear thought leader among marketers, and a resource to keep buyers informed of new industry trends and issues.
As a result of ANNUITAS’ demand generation program, within five months PR Newswire’s engaged leads grew by 22 percent and qualified leads saw a seven percent increase. By supplying the sales force with leads that were vetted and pre-qualified beforehand, the number of sales closed also increased by seven percent. The combined marketing and sales effort accelerated and compressed PR Newswire’s sales cycle by roughly 30 percent. Most importantly, PR Newswire’s demand generation program transformed marketing from a cost center into a net contributor of revenue, delivering profitable ROI for the company.
Marketo’s Revvie winners were honored at the Marketo Marketing Nation Summit 2016 held at the MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel and Casino May 9-12, 2016. The event, which attracted more than 6,000 marketers from around the globe, featured thought-leadership, educational sessions, workshops, and trainings to empower marketers of every level to succeed in today’s digital era.