We are excited to showcase a recent interview with Authority Magazine featuring M-Files Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Laura Carson. Interviewed by Rachel Kline, Laura shares her insights into her key marketing strategies as a part of Authority Magazine's series, “CMOs Share Their Top 5 Tried + True Marketing Strategies,” featuring various CMOs in NA.

Laura Carson, CMO for M-Files, the leader in knowledge work automation, is responsible for the company’s go-to-market strategy, demand generation, brand positioning, product marketing, and channel marketing. Laura is a high-impact leader with more than 20 years in B2B technology software and services and has a proven track record in helping organizations accelerate growth.

When asked by Kline about her role at M-Files, Laura opens up about the company culture, sharingwhat she thinks makes M-Files stand out,

"The culture at M-Files is the best culture I have ever experienced. We live by a set of guiding principles that drive how we work and interact with others. Those guiding principles are the “DNA” of M-Files. They provide us with a solid, shared foundation that supports and celebrates the diversity of our cultural backgrounds and unique personalities. By deploying these principles every day, we build trust and collaboration.

M-Files’ leadership is intentional about transparency. We systematically share information about company performance and our future in an open and honest way in company-wide meetings even though we are a private company.

For me personally, M-Files is a melting pot, bringing together many people that I have worked with in my career. People have joined M-Files directly because of my recommendations or because I previously managed them, and I joined when there were already people at M-Files from a past employer. It feels like family!"

Laura discusses the omni-channel approach that is integrated with M-Files as an effective long-term strategy to successful marketing, explaining how several touch-points of the customer experience and journey require different points of brand awareness and engagement in the sale process:

"Take content marketing, for example, which focuses on creating valuable, relevant content to attract and engage target audiences and build trust, establish authority, and drive organic traffic."

As the highlight of the interview, Laura is asked about her Top 5 Tried + Tested True Marketing Strategies:

1. "Global PR strategy transformation. When I arrived at M-Files, we had PR agencies around the world and the budget and execution management was executed locally and none of the agencies were talking to each other. We have since shifted to a model where the global PR strategy is owned centrally at the corporate level, and we still use regional agencies, but we conduct monthly reviews with all of them. This provides us with amazing information sharing regarding best practices, successes and lessons learned, which has helped us achieve greater outcomes within the supply chain.
2. Revitalized trade shows approach. Trade shows are making a comeback not just in the United States but also Europe, and this is becoming a successful marketing strategy again. Of course, like all things in marketing today, show participation must be done in an integrated fashion and the key is to be prepared with pre-event marketing, a booth, speaking sessions, and follow-up marketing and outreach.
3. Utilization of Software Advice platforms. We leverage a platform called Software Advice that provides us with highly qualified potential customers that convert to pipeline exceptionally well. Buyers can connect with their advisors which leads to a recommendation of vendors that match their specific technology needs. These leads are highly qualified and convert exceptionally well.
4. Value-based omni-channel messaging. Businesses pay for software that brings value to their enterprise. Our omni-channel, value-based messaging across digital properties, from promoted landing pages to blogs and social media posts, drive messaging to our ideal customer, highlighting impact and benefits to the knowledge workers across industries. Customers and prospects respond to this value-based, impact-driven messaging even in paid digital channels such as the Google Ad platform.
5. Targeted marketing across diverse user groups. The M-Files platform is well-suited for a diverse range of technology user groups, spanning from accounting to human resources. These audiences are seldom on the same marketing channel at the same time. By staying on top of digital analytics, marketing key performance indicators (KPIs), campaign analytics, and survey results, we continuously evaluate new ads, messaging, and graphics, as well as marketing collateral placement on multi-channels. We reassess and strategize to stay ahead of the competition and anticipate customer needs while striving to reach these user groups at the time they are looking for a solution like ours."

Laura also recommends decision-makers to "hire the best people" when focusing on strategic planning for their marketing efforts. "With the right team, you can build an effective strategy alongside well-defined KPIs to deliver impactful results to the organization."

"Today, successful marketing is about leveraging all the channels in an optimal way through execution, testing and refinement. CMOs need a team of specialists who focus on specific areas, such as SEO, social media marketing, content creation, or public relations, to enable success in those channels."

For the full interview and to learn more about Laura, please find the article on Medium. You can learn more about M-Files on our website, or follow us on LinkedIn.