Chris Heinemann
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
Santa Barbara, CA, United States
Toptal member since January 3, 2025
Chris is a transformative marketing powerhouse with 20+ years of experience accelerating brand awareness and ARR across Telecom, SaaS, and AI sectors. He builds strategic programs that fuel innovation, pipeline, and recognition through creative leadership and collaboration. Chris believes achieving great success is through the agency of others.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- B2B Marketing
- Branding
- Digital Marketing
- Go-to-market Strategy
- Marketing
- Marketing Communications (MarCom)
- SaaS Product Marketing
Work Experience
Head of Global Analyst Relations
Dialpad
- Pioneered and led Dialpad's first global analyst relations program, transforming the company's brand from a traditional VoIP provider into a leader in AI-powered customer intelligence solutions.
- Spearheaded strategic initiatives that scaled Dialpad's ARR from $40 million to $250 million, increasing the company's valuation to $2.3 billion and doubling competitors' growth.
- Established Dialpad as a top innovator in the AI-driven customer-experience space, earning accolades and amplifying market recognition among leading tier-1 analyst relations firms.
- Elevated Dialpad's share of voice from 4% to 28% in AI-based UCC and customer experience markets, propelling the company onto the Forbes Cloud 100 list (reaching number 25) and securing Top 50 AI Companies recognition.
- Played a pivotal role in introducing 10 AI products, driving a 50% YoY increase in AI-related ARR.
- Secured over 100 analyst inclusions and awards, including 25 first-time mentions in evaluation research reports, positioning Dialpad as a thought leader across AI, CCaaS, UCaaS, and conversational AI domains.
- Orchestrated analyst engagement and keynote speaking for Dialpad's "12 Months of AI" and "AI@Work City Tour" campaigns across America, fostering market education and AI fluency ahead of the GenAI surge in 2023.
Head of Corporate Marketing
Highfive
- Headed Highfive's corporate marketing strategy, encompassing branding, industry analyst relations, public and media relations, content marketing, customer marketing, event marketing, and product marketing.
- Played a pivotal role in the company's evolution, culminating in its acquisition by Dialpad in August 2020.
- Conceptualized and launched the "Meetings Reimagined" initiative, developing compelling messaging and a cohesive value proposition that resonated across leadership, sales, marketing, and partners, elevating Highfive's market presence.
- Conducted integrated marketing programs with top-tier partners, including Amazon, Expensify, Mimeo, Okta, Orange for Business, and Verizon, driving alignment with partner objectives and amplifying go-to-market (GTM) impact.
- Directed joint marketing initiatives with our global channel partner community, delivering tailored GTM content and collateral to empower national service providers, distributors, and VARs to drive sales effectively.
- Garnered numerous accolades, including TMC's "2019 Communications Solutions Product of the Year" and "Best Collaboration Solution 2018," solidifying Highfive's industry leadership.
- Cultivated strong relationships with key analysts and media influencers, securing high-profile placements and enhancing Highfive's visibility in the competitive video conferencing space.
- Developed some of the most compelling corporate videos and commercials demonstrating the value and unique differentiation of Highfive's products through the experience of a special agent named June in "Agent of Disruption."
- Positioned Highfive as an innovative force in video conferencing, building the foundation for its acquisition by Dialpad and integration into a broader AI-driven communications strategy.
Director, Marketing Communications
Dimension Data
- Directed the US-based marketing communications team while serving as a key contributor to Dimension Data's global marketing team in South Africa.
- Focused on creating impactful messaging, driving demand generation, and heightening brand awareness.
- Delivered compelling, relevant, and timely marketing content to support demand and lead generation efforts, enhancing market engagement and customer acquisition.
- Defined and implemented messaging for the newly established services business unit, ensuring a consistent and resonant brand identity aligned with target audiences and ideal customer profiles (ICPs).
- Managed the analyst relations function for the services business unit, building strong connections with industry analysts to reflect accurate messaging and showcase client success stories.
Director of Marketing, Global SP-SI, Cloud, and Alliances
Avaya
- Drove business growth, strengthened partnerships, and elevated Avaya's position in the emerging cloud services market.
- Delivered innovative marketing strategies that fueled pipeline expansion and enhanced brand visibility on a global scale.
- Partnered with the senior vice president to craft and deliver the business unit's global GTM cloud strategy, contributing to pipeline growth that reached $1 billion within two years.
- Directed worldwide brand awareness and public relations campaigns, including analyst tours across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, showcasing Avaya's capabilities and innovations.
