AL (01:59):
Hey, welcome to episode 156 of the SaaS breakthrough podcast. I'm Ashley Levesque VP of marketing at Banzai. Super excited to talk today with Breezy Beaumont, who is the head of growth and marketing at Correlated. Welcome Breezy.

BB (02:15):
Thanks. Thanks very much for having me.

AL (02:18):
I'm really excited to talk to you about this campaign. So we're going to jump right in. How would you describe Correlated in two sentences?

BB (02:24):
So Correlated is a platform that helps sales teams understand how people are using their product. So basically we help them with converting free freemium, free trial users, and we also help them with expanding their existing accounts and customers.

AL (02:41):
Love that answer. Okay. So you recently ran a super successful campaign on LinkedIn ads. That's what we're here talking about today, and I want to know all about it. So we're going to start at the very beginning. Let's start with your goal and your intent for the campaign. Why did you decide to run it?

BB (03:00):
Yeah, so I think for Correlated this, we're in a new space, right? Not a lot of people have something in place to fill this gap that we're filling. So some people have built like custom reports so that they can understand how people are using their product, but even those are difficult for sales teams to use. So our main goal is to bring awareness about not just Correlated and what we're doing, but about this problem in general and let people know that there's a solution there. So a big piece of it was brand awareness. And then of course, you know, if people convert on that or decide to come visit the website, those are some bonus points for us.

AL (03:40):
So why LinkedIn ads specifically over other platform ads?

BB (03:45):
Yeah, so I mean, I think the biggest thing in marketing is to always be where your customers are and because we're selling into sales teams, our customers are spending a lot of time in two places. One is Slack communities and the other is LinkedIn. And so LinkedIn is, was definitely the platform of choice for us.

AL (04:05):
And what kind of ad did you choose to do?

BB (04:09):
We ran and still continue to run conversation ads. So conversation ads are somewhat of a newer type of ad for LinkedIn. Probably been out for about a year and a half now. But basically it's like a little mini chat bot inside of LinkedIn and it lands in your inbox, but you can interact with it. And sort of have a mini conversation. And that chat bot is basically me. So it's coming from me, but you can kind of click through this conversation.

AL (04:37):
Why did you choose that specific kind of ad?

BB (04:41):
I think it's nice for people to be able to like choose their own adventure. So by having that sort of, you know, it's automated conversation, but still have that little bit of conversation. I think it's nice for people to have that choice on how that works. That being said, if you only have one thing to share, like, you know, you're putting on an event or a webinar and you don't maybe need to have a conversation, you could just run your classic LinkedIn in mail ads, but otherwise I think conversation ads are a good way to do it. And then they also are much less expensive than other ad formats. And, you know, we are a tight team over here. And so it's a good way to get in front of a bunch of folks with a lower budget.

AL (05:24):
So if someone were to reply to that ad, where does that actually come in on your side?

BB (05:30):
So instead of having like a written format for replying, they're actually just clicking through. So when they click a certain button, then they get a different response, is sort of like a little decision tree of how that conversation will go.

AL (05:43):
That's great. So you mentioned kind of a small team, tight team, budget was something top of mind. Did you start with a specific budget and say, this is how much we're going to do or did that kind of come later?

BB (05:56):
Yeah, I mean, so we started with, you know, a couple thousand dollars to generate enough data to see what's meaningful for us. And I think the other thing you can look at is just how you're narrowing down that audience. So if you're able to narrow down that audience enough, then you know, you don't need as much budget because it doesn't require as much capital to get in front of people. And so we started with a couple thousand dollars and then figured I would sort of see from there if we were spending or not quite spending it. And it seems to be the right amount where we're coming in slightly under budget, but it seems to be the right amount for us. I've been running LinkedIn ads for a few years now. So I sort of knew going in what we might need, which was helpful for background there.

AL (06:39):
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Let's talk about your target audience. So sales, you've got the right platform, you know they're there. How are you defining them?

BB (06:48):
So there's like a bunch of different ways that you can narrow down your target audience on LinkedIn. So, you know, you think of sort of your classic things like maybe job titles or company size or things like that that are generally in your ICP. But LinkedIn also has things like years of experience or members' skills. So years of experience is a good way to get past if the title isn't perfect and in pretty much every role, the titles aren't perfect. And then members skills is a great way to show. And same with LinkedIn groups is a great way to show people actually like active on the LinkedIn platform. And so then, you know that you'll be reaching folks who are actively using the platform that you're trying to reach them on.

