Strategy: Promote the Dummies custom solution product to marketers as a quick and efficient way to create content marketing assets with instant brand recognition. We created marketing training resources using the style of the Dummies product to demonstrate the guide style format while explaining in the asset how they could use this content (through various marketing tactics) to reach their own goals. We then promoted these assets through content syndication and social media while optimizing the site to attract organic traffic that could then drive to a resources page housing all the assets in one place for easy consumption. We also used an ungated to gated CTA methodology to provide open awareness for high-level content that spoke to issues, but still generate leads as contacts were asked to provide information as they warmed up and became more focused on our solutions.

Key Outcomes:
1. We saw an increase in new site traffic and ungated content downloads, showing that the open-access content was interesting to visitors.
2. Leads increased by double-digit percentages and the sales team reported that leads were better qualified (and more willing and able to discuss details) during initial conversations.
3. Within six months, we saw growth in both total sales and the number of organizations we were doing business with. Growth was so expansive that we increased the product offering to provide more types of content within the first year.

Webinar Series

Wiley Webinar Series

Overview: A webinar series aimed at higher education professors to promote awareness of authors and topics while driving the adoption of courseware.

Primary Goal: B2E | Adoption

Website

Strategy: Create a series of webinars aimed at driving prospective adopters through the customer journey. The webinar at each stage dove deeper down the funnel. High-level topics that were applicable to all subject matters were used for top-of-funnel awareness. Examples include overcoming diversity issues, understanding new teaching methods, and classroom engagement techniques. In registering, the prospect was asked to provide their subject area of preference. From there we promoted a series of webinars on that specific topic and by the author of our titles on that topic. In those webinars, we would mix real work applications for the subject area with product-specific features to entice registrants to learn more about the products these authors had created. The follow-up to these was a CTA to talk to a customer service agent to learn more about getting started. At this point, the prospect became a lead.

Key Outcomes:
1. Webinar “seasons” were planned by semester and within the first-semester run we saw double-digit engagement percentages with our current customers, and many mentioned the series as supportive for adoption renewal.
2. We saw a huge jump in leads during the initial semester of webinars, however, we found that a good portion needed to be more qualified. We were able to pivot and with the addition of more mid-funnel sessions, we saw that the length of time from first engagement to adoption extended, but the likelihood of a contact converting increased because we were able to control the mid-funnel conversations a bit more and leads were more prepared for a sales conversation by the time they landed there.
3. By year two of the webinar series, this program was our largest and most successful lead generator. And while not a numerical measurement, both brand reputation and recognition grew positively during campus visits, and our main competitors began expanding their webinar programs to follow our lead.

Conference Booth / Event Experience

Knewton Powered by Wiley

Overview: Launch Knewton Alta Calculus product at the first Join Mathematics conference of the year.

Primary Goal: B2E | Adoption

Strategy: Create suspense around product release to help attract more traffic to the booth and once there, engage the audience to keep them learning more. To do this, we released an initial press release before the event and promoted the upcoming news via social and email. We created interactive content activities to have in the booth as well as giveaways that fit the brand theme “knerd.” We had authors and experts on hand to walk people through the product and demo as well as current playtesters to talk about their experiences. We also ran focus groups and Q/A sessions during the day and live-streamed some events via social to allow for more of a hybrid conference approach for those who could not attend.

For warm leads, we invited them to invitation-only “after hours” events like karaoke and happy hour to allow for more at ease conversations in a fun, relaxed environment. We created chat cheat sheets and everyone attending from the company was trained on how to speak to product values in a customer-focused way that didn’t feel pushy but brought conversations back to the point at hand.

Key Outcomes:
1. Exceeded all KPIs for the event with above-average session engagement during focus groups and speakers, booth demo sign-ups, and after-hours event registration.
2. We saw above-average conversions from contacts who had engaged at this event.
3. Authors mentioned a greater feeling of direct engagement with their audience by us facilitating these opportunities for the groups to come together with constructive activities to promote conversations and connection.

Additional Examples