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Sales enablement

Lewis Miller
In Miscellaneous, Our industry, Product marketing, Programme planning, Proposition development, Sales enablement, Thought leadership

25 years of innovation and success with AT&T

AT&T 25 Years Blog header

Supporting AT&T for 25 years 

We’ve come a long way since launching the AT&T MPLS capability in EMEA 25 years ago. At that time – due to the millennium bug – the IT function was mid-planning for tech meltdown and business was thinking about social Armageddon.  

Way back in 1999 (yes, the previous century), AT&T was looking for a B2B tech marketing agency to run a pan-European programme to improve market education on improved traffic management in the enterprise WAN. And after a comprehensive pitch process, we answered the call. 

Little did we know back then that our relationship would endure for another couple of decades. 

Transformational technologies and opportunities  

“Winning AT&T added a marquee brand to our client list. Any tech agency would be proud to support the world’s largest telco brand”, said Andrew Miller, co-founder, The Rubicon Agency. “After a successful MPLS programme that created a good pipeline of opportunity, we were introduced to a number of functions and teams that allowed us to deepen our partnership. These operations were receptive to an agency dedicated to B2B tech.” 

Since then, the agency has had the pleasure of supporting many portfolios across the organisation – geographically and technologically. These include IoT, unified communication & collaboration, mobility, networking, consulting and contact centre. And go-to-market teams such as Education, Retail, APAC, EMEA and Global. 

AT&T + The Rubicon Agency: a great B2B marketing combination 

Maintaining a relationship with a powerhouse like AT&T over such a significant time is no mean feat. “With an absolute focus on tech marketing, we’ve got a great track record of delivering results for AT&T – with moments of magic and mojo across many campaigns”, said Andrew Miller. “Whether simplifying propositions or creating new notions and leadership conversations, we look to make our marketing impact deliver a multiple of what AT&T invests with us at the outset”. 

With over 400 projects under our belt, you’d maybe think that things are winding down. But far from it. Our B2B marketing journey continues – with new assignments for AT&T Labs, AT&T Connected Wearables and AT&T Cloud Voice. Things remain busy.   

Here’s to the next 25 years!  

Explore our latest projects for AT&T

  • AT&T Connected Solutions case study thumb

    Demonstrating the business case for wearables

    AT&T

  • AT&T Journey Orchestration

    Anticipating customer needs to provide outstanding CX

    AT&T & Five9

  • AT&T Summit case study

    Bringing omnichannel to life

    AT&T

  • AT&T Webex case study

    Embedding collaboration across the enterprise

    AT&T

  • AT&T Contact Centre Industry Market Briefing case study

    Creating relevance in key vertical markets

    AT&T

  • AT&T IoT Summit case study

    Driving market development in IoT

    AT&T

The Rubicon Agency
In Miscellaneous, Our industry, Product marketing, Programme planning, Proposition development, Sales enablement, Thought leadership

The Rubicon Agency’s 25-year relationship with Cisco

Cisco 25 Years Blog header

The Rubicon Agency: helping Cisco build the Internet for a quarter of a century

There seems to be a poetic symmetry to Cisco’s claims of accelerating internet uptake 25 years ago – and their current campaign claiming that 80% of traffic runs through their infrastructure. Not only were we supporting them back then, but we continue to do so even now.

In 1999 Cisco, the worldwide leader in internet networking solutions, were on the hunt for a B2B tech marketing agency to support their telco service provider business. Specifically, the co-marketing programme – Rainmaker – was a key investment in driving managed network services business into Cisco Powered Network providers. They just needed a dedicated tech agency to help lead the charge.

After a competitive pitch process, we ultimately secured the prestigious gig.

“I remember the agency selection and campaign development process very well – like it was yesterday. We pitched against 8 other B2B tech or telco marketing agencies to secure the programme. I also remember the lightening bolt of energy generated by adding their logo to our client list.”, said Andrew Miller, co-founder, The Rubicon Agency.

