1. The Science of Connecting
with SpiceHeads
and Art!
^
True stories from the Spiceworks marketing trenches

2. Jen Slaski
Brand + Marketing
Communications
Nicole Tanzillo
IT Product Marketing
& Education

4. Science Art
Execution is critical…but it’s the
unique, unexpected touches that woo.

5. Skeptical?
Give us ~30 mins and trust us.

6. July 2006: Spiceworks beta launches.
(crickets)

7. 180 days later…
In every single country in the world…

8. Today: 2.5 million IT pros…
~2000 joining daily. 50% of them FREE.

9. A crazy little thing called LOVE
SpiceHeads
Babies
Mascot
Board
Games
Books
Blogs

10. a real tattoo (seriously)...

11. (Party-on. Spiceworks. Excellent.)
(flashback)

12. 2006: Real people. Real conversations.
Hi Jon, I’m Jen...I like meatloaf too!””

13. 2008: The good ol’ fashioned truth.

14. Keepin’ it real was really effective!
23, 260 views!

15. Authenticity = the core of our brand..
Personal
HonestFun!

16. What do we mean by FUN?!

17. The 5 “Cs” of connecting with SpiceHeads.
Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!
Meet Jeff ‒
Spiceworks IT pro!

18. The 5 “Cs” of connecting with SpiceHeads.
Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!

19. Conversation: Get to know ‘em.
Ask listen .learn respond..

20. Conversation: Get to know ‘em.
From BERATED .to BRAVE to BELOVED...

21. Conversation: Get to know ‘em.
• SpicePanels
• Polls
• Surveys
• Vendor
Pages
• Product
Pages
• Dashboard
The easiest way? Be yourself!

22. The 5 “Cs” of connecting with SpiceHeads.
Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!

23. Camaraderie: Hang with ‘em.
Connec?on
(n):
the
state
of
being
connected.
Camaraderie
(n):
a
spirit
of
friendly
good-­‐fellowship!

24. Camaraderie: Hang with ‘em.
“”Finally, a place where people understand me.”

25. Camaraderie: Hang with ‘em.
“I feel Iike for the first time, I really
GET what SW is all about, it's not
about marketing to you guys and
shoving our products down your
throat, its about being a part of a
community and making sure we
connect with you on a 1x1
level….Thanks for keepin’ it real.”

26. Camaraderie: Hang with ‘em.
• 114
Worldwide
• 16
in
Europe
• 6
in
the
UK!

27. Creativity: Speak their language.

28. Camaraderie: Help them out.
The
Hero
The
Innovator
The
Champion
The
Advisor
The
Guardian
The
Ar?st

29. Camaraderie: Help them out.
The Advisor
The Guardian
The Artist

30. Ummm, what about resources?

31. The 5 “Cs” of connecting with SpiceHeads.
Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!

32. Candor: Tell IT like it is.

33. Candor: Show IT like it is.

34. The 5 “Cs” of connecting with SpiceHeads.
Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!

35. Creativity: Contests and then some

36. The 5 “Cs” of connecting with SpiceHeads.
Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!

37. Comedy: Laugh about IT

38. Comedy: “IT comedy”
Tune into Spiceworks Studios!
The bonus?
CONTENT!

39. One “C” that doesn’t apply?
CHECKLIST.

40. (pause)
This
may
go
longer
than
our
regularly
scheduled
programming….but
it’ll
be
worth
it.

41. So, what does this look like in practice?
Let’s walk through some present-day examples & RESULTS.

42. Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!
And one more…
The five “Cs” of Connecting with SpiceHeads.
Jeff’s back for round 2!

43. Case Study: Conversation
Building buzz for MDM without an announced product.
Timely topic.
Educational
content.
Beyond education
to conversation.
User content: “IT
pros like me…”.
Lots of personality
(the bacon suit!).
Practices.
Not products.

44. Case Study: Conversation
Building buzz for MDM without an announced product.
Spice U Webinar Spiceworks Live! Interop Session
• 2,000+ Registered
• 1,000+ Attended
• 790+ Live Attendees • 190+ Attendees
• Standing Room Only

45. Case Study: Camaraderie
Make product training something users relished.
Content with a
human touch.
Taught by fellow
IT pros.
Injected plenty
of humor.
Took training
on the road.
Kept costs low with
franchise model.
Focused on most
impactful classes.

46. Regional Online
• 2,000+ students/year
• 45% usage lift
• Franchise model w/minimal costs
• 10,000+ students/ year
• 15%+ usage lift
• Very low costs and lots of scale
Case Study: Camaraderie
Make product training something users relish.

47. Case Study: Candor
Start doing right by our MSP users.
Owned up to
the situation
and had an
honest dialogue.
Put them
at ease with
videos. And
bacon.
Sought to
understand.

48. Relationship New Initiatives
• Build trust and excitement
• MSPs feel “heard”
• “Best of” content
• SpiceWorld track
• New user email
• More…
Case Study: Candor
Start doing right by our MSP users.

49. Case Study: Creativity
Making cool videos. Fast & on a budget.
Streamlined
production/
creative burden.
Ungated:
engage, then
drive usage.
Used real
people.
Mistakes are okay
– humanizing.
Creating tons of
“snackable” content.

50. Video Results
• Produced 10+ videos in <1 month
• Average time on /tutorials: 15 minutes
• Great content for campaigns & support
Case Study: Creativity
Making cool videos. Fast & on a budget.

51. Case Study: Comedy
Standing out in a sea of booths.
Designed to draw
people in…with
fun... And zombies.
Videos were
a huge hit.
Game show and
money machine
drove tons of traffic.
Real people… not
actors. Authentic.

52. Interop Show Results
• Constant booth trafic
• 40+ people participating & watching game
• 300+ packed SpiceParty
Case Study: Comedy
Standing out in a sea of booths.

53. Case Study: Content
Engaging new users right from the start.
Reduced from
5 emails to 1.
Consistent experience
across email and web.
Focused on excerpts of
relevant topics.
Testing & segmenting
like crazy.

54. Community Series
• Open Rate: 23% à 30%
• Click-through Rate: 16% à 33%
• Unsub Rate: 1.35% to .65%
• Excerpts perform 2x better
Case Study: Content
Engaging new users right from the start.

55. Conversation
Camaraderie
Candor
Creativity
Comedy!
Content
The five “Cs” of Connecting with SpiceHeads.

56. Wanna keep the
conversation going?
See you in the Tech Marketers Group!