AL (07:31):
So member skills means LinkedIn member.

BB (07:34):
Yes.

AL (07:35):
Oh, that is cool.

BB (07:36):
Yeah, exactly. So LinkedIn members skills. So like when you're on your profile and you say, you know, my skills are growth and marketing and this and that you can target folks based on those skills.

AL (07:48):
Okay, cool. Okay. So you set up your objective as brand awareness. How do we measure that?

BB (07:54):
I think the number of inboxes that it's landing in is one, the number of sends. Another way is to look at clicks. So these, because people are able to kind of click and interact with the ad, you can look at what that click-through rate or conversion rate is. And then and, icing on the cake would be if, if you have folks come in from that ad and actually convert on it. Awesome. That, so I say like there's sort of vanity metrics and, you know, you just kind of go into it knowing that they're vanity metrics cause your goal is awareness, getting those number of sends and getting that click through rate are probably your two biggest numbers to look at.

AL (08:35):
And that makes sense, right? I mean, I worked for a company before, too, that was basically a category creation and you do have to do some education there to identify that there's a problem first, right. Before we can actually help to solve that problem. We have to talk about there's a gap here that we can solve for, but you've never heard of this. So we have to get over the hump first.

BB (08:59):
Yeah, I think, yeah, exactly. So for our target audience, you know, most companies are not solving this problem at all. They know it's a problem, but they're not solving it. And then I'd say like the more sophisticated companies are, you know, pulling product usage data, but in like BI dashboards or in product analytics tools that just really aren't built for sales teams. So it's really just educating them on that. Yes, there is a way for you to get access to this data if you're not today. And if you are today, there's a much better way and much easier way for you to get access to this data is actually like digestible for your sales team. So, yeah, it's a lot of education and just like, sort of being friendly in how you deliver that education.

AL (09:45):
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So let's talk about the content. So you talked about click-through rates, so what are the options for people to click into on this ad?

BB (09:54):
So I sorta kick it off with a one-liner usually on these ads. So one-liner that gets straight to the point. So for this one, it's using product signals to drive expansion revenue and convert trial users. So then it's your, like, your interest is sort of peaked. Like if, if you're focused on expansion or if you're focused on converting, then you're like, Hmm, all right, let's see what's going on here. And then I like to, you know, add a little joke in it. So, in one of these sets, it says something along the lines, it's like, I know like LinkedIn InMail ads are the worst, but here's why you might want to pay attention to this one and kind of, and then give a list. So basically my idea is to be friendly, be human, maybe throw a joke in there, if it makes sense.

BB (10:40):
And then also make it really easy to read through and read through quickly. So bullet points, numbered lists, things like that. Or maybe like emojis or whatever that looks like, can make it a lot faster for people to skim your ad and digest the content quickly. You know, once they get through that written portion, then they can kind of click on a few different buttons. It depends on the ad variation, but something along the lines of, you know, see a demo or create your free account and get started today. Or it's like, eh, not right now, or, you know, it's not the fit for me or tell me more. So basically there's always two options. So it's either one is like that conversion option. And the second is either a, tell me more or not right now. And then we sort of bring them down different conversation paths from there.

AL (11:29):
I'm curious, because you're specifically targeting salespeople who also create messages similar to this all the time. Are you receiving feedback on your messaging? Like, are people saying, oh, I'm so grateful for your humor, you know, cause this has gotta be something that they really relate to.

BB (11:47):
Yeah. I often in in emails from folks as well, I'll get replies that will say, you know, something along those lines or, you know, it's refreshing to read something that was written in this format. So you definitely get feedback in that way. And then I also just get feedback instead of just, you know, that's sort of the one-off side, but on the data side too, seeing the click-through rate and it's actually been increasing. And so looking at the click-through rate definitely shows you that people are enjoying it as well. So it went from when I first launch it, it was already a 50% click through rate, which is already very high, but actually in the last month, it's increased to over 70% click through rate. So it's improved over time, but yeah, I think people, you know, we're all human, we're all working at home most of us still today you know, people have kids and dogs and life going on all around them. It's, it's nice to break through the noise and just be human with people.

AL (12:49):
Let's lighten it up a little bit.

