The Nearbound Daily is now officially the ELG Insider Daily! 

Welcome to the ELG Insider Daily—the #1 newsletter in the world keeping thousands of GTM professionals on top of the latest Ecosystem-Led principles, tactics, and trends. Join the movement here.

PRINCIPLES

Make (impactful) noise

We live in a world of noise. 

From the best sales strategies to political views to Taylor Swift’s dating life, everyone has something to say. 

And they have more channels than ever to say it on. Buyers and partners alike are bombarded daily with hundreds of messages, posts, emails, ads, and more.

They’re tuning out. 

But here’s the catch: we can’t really stop the noise. 

We have to get our message out there if we ever hope to be noticed by the right stakeholders. 

Noise for noise's sake isn’t going to cut it, but impactful noise—i.e. the right narrative about the right solutions coming from the people your buyers and key partners already trust—will get the right attention. 

ELG strategy empowers your GTM leaders with second-party data and ecosystem insights to construct impactful noise that rises above the rest. 

More importantly, it provides a way to transform the interest generated from noise into real revenue. 

TACTICS

How CallRail made the right noise

We all know what an immense opportunity events like INBOUND are. But knowing it and executing it are two different things.

As Jenn Keepes, Strategic Partner Marketing Manager at CallRail, explains: 

“What makes HubSpot great is also the challenge, in that they have so many good app partners, and so many apps in their marketplace that all want to be supported by HubSpot, so making enough noise to be recognized as a key app partner was challenging.”

In 2022, CallRail made INBOUND a key pillar in their strategy to get HubSpot’s attention and reach the two-way data-sharing status. 

The first step was demonstrating the value of their partnership by releasing significant improvements to the integration. They then ran strategic co-marketing campaigns, including a celebration of their 3,000 active HubSpot user milestone. Finally, they invested in a large presence at HubSpot’s INBOUND conference. 

But here’s the kicker: by the time they got to INBOUND, they’d already earned the respect of key stakeholders at HubSpot.

“The 3,000 user campaign got us a lot of attention and was really successful from a brand partnership perspective. We caught the attention of some of the top people at HubSpot, and they were like, ‘Oh, this company's really leaning in. They're a top partner in the calling category. There's value here.’”

When the CallRail team came home from INBOUND, they got the news: after all their hard work, they finally had access to HubSpot customer data. Now, it was time to get the most out of it. 

CallRail ran several iterations of different campaigns to find the sweet spot. Three use cases stood out:  

• Utilize the customer overlap data to inform their mutual customer base who have the integration of updates. They also targeted this group for case studies and utilization in co-marketing with HubSpot.
• Run campaigns that target mutual customers who did not use CallRail’s free integration, both programmatically in-app and through targeted outreach.
• Impact the co-sell and co-servicing programs. CallRail developed CRM reports and set up Slack notifications through tools like Reveal or Crossbeam as the primary pillars of their strategy. Jenn can find opportunities, get granular information, and share them with HubSpot, all in one place. 

The CallRail team has used ecosystem data to continue to make meaningful noise to the right people at the right moment. The results? 

• Increased adoption of their HubSpot integration by 167%
• 3x HubSpot-sourced opportunities YoY
• 42% higher free trial-to-customer conversion rate for customers who activate the HubSpot integration 

So, if you’re planning on making a splash at INBOUND this year, start by using an ELG strategy to make the right noise before you even touch down in Boston. Get strategic about the message and impact you’ll make while there, and have a plan ready for continuing the momentum post-event. 

Read CallRail's full story here. 

FROM THE ECOSYSTEM

ELG Sales is catching on 

In the 6th edition of their State of Sales report, Salesforce surveyed 5,500 sales leaders from around the world…and the results are insane. 

• 89% of salespeople are actively using partners today
• 84% are improving their sales results from last year by working more closely with partners
• For those that aren’t using their ecosystem, 58% will be soon

Results this high coming from a sample size this big and from a company as respected as Salesforce is concrete validation of what we’ve been saying all along:

We are in the Era of Ecosystem-Led Growth. 

Stuff you don't want to miss! 

• • August 1st — Designing the Right Incentives for Partners: Karlyn Bentley (Senior Vice President, Client Partnership at Ansira), Kathleen Meeza (Senior Director, Global Partner Program at Dell), and Tai Rattigan (Co-Founder and COO of Partnership Leaders) will share key tactics for designing incentives which accelerate partner value and impact. Register here.
  • August 14th — From Data to Dollars: Strategies for Nurturing Event Leads to Drive Success: Benito Aguila (Events Marketing Manager from Google) and Airmeet’s CEO, Lalit Mangal will share how to capture valuable data at events to implement targeted follow-up strategies. Register here. 
  • August 20th — Exploring the Power of the Benefits Broker Channel: Leveraging HR’s Most Trusted Consultants: Ryan Taguding (Founder and Principal at Temio Consulting) will share where to begin, how to identify your ICP and distinguish sales blockers from champions. Register here.

You're all caught up

See you tomorrow