Katy is a digger, of information and earth. It just depends if her clients want an ebook or some endive. She helps companies across industries find their voices and speak the language of their audience. She’s also fluent in tomatoes.
The countdown has begun! That big event you’ve been planning for is finally almost here. (I’m looking at you, re:Invent and Ignite 😉.) You’re in the home stretch, the last inning, the [insert sports metaphor] and everything is falling into place.
But, like all big events, inevitably something will change at the last minute, and you’ll have to pivot. That’s where we can help! We know you’re on a tight timeline, but we’re ready to create those quick-turn assets you need for a homerun experience. From building hype with a teaser blog, to leaving a lasting impression with a sleek solution brief, our team can hit the ground running.
As you think through your event checklist, consider these assets to win big with your audience.
Teaser blog: Generate some buzz for your sessions with a blog that previews what’s coming. This is a great way to position your presenter as an authority on the subject and draw a bigger following.
Deck design: Get some oooos and ahhhs from your audience with the deck of their dreams. Our deck experts can polish your slides—fast, and we’ll deliver the same outstanding design whether it’s a keynote, session, or breakout.
Slide animation: Make sure no one in the audience falls asleep with slides that morph, turn, and practically leap off the stage to wave hello.
Recap blog: Give all those GA and public preview announcements a place to live with a recap blog that hits home the highlights of your presentation and directs readers to your solutions.
Social GIFs: Keep that event energy going well after you wrap with animated social GIFs that showcase big announcements in a bite-sized form.
Solution brief: Tell ‘em what you told ‘em in a glossy, two-paged solution brief that serves up the best parts of your solution.
Your partner program is thriving. Your product has a ton of new opportunities to reach customers. And your business is poised for growth. The only catch? Your go-to-market (GTM) strategy for all these new partners hasn’t really caught up. It seems like your newly onboarded partners simply go forth into the marketing ether and…poof. You don’t really know what they’re telling customers or how they’re positioning your joint value prop. You’re just badging them and hoping for the best.
Scalable assets to the rescue!
So, how do you ensure partners are nailing your joint value prop and have the resources to secure new business? With scalable assets! Yes, the same scale that applies to your product. Scalable content often takes the form of ebooks, emails, solution briefs, and landing pages, with dedicated space for the partner to describe their offering alongside your locked marketing message.
When you’re so focused on getting partners off the ground, that last-mile task of creating marketing materials for customer pitches and co-sell motions is often an afterthought. As the agency that helps B2B tech companies build partner programs and joint GTM assets, we know how to design scalable assets that lighten the load for your marketing team. For large cloud providers and midsized tech companies, we’ve created materials that support dozens of partners at a time. These joint assets can be in the partner’s branding or yours, and they tell your combined story.
A win-win for you and your partner
They’re a nice win-win for both sides: Partners get a glossy piece of content connecting them to large cloud providers, while you get controlled messaging and sales reach through partners. Not only does this approach help your marketing team, but it also pulls partners back from the ether. It gives them a script to follow so they deliver your value prop consistently and persuasively every time.
So, if you have partners who need some support—and your marketing team could too—it’s time to create scalable marketing assets. Let’s build a plan together.
If you believe in string theory or just enjoy a good sci-fi plot, then you’ll appreciate the truth about our consultant Kyung. The truth is, somewhere in our vast multiverse, there’s a parallel version of him working as a surgeon in New York City. There’s another Kyung slinging pizza dough near the Jersey Shore. And still another, scrambling his way up Mount Rainier as you read this.
In a lucky twist of fate, we got the Kyung who made a life-altering pivot in college that set him on a course through startups, digital media groups, and finally 2A.
Shoes make the marketer and leave their mark
It all started when he fell in love with some shoes. Not just any shoes—Air Jordans. In elementary school, Kyung first encountered them and realized their magic went deeper than just apparel. He noticed that wearing Jordans conveyed a broader message to people. It was his first taste of marketing and it set in motion a miraculous chain of events.
When Kyung went to college, he planned to study medicine. But halfway through, the universe pulled him in a different direction. He dusted off his memories of the Jordans and dove headfirst into marketing. After graduating, Kyung cast a wide net, landing his first gig as a PR intern at a men’s fashion publication.
