Network Startup Strangeloop Loops Lead Gen, Automation Into Early Web Content Plan

Strangeloop Networks develops and delivers a family of network appliances built to accelerate dynamic web applications. Its primary audience is software architects, developers, and network managers.

At its inception, Strangeloop’s small team was on a tight budget and needed results. “We had to let people know we existed while feeding a hungry sales force,” says Virginia Balcom, vice president of marketing, Strangeloop Networks. Working with a small marketing budget, especially compared to players in the space, Strangeloop wanted to allocate marketing dollars rationally, while still prioritizing marketing spending.

Attending trade shows, like Microsoft’s TechEd, has proven beneficial for Strangeloop, as they collect 800 to 1000 names in a week-long stretch. Despite the size of the company, Balcom says it was imperative that qualified names acquired from events were immediately sent to the company’s Salesforce system to identify prospects. “We knew we needed some kind of system to help with that, because we certainly were not going to able to hire enough people to do it on a manual basis.”

In addition to lead generation, the other priority was to get the word out about the company's website.

Prioritizing and Managing
Strangeloop partnered with Marqui in August 2007 and employed their Marketing Automation Suite, integrating the provider’s content management system and campaign management applications. Marqui CMS allowed the team at Strangeloop to build and manage its Web site, which Balcom says has been very easy-to-use for the non tech-savvy. Rather than hiring a contractor to change content, the Strangeloop team can do it themselves, saving money and time.

Marqui Campaign enables Strangeloop to manage campaigns and leads. Integrated with Strangeloop’s Salesforce system, leads are scored and categorized based on a profile. Leads that are not quite ready are put back into nurturing campaigns. “We’re combining this kind of lead management functionality with content management,” says Richard Sharp, vice president of marketing, Marqui.

Increasing Efficiency
Strangeloop is now running about six campaigns per week, increasing five times from its initial partnership with Marqui in August 2007. The foundation of Strangeloop’s marketing mix consists of public relations and lead generation programs, also working with an analysts and media partners to produce white papers and research. Industry events have proven effective for Strangeloop; with the list of contacts acquired, a newsletter with educational material is sent to inform and engage prospects.

The monthly newsletter provides information about asp.net performance, always focused on being informative to the target audience. Any activity within the newsletter flows through Marqui to the salesforce, and then sales can follow up with phone call.

“Marketing automation is a business requirement,” says Balcom. “It’s a whole lot harder to implement resources later on. Having tools like marketing automation levels the playing field for small to medium players. It makes a lot of sense to get the tools and use them early. You can run a lot faster.”