Providing support across Europe and beyond

The following 24 months were taken-up with supporting key European services providers on market development programmes in their respective countries – including Telecom Italia, KPN, DT, Telekom Austria, Swisscom, Belgacom and FT, to name a few.

Since then, we’ve managed B2B marketing programmes across Cisco including Cisco Enterprise Networking, Cisco Capital, Cisco IoT, Cisco Webex, Cisco Partner Development organisation, Cisco Office of Innovation, Cisco Service Provider, Cisco Office of I&D, and many more. And over the last 18 months we’ve produced projects co-funded by Radware and Cisco for Cisco SECURE.

“We knew the initial project had a wide campaign window – but I’m not sure we expected to still have the relationship over 25 years later.” Andrew Miller further commented. “But we’re as proud to be creating mind share and wallet share for the tech giant now, as we were back in the 20th century.”

Cisco + The Rubicon Agency: an enduring relationship

Undoubtedly, Cisco has a bold commitment to marketing – and this philosophy provides a good fit with our agency’s expertise in B2B tech marketing, creating high levels of attraction through in break-through strategy and creative.

Our relationship continues to this day with new projects across several channel, technology and sub-brand functions.

Explore our latest projects for Cisco

  • Cisco Secure

    Increasing awareness in DDoS protection

    Cisco & Radware

  • Cisco Black belt astronaut

    Accelerating adoption of a game-changing channel programme

    Cisco

  • Cisco - Be the Change

    Encouraging new behaviours to ‘Be the Change’

    Cisco

  • Cisco Community Impact

    Communicating a new model in social impact

    Cisco

  • Cisco Black Belt case study

    Helping develop sales mastery for teams and partners

    Cisco

  • Cisco Partner Sales Acceleration case study

    Sharing sales best practices with partners

    Cisco

The Rubicon Agency
In Corporate comms, Sales enablement

How to ensure internal adoption

How to ensure internal adoption blog header

In the realm of Technology marketing, influencing internal stakeholders can be a completely different beast to marketing to external channels.

Although a captive audience, the internal workforce requires a more emotive approach to changing perceptions, inspiring a following or rallying around a cause. Although a little crude, the tried and trusted method of stick and carrot does have its place in short term adoption strategy, but does it embed the longer term emotional commitment required for truly revolutionary initiatives?

Take for example, a transformation change in company direction, one where the organisation is re-inventing itself to the market, and as a by-product, requires a seismic cultural and behavioural recalibration of its staff. In this instance, incentives would achieve initial buy-in, but would it carry the emotional weight to embed a permanent change? Aided by natural churn and a revamped hiring policy the organisation could achieve the required internal posture over a period of time, but to mobilise rapid adoption of new models and mindsets requires a different approach altogether.

Below are 5 of the threads you should consider within a successful employee engagement programme. Of course, you can develop and adopt hybrid combinations that combine a selection of options below:

Hearts and minds

Incentives or compulsory on-boarding may drive raw numbers, but does it tap into the emotional and intellectual appeals of the workforce? Winning hearts and minds around a clear objective/aspiration aligns the organisations goals with individuals which should instil long-term support, commitment and advocacy.

Collaborative & empowered

Such programmes are often the brain child of senior business leaders, but to truly maximise buy-in and to improve success, employees desire to be empowered to provide feedback that will shape and evolve the programme for the good of the company…and the workforce.

The power of one

In large enterprise organisations individual contribution can seem as pointless when looking at the bigger picture. Harnessing individual efforts, rewarding small wins and embedding a degree of ownership all contributes to the sum of the parts being greater than the whole.

Being informed

Communication is key, being kept up to date with the latest information to make informed choices Is critical to the onboarding process. Ill-informed employees will feel alienated and not part of the initiative.