Big startup energy at Noom
From there, he seized the attention of a startup in New York City’s Silicon Alley. Kyung joined Noom before it reached 100 employees, working directly with the CEO and founder on the growth marketing team. He ran A/B testing for Facebook ads to spread the word about Noom and recruit new health and wellness influencers. He also helped improve reviews of the product to incorporate better SEO and position Noom higher in search results.
While Kyung enjoyed the daily catered lunches, he wanted a marketing role that offered more breadth, so he began searching. Then destiny presented him with an opening at the Jun Group.
The merry-go-round of digital advertising
For five years, Kyung worked with some of the world’s biggest brands to create digital advertising campaigns and increase conversion rates. When Jun Group sellers needed to pitch companies like General Mills, Target, and Kraft, they’d first go to Kyung for tailored marketing materials. As a content strategist, he developed sales enablement assets to show off Jun Group’s differentiators so the agency could win new business.
Life was good at his NYC job. That is, until the pandemic hit.
Stories sparkle with the right data
With ties to Washington, Kyung left the Big Apple and moved to Seattle. After a few months, he found his next gig, at Indeed. It was a departure from the world of digital ads, but it gave him a crash course in market research. As a senior content specialist, he searched for hiring trends in the retail and hospitality industries, paired them with proprietary Indeed data, and packaged them in a deck or whitepaper for customers.
As it turned out, finding and developing stories for a particular audience was exactly the steppingstone he needed to land at 2A.
All signs point to 2A
And here we have the Kyung you know and love—built moment by moment, from a thousand different experiences that led him to be your consultant. If you want to see your marketing unfold with Kyung, let’s chat.
We name stuff funny. We call our monthly meeting that showcases cool projects Circle Time, the special Friday once a month when the office is closed, FriYAY, and the slide outline made up of little squares, chiclets. So, it’s probably no surprise that we call our company values, Words we work by (WWWB).
We think of WWWB as our North Star—the guiding light we use to help us keep what’s great about 2A while we grow. Our WWWB also allow us to build a collective identity as a team so new people come on board faster.
Curious yet? Please say yes, we would really love to share them.
We’re helpful: When it comes to work, we’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves. Whether it’s colleagues or clients, we all pitch in to get it done and help everyone thrive. We know that teamwork makes the dream work >>
We’re serious about our work: We show up to do the work, and we commit to doing it well. We give each project the effort it needs. We’ll show you how serious we are >>
We tack toward improvement: There’s always room to get better, and that’s where we’re headed. We experiment, learn, and prioritize to challenge our path. We’re still a work in progress >>
We work to build trust: A foundation of trust with a diverse community of colleagues and clients makes our days and our work better. We’re curious and proactive about building trust. We love a good trust fall >>
The secret to 2A’s high-quality work and engaging culture lies in our WWWB. Because really, Where Would We Be without them?
So you’re in a new [business] relationship and you want to shout it from the rooftops. Congrats! That honeymoon phase always feels good. Now, before you jump to the nearest balcony to reenact Romeo and Juliet, let’s think through the perfect sonnet you should deliver. You’ll need something that captures the better-together essence of your new partnership and makes your joint customers swoon.
As a B2B marketing agency, we recommend starting with a messaging and positioning framework (MPF) to get the main points just right. An MPF is a perfect way to strip down your story to reveal the top-line benefits customers will experience from your dynamic duo. Then we transform those benefits into pure poetry that would make Neruda proud. The end result is a document that includes key talking points and copy blocks you can pop into any joint marketing content. See for yourself:
Doing an MPF as the basis for your content strategy makes sure everyone—on both sides of the partnership—agrees on your differentiators and describes the value uniformly. This way, customers hear a persuasive, consistent message from all angles.
Pop quiz time
Now that you’re sold on MPFs, take our partnership quiz! You’ll find out which kind of better-together story is best for you and yours. Many of the joint MPFs we create are for ISV partners who want to describe the value of their alliance with a major cloud provider. There are a few ways to do this, and the pillar structure varies a bit, based on how different solutions support one another.
Bonus—there’s no wrong answer 😊
Which one best describes you and your partner?
