When you’re selling complex software that helps companies innovate and build world-class products, consistency and clarity of marketing communications is a must. Maintaining that message consistency is a challenge for any company, but for Siemens PLM Software, it’s compounded by a large, global marketing organisation that supports regional programmes across diverse geographies. The provider of Product Lifecycle Management software needs to tell its story on a global scale, across multiple languages and in a way that is contextually relevant to a variety of different industry segments and international audiences.
For Siemens PLM Software’s global marketing organisation, driving universal brand and message consistency was an elusive target. A one-size-fits-all marketing message didn’t work across the myriad of challenges faced by customers and prospects and the unique requirements for each industry, region and regulatory compliance issues. While marketers in different countries and regions were enjoying moderate success with independent campaigns, their isolated marketing activities were spawning silos of customer data and preventing Siemens PLM Software from effectively building a consistent worldwide brand.
To make matters worse, the problem really couldn’t be solved with the infrastructure in place at Siemens PLM Software a year ago. Marketers were primarily using e-newsletter and Web design tools to orchestrate the company’s diverse global marketing initiatives. The lack of automation made it next to impossible to choreograph communication with customers, let alone reuse and replicate messaging across different regions.
The Solution
To get more control over its global messaging, Siemens PLM Software decided to consolidate customer data and standardise on Eloqua’s marketing automation platform. Using this unified platform, the various marketing teams would gain access to a shared set of customer and prospect data, universal campaign templates, website forms and marketing best practices that would ensure consistency of message. At the same time, Eloqua provided the flexibility Siemens PLM Software needed to tailor its messaging to meet the business requirements and special nuances of various global markets.
Eloqua’s ability to automatically trigger any sequence of communications based on pre-defined rules enables Siemens to seamlessly execute their lead nurturing strategy and keep prospects engaged. These powerful automation capabilities also help the company efficiently orchestrate campaigns that are global in size and scope. A flexible forms engine helps ensure that relevant information is captured from customers without making it an onerous experience.
We wanted a flow of real-time communications-not just a one-off event. If someone responds to an offer on Day 1 of the campaign, they get a follow-up response five days later. If they respond on Day 2, they get a follow up response five days after that, not on some arbitrary date, explains Christian Kelley, Siemens PLM Software’s vice president of demand generation.
“Automation gives us the freedom to design more complex programs without being constrained by a lack of resources.”
The Results
Siemens PLM Software’s first major programme with Eloqua was comprised of a series of microsites, emails and search campaigns architected around the stages of a buyer’s journey. The communications were aimed at both large enterprise prospects as well as small- to mid-sized companies. Visitors were prompted to register at different touch points to download customer case studies, analyst commentary or product information specific to their industry.
The scale and global nature of the campaign contributed to its complexity-the initiative spanned 22 global sites, each with its own language requirements. While the core brand and sequencing of the campaign remained consistent, Eloqua dynamically tailored messaging to meet language and content preferences of recipients. These preferences were continually refined with prospect profile and activity information captured by Eloqua forms and analytics.
As the team honed its skills and proficiency with the platform it leveraged the product’s advanced content management and workflow features to simplify execution and gain greater control when deploying massive, global campaigns. For example, through more efficient use of forms, the team streamlined a global program requiring hundreds of localised landing pages and forms down to just two forms – without sacrificing the personalisation critical to achieving high response rates.
Moreover, the team was able to scale back on the manpower required to orchestrate such an intricate campaign. A campaign that required field marketers in 30 countries to spend up to 100 hours localising and personalising content, can now be executed centrally in less than 10 hours.
Eloqua has also contributed greatly to increasing overall lead volumes and reducing the cost per lead from as high as $300 to less than $30. By centralising all lead capture tactics on a single, unified database and transitioning from events, conferences and seminars to digital marketing strategies, Siemens PLM has been able to develop more efficient, cost effective campaigns.
Most importantly, Eloqua ensures that all leads, independent of cost, are consistently acted upon in a personalised, targeted – but brand consistent – manner. Christian Kelley, vice president of demand generation, comments, “The biggest benefit of Eloqua is that it has allowed us to completely automate what we used to do manually, increasing efficiencies and lowering our costs. It has made the results of our online marketing actionable.”