WIIFM

All the above are ingredients for success but most importantly are the benefits to the individuals. What’s in it for me? What’s the hook, what’s the driving factor to me engaging with the initiative? If the benefits are thinly veiled or non-existent, then success is likely to be compromised.

To help shape your next workforce engagement programme talk to The Rubicon Agency to ensure your programme resonates with all levels of the business.

The Rubicon Agency
In Enterprise demand generation, Marketing resources, Sales enablement

The tech case study compromise

The tech case study compromise blog header

One content asset that frequently creates frustration for technology marketers is the case study. Often, efforts to pull together real-world examples of use cases are hampered by a number of challenges.

So, why do marketers need case studies and why is it worth overcoming the challenges to make them happen? Case studies can be ‘killer’ content for tech marketers. For sceptical business and technical decision makers they provide the evidence that backs up sales and marketing claims. For sales teams, case studies make great anecdotal material for customer conversations. For some marketers, they can even form the basis of campaigns. And when you can turn a case study into a video, you have an asset that can reach a wide audience again and again.

Amongst other marketing advantages, the case study can be a powerful objection handler but ironically it often fails to materialise because of objections from customers, brand and legal departments or even sales executives.

Possible barriers to toasting your success

Of course, some objections can be valid: it’s too soon after project delivery; results data needs substantiation; the original decision maker has moved on. However, some obstacles to case study production can and should be overcome. For example, schedule an agreed date to complete a case study when the project has matured but lay down the basics in a draft case study with the customer now. If data needs substantiation then leverage the idea that empirical evidence on improvements and benefits are of equal importance to the customer. If the original decision maker has moved on it’s likely that other advocates can be found from the original influencing and decision making group. After all, few technology purchases are attributable to just one person.

Brand and legal guardians on the customer side can also object to case studies but the onus has to be on them to explain their reasons or at least identify the appropriate terms and conditions of the supplier/customer relationship or agreement. It may also be worth a little desktop research into any infringements by other companies that may help to bolster your case.

Whilst case studies can be valuable to marketers, if politics or practicalities preclude their publication, there are some potential get-arounds. These include the more obvious ‘anonymising’ of the customer and careful editing of content that can risk identifying the customer.

Case studies can be difficult to conjure up on demand so the creation of a structured customer advocacy programme with mutual benefits can provide a more strategic and workable solution. Alternatively, a vertical industry case study compiled from a number of anonymous customer examples can be a more tactical solution if time is not on your side.

Even a slightly compromised case study can be better than no case study.

Take a look at our quick guide to discover how content can be more ‘killer’ and less ‘filler’.

The Rubicon Agency
In Enterprise demand generation, Marketing resources, Sales enablement

Unenabled sales delivery

Unenabled Sales Delivery blog header

The road to sales nirvana is often a bumpy one. Punctuated with budgetary roadblocks and the occasional RFP speedbump means that coaxing prospects into a sale can prove problematic.

Once these obstacles have been successfully negotiated, sales teams are responsible for steering prospects in the direction of choosing their companies offering as opposed to the competitions. Enter the role of sales enablement materials.

A well-crafted sales toolkit can deepen relationships, increase order value and accelerate the purchase process of prospects. That said underprepared, underequipped and underwhelming sales enablement content can put stop a sale dead in its tracks.

Here we look at 8 common sales enablement mistakes that could side-swipe your best laid plans.

Speed limits apply

By default, there is an over-reliance on product content – the main thread relates to technical features with little/no business value for sales to latch on to. The sales presentation maybe about speeds but the journey towards closing the deal a slows to a crawl.

Roundabout ahead

Understanding of the product/solution is critical to any sales conversation. Lack of crisp articulation and differentiated description of what’s being sold – and to whom, means the conversation goes around in circles without any clear direction about where the technology could take you.

Risk of grounding

Armed with the trusty sales presentation, the pitch to the customer is bound to be ‘on the money’ but with little/no articulation of use cases or product visioning there is a real chance that the sale could end up beached.

