In this episode of CMO Perspectives, Cisco’s VP Marketing, EMEAR, Emma Roffey, joins Foundry’s Global CRO, Matt Yorke, to discuss her role, which includes customer and partner advocacy, Cisco’s use of intent data, and a CMO dashboard.
ABM/Intent focus
Traditionally, Cisco focused on scaling rather than ABM. However, in the last year they have been transitioning into 1:few ABM models, and plan to dial up in FY23. Cisco leveraged intent data in forming their ABM approach and determined the top 100 accounts globally, regionally, and in specific “theaters” (clusters of countries) to gain insights on which accounts they need to influence in certain markets to “move that needle.”
Cisco’s strategy hinges partially on moving prospects along a matrix — focusing on high technology adopters that are relatively brand agnostic, or as Roffey defines them “transformational occasionals,” and on winning their loyalty to make them “transformational loyalists.” Through this categorization, marketing can not only target and escalate accounts that sales might otherwise overlook, but create new upsell and cross sell opportunities among buyers and existing customers that are eager to deploy new tech.
Role & influence of the technology decision-maker
In the Foundry Role & Influence of the Technology Decision-Maker research, we learned that the average tech team includes 21 decision-makers. Cisco as a company can influence the technology decision-maker due to their incomparable scope. Therefore, it is pertinent for tools and processes to be put in place by marketing so that the Cisco sales team knows how to execute personalization at scale. With marketing using data to craft and deploy messaging aligned to various combinations of product and persona, Cisco allows the buying journey to be easier and more personal for the customers.
Measuring marketing’s influence beyond ROI
Cisco’s ‘CMO Dashboard’ allows the marketing team to articulate the value of their campaigns to other parts of the business. Roffey feels “what’s the ROI on this?” does not allow for progress made by the marketing team each month to be appreciated and understood. By sharing measurements and metrics, such as influence, average order value, time to close and significantly engaged with the sales team, Roffey looks to increase visibility into the importance of the marketing arm of Cisco beyond direct revenue attribution.
About the CMO Perspectives video series:
The CMO Perspectives series spotlights industry-leading executives that are making a difference within the tech marketing landscape. Our host, Matt Yorke, Global Chief Revenue Officer of Foundry, dives into the latest marketing trends, providing peer insight for tech marketers.
