Joely Urton, Lauren Vaccarello
DEMAND GEN VISIONARIES
/
EPISODE
121
How CMOs Can Leverage Analyst Relations To Drive Growth
We’re diving into the topic of Analyst Relations and why it's a critical aspect of modern marketing. In this episode, Joely Urton, Senior Director Analyst Relations at Splunk & Lauren Vaccarello, CMO at Salesloft, pull from their own experience to describe how the AR and CMO relationship can impact your company's reputation and how you can leverage it to your advantage.
Splunk is the data platform leader for security and observability. Our extensible data platform powers enterprise observability, unified security and limitless custom applications to help tens of thousands of organizations turn data into doing so they can unlock innovation, enhance security and drive resilience. // Salesloft helps sales teams drive more revenue with the only complete Sales Engagement platform available in the market. Salesloft is the one place for sellers and managers to go to execute all their digital selling tasks, communicate with buyers, understand what to do next, forecast with accuracy, and get the coaching and insights they need to win more deals. Thousands of the world’s most successful sales teams, like those at Google, 3M, IBM, Shopify, Square, and Cisco, drive more revenue with Salesloft.
INDUSTRY
Software Development
FOUNDED
2003 & 2011
WEBSITE
http://www.splunk.com/

Joely started her B2B software career at Sun Microsystems right around the .com crash of 2001. She spent most of my early career in product marketing in middleware. Pivoted into Industry Analyst Relations while at Oracle. Then, she got the amazing opportunity to build the Industry analyst/influencer program at Box in 2011. There, Joely helped create 2 market categories: 1. Enterprise File Sync and Share (EFSS) where Box became the premium “gold standard” for IT buyers at the market peak. 2. Then, she helped Box pivot into the leader in Cloud Content Management competing in an industry that is in various stages of migration to the cloud. Now, Joely is running the AR program at Splunk, a trusted brand for enterprise resilience to keep organizations' digital systems secure and reliable in the face of ever-constant disruptions.

Lauren Vaccarello is an award-winning marketing executive with a track record of accelerating revenue growth for the fastest growing SaaS companies in Silicon Valley. With a strong background in demand generation, she excels at building scalable integrated campaigns that leverage cutting edge marketing techniques. Although performance is at the core of who she is as a marketer, she believes businesses need to tell compelling stories and build a brand if they want to own a category. 

Lauren also co-authored the highly-regarded books “The Retargeting Playbook” and “Complete B2B Online Marketing.” She has held executive leadership roles at Box, at AdRoll and at Salesforce. She was a member of the Google Tech Advisory Council and is a popular speaker at industry events such as ad:tech, South by Southwest, ClickZ Live, eMetrics and the Online Marketing Summit. In 2014, Lauren was honored by the San Francisco Business Times and named to their list of “Influential Women in Business.”

Episode Summary

We’re diving into the topic of Analyst Relations and why it's a critical aspect of modern marketing. In this episode, Joely Urton, Senior Director Analyst Relations at Splunk & Lauren Vaccarello, CMO at Salesloft, pull from their own experience to describe how the AR and CMO relationship can impact your company's reputation and how you can leverage it to your advantage. Whether you're new to the field or a marketing veteran, Joely and Laruen will help you better understand the role of analyst relations in marketing.

Key Takeaways

  • The analyst relations function is an important strategic function for the B2B marketer.
  • Analyst relations allows CMOs to differentiate their portfolio by raising awareness and providing knowledge.
  • Having a relationship with the right analysts can help executives to get the information they need or to get urgent critical questions answered quickly.

Quotes

“Analyst relations allows you to differentiate your portfolio. How do you value that for your end user, customers, and clients? Through analysts – their whole job is to write about technology and evolution of technology, and why it matters for the customer.” - Joely Urton 
“If you are a B2B marketer with a technology solution, analyst relations is one of the most important and one of the most strategic functions that you'll have.” - Lauren Vaccarello 

Episode Transcript

* (01:41) - Meet AR and marketing experts, Joely & Lauren

* (14:35) - How big does a category need to be to get considered by analysts?

* (25:16) - How AR can help predict ROI

* (33:16) - Tips for building relationships with analysts

Sponsor:

Demand Gen Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for Demand Gen pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.

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