• May 26, 2015
• Advertising, Content, Demand Generation, EMEA, Sales and Marketing Alignment

Tech Marketer Talks: Data-Driven Marketing across the Globe – Rackspace ANZ

Daniel Sutic is the Program Marketing Manager at Rackspace ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) and responsible for driving revenue, increasing retention and product adoption through effective lead generation programs for Rackspace’s acquisitions and installed base sales and channel teams.

Brooke Cerfontyne is the Online Sales Manager at Rackspace ANZ and manages all pre and post sales lead generation for the Australia and New Zealand regions and follow ups from campaigns. She was awarded the coveted title of “Racker” (Rackspace employee) of the Year” in 2014.

Can you provide a little background on Rackspace?

Rackspace  is the #1 managed cloud company with technical expertise and fanatical support that allows companies to tap the power of the cloud without the pain of hiring experts in dozens of complex technologies. Rackspace is also the leader in hybrid cloud, giving each customer the best fit for its unique needs — whether on single- or multi-tenant servers, or a combination of those platforms. Rackspace is the founder of OpenStack®, the open-source operating system for the cloud. Based in San Antonio, Rackspace serves more than 300,000 business customers from data centers on four continents.

Can you share some of your best practices and initiatives that have led to better alignment with your marketing and sales teams?

A lot has to do with the communication we have with our sales team but also about arming them with the information, data and knowledge they need to keep them in the loop on campaigns we’re running and how they can use that information to further their sales conversations.  For example, with TechTarget programs we’re running, we update sales and get input on the program objectives and content being used and then pass along Marketing Qualified Leads sales can run with.

Collaboration and enablement are really important among our teams to ensure everyone has the best resources at their fingertips and they are equipped with the most effective tools for sales follow-up.  We want sales to have everything possible to convert a lead into an opportunity and take it through the sales funnel.  By arming them with the right resources, content and sales intelligence, we are enabling their overall sales success which is a win-win for all of us.  There are no silos or independent teams, but rather a constant flow of communication back and forth so we’re all working together to reach the same goal.

How do you think the Activity and Data Intelligence you receive from TechTarget has improved sales effectiveness?

We share all the data we get from TechTarget and then suggest other content that may also be relevant. We match all of our content to stages of the buying cycle so we can fully equip our sales team and let them know exactly what content and campaigns we have in play.  Letting our sales teams know what content a prospect has downloaded gives them valuable insight into where they are in the buying cycle and allows them to have the most appropriate conversation with the prospect.

How has using that intelligence improved sales credibility and made buyers more inclined to talk with your sales reps?

We use data from the TechTarget’s activity log plus we do our own research before even reaching out to a prospect. We reference other information too such as their annual reports or what competitors are doing before ever contacting the customer. Having all the data gives sales a credible and relevant reason to reach out with, so they have more intelligent insight on what’s going on with the prospect and what competitors are doing.  They also gain visibility into the new hot trends in the industry based on content being downloaded so that we can map to what the prospect is thinking and determine if they’re looking for the kind of solution Rackspace offers. It really helps us get a strong foot in the door.

How have you evolved to becoming more data-driven in your marketing?

We start by looking at the data holistically. Before we didn’t really have the detail to go into and now with TechTarget’s Activity Intelligence, we’ve started building more structured programs so we can actually stop and look at individual campaigns and programs and track the success metrics. This in turn allows us to move forward and pull different levers and try new things. It’s great insight for us to have so each time we roll out a new campaign or new initiative, we have a history and pool of data to work with it that we can go back and reference. That is something we’ve never had before.

Do you market specifically in your geos or do you scale into new geographies? 

We operate a little differently in each country and region.  We work with TechTarget across the APAC regions but may have different needs for ANZ than Hong Kong. Rackspace U.S. has a strong partner relationship with TechTarget that is more mature so we’ve been able to leverage some of that here.  We can see which campaigns run well in the US and then adopt and modify them for the ANZ region without having to completely reinvent the wheel each time.

What would you say has changed most in technology marketing in the past five years?

The amount of knowledge and intelligence IT Buyers acquire doing their own digital research has definitely increased.  They are very savvy how they’re going about their research and need information to be available and accessible in the trusted sources they go to. Since buyers can access data and information at any time when they want, we’ve had to adapt our marketing and content strategy so our content and the Rackspace brand remains prominent as they’re conducting their own research.

Are you using social media in your marketing? 

We use social predominantly as a broadcasting tool and have different twitter handles in each region. We’ve seen an increase of more than 200 followers and it’s been quite good from the standpoint that   we can use engagements and impressions as another KPI.

We also share a lot of information through social channels for news updates and building social into our campaigns and sections of our webinars and events.  We use LinkedIn to target specific individuals, groups or specific companies with our campaigns and events we hold externally and can target individuals based on job titles, industries and specific companies.

What matters most when you’re evaluating a media partner?

We look for a trusted adviser and partner who really understands the markets we’re in and target audience we want to reach.  It’s comes down to the relationship.  TechTarget out of gate did their research to understand the Rackspace business and work with us strategically to help us reach our marketing objectives.  The fact that TechTarget was already working with our U.S. counterparts and came highly recommended was very beneficial.  Working with the same media partner worldwide helps us scale and leverage programs across geographies and then localize them as needed without starting from scratch. The TechTarget teams we work with locally in ANZ are extremely knowledgeable, specialized to our geos and fantastic to work with in helping us achieve our marketing goals.

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