Creating a Marketing Machine,
and keeping it Running
Client – Viewpoint Systems Inc. – system integration | engineering services | software development
The world of complex sales is tough. You’re not selling a product that can be bought just by clicking the “buy now” button on a website. In Viewpoint Systems’ case, they mainly provide custom automated test solutions that are used to test manufacturers products either during design validation or during the manufacturing process.
- Their sales cycles are long (usually many months to a year+)
- The solution prices are high ($10s of thousands to $100s of thousands of dollars)
- Lifetime customer value (LCV) is crucial to the core of the business.
New State
In 2019, Viewpoint had a full-fledged marketing machine up and running, generating on the order of ~6-8 sales-ready leads per month through various digital channels, which amounts to ~2/3 of new leads for Viewpoint. Sales-ready leads were coming in at such a pace that Viewpoint decided to work on optimizing its sales process.
To be clear, much of the heavy lifting for Viewpoint was accomplished before RocLogic Marketing existed. However, this effort was led by the founder of RocLogic Marketing (David LaVine), so the story is quite relevant. And while the data presented is imperfect, it’s still useful.
The main focus for RocLogic Marketing is to keep the machine running and further optimize it to keep the sales ready leads coming in. This is challenging because the digital marketing world evolves at a much quicker pace than the old traditional marketing world (e.g. user experience expectations, algorithm changes, new ways to communicate/engage emerge, analytics tools get smarter).
Here’s what Jim Campbell, head of sales and president of Viewpoint had to say:
Thanks to David’s efforts at Viewpoint, we went from having digital sales-ready leads be an almost negligible number to being our dominant channel for sales-ready leads. Going forward, RocLogic Marketing is in charge of keeping this marketing machine running.
These leads have dominated my efforts as head of sales so much that we decided we needed to undertake a sales transformation effort to further optimize how we do sales at Viewpoint.
Most exciting is that we’ve been able to expand our geographic reach to around the US and even the world. The leads are well-qualified based on criteria we’ve agreed upon. Many have immediate needs. And some are even contacting us during early stage explorations, which is wonderful because we’ve been able to have discussions with potential clients while they’re still forming their approach to solving their problem.
David has set Viewpoint up for long-term success.
Capabilities leveraged
- Inbound marketing
- Content marketing
- Search Marketing
- Social media marketing (LinkedIn)
- Ad creation, management & optimization
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content creation / modification / optimization (raw information pulled from client)
- Marketing navigation / guidance
- Digital footprint monitoring, analysis, and improvements
- Targeted topic research, selection, testing, and analysis
- High-level content recommendations (topics & sub-topics)
- Domain authority analysis
- Updates / additions to website content, messaging, and organization/flow
- Design for UX
- Sales tips & suggestions
Historical perspective (pre-RocLogic)
Old State
For many years, Viewpoint relied heavily on leads from a partner channel. This channel was their bread and butter source of leads for many years. For several reasons, this channel became increasingly challenging to obtain leads from.
Luckily, Viewpoint’s president had the foresight to recognize that the world was changing around them and they needed another source of leads for the long-term sustainability of the company.
The Journey
Let’s start with some data to help illustrate the point:
Viewpoint embarked on a journey toward finding a way to take charge of their own destiny by figuring out how to generate their own sales-ready leads.
The journey involved many supporting players, both within the walls of Viewpoint and with outside help.
There were several foundational elements put in place as necessary pieces of the puzzle to move toward a more digital-centric mindset, including a proper website, an integrated CRM, and several analysis tools.
Many lessons were learned along the way, but after some blood, sweat, and tears, the foundation was properly built up and the machine started to turn.
Sales-ready leads were starting to flow in, first as a trickle, and then, at a steady clip.
“It was impressive to say the least!”, says Jim, President of Viewpoint Systems.
