I am a highly motivated marketing executive possessing more than 20 years of experience. Working in various roles ranging from management to e-‐business strategy, I can adapt to many business types across a broad range of industry segments. Whether it is digital marketing, SEM/SEO, sales, strategic planning and implementation or IT-‐related projects, my experience makes me a qualified candidate for numerous job roles.
“Ariba Inc. was proud to bestow upon Chip our 2010 Business Commerce Excellence Award for his leadership in developing a cutting-edge marketing strategy, embracing eProcurement technologies to help customers gain greater visibility into spend while reducing administrative costs.”
— Leah Knight | Director of Marketing | Supplier Solutions | Ariba Inc.
CHIP GRAHAM DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & E-BUSINESS STRATEGY
MANAGEMENT Since 2002, I have held various management positions including marketing, inside sales, communications, customer service, product management and web services. Due to EBSCO’s diverse collection of profit centers, I have gained invaluable experience working with many different business types and industries.
Marketing & Corporate Communications • Marketing Research – led research teams to formulate brand architecture strategies for key messaging,
product positioning, pricing, taglines, logo design and ad campaigns. This included focus groups, individual interviews and surveys, which provided critical feedback to ensure successful product/service launches.
• Corporate Communications – managed a group responsible for social media, brand management (via data
mining on listservs, Google Alerts, etc.), events, promotional collateral, public relations, web content, advertising, sales collateral, news articles and press releases. I was responsible for external and internal marketing and communications plans for regional marketing teams worldwide.
• Web Marketing & E-‐Commerce – managed a web-‐services department responsible for growing sales and
market share for each EBSCO profit center ([PC], which was more than 40 business units). We grew sales from just a few hundred dollars per month to more than $2,000,000 per month in 5 years. For each PC, we managed the requirements, web design, search engine marketing, product content, e-‐mail marketing, adwords and marketing automation.
Inside Sales, Sales Support & Business Development • Inside Sales – managed the Inside Sales department and was responsible for telesales, lead cultivation and
sales support. While managing this group, I was able to turn a negative 6% sales trend into a positive 6% (12% growth) within 9 months and 1 less FTE. Total sales for this group averaged approximately $10,000,000/year.
• Sales Support –implemented a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for EBSCO Information
Services as well as the Request-‐for-‐Quote (RFQ) database. These tools enabled various departments and offices to log sales activity and respond to RFPs to win new business.
• Intranet – supervised a team responsible for converting our old intranet site to a Sharepoint system. This
system held all sales collateral, competitive matrixes, events and all relevant data within a centralized knowledge base for internal education and awareness of our various products and services.
• Business Development – assisted sales representatives with presentations, on-‐site trainings, and business
requirements in order to win or retain clients/prospects. Also landed the Amazon.com account by calling on various category managers for 3 years, until we closed the deal. New business from Amazon.com deal was more than $6,000,000/year and was active for many years.
COMMUNICATIONS With more than 20 years experience in communications and marketing, I have worked in many different roles. My first salaried position was a Marketing Specialist where I performed basic marketing functions like graphic design, copy writing for newsletters, market research and event management. From there, I have gained experience in communications, research, planning and analytics.
• Marketing Plans – analyzed sales and market share for the products/ services offered by each division. Our goal was to assess the direct and indirect competitors and develop product matrixes to benchmark success criteria or key performance indicators (KPIs). We also revised our SWOT analysis via market research, industry news and competitor updates, in order to stay on top of the latest opportunities and threats while playing to our strengths. The information was then used to develop and maintain marketing plans.
• Communication Plans – formalized the communication plan, which started with the creation of the
product positioning document, a one-‐page summary of key messages, demographics, differentiators, markets and geography. Once created, the product-‐positioning document was used as a resource for developing internal and external communication tactics by function, channel and team-‐member.
• Evaluation – researched success criteria by defined KPIs for each campaign. External communications had
specific calls-‐to-‐action with links and landing pages to capture leads. Leads were cultivated for new sales acquisitions. New sales were measured by year, by product/service and market. Return-‐on-‐investment (ROI) was measured in order to determine future budgeting and tactics.
Communications Experience
• Social Media – responsible for social content for events, industry updates, product/service releases, campaigns and sponsorships. We primarily focused on Facebook and Twitter since that is where most of our target audience spent their time. Our biggest ROI came from social data mining for brand preservation. Anytime we received a Google alert on something related to a product, our brand or service, we would route to the appropriate parties for resolution.
• Communications – used many types of communication ranging from press releases to social media & chat
(IM). Communication style and content varied depending on the demographics of our target audience and the channel utilized. We tested by channel to see which calls-‐to-‐action garnered the best results. Split tests were also done for e-‐mail campaigns to see which converted better.
• Case Management/Customer Feedback – mined data originating from cases logged within CRM systems.
Within the CRM knowledge base, we discovered what systems and services were in need of improvement by product or service. We also found common themes, providing a roadmap for future enhancements.
Marketing & Communication Plans
Since 1992, I have directly or indirectly influenced the sales growth by providing sales support. The tactics and support varied depending on the needs of the client, but we excelled in determining the right mix of sales collateral, communications, presentation and RFQ support to meet or exceed expectations.