Warning low bridge

Lack of aspirational and or business messaging for ‘those upstairs’ could result in your pitch hitting a glass ceiling in terms of value, buy in and ultimately funding which could put the sale in jeopardy.

Dead end

Talking with the product blinkers on could close the sale of point products but failure to express the inherit value of solution within whole portfolio could limit the length of journey you take with the prospect.

Diversion in place

Having a clear engagement roadmap to enables sales teams to structure content depending on the level of relationship with the prospect. Failure to do so will result in unexpected or unwanted diversions out of their comfort zone with irrelevant or premature solicitation of content.

Queue caution

Doing nothing isn’t an option although limited or staccato outreach, conversation and ‘by the way’ communication to prospects may cause the sale to hit a proverbial traffic jam, or worse still take an alternative route with one of your competitors.

No U-turns

Sale opportunities often mature organically, although failing to bridge the messaging gap between your sales conversations and existing/relevant thought leadership material when the opportunity arises could be a missed trick. As the nurture process continues there is no time to throw the conversation into reverse in an attempt to help bolster your credentials.

Take a look at our quick guide to discover how content can be more ‘killer’ and less ‘filler’.

The Rubicon Agency
In Enterprise demand generation, Event & experiential marketing, Marketing resources, Partner marketing, Proposition development, Sales enablement

When the corporate deck is a wreck

When the corporate deck is a wreck

Amongst the many manifestations of content for a technology business there is one asset that can evoke a range of emotions – from frustration to fear.

If content is king, surely the corporate deck should be the jewel in the crown for the field marketing or sales enablement professional. However, more often than not, that jewel simply fails to sparkle. Worse still, it can often be consigned to the equivalent of a ceremonial curiosity cabinet where it gathers dust and rarely sees the light of day – along with a pile of other unused corporate presentations and presenters intended to inspire customers and partners.

On occasions when the corporate deck is revealed by obedient courtiers it tends to be announced with an air of apology. And once revealed to a waiting audience it runs the risk of someone from the assembled crowd exclaiming ‘the king has no clothes!’

The imperative for sales enablement and field marketing

It may sound like a fairy tale but for many technology field marketing and sales professionals the corporate presentation presents a very real challenge. We’ll refer to it as ‘the deck’ because that’s the most common form that it continues to take.

Frequently the problem can be characterised as simply ‘too many hands on deck’. That’s understandable when it’s meant to represent the sum of the parts that a technology company can offer- which means a range of stakeholders find themselves involved in contributing to the content. That can lead to a patchwork assembly that lacks cohesiveness or balance between business propositions and the technicalities of the portfolio. The sales enablement solution requires a level of objectivity that’s unlikely to be found amongst the stakeholders and can’t simply be imposed by the CEO (assuming they are involved).

The solution also requires a hybrid set of skills that blend field marketer experience and sales support mindset with brand sensibilities, in-depth technology knowledge, content expertise and even political astuteness. Together, that can add up to seeking help from a specialist agency with experience in tech sales presenters and marketing presentations.

And as a final thought: in a world where content segmentation is so much easier to achieve perhaps the ambitions of the corporate deck are outdated as it often tries to be all things to all people. Another aspect that a specialist agency can help with.

Take a look at our quick guide to discover how content can be more ‘killer’ and less ‘filler’.

The Rubicon Agency
In Programme planning, Sales enablement

Five routes for implementing a content audit

Five routes for implementing a content audit

So you’ve identified the fact that your content has turned feral and requires an audit in order to keep it on-point. Realising the need to action this and actually implementing it, are two completely different things.

So what are your options?

Head in the sand

Well, the easy option and by no means the wisest, is to do nothing. The lack of budget, resource and skills may naturally demote the priority of reviewing the merits of your marketing assets from a necessity to a ‘nice to have’. The net result means that you carry on with the status quo more in hope than expectation that the content will resonate with your audience.