BB (12:51):
Exactly.

AL (12:53):
Let's talk about the pages those are going to, so you mentioned each variation has a conversion option and then another option, where are each of those landing people?

BB (13:03):
So in the conversion option, it could be landing on a demo if people would prefer a demo or they can just get started with the product. So it lands them on a page to book their onboarding time and they can just kind of go from there. That's on the one side, on the other where it goes sort of down this, like tell me more path it's a choose your own adventure. So it could be them landing on a specific blog on just like our general blog page, maybe our podcast page, a thing like that. So just giving them content that might be helpful for them in their role today.

AL (13:39):
I love it. Okay. Let's talk about results. What are you seeing? You talked a little bit about the increase in conversion of click-through, which is awesome. Are you finding that your hypothesis around brand awareness metrics are coming to light? Are you, did anything surprise you?

BB (13:56):
I mean, so I've been tracking it in a few different ways. So first on the LinkedIn side, you're able to track, you know, impressions, meaning sort of like number of sends, the clicks and then click through rate. Obviously you can calculate from there. And then you can see some conversions as well. So looking at all of those, like I mentioned, we're at over 70% click through rate over the last 30 days, we can also measure on our website data side. So we're seeing who's coming to our website from different versions of LinkedIn. Cause obviously we have LinkedIn ads, but we also just are active on LinkedIn. So there's the organic side. And then we have our company page. And so by putting, you know, different tracking URLs, we're able to see which ones are driving people to our site. And so we've been able to see that these ads specifically are also driving folks to our site and to start engaging with our content.

AL (14:48):
That's exciting.

BB (14:49):
Yeah. It's been good. It's working. It's always fun when it works.

AL (14:53):
How long will you run this for?

BB (14:56):
I mean, as long as it continues to perform well, we'll keep it going. In general content on LinkedIn can go, you know, go a little bit more stale after about a month or two and you can see drop-off there. Our target audience on here is a little bit larger. So I think we are able to kind of keep writing and having a little bit more time here with it. But you know, at some point we'll have to refresh the content and get some new messaging in there and we are thinking about maybe launching another ad type as well. And so, yeah, but so far it's working today, so we'll keep it going.

AL (15:32):
Good. Love it. All right. Let's pivot to lightning questions. You ready?

BB (15:37):
Okay.

AL (15:37):
Okay. Here we go. So what are you struggling most with this quarter as a team leader? We're about to wrap up the quarter. So maybe your reflection on what you struggled with or what you're anticipating for Q4?

BB (15:52):
I think we're just super busy in the best way possible, right? Like all the activities that we've been doing are working, which is amazing, but it also leaves you with the other side of this, which means you have more people on the website, more people converting and you want to make sure that each person has really, really good experience. And at the same time, as focusing on those new things, you need to keep everything you've been doing going. So it's the classic struggle of you know, maintaining volume and keeping up with keeping new ideas flowing, but at the same time, making sure that each person you're interacting with is having a positive experience with our brand. So I think as a team, that's something we've really been focusing on and we'll continue to figure out the best way for us to balance all of those going forward.

AL (16:44):
What is one thing you did this week to support your team?

BB (16:49):
So actually last week one of the people on our team, our head of product Diana, she put out this post on LinkedIn about being more active in calls when we have full team calls. And so I really liked her idea of sort of closing her tabs or putting them away and really just being present, putting in that grid view on your zoom call and being active and present with your team. Because especially as a remote team, we have few moments where we can sort of bond together like that. So taking that advice to heart. And so yesterday we jumped on a call and it was one of our team members' birthdays, and he's a big fan of different fonts. And he, he has this affinity for fonts. So we all had different backgrounds on and we put on like glasses, like he wears these round glasses and we all jumped on and he was super excited and happy to have that moment with the team. So, yeah, that's something that we've been focusing on.

AL (17:46):
I love that. That's really meaningful and it's such easy fix to a compounded problem. I just get used to it. You know, I just it's become, the tabs are never ending for me and my computer. It takes me to get to the point where my computer will just shut down and it'll just be like, I'm done with this, to actually clear them out. So I guarantee I'm distracted on these calls as well.

BB (18:12):
Yeah, exactly. I only close all my tabs when there's like a software update, so I'm working on getting better and actually closing out those tabs or at least hiding them. So I can focus and be present with the team.

