Carla Safigan

For a more complete project recap, please see the Project URL.

PROJECT BACKGROUND
• Company: NEOGOV
• Product: SaaS Software
• Program: Capterra Paid Lead Program
• Markets: All industries, with a focus on a target addressable market (TAM)

PROJECT OBJECTIVE
Increase marketing investment efficiency to fund additional marketing programs.

ANALYSIS
Although the program was well-received by Sales for generating significant top-of-funnel activity, we needed a comprehensive evaluation to identify opportunities for improving its efficiency. A full review of the current program revealed that prospects outside the TAM contributed 62.5% of the overall cost and activity while yielding only 8.3% of the overall results.

PROGRAM RELAUNCH
We relaunched the program with a focused approach, targeting only our ideal customers within the TAM. Each customer received a personalized experience, including tailored ads, messaging, and a complete journey with specific supporting content.

PROJECT RESULTS
• Overall program metrics
• Overall costs were reduced by 60%.
• Cost per opportunity decreased by 40%.
• The number of opportunities increased by 20%.
• Opportunities won increased by 17%.
• The payback period improved by 43% from 14 to 8 months.

For more project details, please see the project URL.

Every marketing and sales process has critical inflection points where leads are transitioned to new owners. When these transitions are not managed effectively, they can result in significant, avoidable drop-offs.

The objective was to evaluate, improve, and optimize this process.

COMPANY
NEOGOV

EVALUATION
The CRM and automation systems were not configured to handle multiple leads for the same target prospect. Given our limited Total Addressable Market (TAM), this capability was essential for cross-selling 25 products to duplicate contacts.

Additionally, the system provided insufficient information for effective follow-up on leads.

PROJECT COMPONENTS
• Implemented significant marketing automation and CRM system updates to support a new process for tracking product-specific inquiries.
• Developed templates and established precise requirements and processes for transferring marketing program information within each lead record.
• Automated the handoff process from marketing to the inside sales team members responsible for follow-up.

PROJECT RESULTS
Pre-process conversion rate MQL to SQL: 6.5%
Post-process conversion rate MQL to SQL: 11.2%
Improvement: 72%

For more project details and other project benefits, please see the Project URL.

PROJECT BACKGROUND
• Company: NEOGOV
• Inheriting teams from two legacy company acquisitions, responsible for covering products from those acquisitions and three additional acquired companies. With an ambitious goal of increasing ARR by 50%, optimizing team operations for greater efficiency and higher output was essential.

PROJECT PROCESS
• Research and work to build a successful team.
• Current state of marketing output evaluated. Core market ng messaging is estimated at a 3-year completion time.
• The current skills of the current marketing team were evaluated.
• Required organizational structure designed.
• Team members moved to appropriate roles.

PROJECT RESULTS
In the legacy organization, it was estimated to take three years to achieve the core messaging alone.

In the new organization, the core messaging was achieved in one year, a 3X improvement. The impact extended further, including updates and supporting growth and team projects.

Company: NEOGOV

BACKGROUND
Each year, NEOGOV analyzes internal data and conducts surveys with hiring managers and job seekers to produce a thought leadership report on hiring trends in the public sector.

PROCESS
• Data Discovery: Carla led the internal data discovery process, analyzing data to identify key trends and formulating critical questions for the survey.
• Survey Development: She designed targeted surveys for hiring managers and prospective applicants, gathering insights to create a comprehensive thought leadership report.
• Data Analysis: Carla detailed the survey data, deriving key takeaways and actionable insights for the final report.
• Report Production: Carla collaborated with creative teams to bring the report to life.

RESULTS
In 2022, this report achieved the highest response rate of any thought leadership content piece in NEOGOV’s history. It was further promoted through a webinar, which significantly boosted the marketing pipeline. Subsequent reports in 2023 and 2024 delivered similar successful results.

Select here to review the report:
Neogov.com/hubfs/Content/NEOGOV-2022-Quiet-Crisis.pdf

PRE-PROJECT BACKGROUND

COMPANY: ATOS
With the launch of a cybersecurity product and service, we needed a highly targeted program to build a pipeline and drive sales engagement in an environment where our sales team has many product options to prioritize. To capture their attention, we focused on generating highly qualified, engaged prospects within a specific list of target accounts, ensuring leads that met strict criteria for follow-up, including a likely deal size in excess of $60,000.

PROJECT COMPONENTS
Channels used: Intent data, digital ads, LinkedIn ads, and email.
• Identified and verified a global list of 320 accounts to target.
• Validated internal data to support a marketing effort for these accounts.
• Created a complete content strategy to cover the buying journey and executed the deliverables. Content included pain-point-specific messaging, ads, infographics, data sheets, videos, case studies, testimonials, value-based white papers, and a risk assessment calculator.

RESULTS
Through this well-designed, conservative investment program, 13 highly qualified high-value opportunities were generated, winning seven. Within a year, the program yielded a 500% ROI.

For a complete project recap, please see the project URL.

COMPANY
Parallels

BACKGROUND
Parallels' virtualization software was initially highly successful in a niche market, serving internet services and providers. To drive expansion into the broader enterprise market, the company hired me to lead the product marketing initiative.

MARKET ENTRY
A framework was developed to support phase-one customer acquisition:

• Conducted extensive market research and competitive positioning.
• Facilitated interviews with SMEs, including market analysts and influencers, to gather insights.
• Developed an initial GTM plan.
• Created a foundational value proposition and messaging kit.

CROSSING THE CHASM
Through extensive interaction, customer feedback, and ongoing qualitative research, we refined our GTM strategy and marketing messaging. As both the product and messaging matured, subsequent waves of early adopters began purchasing the software. A clear buying pattern emerged, allowing us to capitalize on these insights for further success.

RESULTS
After five years of dedicated focus and collaboration across product management, engineering, sales, and product marketing, we achieved our goal of $100 million ARR.

For a detailed description, please refer to the project URL below.