- Collaborated with industry leaders such as AWS, Google, HP, Salesforce, and VMware to position joint cloud solutions in the global marketplace, driving mutual growth and market influence.
Director, Global Marketing
Actelis
- Headed two rebranding initiatives, "Act Smart. Act Now. Actelis" and "Actelis—XLR8 Everything," which contributed to a four times revenue increase and solidified the company's position in the Ethernet over the copper telecom networking market.
- Led global GTM endeavors to unveil the world's pioneer broadband accelerator, utilized between central offices and customer premises to provide high-speed broadband services. Launched the product at the Broadband World Forum event in Paris (2011).
- Spearheaded worldwide field and event marketing across the US and Europe, driving Actelis' brand awareness and demand generation.
- Garnered multiple industry awards by executing strategic industry analyst and media relations programs, coupled with event marketing that elevated Actelis’ brand visibility and credibility.
Project History
Wellbee AI Launch
https://bit.ly/41VRJ6RDeveloped a comprehensive digital marketing plan, introducing innovative AI-based solutions tailored for the healthcare sector, focusing on delivering personalized care to tweens and teens.
Analyst Relations Report Placements
https://bit.ly/3PlOuy2Grew coverage of Dialpad from <10 in 2020 to >250 analysts across critical domains by the end of 2023, establishing relationships with top-tier influencers to shape market perception and grow brand awareness.
A Day in the Life Using Highfive
https://youtu.be/8qfWu_I6Wl4Led Highfive's corporate marketing strategy and produced a series of videos, including A Day in the Life Using Highfive, to demonstrate Highfive's ease of use across any device, a game-changing technology at the time.
Meeting Room Makeover B2B Campaign
https://youtu.be/7MT9jk7-YZsConducted lead generation that garnered more than 300 marketing-qualified leads from SMBs, midmarket companies, enterprises, and nonprofit organizations in 30 days.
Avaya Cloud Services Partners with BT Wholesale
http://bit.ly/40ikGZwPartnered Avaya Private Cloud Services with BT Wholesale to deliver new emerging private cloud services to BT's business customers. Cloud computing was an emerging capability, and we secured a GTM partnership with one of Europe's largest telcos.
Agent of Disruption Trailer
https://bit.ly/3W0pG2dLed the conception and production of a series of videos to differentiate Highfive in a highly competitive marketplace as part of Highfive's partnership with Dolby and its "Meetings Reimagined" rebranding.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Mass Communications
San Jose State University - San Jose, California, USA
Skills
Core
Marketing Communications (MarCom), Public Relations (PR), Market Research & Analysis, Competitive Intelligence, PR Campaigns, Branding, Marketing Budgeting, Product Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Social Media Content, Content Marketing, Marketing Research & Analysis, Lead Generation, Ad Campaigns, Influencer Marketing, Brand Strategy, Brand Marketing, Copywriting, Go-to-market Strategy, Marketing, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Video Ads, Enterprise Sales, Affiliate Marketing, AI Marketing, Google Paid Ads, Paid Advertising, Print Advertising
Platforms & Tools
Google Workspace, Asana, Microsoft 365, Adobe Photoshop, Monday.com
Business Models
Integrated Marketing Communications Planning, SaaS, SaaS Product Marketing, Software as a Service (SaaS), Business to Business (B2B)
Other
Journalism, Videography, Video Scripts, Event Planning, Analyst Relations, Relationship Building, Content Writing, Communication, Executive Presentations, Budget Management, Corporate Videos, Corporate Websites, Corporate Branding, Events, Messaging Development, Value Proposition, SaaS Sales, Digital Media, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Event Marketing, Organic Content Marketing, Demand Generation, Social Media Video Marketing, Video Design, Conferencing, Product Branding, Video Production, Video Editing, B2B Marketing, B2B Lead Generation, Storytelling, Visual Storytelling, Article Writing, Relationship Management, Cloud, Corporate, Messaging, Strategic Partnerships, Executive Coaching, Market Research, Presentations, Strategic Planning & Execution, Corporate Communications, Advertising, Advertising Copy, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Influencers, AI Social Media Influencer, Brand Development, Technology, Brand Identity, Brand Design, Call Centers, Videos, Video Marketing, Case Studies, Growth Strategy, Buyer Personas, Copy Editing, SEO Copywriting, Broadcast Journalism, Radio Production, Presentation Design, Sales Presentations, Public Speaking, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Campaigns, Partnership Marketing, Global Digital Marketing Strategy, Commercials, Sprout Social, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Figma, Product Leadership, Competitive Analysis, B2B Partnerships, Lead Marketing, AI Social Media Content Creation, Advertising Design
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