A) Feeling one sided but enjoying the attention: This framework adapts the partner’s existing messaging by popping in the cloud provider where it makes sense. Think of this one as light on the cloud, heavy on the partner. It slots in cloud benefits where they make sense, giving customers a glimpse into the value of the combined partnership. It’s a good approach if the relationship is a little fraught or tricky to talk about.
B) Dating but not ready to move in together: This includes one pillar for the partner, one for the cloud provider, and one for both. This structure plays it safe by giving each side a chance to share existing messaging. The combined pillar explains their joint value and elaborates where possible. If the partnership were new, this approach would be a good fit.
C) Thinking of proposing tomorrow: This uses a structure where each pillar explains the partnership through a major customer benefit. This approach works well when there are a lot of juicy details about how the partner and cloud provider work together. They’ve likely co-developed integrations or POCs and have a roadmap for future work. They generally already have joint customers and it’s easier to pin down the differentiators of their partnership.
The results are in!
If you chose A, B, or C, you’re in luck! Our storytellers and consultants would love to learn more about your partnership and spin up an MPF for you. Reach out to learn more. Happy partnering!
There’s a reason why salsa is so popular. (And it’s not just because people love to say salsa. 😉) All those chopped up pieces combine to deliver spicy, tangy harmony in every bite.
Did you know there’s a video equivalent of salsa? And, just like your favorite snack, it brings together lots of amazing bits in a bite-sized package with a little kick. It’s called a sizzle reel. And the one Brian just created for 2A is so yummy, you gotta have a taste.
Let’s hear how this video chef created such a scrumptious sizzle reel.
Katy: I love the opening imagery with the sun and eyeball. What was your inspiration for that scene?
Brian: I wanted to really explore what I could do with the 2A color palette while using illustration and bold, dynamic transitions. The eyeball was an homage to 2A’s first sizzle reel, which was the first time it appeared in our work, and including it was a way to maintain continuity. The eyeball later made an appearance on our 2A hoodies.
Katy: There are so many different clips in this sizzle reel, and you wove them together seamlessly. How did you balance such a wide variety of footage?
Brian: I wanted to highlight some of the flashiest moments while still giving the reel spaces to breathe. Too much visual density can be overwhelming! It was also important to represent the different kinds of work we do—fully animated videos with characters, hybrid video and animations, UI explainers, and so forth.
Katy: Many of our 2A animations are 2-ish minutes long. How did you choose just a few seconds from those longer examples?
Brian: Because we could only choose a few seconds, a lot of it came down to finding ones with those stand-out moments. I also gave priority to animations with bold transitions (such as a rapid zoom in or out, or a left-to-right movement) that could be matched up with a complementary transition from another animation.
Katy: Which 2A animations didn’t make the cut, and how did you make that decision?
Brian: There was a clip from a Microsoft Viva animation featuring a paper plane that unfortunately didn’t make the cut. The animation itself was worth showcasing, but between the paper folding up into a plane, winding up, and then releasing, it was too many beats to cover in a short time. It would have slowed the overall pace too much.
Katy: What’s your favorite part of the sizzle reel?
Brian: The first few seconds right after the intro are paced very well, with bold, seamless transitions that also showcase a diverse sample of our work. The transitions around 0:13–0:15 also flow really well, in my opinion!
Katy: This sizzle reel includes so many of our best animations that we created for clients. What is it about animations that make them great marketing tools?
Brian: Marketing is largely about storytelling: Animated explainers remain incredibly popular because they grab and hold people’s attention, making them much more receptive to the stories we want to tell. Plus, when we see a well-crafted animation, the positive emotional response we get from it inevitably transfers, in some part, to the subject of the animation.
Katy: How would 2A’s clients use a sizzle reel?
Brian: When clients have several animations that showcase the same topic, we can create a sizzle reel for them by compiling the best moments into one short segment—like this one we created for Microsoft Viva. Our clients often use sizzle reels to generate hype before their keynote or meeting. They’re perfect for building anticipation and getting the audience excited about what comes next.
What’s better than donating to a charitable organization? Watching your donation tap into its mega superpowers!
