Leverages Buyer Personas to Differentiate its Brand and Messaging
Challenge: Differentiate our brand and messaging
When Brian Gladstein, SVP of Marketing, first arrived at A-LIGN, a global cybersecurity firm, he found significant
opportunities for meeting a fast-moving marketplace with more relevant messaging. The success of A-LIGN’s
inbound marketing efforts needed to be complemented with equally effective outbound campaigning “We
needed to learn about the buying process much earlier in the buyers’ journeys,” says Gladstein. “Our goal is to
reach the right people with the right messages at the right time.”
Through his experiences at a previous employer, Gladstein was familiar with the Buyer Persona Institute (BPI)
and its buyer-centric research approach. Seeking “foundational research for revising our brand and core
messaging,” Gladstein commissioned BPI to conduct buyer research and facilitate a messaging workshop. The
engagement had two goals: 1) influence the formation of a new brand identity rooted in important buyer-centric
differentiators, and 2) inform A-LIGN’s go-to-market strategy.
Solution: Interview recent buyers we would have wanted in our sales pipeline
A-LIGN was not starting from scratch. “We knew about the current customers we had through our salespeople,”
Gladstein says. “But I know it was skewed. I was looking for an independent, objective assessment of the buyer’s
journey. I wanted to understand the whole spectrum of buyer needs from those that should have been in our
sales pipeline but weren’t.” Gladstein wanted insights focused on one key buying decision: How do buyers select
a new cybersecurity auditor?
Through the study design process with BPI, Gladstein and his A-LIGN team were treated as partners. “It was
important,” he says, “that we worked together to ensure a diversity of research participants.” The resulting
qualitative research surfaced new insights into the contours of the entire buyer journey, from initial triggers
through buying criteria and desired outcomes, to potential buying objections and the resources buyers rely upon
along their journeys.
“The persona activation workshop that BPI facilitated afterwards aligned the team around the most relevant
marketing messages possible. “Through the workshop,” notes Gladstein, “we were able to marry what’s most
important to the buyer with our own most distinctive differentiators. That was crucial for us.”
Results: “Most successful trade show ever” launches new brand identity and messaging
Before the BPI engagement, A-LIGN had strong guiding values. “A-LIGN’s values guide how we work as a team,
as employees,” says Gladstein. “The research allowed us to transform them into customer-focused values.” As an
example, A-LIGN always stressed “Being all in”. In the new framework, “being all in” among company personnel
became “collaboration” with customers. “Our core values became the foundation of our brand values,” Gladstein
says.
With the research and new messaging in hand, A-LIGN worked with a new agency to overhaul its brand. “We
want to be seen as a modern SaaS company,” says Gladstein. As a preview to their website relaunch, A-LIGN first
revealed its new brand identity at an important trade show, SaaStr. “Our biggest competitor was directly across
the aisle from us,” he says. “When visitors crossed the aisle to come to our booth, they asked what made us
different. Our team was ready – the BPI work had made it easy for us to communicate differentiation. In fact, it
was the most successful trade show we’ve ever done!”
With the new website up and running, Gladstein and his team continue to build lessons learned from the BPI
research. “Messaging can’t be done in a vacuum,” he says. “Marketing and sales need to work together. We’re
merging the research and messages with the knowledge of our salespeople and their experiences. All these
things need to come together to create good messaging.”
“Reflecting on the sum of his BPI experience, Gladstein says, “It’s always a pleasure working with BPI. They
know how to coach us to get the most out of the experience. There’s credibility in their process so the results
mean something; getting that credibility from BPI plus integrating what we learn from sales gives us
confidence in the truth of the resulting messages.”
