Why Executive Roundtables should be part of every tech marketing plan in 2023
5 minute read.
As marketing managers start planning for 2023 and face the reality of reduced budgets, they are looking for ways to generate better results with less.
Roundtable discussions are the answer. They don’t come with the financial and time requirements of a trade-show sponsorship or a proprietary event. Roundtables are highly targeted for your specific audience and attract a decision-maker / influencer audience.
As far as lead generation goes, Roundtables are one of the most cost-effective tactics for ABM-focused organisations.
What is a Roundtable Discussion?
A Roundtable Discussion is a group discussion on a business challenge between 10-15 participants of a specific persona. The host should outline a discussion topic that is relevant and interesting to the target audience, and ask the right questions to get and keep the conversation going.
Roundtable Discussions are a great way to create community, build relationships and position your brand as a trusted source of information.
Top 5 Reasons a Roundtable Discussion should be in a SaaS 2023 Marketing Plan
1. Position yourself as a thought leader in your space
Running a roundtable shows a company’s leadership and commitment to innovation in their space. It elevates your Reps from “sales guys” to “trusted advisors” in that topic area opening doorways for future conversations.
A roundtable discussion will position a company's brand as a community builder and connector for that topic area, building your trust, credibility and reputation with your market while also providing the opportunity to build authentic relationships.
Word-of-mouth is often forgotten in B2B marketing, but it shouldn’t be! Imagine a senior executive attends a relevant and insightful roundtable that you hosted. They will talk to their peers about their experience and learnings facilitated by your brand.
2. Great opportunity to generate meetings and increase pipeline
We’ve been in B2B events for a long time, and we can tell you from experience that no other event format will generate as many sales meetings as a Roundtable.
The key: DON’T SELL!
It seems counterintuitive, but trust us. Your reps should network with attendees- positioning themselves as subject matter experts, asking questions and digging for deeper understanding of your audience’s problems.
As soon as it becomes a sales pitch, you lose credibility as a thought leader & you’ll leave your guests thinking “there really isn’t such a thing as a free lunch”.
It should be treated like a pre-discovery meeting, where you will walk away with an understanding of the challenges your guests face. Then, once the inevitable pitch comes, you can draw on these insights to tailor your approach and seal the deal.
A word of warning… make sure your sales team are briefed on the above, it’s not a pitch! We also recommend no more than 3 representatives from your company attend to solidify legitimacy.
3. Roundtables are a great way to connect with “hard to meet people” like CIO’s and CTO’s, and perfect for ABM campaigns
Because roundtables target 10-15 people and are positioned as exclusive, invite-only events for senior leaders, they attract a senior audience. Much more so than other event formats.
You could sponsor a large conference in your space which attracts 500 people, but how many of those people have the ability to make or even influence a purchase decision? Yes, you’ll generate mindshare, but how many of those scanned leads will meet with you and how many of them just wanted a free water bottle?
Senior execs don’t want to be pitched on an expo floor, they want to learn from discuss their challenges with their in exclusive environments.
The ability to attract senior executives and decision makers solidify roundtable events as a key component of any ABM marketing strategy, with a proven top-down sales approach.
4. Understand your target market on an authentic level
An open roundtable discussion provides a unique opportunity to connect with your potential customers on an authentic, personal level. What problems are CISO’s facing in 2023? How are CTO’s looking to invest with smaller budgets next year? With a well-positioined roundtable, you can hear directly from your target market their problems, concerns and goals.
By crafting the roundtable content around the problem you solve, you learn a lot about the perception of your product without ever discussing it. You may discover new needs from your target market you can solve or gain an understanding of why you’re struggling to create pipeline.
All of this is valuable, real information you won’t find in a research report. It also helps your team learn the language of your target market, which will only improve future content and sales approaches.
5. Fuel for content
With the right planning, a roundtable discussion can easily be turned into many pieces of standalone content like blog posts, webinars and videos. For example, using tools like Otter.AI you can automate note-taking, allowing you to turn a roundtable discussion into a highly relevant blog post with minimal time investment.
Not to mention, posting and circulating the discussion to your audience outside of the in-person event further solidifies your perception in-market as thought leaders and community builders.
Want to run a Roundtable, but not sure where to start? We can help.
Get in touch today & let’s run a Roundtable that converts.
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