Episode Summary
Account-based marketing isn’t a buzzword Juliana Pereira can get behind.
“I actually call it marketing because I think that’s the only type of marketing you should be doing,” says Julianna, Vice President of Marketing for Flow, which provides software to help brands and retailers build a cross-border e-commerce business.
In pre-pandemic times, Juliana invested carefully in getting the right people to Flow’s events. Of course, in-person events are no longer possible given the current state of the world, but she’s still keeping the focus on people and relationships. Instead of bringing crowds together in physical spaces, Juliana has put emphasis on webinars. In this episode, she also describes how she’s getting Flow’s well-connected investors to help her scale relationship-building with important partners.
Juliana is also all about finding creative ways to get the message across. She’s published assorted content formats to keep Flow top of mind for potential customers — including a calendar with specially commissioned cartoons that was sent as a 2020 gift. The cartoons speak to prospects’ familiar e-commerce pain points. Before they were used to illustrate the calendar, the cartoons were featured on Flow’s blog.
Plus, Juliana uses the cartoons in prospecting emails, which have gotten some good responses from prospects who identify with the pain points and want to talk further.
Guest Profiles
- Name: Juliana Pereira
- What she does: She is Flow’s first VP of Marketing. Before she arrived at the company two years ago, the executive team oversaw marketing with the help of an agency.
- Company: Flow
- Noteworthy: Before Flow, Juliana was Vice President of Global Marketing at Smartling. Earlier in her career, she had marketing roles at Ralph Lauren and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Key Insights
- In March this year, Flow increased their spending on digital ads, but Juliana says the results weren’t as “interesting as I thought they would be.” Now she thinks about digital ads as a brand awareness play and uses them to drive visitors to compelling content on the website. Instead, Flow is putting more dollars into webinars targeting a range of audiences, including folks “who can be advocates for us,” she explains.
- Flow is focused on “pain-point content production,” says Juliana. Once all the “lightweight” content addressing topics related to the solution is done, it’s time to lean forward with the content and think about your prospect’s pain points — including ones that might not be top of mind right now. In Flow’s case, this means creating content around the future of retail and retail in a pandemic.
- Scaling blog content was a top priority when Juliana started at Flow. Most of the content created in her early days isn’t easily visible on Flow’s website anymore. But several pieces rank well on SERPs and are a significant source of driving prospects. Juliana developed a “content hierarchy strategy,” which considers how to get the greatest results from repurposing.
Episode Highlights
- Scoring leads and then passing them to sales
- Delivering 'forward-leaning' content
- There is no marketing silver bullet
- Leveraging investor relationships for marketing (hint: gamify it!)
