From Inbound to Outbound - the tale of a former purist

I was an inbound purist for most of my career. The SquarePeg consequently is an inbound marketing company - our lead gen strategy was set up so that leads came to us and I sort of inwardly turned my nose up at cold outreach. Don't get me wrong, we do devise an appropriate marketing mix for our clients, but for the SquarePeg itself, we had till 2023 not run any major outbound campaigns for our own company and relied mostly on good SEO, client referrals, and word of mouth. So here we were, chugging along merrily, with almost 2-3 leads per week coming into our CRM and with enough conversions to keep us satisfied and fulfilled. Then along came inflation and the lead pipeline started drying out as people started squeezing their marketing budgets. This, coupled with the very strict criteria we have for signing projects meant we had to pivot and fast.

I am a closeted introvert and networking has always been one of my weak points. I am great at public speaking, and I am super confident on social media but making 1-1 connections with people you are meeting for the first time, especially if I have to initiate the communication makes me go back to my socially awkward teenage years. But if I couldn't come out of my comfort zone, how could I expect my team members to challenge themselves? Hence, for the first time since The SquarePeg was founded, we devised an outbound strategy. Are we doing cold calls and emails - umm no! But here are a few things we did do over the course of 2023:

Trade Shows:

For the first time since its inception, we decided to participate in trade shows. We took part in two trade shows in 2023 - one local and one international and here are my findings:

ITCN 2023:

This event took place in Islamabad in February, 2023. We had excellent support from the ITCN Asia and Pakistan IT Industry Association (P@SHA) and were given an extremely prominent booth space. With our usual approach of going overboard, be it with clients or any task that is assigned to us, we designed an immersive experience that included an infinity mirror and Oculus.

Learnings from ITCN:

1. We overspent on the booth decor and although it remained the center of attention throughout the event, yet the footfall was mostly of people who were there for the entertainment aspect of it. Because we were so busy catering to them, we were unable to hold meaningful conversations with actual potential clients
2. We did not do any pre-event outreach and our post-event follow-up was also lacking

While the event was great for brand awareness as our booth was amongst one of the most talked about but we were unable to generate any meaningful leads due to lack of proper prep work and follow up.

GITEX Dubai 2023:

After just one local tradeshow, we decided we were ready for the big leagues (no one can dampen our confidence now can they!). GITEX GLOBAL Largest Tech & Startup Show in the World Dubai was an altogether different experience - the GITEX app that provided instant connectivity to the other participants and the option to pre-set meetings with potential clients, partners, and investors based on interests was extremely useful. I would like to give a huge shoutout to Usman Bhai from Sherdil IT Academy for guiding us throughout as he had prior GITEX experience.

Learnings from GITEX:

1. Having learned from our ITCN experience, we ensured we did our prep work before the event. Alongside the in-app meetings that were set up by the GITEX concierge, we created an outreach strategy where we curated relevant profiles on LinkedIn and reached out to them via LinkedIn messages and emails before the event to set up meetings at GITEX.
2. We also devised a lead management strategy, where daily follow-ups were made via WhatsApp, email, and LinkedIn to ensure the leads did not get cold. We booked a dedicated meeting room and had in-person meetings with potential leads and collaborators in the after-hours.
3. We got the smallest-sized booth (as we were paying in dollars) but chose the right hall for it (thanks to Eventage's recommendations) so that people who were coming to our booth were already looking for marketing companies. Instead of people coming to us because our booth was so cool (like it was for ITCN) we had to verbally stop people and engage with them 1-1, which I believe led to meaningful conversations

GITEX led to much better results, where we got several qualified leads and conversions. One of the main reasons for this was better prep work and a wider, more appropriate footfall.

Networking:

Moving back to my introverted tendencies, networking was something I was never comfortable with. This year, I made a concentrated effort to change that. I was already part of a few forums such as IWCCI .pk and, Pakistan IT Industry Association (P@SHA). I also recently joined CXOGLOBAL100 and participated in networking events held by platforms such as OPEN Islamabad. Other than that, I did a 10-month fellowship under the Vital Voices Global Partnership which provided me with exposure to a diverse group of amazing female social entrepreneurs from around the world.

Learnings from Networking:

1. I think recognition was one of the most important elements of these networking efforts, people got to know the face behind the SquarePeg which is essential for building brand equity
2. I got to meet great mentors who offered not only advice but also referrals

In-person interaction is essential to build that brand trust and visibility. People now know who the face is behind the SquarePeg and are more likely to remember us when referrals are needed.

In the Works:

PPC:

We have developed a media production offering this year which we plan to actively launch in Q1 2024. For this, we are planning to launch a PPC campaign coupled with cold outreach messages to potential clients and partners.

Business Development:

We have recently onboarded Business Development leads in MENA and USA and have crafted a careful mix of inbound and outbound strategies that can help in client acquisition.

And here ends the tale of how I fell off my pedestal of "leads come to us" and actually started actively "putting ourselves out there".