Matthew Leopold from LexisNexis shares how they segment their messaging for different stakeholders in the buying process, from managing partners to IT directors to users. He discusses challenges around data privacy and attribution in B2B marketing. The importance of understanding sales teams and aligning marketing and sales goals is also covered.
Matthew is a strategic marketer specializing in technology marketing for B2B and B2C blue-chip corporates. He has been involved in shaping and implementing brand strategies and communications for most of his career. He has driven brand marketing for FTSE 100 and NYSE-listed businesses in the UK, USA, and several countries.
“I think no matter how many meetings I have with our clients, or with lawyers, I will never have as much time on the front line, as our salespeople will.”
– Matthew Leopold on why marketing should understand the sales perspective.
Matthew provided some specific examples of how LexisNexis segments its messaging to reach different personas within law firms:
He noted tailoring the messaging to address the specific needs, priorities, and level of understanding of each persona within the buying process.
Matthew shared that LexisNexis goes beyond lead generation metrics to measure marketing impact and success. Some of the key metrics they focus on include:
The goal is to measure impact across the entire customer journey and determine what role branding, communications, and content play in moving prospects through the funnel.
Matthew explained that as a provider of legal and business intelligence services, LexisNexis handles a vast amount of sensitive customer data and sits at the center of their clients’ technology systems. Due to this, the company takes an extremely rigorous approach to data privacy and compliance with regulations.
He noted they do not view it as “overcoming” the challenges of personalization within these constraints, but rather carefully operating within legal and ethical bounds. Where a highly personalized digital marketing message may not be possible without access to specific individual-level customer insights, LexisNexis aims to craft broader brand campaigns that can still resonate across diverse personas.
The sales team then plays an important role in having more tailored conversations once engaged with a lead, now privy to relevant details. Matthew also described how they leverage aggregated analytics on content consumption patterns and conversions to understand messaging effectiveness, without targeting individuals directly.
Through this multifaceted strategy of compliant broad branding paired with personalized sales discussions informed by insights, LexisNexis strives to balance data-driven personalization with its responsibility to clients’ privacy as a leader in the sensitive legal sector.
Matthew shared that as a single supplier with relationships across technology and legal stakeholders, LexisNexis is uniquely positioned to facilitate collaboration. Some ways they enable this include:
Matthew advised that the most important thing is for marketing and sales teams to get to know each other well. He recommended marketers get to understand the real-life challenges salespeople face when meeting with clients and making calls. Marketers should listen to what materials and support would help sales engage clients more effectively.
He also stressed the importance of involving the sales team in marketing planning, not just handing over leads. Having two-way conversations to understand each function’s perspectives and goals is key.
Additionally, Matthew suggested marketers create content like thought leadership that provides relevant insights sales can leverage in conversations. Gathering feedback from sales on resonating topics helps with this.
The ultimate goal, he noted, is facilitating profitable sales. So both teams must work closely together to understand opportunities that exist to improve lead generation, conversion rates, deal sizes, and renewals through better alignment.
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