AL (18:27):
A good reminder. Okay. Last two questions. What is your most embarrassing webinar moment?

BB (18:35):
That is a good one. Oh, you know what? That's actually one very recently. So in between when you and I scheduled this call and actually happening, I was on a call and was talking about pricing and now I'm going to do this now apparently I'm going to do this on two podcasts now. In the midst of talking about pricing, I said, you know, it's a big topic. Everybody wants to talk about it, the big P and that's what I said on a webinar. And now here we are now I've said it on two. So that was a good moment for the guest tonight to have a good laugh.

AL (19:20):
The big P. We're all clear on what that is.

BB (19:22):
Yes. Yes. Very, very clear. Yes. It was very funny. But we were able to talk about the true pricing conversation that was, and is so important to different companies.

AL (19:40):
Okay. last one favorite tool you can't live without?

BB (19:46):
I'd have to say Gong. And we use it totally incorrectly.

AL (19:53):
Well, give the group a refresh. If people aren't familiar with Gong, tell them how most people use it and then tell us how you use.

BB (20:00):
Yeah, for sure. So Gong is a tool that records all of your zoom conversations that you have with folks. And so it's generally used on the sales team to help record those conversations, and then it transcribes them. It shows you, you know, who's talking what the balance of talking is, and if different keywords come up like keywords around your competitors or pricing, or, and basically it helps to show you how your team is performing or how you as an individual are performing. But what we use it for is actually a few different uses cases. So on the marketing side, I use it for creating content because it transcribes that conversation. So I have conversations and use that to create different blog posts. We also use it on like the go to market side for positioning. So I kind of scan through there so you can easily search for different keywords.

BB (20:51):
So I use that keyword search to figure out, you know, how do we position ourselves versus what are the topics that other people are bringing up that are really important to them and top of mind for them. And then, so first of all, those two use cases are not what Gong thought of. And then on top of that, we're also tying in our engineering team. I don't know if anyone else uses their engineering team on, but yeah, I mean, they spend, people spend on the engineering team a ton of time working on you know, features of a product. And I think it's, it would be awesome if everyone was able to see their work come to fruition. So we're setting up keyword alerts for our engineering team so that when people talk about features and things that they've worked on, they can get alerted to that and kind of click in and hear how our customers are talking about it.

AL (21:42):
I just wrote that down. I think that's amazing. One of the things that I think about all the time in sort of an internal marketing or internal communications way is how can we provide better visibility to our product and engineering teams on the incredible feedback that we get from customers, on also some of the objections or sticking points that we get during the sales process, in a way that is digestible, easy to understand, it doesn't all come like once at the end of a quarter or something, but rather it's something that people can kind of, you know, organize their thoughts around and it becomes sort of a way, right? It's like just a type of communication that's consistent, and helps serve the entire team all the time instead of just some of the time. So I love that you're using Gong for that. I think that's such a great idea.

BB (22:32):
I remember calling and talking to Gong probably like a year ago. And then again, six months ago, talking about the marketing use case of it, like, oh, it's great for understanding how your positioning should be and this and that, and the person on the other end of the call like, I have no idea what you're talking about.

AL (22:51):
They were like, no, that's wrong.

BB (22:53):
Yeah. They were like, that's not what Gong is for.

AL (22:57):
You're like, no, write this down because you can now sell this to marketers. Exactly. This has been an advertisement for Gong. You're welcome.

BB (23:05):
Yeah, exactly. We will clip this part, send it to Udi and,

AL (23:11):
Perfect. Oh, Breezy this is awesome. Okay. So to wrap up, tell us where can we find you? Where can we learn more about Correlated? Give us all the details.

BB (23:19):
Yeah, for sure. So finding me, I'm super active on LinkedIn, and I don't think that there are any other Breezy Beaumont's at this point in the world. So there's no competition there. You should be able to find me. And Correlated, you can find us that get Correlated.com or you can also just find us on LinkedIn. So the whole team is super active. We have our page going. So a lot of good content there that we're helping teams to set up their product led initiatives.

AL (23:45):
Thank you so much Breezy. This is such a cool campaign. I can't wait to talk with you again in like six months and see all of the incredible insights that you've gleaned. Thanks for sharing this with us and our listeners. And I'll talk to you since.

BB (23:57):
Awesome. Thanks Ashley.

AL (23:59):
Thank you.