Fusion Connect, Atlanta, Georgia: Fusion Connect

Written answers to the questions

Total 190 words used.

George Schoenstein joined Fusion Connect as SVP of Marketing and Communications in late 2020 to help transform the company from a small business telecommunication service provider to a full-service managed communication service provider (MCSP) focused on mid-market and enterprise clients. At the time, the team of six marketers accounted for less than 5% of Fusion Connect’s sales, all from small businesses. The company's primary marketing tactic was Google Ads, and it had an antiquated website on an unsupported platform and generated limited content. To align the team, George developed a marketing scorecard in January 2021 that focused on business, brand, and culture. It set targets that would drive the team toward desired marketing outcomes and keep it in sync. The scorecard is focused on:

1. Business (60%): Marketing qualified leads (MQLs), sales qualified leads (SQLs), active pipeline, and won business. 

2. Brand (30%): Social media impact and media placement. 

3. Culture (10%): Annual employee satisfaction survey. 

The scorecard united a remote marketing team and created visibility with the company’s executives about marketing’s targets and performance. The scorecard enabled Fusion Connect to effectively measure the impact of new marketing efforts for the first time.

Total 240 words used.

The marketing team grew from seven to 12 people, most of whom joined in late 2021, following an effort to hire technology marketers with experience in mid-market/enterprise sales. In 2021 and 2022, the team focused on three initiatives:

1. Shift the company from a small business provider to mid-market and enterprise. This included a brand refresh, revamped messaging, and stronger positioning with the media and industry analysts that led to more than 40 media placements and 30 blog posts in 2022.  

2. Build a technology infrastructure to automate processes and enable growth. The marketing team implemented a transformative content management and marketing automation system for its new website in 2022 with more than 90% of functions automated. By year's end, marketing delivered 608,000 users, 890,000 sessions, and average session time of two minutes, up 35% from 2021. There was a 166% increase in organic search engine keyword traffic to over 7,000 click-throughs per month from the top 100 targeted keywords, and the site ranked in the top 10 for seven core keywords. Digital advertising conversions grew from a 0.48% click-through rate (CTR) to 1.91% and a cost per click (CPC) of $25 to $3.53.

Increase pipeline and wins contribution to 40% by year-end 2022. By targeting 5,000 accounts through an omnichannel approach, marketing’s pipeline contribution grew from 22% to 56%, and its share of won business increased from 19% to 45%, beating the 40% target.

Total 161 words used.

George led marketing teams at three other technology companies — BearingPoint, CompuCom, and Sungard Availability Services — and each time encountered similar challenges in repositioning the company, maximizing its media exposure, and generating sales and winning business. At each stop, he increased the marketing team's contribution to the share of business won to greater than 50%, but it took him 12, five, and three and a half years, respectively, to reach that level. At Fusion Connect, the team is at 45% in 28 months.

In addition, two key trends stand out relative to Fusion Connect's business-to-business technology marketing since Jan. 1, 2021:

1. In 2022, the marketing team's sourced MQL-to-SQL conversion rate reached 65% and its win rate was 20%, positioning it well above industry benchmarks, as noted in the supporting material.

2. The percentage of pipeline generated by marketing reached 56% at the end of 2022, as noted. That exceeds industry benchmarks of 10% to 40%, as shown in the supporting material.

Total 107 words used.

[REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION].