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B2B Email Marketing: How a global information company transformed from batch-and-blast to persona-driven email marketing

Byron O'Dell, IHS



IHS needed to find a way to help grow and engage its database of more than 140,000 prospects. A content-based lead nurturing program relevant to the audience emerged as the answer, with personas painstakingly developed by the marketing team.

IHS, the Best in Show at Email Summit 2014 in the Lead Generation category, began by killing the newsletter for its Jane's Defence product. This was a bold move that led to a newly focused content path for its target audience — members of the military, government and intelligence services, as well as global aerospace and defense industry companies.

The team used email marketing and marketing automation to transform the way they engaged with this difficult to reach segment. They transitioned from a monthly newsletter that was broad-based and lacking relevance to a lead generating engine that was based on behavior, not assumptions.

Byron O'Dell, Senior Director of Demand Management, IHS, explained this strategy "allowed contacts to opt-in based on their interests, customizing messaging and offers based on their actions."

IHS was able to increase its lead generating engagement by 10 times over the legacy contact process through persona-driven email marketing.

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MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2015 — Want to see more presentations like this one? Attend Email Summit 2015, Feb. 23-26, Las Vegas

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