For three months this year, 2A’s giving group led a mega match effort to rally our 2A team and grow our donations to worthy causes. Essentially, 2A Hulk-ified its matching policy by not only matching donations, but also tacking on an extra donation when enough employees joined in. All told—through our donations, matches, and mega multipliers—we donated $3,300 to 23 organizations around the world.
Here’s the plot: On 8/8, we needed eight intrepid employees to step up and make donations. And they did! Their actions first unlocked 2A’s standard match and then came our mega match multiplier, which was an additional donation made to an organization the group decided on—the Maui Food Bank. After that, the shockwaves of support only grew stronger. On 9/9, nine employees channeled their inner green giant, and 2A powered up that multiplier for another round of smashing good support. The Hulk effect resulted in an additional donation to the International Rescue Committee. And finally, 10/10 was the grand finale! Ten employees flexed their philanthropic muscles, and the donations went Hulktastic! Our final mega match multiplier went to World Central Kitchen.
All told, our donations left an impact that echoed like Hulk’s roar.
As the giving season really gets underway this year, think about releasing your inner superpowers for the greater good.
Need some giving inspiration? Here’s where the 2A team donated recently:
Ask any major player in the cloud space about partners, and they’ll tell you a robust partner network is key to success. But for smaller tech companies, the value of partnering up isn’t always clear. Sometimes it can look like you’re giving away too much to your competitors, or making an investment that will take a long time to pay off.
At 2A, we extoll the value of partnerships at least 10 times a day—building messaging guides, playbooks, case studies, pitch decks, and ebooks that illustrate how customers benefit from a better-together scenario. That is to say, we know a good partner program when we see it.
Take, for instance, Hikari. The company formed as a spin-off from Ireland-based EMIT to help customers get more value out of their data. The secret to Hikari’s skyrocketing success wasn’t only its bet on low-code technology. It was Founder and Executive Chairman Eamon Moore’s vision for a partner network that launched Hikari into the big leagues.
Moore’s first introduction to a new partner paradigm happened after EMIT won the Microsoft Global Partner of the Year for SMB Cloud Solutions in 2016. “It opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about partner networks. Here was a global group of companies interested in helping each other out—acting as a sounding board for one another. These discussions inspired myself and the team to think about how to adapt to new trends, and they provided tremendous insight into where we could deliver value to each other,” Moore said.
Once Hikari spun off from EMIT, it partnered with ProcessUs, a firm specializing in Microsoft Power Apps across Ireland and the Netherlands. The companies worked together to deliver low-code solutions that pulled different sources into the Power BI dashboards Hikari built, giving customers better visibility into their data at the touch of a button.
Business took off. There was clear value in combining the skills of both companies to help customers get more from their cloud data. Then Hikari decided to double down and bring Power Apps capabilities in house. The firm acquired ProcessUs, and the combined team set out to scale the new and improved Hikari.
From his work at EMIT, Moore knew many SMB customers view their Modern Work partner as a trusted IT advisor. While a particular partner might focus on cloud migration or security, their customers still ask them about everything technology related—from a photocopier to a PC to AI. Which puts a lot of pressure on small partners. “At the end of the day, if you try to be a jack of all trades, you’ll be the master of none,” said Moore. “It’s critical to do what you do really well and stick to it—especially when you’re a company our size.”
Moore reached out to Microsoft and pitched the idea of setting up Hikari to serve Modern Work resellers. Under his proposed model, resellers would work with Hikari to determine if a low-code solution would help achieve their customer’s business objectives. If so, Hikari would support the partner with customer education and solution development.
Microsoft introduced Hikari to TD SYNNEX, a distributor of IT products and services, that serves thousands of partners across Western Europe. Together they created a P2P model serving resellers who act as the trusted advisors of SMB organizations. Hikari started by helping TD SYNNEX partners with low-code workshops, assessments, proofs of concept, and service development. Over time, it has pivoted to offering a Power Platform Centre of Excellence for partners to ramp up their low-code skills.
“We believe in the power of the network—the partner network, the Microsoft network, the distributor network,” Moore said. “We all have important, strategic customers that we want to hang on to. We don’t want a competitor knocking on their door and selling them on the idea that they can do everything while we can’t. Partner-to-partner (P2P) relationships help you maintain your existing customer relationships and increase your status as a trusted advisor by bringing in great partners to round out your offerings.”
