Company: Intellitactics, Inc.
Contact: Pam Casale, chief marketing officer
Location: Reston, VA
Industry: Software
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: 90

Quick Read

When Reston, VA-based Intellitactics, a provider of security incident and events management (SIEM) solutions, wanted to increase lead generation, it had to confront today's reality: Prior to contacting any vendor, prospects are relying on the Internet to research major purchases.

To work its way into that early-research stage, the company first focused on creating a library of vendor-neutral information, then used that content as bait to attract potential prospects.

It also used Manticore Technology's automation platform to track which recipients were interested in which content, and employed a scoring methodology to pinpoint precisely when those prospects would be prime for a sales call; only then was the lead given to Sales.

That combination of timing and insight has resulted in a 33% higher lead conversion rate and 38% increase in revenue year over year.

Challenge

Intellitactics specializes in security incident and event management (SIEM) products that help companies achieve cost-effective regulatory compliance, mitigate risk by automating security operations, and accelerate incident resolution to ensure the availability of critical business services.

In April 2008, the company unveiled Intellitactics SAFE, a new suite of security appliances designed to assist in log management and compliance and decrease the number of security- and compliance-related incidents.

With a significantly lower price point than previous lines, Intellitactics SAFE had the potential for broader market appeal, but the company now needed to get the word out to a larger audience and generate new leads without exponentially increasing marketing costs.

The pressure to attract new leads was further coming from the company's then recent transition from a purely direct sales approach to a fusion of direct and third-party sales, compelling Intellitactics to also make good on its commitments to new partners.

Concurrently, it was determined to increase lead quality, not just volume, to help partners as well as internal sales improve productivity and usher a higher percentage of leads into the active sales cycle.

Campaign

Because of its lower price point, the Intellitactics SAFE line not only appealed to a larger market segment but also shortened the sales cycle. To maximize its opportunity, Intellitactics determined that it needed to engage prospects earlier in the process.

It's no secret that more and more companies have been turning to the Internet to research and evaluate products on their own and gather insight and recommendations from other users before contacting vendors of interest.

"They're like anonymous buyers halfway through the traditional definition of a sales cycle," noted Intellitactics chief marketing officer Pam Casale, who realized the opportunity that lay in educating and building a connection with prospects during that initial stage.

Accordingly, Intellitactics took a whole new approach to content, said Casale. To differentiate its solutions from those of the other 22 companies also occupying the space, the company enlisted the help of noted experts in the security field to develop fact-intensive whitepapers, podcasts, and other content designed to assist prospects in educating themselves on SIEM issues and solutions in general, with the hope that prospects would then be predisposed to trying the Intellitactics product.

"We chose the path of knowledge-sharing," explained Casale. "Our content wasn't fluffy, and it wasn't heavy-handed.... Our differentiation was in getting prospects to understand the product and what they would do with it after the purchase was made...the problems they were going to anticipate, and how to solve those problems regardless of whether they were using us or another solution."