D.I.Y

Another approach is to conduct the assessment in-house. This mitigates the need for additional budget but does require a secondment of resource to complete the project. With head count often scarce, this could restrict your ability to perform a D.I.Y audit internally. There is also the additional risk that your content won’t be critiqued agnostically, after all it was produced by your peers and represents a view, a vision or a business/technical posture of your organisation. ‘Good’ content may be championed internally but may fail to deliver when syndicated to your prospects.

Ab Fab

The next route is to task your PR agency to conduct the review. From a journalistic point of view this may seem like a logical approach especially if they are technology specialists. Assessing pitch, tone and target audience should be second nature to a PR specialist. However expanding the content into a fully joined up marketing strategy may come as a stretch and fall outside of their capabilities.

Social soundboard

The same could be said for commissioning a dedicated social agency. Looking through the lens of ‘social-ability’, content will be assessed to see how sharable it can become through networks and communities. Messaging flex is important when ‘chunking’ content for the purposes of social distribution, although if the actual nub of the content is weak to begin with the results could be catastrophic if syndicated in social space.

Marketing mojo

The final option, and the one that has a more rounded approach to it, is to contract a marketing agency (with an affinity for technology) to critique your assets. Marketing agencies worth their salt should be judged on ROI, so analysing the content that ultimately they will use in their marketing campaigns is a natural progression.

Ensuring that the core message & pitch, vibrancy, audience resonance and ability manifest itself is critical to planning a successful content strategy and joined-up marketing approach.

We all know the importance of content. To leave it to evolve organically and even produce it sporadically without control runs the risk of attracting the wrong kind of audience or worse, no audience at all.

To understand more about our unique M4 content audit framework and how it can help you supercharge your content, register your interest today.

The Rubicon Agency
In Programme planning, Sales enablement

Why content audits sort the wheat from the chaff

Content audits - sorting the wheat from the chaff

Yes, we’ve all heard the expression that content is king, and that it plays a major role in influencing and even accelerating purchase decisions – especially in technology. A strategic thought leadership piece, a well-timed blog article or a disruptive webcast can all open doors to decision makers outside of IT. But how can you be sure that that the content you are syndicating really has the cut-through you require?

The starting point for any marketer should be to conduct a content audit of their existing collateral to make sure that it ticks the boxes of the following 4 areas. Failure to do so leaves you open to scrutiny, missing the mark or publishing vanilla content that doesn’t cut-through at all, leaving both your Marketing Qualified Leads database and budget pot looking decidedly empty.

Messaging & pitch

The first question, which is usually governed by budget, time and resource, is whether to create or curate. Curation is the easier option, but the real question is does this satisfy your marketing objectives? Is the pitch of the content right? Does it talk to the audience in the language they are accustomed to?

Yes, the subject matter may be relevant, but if the message and pitch are ‘off base’ then there is absolutely no point in dusting off content from the marketing cupboards and sending it out more in hope than expectation.

Meaning and audience relevance

The next consideration should really be relevance to the audience. Distributing a deep-dive white paper on network architectures is absolutely fine if that’s what the audience usually consumes, but if the desired outcome is to stimulate conversation with a more business-oriented individual then you’ve missed the mark by a country mile.

Creating marketing mojo

Making sure that the pitch and relevance is on-point is a must. Ensuring your audience digs deeper than just the executive summary is imperative. However it’s not time to rest on your laurels just yet. Getting their attention is one thing, keeping it is another. Yes, the content may be right on the money but if it’s not engaging, entertaining or is just plain bland then the consumer is likely to hit the snooze button.

Manifestation & application flex

Being able to flex your message really depends upon the foundations you’ve built your content on. Having a robust message platform from the start really dictates how the content can be evolved over time. Dissecting the core proposition ready for social syndication, providing a linear customer journey dependent upon buyer maturity and being able to take on chameleon-like properties (I.e. adapting to different audiences and formats), ultimately determines if your approach has marketing stretch. Without proper planning you could inadvertently limit the scope of your conversation and result in your content being driven down a creative cul-de-sac.