Hikari is just one of many companies out there that has created a flourishing partner network. For an overview on how to grow your own B2B technology partner program, download our guide.
Lately I’ve been reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie on a nightly basis. Each time I open the book and tell my almost-3 year old about the critter’s shenanigans, I’m transported to the library of my elementary school. I can remember so clearly sitting cross-legged looking up at the librarian as she read the same words aloud. The fact that our public library still has plenty of copies of this 1985 book is a testament to the power of nostalgia. Parents who grew up reading about the mouse and his cookie have a little flashback when reading the same stories to their kids.
Nostalgia is a powerful force, especially when woven into marketing. In the world of higher education, nostalgia works wonders for alumni fundraising. Take our Funding with Rhyme and Reason animation we created for the Dartmouth College Fund (DCF). Not only does it elicit memories of being a carefree 20-something on campus, but the rhyming whimsy takes it a step further—injecting a Saturday-morning-cartoon vibe.
In this case, the ask of 2A was to reinvent DCF’s Wacky Business Model animation, which made unfortunate parallels between Dartmouth and begging for money. The animation also didn’t quite land why tuition funding is so complex.
Our first instinct was to write a song and perform it like a Schoolhouse Rock! episode. Then we realized we’re not folk singers. Instead, using singalongs as a springboard, we walked viewers through a complicated funding equation with a little water theme to tie it all together. A reservoir, pipes, and barrels played a serious role in explaining why giving is still important for a school with a large endowment. Meanwhile, the animation’s rhyming roots keep it light and upbeat.
So the next time you want to tap into your audience’s nostalgia—we’re here for you, to create something new, and we’ll work hard, too, this much is true.
As a marketer, having your work go viral is like chasing down the double rainbow, discovering its pot of gold, and diving in as if you were Scrouge McDuck. Few have felt that glorious feeling, but those who do will never forget it. Liz Mangini is in that select group.
A lifelong writer turned 2A marketing consultant, Liz not only lends her viral magic to our clients, but she also delivers a consulting experience as thrilling as a DuckTales adventure. She provides a Huey-Dewey-and-Louie trifecta that can’t miss. Here’s what it’s like to work with Liz:
Huey—the brave one with panache
Liz is fearless. She’s always up to try something new, which is why she’s dabbled in real estate, construction, higher education, healthcare, hospitality, entertainment, and finally technology. Throughout her long career, writing and marketing has been the common thread. After graduating with a degree in communications, Liz went on to support marketing at a hospital and later founded the Body Image Blog where she wrote posts related to body positivity and self-esteem. No matter what she’s focused on, Liz is driven to help other people succeed. It’s what motivated her to ghost write for c-suite executives at Microsoft and promote small businesses as a writer for Fidalgo Living Magazine.
Dewey—the clever one with great ideas
While running the Body Image Blog, Liz perfected the art of turning great ideas into viral content. Within just one year, the blog reached over one million viewers, as several posts took off and racked up the views. Her Q&A post with model Lizzie Miller quickly spread throughout the blogosphere. She also interviewed big names like Laurel Touby and was invited to Leeza Gibbons’ radio show, Hollywood Confidential to discuss her blog. As attention from the press mounted, Redbook even reached out to see if Liz would write an article for the magazine.
After the University of Washington caught word of her popularity, the school asked if Liz would lead a social media workshop to teach students how to spread their content. She was such a hit that the UW also asked her to serve as an advisory board member for the editing program.
Louie—the charismatic one you can’t get enough of
By the time she landed at Inviso, Liz had so many varied experiences under her belt that she could connect with just about anyone. In that role she also moved away from writing toward marketing consulting. As a natural-born people person, Liz felt right at home helping clients achieve their goals and supporting new hires to build their skills.
It takes a trifecta of elements—a Huey, Dewey, and Louie, if you will—to create the perfect consultant. With Liz at 2A, clients get a fearless writer, creative thinker, and relationship builder bent on success.
Work with Liz to see how she can help you make your next blog, eBook, and case study go viral!
