Data transition and data waste management are the center of most boardroom meetings today. Actifio breaks new ground in this space helping in smooth transitions to cloud-based systems and Peter RossOpens a new window , Vice President of Marketing at ActifioOpens a new window , shares more in a conversation with Ziff Davis B2B. Here are the highlights.
Digital enterprises are increasingly freeing up their data and wanting to make the transition from traditional methods to cloud-based systems. In this conversation with Peter Ross, we delve into the finer nuances of how his own journey in the marketing world is helping Actifio’s growth. We speak briefly about his journey, his contributions to the industry spanning across his career and the marketing mantras he swears by. Read the full interview hereOpens a new window .
Career Highlights
A History major student, Peter was always aware of his proficiency in writing and communication. Upon exploring opportunities in the PR category, he was placed with Cone Communications where he managed a challenging client by creating brand awareness and using unique marketing strategies like leveraging celebrities and media to boost the brand.
From here, he moved on to EMC, a data storage company where he honed his marketing chops working on international marketing. The company went on to achieve an 80000% growth in their stocks. Post this, he was associated with a technology-driven company, Xiotech where he worked as the VP of Marketing. Now, he uses his early learnings and wades through the challenges to scale Actifio.
Also speaking fondly of his three mentors, Peter tells us that they taught him much of what he knows today. Yet, what strikes as important is how all three had one commonality in their approach. “Each of them put the customer in the center of every marketing strategy and plan,†he shares. He follows this ‘put yourself in the customer’s shoes’ policy to this day while making any marketing plan.
Key Marketing Strategies at Actifio
Moving on, he further tells us about the ideal customer profile for Actifio’s 3 solution categories – backup recovery and data protection; DevOps (developing higher-quality apps faster); and data migration from traditional infrastructure to cloud-based systems.
The notice-worthy shift, according to Peter, has been that most companies today are referring to themselves as software or technology organizations in an attempt to become the next Netflix or Uber of their sector. He also discussed how unconventional marketing plans often work out the best, which is well exemplified in their customer case studies, such as Rosetta Stone and Live Nation—both of whom have used Actifio to virtualize their data. Read the details in the interview hereOpens a new window .
A Comprehensive Content Marketing Strategy
In the next section, Peter shares that the best way in which they generate qualified leads is by having a comprehensive and aggressive content marketing strategyOpens a new window powered by search. Explaining his point, he says, “Everybody on the planet starts their search in the same place no matter what they are looking for—the Google search bar. They used to joke that the best place to hide a dead body is on the second or third page of the Google search results because nobody ever goes there! If you don’t land your best content on that first search page to help someone educate themselves on a particular business problem, then you are out of sight, out of mind.â€
Following this philosophy, his company puts out fresh content through various verticals, creating brand awareness. This makes Actifio more like a media publishing house that is consistently generating various forms of content including customer content, thought leadership pieces, press releases, analyst content, research, solution briefs, partner briefs, channel content, content for managed service providers, video interviews, blogs, etc.
Elaborating on the tools they use, Peter mentions HubSpot to manage their inbound and content marketing, which is integrated with SalesForce. They also supplement their own data with information from third-party data providers and use Drift chatbot to engage visitors on their website.
Collaborative Approach
Finally, Peter talks about the importance of a collaborative approach – especially between the sales and marketing teams of the company. He emphasizes on united team efforts in marketing, which drives revenue generation, the ultimate business goal of the company.
By embracing such collaborative initiatives and going with an end results-focused approach drives them to be a revenue center and not a cost center.
For more exclusive highlights from our insightful conversation with Peter Ross, Vice President of Marketing at Actifio, check out the interview here.Opens a new window