How We Stood Out Amidst a Sea of Same
Praecipio is in a highly competitive market with more than 100 competitors in the Atlassian Solution Partner space, all of which have similar solution and product offerings. In a saturated market, creating a unique point of view isn’t a nice to have, it’s imperative to your organizations success.
When we attended an annual Atlassian conference alongside all of the competitive companies in North America, we knew we needed to stand out amidst the sea of same. This was a great opportunity to push some boundaries and be a little controversial. Here is how we did it.
Step One: Scope out the Competition
After perusing on our main competitors websites and exploring photos from the previous year’s event, we found that nearly everyone’s website and booths followed the same tired formula: a wall of too much text, logo and specialization-badge soup, and a whole lot of iterations on the phrase “Digital Transformation.”
Step Two: Find a Compelling Story
Research and Data
I’ve worked in tech for more nearly two decades and for the duration of my career, companies have been undergoing “digital transformation.” After a little research, I discovered the term “Digital Transformation” was coined back in 1948 and gained popularity in the 1980s with the dawn of the world wide web.
If “transformations” worked, wouldn’t we be done by now?
As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one questioning our collective, decades-long quest to “transform”. Here’s what the data says… According to Bain & Company, 88% of business transformations fail to deliver the expected results. That means only 12% of companies see the return they hoped for. And it’s getting worse. Back in 2015, McKinsey reported a 70% failure rate. Fast-forward ten years, and that number hasn’t budged.
So I found our angle: transformation is bullshit, it’s time for something new. Praecipio’s strategy involves Incremental improvements not disruptive and expensive transformation so you can start to see improvement without sacrificing progress.
Step Three: Have Your Creative Team Work Their Magic
I developed the story alongside our brand team and they worked their magic to create a stunning onsite installation including a bold booth design, and swoon-worthy swag to support our bold point of view.
Step Four: Build the Narrative and Prep Everyone
When you opt for a bold and controversial messaging, you need to prepare your team with the right language and reasoning behind your campaign– make them understand the “why” so they are confident standing in front of the booth when they talk to prospects. This looks like a booth talk track and a pre-event all hands meeting to get everyone on the same page.
Next we created supporting content like an article, social, and email campaign.
The Results
First, it’s important to state that brand campaigns have a lasting impact and are not created for direct pipeline conversion. This play was to help us stand out and leave a lasting impression. Here is what we could measure from the campaign:
- The busiest booth in the exhibit hall: with countless compliments stating that we were the “coolest booth here.”
- Swag that flew off the shelves: we ran out of hats on the first day.
- Leads: 4,500 leads and 215 hot leads (categorized by great conversations on the ground and BDR follow-up)
- Pipeline from the event: 12 new opportunities and 350k in pipeline from the event
Nadia Kouri 