Sales Support
• Inside Sales – led the inside sales team by quickly discerning skill sets of each sales representative and help empower them to achieve their goals. We found new opportunities by looking at field sales’ call activity and customers compared to our calls and target areas. We then created a targeted heat map by identifying most to least viable target areas by average sales potential.
• Sales Collateral – developed sales and marketing collateral, presentations and bid proposals for sales reps
by market. We worked with the subject-‐matter-‐experts (SMEs) to get the key elements and differentiators of the product or service. Then we created the visual elements and relevant testimonials and taglines in accordance to the product-‐positioning documents.
• Event/Exhibit Management – managed a team responsible for storing and setting up the exhibit, booking
the space and ensuring all events and speakers were prepared. We also kept up with event leads and routed to the appropriate sales rep for follow-‐up.
• On-‐Site Presentations – was frequently called upon to help win or retain business while acting in the role
of product manager for EBSCO Information MarketPlace, an e-‐commerce site positioned for corporate accounts seeking to purchase newspapers, magazines and trade journals for continuing education.
• Lead Cultivation – followed up on web and event related leads for viability. We either called on them
directly to close, or passed them onto the field reps depending on the potential sales value.
Intranet and RFQ Database
SALES DEVELOPMENT
• Intranet – managed the implementation and update team responsible for supporting our global sales force for EBSCO Information Services (EIS). While there was a central knowledge base for all collateral and product information and pricing, we also worked with regional teams for local translations. All collateral, content updates and news was then promoted via internal email notification, linking directly to topic specific content.
• RFQ Database – driver and primary manager of the RFQ database, a web-‐based tool that consolidated all
of our services in a centralized site. The SMEs had specific access rights to their information for the purpose of updating user-‐specific content. Managers could customize proposals based on the categories and markets selected; to respond to most commonly asked questions.
I started focusing on digital marketing and e-‐commerce in 1997. Since then, technology evolved at a rapid pace, enabling better usability and reporting tools to track all kinds of consumer data. Digital marketing provided a better way to measure ROI and get granular with targeted and more relevant communication.
Business Requirements and Usability
• Business Requirements – researched the business we were supporting and the competitors within the market to better define client objectives. After gaining client and competitor knowledge, a business requirements document was drafted, detailing the goals of the client, project specific details and timeline for client approval.
• Usability Testing – tested the user interface and functionality vs. the competition in order to ensure
greater usability. This prevented/minimized user bailout rates and increased conversions.
• Content Development – created credible and persuasive content to drive site traffic via social channels, while helping search engine rankings due to deeper content. Subject-‐matter-‐experts (SMEs) were assigned to drive and retain search engine traffic from keyword phrases. Content was created and revised by channel and market to increase keyword relevancy within the defined target audience.
• Search Engine Marketing – researched relevant keyword phrases associated to specific products and
services in order to learn which phrases required optimization for search engines. Competitors were also researched for the same phrases in order to determine which phrases to target. If natural/organic search terms were too competitive, adwords were used to offset the competition.
• E-‐mail Marketing – implemented e-‐mail marketing campaigns and automation to promote
product/service offers and events for registration. Gained a marginal uptick in site conversions from automated features (like cart abandonment), which required less manual resources. Also performed split tests (Content A vs. Content B) to compare and maximize e-‐mail conversion rates (links to offer) based on message and visual content. E-‐mails included links, which were tied to specific campaign IDs for analyzing links clicked, visits to landing pages and purchases/form submission.
• Site Optimization – analyzed site conversion metrics, by category and product/service, to see how
traffic flowed through the site and which pages caused the highest bailout rates. Pages were revised along with functionality (if required) to improve conversion rates.
DIGITAL STRATEGY
Web and Search Engine Marketing
TESTIMONIALS “Chip is an effective Marketing Director who has demonstrated his leadership abilities in a variety of positions and environments at EBSCO. He exhibits excellent knowledge and experience in his role and communicates well with all impacted personnel. His focus has always been centered around driving revenues, profit- ability and performance at EBSCO. I’ve personally worked with Chip on many new account opportunities and other initiatives and I’ve always come away pleased with the outcome. He’s a valued asset and leader and enjoyable to work with.”
— Jerry Welshoff | Director of Sales | EBSCO Information Services
“I have known and worked with Chip on many projects over the past several years. I appreciate his honesty and his ability to relate to my clients. His ability to present fresh, relevant and creative ideas to clients combine to add exceptional value to the projects he's involved in.”
— Ben Drake | Partner | Dent Baker & Company, LLP
“Chip and I worked together in an effort to increase sales for the Siegel web site through search engine marketing. Chip was instrumental in obtaining the software tools necessary for success. I found Chip to be a shrewd negotiator. He was cognizant of our bottom line yet never compromised his principles of honesty and integrity in his efforts to ensure we got the best price. His efforts put us on the right track to increasing our web presence.”
— Bernie Bauhof | Vice President & General Manager | Siegel Display Products
“I have worked with Chip ever since I began at EBSCO, first when he was in Corporate Communications and later when he was a direct report while managing the Inside Serials Sales team. Chip is very driven, expects and gets results. His organization and detail took Inside Sales to a new level under his management prior to the merger and he was a valued asset on my management team.”
— Steve O’Dell | Vice President of Sales | EBSCO Information Services