Breaking the Fourth Wall... with Sasha El-Halwani, D2L

S asha El-Halwani is the integrated marketing manager at D2L, a global learning technology company. In this Breaking the Fourth Wall interview, Sasha explains to Nikki how one conversation sparked a nine month full funnel marketing campaign.

Q. How was this campaign born?

It all started with one thought leadership idea. We wanted to develop fresh content for our audience, that showed a deep understanding of the issues they face. This had to be of real value to prospects to make sure that, when they were ready to buy, we had already earned their trust.

It was never going to be about one piece of content though. I wanted to build a multi-channel, full funnel campaign. A whitepaper, informed by independent contributors, would act as the pillar that facilitated everything else.

Q. How did the themes of the paper influence the wider campaign?

We’ve been able to do so much with our hero content, including paid and organic social, email and direct marketing, product tours, VIP dinners, webinars, conferences and speaker ops, blogs, email signatures – short form, long form, soundbites, you name it. We’ve also done this while being absolutely consistent in our messaging across every touchpoint.

I see this as a long term, almost evergreen campaign. For example, we created a 20 second video that we used with LinkedIn ads – where the call to action was to download the paper. But we’ve also created a 15 second version that doesn’t have the call to action. That means, even in a year’s time, we can use the shorter videos because the themes will still resonate.

Q. How did you manage the relationships with your contributors, and not demand too much from them?

I was very mindful of this. I wanted our contributors to be clear on what was being asked of them. So, for example, the initial interviews (led by Fourth Day) lasted about an hour. From that one call, however, we were able to produce the whitepaper, a series of blogs, social media content and all the design assets.

I also outlined the campaign to our contributors from the outset and offered other opportunities to get involved – through speaking slots, for example. I wanted to agree everything up front, rather than going back every couple of months asking them to do more.

Because we recorded those initial discussions, we can go back to them and create additional blogs later down the line which will reinvigorate the campaign. I think it’s important for us to remember as marketers – just because you’re really familiar with the content, don’t presume your audience has seen it all before.

Q. What have been your biggest learnings?

Working closely with the business development team (BDs) has been so important. It was crucial that we were aligned and that they bought into what we were trying to do. Using themes from the paper, we planned out when BDs should get involved in discussions with prospects and what their messages should be.

For example, I gave them the whitepaper a couple of weeks before it went live so they could personally reach out to prospects that they were already in conversations with. That was a great way to encourage early engagement and get the team enthusiastic about marketing activity and the impact it can have. I also structured the messaging to move prospects down the funnel as conversations progressed, and that’s been working really well.

"I think it’s important for us to remember as marketers – just because you’re really familiar with the content, don’t presume your audience has seen it all before."

Sasha El-Halwani D2L

Q. How difficult was it to sell in a campaign of this scale internally?

I am fortunate in that I was fully trusted and given the time and space to plan the campaign effectively. This time was crucial in helping me feel completely clear on what I wanted to achieve.

I presented how the campaign would impact our audience at different stages – taking my colleagues on a hypothetical customer journey.

This also played out in reality. We had copies of the whitepaper on an exhibition stand where I was able to talk to people about its themes. I then directed them to our speaking slot, with one of our contributors, at the same show. It was great to see so many people in the audience that I’d previously spoken to, and it demonstrated the value of establishing us as a thought leader. Conversations that began on the stand with the whitepaper are now progressing further down the funnel.

Q. It’s a tough question for marketers – but gated or ungated content?

I think every marketer has this challenge because we really want to be able to track marketing impact. I’m in a company that sees the value of marketing but I know others don’t always have that support, so I understand there can be an incentive to gate when you need to justify an investment.

We’ve distributed this paper in a number of ways – from handing out hard copies to using LI advertising to drive people to an ungated download. We do have a gated version too but if I had to make a choice I’d always go for ungated, especially for a top of funnel piece.

"I presented how the campaign would impact our audience at different stages – taking my colleagues on a hypothetical customer journey."

Sasha El-Halwani D2L

Q. We loved working with you on this paper, but what worked well for you?

Sitting and chatting in the Fourth Day office sparked this whole campaign. That’s why working with external partners can be so beneficial – when you’re in it every single day it can be hard to keep a fresh perspective. Because you were there from the start, you also really understood the brief in terms of what we were trying to achieve.

The main thing that stands out for me though is that you always assumed positive intention. That hasn’t always been the case for me when working with agencies. This was a big campaign with many moveable parts, but you never caused me any stress – while I didn’t always have the answers, you understood that everything I was doing was coming from the right place.

I also appreciated how you challenged us, and yourselves, to produce the best possible piece of work – and we could trust you with our highly valued contributors.

Q. What one tip would you give to your fellow marketers?

It’s not a tip as such, more an analogy. I think marketing is like whipping cream. When you’re whipping cream, you’re whipping it and whipping it. You’re working so hard, you’re exhausted, your arm aches. But when you look down, it looks like nothing’s happening. Then you go through that phase of thinking: I can’t do this anymore, I’m putting my all into this and I know I’m doing everything right – so why can’t I see it thickening? And then, suddenly, it just thickens: and you realise that the hard work has paid off.