the situation
EEDO's leadership position came largely as a result of developing innovative technology, sensible pricing, and a company-wide focus on customer experience. It had stumbled upon a sweet spot, but soon became a small firm in a rapidly expanding market. EEDO needed to expand its reach, and fast. Budgets and resource constraints, however, limited its ability to compete with the padded marketing and sales budgets of its larger competitors. In trying to be all things to all people, they were left with strained resources, and broad reaching and ineffective communication efforts. With the help of bv02, EEDO needed to acquire more in-depth knowledge of the market, engage in segmented lead generation activities, and raise brand awareness. EEDO wanted to know if it was talking to the right people, at the right time, and in the right way.

tactics
In keeping with bv02's bias towards using innovative marketing tactics to drive results, EEDO agreed to abandon the idea of a blasting out a direct mail piece in favor of developing a relationship email campaign to support and add value to its marketing and sales initiative. In acknowledgement of the campaign objectives — increased sales, segmented client base, brand awareness — bv02 set out to develop a relationship email strategy, with a view towards establishing direct relationships. Focus was placed on two target audience groups in pre-determined territories, allowing EEDO to direct its efforts and establish itself as the leader in knowledge management and e-learning, creating a positive image and brand with new customers.

In working with EEDO sales personnel, bv02 ensured all marketing efforts properly aligned with the sales process and resonated with the decision makers and influencers found within the two target audiences. bv02 provided services such as strategic marketing, communications and sales consultation, lifecycle management, email graphic development, writing and editing, technical programming and quality assurance testing. The campaign included a pre-set number of email broadcasts, individualized for each target audience and product interest. The objective was to drive sales prospects to the EEDO website, where visitors could be tracked and leads qualified.

results
In just under eight weeks, EEDO had the makings of a relationship email campaign. Two niche markets were identified, and the campaign was developed as a staged process to include a method of collecting and managing new relationships, while at the same time adding value for the prospective customer. A highly segmented list that reflected EEDO's niche target markets was acquired to ensure the campaign focus was maintained. New Web pages were added to the EEDO website providing the visitor an opportunity to educate themselves about EEDO's product offerings and to learn more about knowledge sharing, e-learning and knowledge management. The ability to track audience response and reaction to the broadcast emails, followed by click throughs to the EEDO Web site, enabled sales personnel to skip a step or two in the pre sales process, receiving better leads, self-qualified by each new customer. To further expand on the relationship created, a bi-monthly bulletin was developed to help EEDO's newly segmented audience stay informed of knowledge transfer tools, trends and technology.