How ‘account intelligence’ drives WorkForce Software’s marketing plan

By , News UK
Originally published by The Map The Map •

In this fast-changing employment environment, more and more businesses are adopting HR software.

In what is a growing pool of vendors, WorkForce Software has been offering features like time tracking, scheduling, absence management and forecasting to organisations in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, hospitality and government since 1999.

How is the company positioning itself? WorkForce chief marketing and customer experience officer Sandra Moran, who has led marketing and go-to-market strategy for several software firms over more than 25 years, told The Map.

From Michigan to Milton Keynes

Rob: WorkForce is a US-based company. What does your UK operation look like?

Sandra: The UK is an important region for WorkForce Software, where we have a team of approximately 100 WorkForce employees and are serving UK-based companies and multi-national operating sites including Morrison’s Supermarkets, BBC, Hobbycraft, JCB, Haven Leisure, Away Resorts and Kurt Geiger.

Our UK operations include development, customer support, sales, pre-sales, marketing and professional services team members. It is also home to our EMEA-wide finance and HR functions.

Signal-driven content marketing

RW: Describe your marketing strategy.

SM: Our marketing plans for EMEA are extensive for 2023, encompassing targeted buyer-intent data-driven content development so that potential customers are served content that is meaningful to their stage of the buyers’ journey.

We align our resources around those companies that are actively in the market for modern workforce management solutions and target them through the channels they are already using.

Intent and intelligence

RW: Which channels work best?

SM: All media channels can be valuable, but it’s the buyer intent data that is used to find and target the best in-market prospects – from those that have the intent to buy our software to those that are already searching for solutions like ours – that is the most important tool we have.

We are continuing to find new ways to use ‘account intelligence‘ to its fullest. Today, we leverage data on organisations that fit our ideal customer profile (ICP) and then align our resources around those companies and target them through the channels they are already using.

We’ve seen a lot of positive results from targeting these prospects with digital banner advertising and serving meaningful content to them as they move through their buying journey.

Are they just starting their search? How can we help educate them on ways to address their business needs? Are they ready for a workshop or demo? Our data tells us what content they would likely find most useful at this moment, allowing us to then serve that to them.

It sounds simple, but account intelligence, when done right, is a real science and tight process activated by my team, with our Buyer Enablement Managers taking an active role.

Workplace reform needed

RW: From WorkForce’s perspective, what are the key workforce issues in business?

SM: I am troubled by the disproportionate impact that COVID had on working women in the UK and around the world, and the number who lost considerable professional ground because they worked in hard-impacted industries dominated by female employees, shouldered additional responsibilities of family, or left the workforce entirely since the pandemic began.

While the continuing labour shortages in the UK do offer opportunities to come back into the workforce, many of the fundamentals that impact employees have yet to be addressed, including more flexible scheduling, better wages, and access to affordable childcare.

The continued focus on flexible and hybrid work, which excludes the majority of workers in the UK – nearly 80% of whom do not have the luxury of performing their work from home and without whom we would not enjoy the necessities of life – are not able to participate in accommodations that could lessen these work-life challenges.

Adjust your speed

RW: So, how can more women advance in this business environment?

SM: From personal experience, I would say careers are never a straight trajectory.

There are periods of acceleration, where you might be working to advance your career, increase pay or earn better commissions and therefore need to put in those extra hours or take on more responsibilities.

Equally, there should never be shame in admitting you’re in a period of deceleration, whether that’s because you value greater work-life balance, because you’re a new parent and want to focus on family or may be caring for others in addition to your professional career.

The key is to understand what an acceptable expectation of your employer is during these times and find the balance that works for you and your employer at any moment in time.