Going global with digital marketing
A leading provider of cloud-based accounting and financial software, BlackLine – part of the Fortune Cloud 100 list – recently became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ. With a 50% year-over-year growth rate, the company is encouraging every business unit to maximize their contributions to the organization. The digital marketing team, led by Brandee Sanders, is looking to lead the charge by expanding its global digital footprint, especially in APAC. “We’re branching out all our pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns globally,” says Sanders, “and we’re developing new content marketing.” Webinars in particular are core to BlackLine’s top-offunnel marketing and awareness-building efforts. LinkedIn has helped BlackLine find the right audience for these webinars, through its powerful ad targeting capabilities; reach audiences in the right way, with Sponsored InMail; and then keep reinforcing their message over time, with Sponsored Content.
Reaching the right people
In September 2016, BlackLine’s APAC team had the opportunity to host a webinar featuring PepsiCo’s finance and accounting executives as they discussed their successful experience using BlackLine. With the BlackLine webinar featuring PepsiCo fast approaching, BlackLine’s digital marketing team started by using LinkedIn to target the right audience. “Our target audience is accounting and finance decision-makers, especially CFOs, CAOs, and Controllers,” says Rio Iwashita, BlackLine’s senior manager of digital and display advertising. “LinkedIn allows us to target by title, geographic location, industry, and more, so we can reach out to exactly the leads we were looking for.” From there, LinkedIn Sponsored InMail was the perfect way to connect with these audiences and drive them to register for the event, sending them personalized, relevant content specifically targeted to grab their attention and pique their interest in attending the webinar. Iwashita adds, “We’ve also found that Sponsored InMail, as opposed to email, is especially effective at reaching our audiences in APAC, where anti-spam laws tend to be more restrictive.” Hosted just ahead of BlackLine’s IPO, the BlackLine webinar featuring PepsiCo was a huge success, attracting more than 500 registrations – of these, LinkedIn contributed more than 60%. “And the quality of the leads we’re getting from LinkedIn is consistently higher than any other platform,” adds Iwashita.
Building on success with content marketing
Recognizing the quality of LinkedIn-generated leads, BlackLine management doubled down on its content marketing efforts and hired a content manager to reinforce messaging and build awareness using LinkedIn Sponsored Content. “Our new hire has helped us beef up our messaging,” says Sanders. “We’re paying close attention to our content mix, making sure we’re covering the whole funnel.” They’ve continued to optimize their content marketing strategy and have established a 4:1 ratio of thought-leadership to product-focused content. “People on LinkedIn are power users and can be advocates for your brand,” says Sanders. “We’re talking to a broader range of people on LinkedIn, including finance and accounting influencers, who can really amplify BlackLine’s story to a wider audience.” Today, BlackLine has more than 10,000 followers on its LinkedIn Company Page, helping the brand engage valuable prospects and decision-makers with relevant content.
How does BlackLine ensure their content stays effective? If the digital marketing team could give one tip, it would be this: “Don’t be afraid to fail,” says Sanders. “If you have an ad, and it performs poorly, instead of killing it, go back, and try and understand why it failed. And then A/B test like crazy to find the winners.” Looking back, 2016 was a dynamic year for BlackLine, with an IPO and a lot of explosive growth the company only wants to keep building on. With LinkedIn, BlackLine is confident they can continue the momentum, driving a steady stream of highquality leads brought in by the right content at the right time.