Above are 4 ‘watch-outs’ that content marketers should be mindful of before any content syndication takes place. Taking a ‘suck it and see’ approach to content could result in low balling your proposition or turning off potential suitors altogether. Implementing a robust content strategy at the start of the campaign certainly alleviates uncomfortable wash-up meetings where the objectives have been missed.

To understand if your content could do with a shot in the arm, register for our unique M4 content audit.

The Rubicon Agency
In Programme planning, Sales enablement, Strategic content, Thought leadership

When content goes bad – the business case for auditing your collateral

When content goes bad

Producing content is an expensive exercise – in terms of time, resource and ultimately marketing budget. So, how can you be sure your investment is delivering long term benefits? Not just initial enquiries, but much further and deeper than contact acquisition. An effective content strategy extends and strengthens customer relationships.

There can be no argument about the role content has within the technology sector, and how it makes up a critical part of the marketing mix. As early adopters of content marketing, the technology industry now faces new challenges as the late majority realise the value of content and joining the increasingly noisy party.

Content creation, if left unchecked, is in danger of losing its lustre. Coined back in 1997, CNet’s notion that ‘Everyone’s a publisher’ has definitely rung true. Content is no longer produced by niche teams, instead publishing sprawl has bled into other functions within the organisation. Now social departments, comms teams, product experts and business leaders all contribute to corporate content. This has resulted in variable levels of quality – in addition to moving us closer to saturation point where killer material is lost in the sheer noise of advertised ‘premium’ content.

So what are the essentials qualities for successful content?

What are the magic ingredients that make up killer content? Is it the promise of industry insight, best practice techniques, cutting edge research or inspiring thought leadership material that entice our target audience? Well, yes and no. These are all tried and tested methods, but how many times have you felt ‘suckered in’ after you’ve handed over your contact details?

Dangling the proverbial carrot of premium content often fails to deliver once we digest it; Regurgitated opinions, stale executions or uninspiring content leave the consumer feeling short changed and disenfranchised with your brand.

Too often, content is utilised as a contact acquisition tool, however if planned and executed from a 360° perspective the value can be increased exponentially. Applying more rigour outside the initial purchasing phase helps enable other functions within the organisation, including channel teams, field marketers, sales and account management. Providing progressively influential arguments accelerates the purchase cycle and even exploits customer relationships post acquisition.

How can those qualities be measured?

Making sure your message inspires interest and then maintains it is critical to how we measure the value of each asset. Ultimately, engagement, not just social metrics including likes, comments and shares, but more tangible measures (as stated in the introduction) are the benchmark here. Yes, Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL’s) are important but they shouldn’t be considered the only yardstick to measure success (or failure). Content should be part of the marketing mix for the long-haul and should go much deeper than a data acquisition tactic. In reality, it’s not just a numbers game.

Prospects may have felt duped after the first wave of activity could, on the face of it, be considered a warm lead when in reality they aren’t. The key, is to ensure that you have a campaign structure that contains equally engaging, entertaining and useful content that builds brand trust, engagement and ultimately advocacy.

Producing ‘deceitful’ content may yield an initial response, but value to the business may be minimal. Being too populist could result in droves of unqualified leads, too niche and the number of relevant leads could be reduced to a trickle.

How can they be improved?

The answer is to look at the bigger picture not just individual assets. Just as you would with an outreach campaign, each stage should be evaluated. Who am I talking to? What is the message we want to get across? Is it pitched correctly? Is it engaging? Does it align with the business strategy? What do we want them to do next? Looking at your content holistically may add an extra stage to the process but in the long run it makes good business sense.

Failure to properly audit your content inventory could prove costlier in the long-run with outreach budgets and potential customers being lost.

To make sure your content isn’t in danger of turning bad, register for our unique M4 content audit.

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