Rapid shift to digital marketing in COVID｜AR Advanced Technology Co.

Yumiko Miyashita and Ryutaro Iwai, Product Marketing Section, Cloud AI Department

"With BowNow, we were able to attract more guests to our online seminar and fully utilize the house list. The number of inquiries on our website increased 10 times over."

 

 

 

 

 

Please introduce your company.

 

Ms. Miyashita: We are a SIer that focuses on cloud computing, AWS, Azure, and other infrastructure. We provide consulting and solution services surrounding cloud computing technologies such as AWS and Azure, and sell our own products such as AI chatbots and file server visualization tools. Our company has two pillars of business: infrastructure and applications, and products, with SI being the stronger parent company. As a whole, we want to prioritize the promotion of our products going forward, thus our marketing campaigns largely focus on our products.

Regarding our target customers, our products have actually been implemented in a fairly wide range of industries, so it is difficult to say which are our main customers. Though, our chatbots are mainly used by major companies, while other products are purchased by companies of various sizes. In addition, our customers tend to be businesses who have recently recognized the need for digital transformation, and for them, I propose comprehensive DX solutions using SI and our other services.

By the way, I'm mainly in charge of product marketing at our company. The marketing department is led by Iwai and me.

 

【Challenges before implementation】COVID-19 accelerates the need to focus on digital marketing

 

What challenges did you face before implementing marketing automation?

【Selection Points】The simplicity, affordability, and ease of consultation were the deciding factors.

 

What was the deciding factor for you to choose BowNow among the many marketing automation tools available?

 

Ms. Miyashita: As we shifted our focus to digital marketing amid the pandemic, we decided to move up the setup of an inside sales department, which was originally planned for way later, to a much earlier stage. We were in a situation where we just had to move forward with inside sales. With other companies' marketing automation software, you would have to start by creating personas and scenarios, which seemed really time-consuming and a bit inconvenient in our current situation, and we were concerned that we would not be able to fully use the functions. Before integrating BowNow, we had already decided on hosting online seminars, but thanks to BowNow, we were able to gather data on these seminar campaigns and visualize the pay-off. 

【Measures & Effects】We've been using BowNow to gather more guests for online seminars. As a result, the number of inquiries increased tenfold.

 

What kind of measures are you currently using BowNow for?

 

Ms. Miyashita: After starting up BowNow, the first campaign we attempted was to share the information on our upcoming seminar and attract participants. Then, we published a whitepaper on our homepage providing useful, technical knowledge in relation to our main products. The first step was to send out an email invitation to attract people to the online seminar, which we were able to easily accomplish with BowNow's bulk email feature. Next, we were able to use BowNow to analyze the web traffic coming in from our Facebook and Google ads. We had already been collecting and utilizing data from in-person events, but this was really the first time for us to turn online seminar data into a usable house list.

What specific results have you seen since you started your marketing efforts?

 

Ms. Miyashita: Compared to the measures taken before using BowNow, the number of inquiries has increased nearly tenfold. What's more, the quality of the leads making inquiries has also increased. This was in the phase before BowNow was introduced, but I think the major factor was that we were able to review the KPI settings so that we could appeal to more potential customers and properly deliver information to those who have a high level of need and interest.

Specifically, we planned online seminars that we thought would be in demand. Our seminars are held once a month, with 2 to 30 participants each time, sometimes more. We had recently released new plans and product options, but thanks to these events, we were able to effectively deliver this new information to the right audience.

We went through a trial and error process over two to three months, in attracting seminar participants and then from those guests, forming a quality list of prospects. With BowNow, we could better understand which customers have what needs and what kind of email newsletters resonate with whom, which makes it easier to plan out our marketing strategy.

Since we have only been using BowNow for around two months, we can't guarantee this is the solution for everyone, but we've already generated a decent number of hot leads, and we've been able to utilize the notification setting on BowNow to determine the exact timing to approach each lead and receive a positive reaction.

【Future Outlook】Using BowNow to better visualize email marketing campaigns, with plans for company-wide implementation

 

What would you like to challenge in the future with BowNow and marketing initiatives?

 

Ms. Miyashita: In the future, we aspire to provide a wide range of content such as online seminars and educational resources that meet the needs of our customers. Through BowNow we would like to let our customers know that we can help them when they need it, rather than making unwanted sales approaches and hurting our relationships with potential customers. 

We have only been using BowNow for about two months, but we will continue to go through a trial and error process to see how we can track leads and visualize the process of receiving orders. This time, we introduced BowNow from the product base on a trial basis, but in the future, we would like to expand it to the entire company and in SI services as well.

 

【Customer's Voice】Easy to understand operation and a price range that allows you to work on it like a test is appealing

 

What do you expect from BowNow in the future and what did you think of Mtame's proposal?

 

Mr. Iwai: I frequently operate BowNow, and it's very easy to understand in terms of actual operation. I think it's also nice how there are no unnecessary or complicated functions. I appreciate the fact that basic things can be done in a basic way and results can be seen immediately.

For example, when I send out an email, I can see whether they are being opened or ignored, and if people are visiting our website via links in emails. It's easy to extract the ones that didn't go well and make a list of them. Everytime, we analyze how the email campaign went and then discuss, saying "next time, let's send out e-mails in this way," and can thus easily make improvements. 

Ms. Miyashita: I'm more on the side of planning, but I think one strength of BowNow is its accessible price range, which allows us to work on it as if it were a test. Should you adopt a marketing automation tool? I think the price of $200-$300 per month is doable for most customers who are thinking they need to find a way to better qualify their leads. While many companies have difficulty making capital investments in this pandemic, I think the price range is comfortable enough to give BowNow a try without too much hesitation.

Thank you very much!