About the Company
ShieldIOT is a software company in the IoT Cyber Security field. The company’s security product helps large brands and integrators in the IoT sector to identify and stop cyber threats from the very first moment, preventing cyber attacks. The product is designed for IoT devices used in various applications such as smart cities, connected buildings, industry, critical infrastructure, connected transportation, smart grid security, and more.
ShieldIOT’s platform enables service providers to secure and manage the security of any IoT device, application, or network they operate. In September 2019, the company announced the completion of a significant funding round of $3.6 million, led by Innogy Innovation Hub, the accelerator and investment arm of the German energy company Innogy SE. Other participants in the round included Janvest Capital Partners, Danmar Funds, Minvest, and private investors. The company was founded in 2017 by Udi Solomon and Ohad Levin and employs 15 people in its Herzliya offices.
Target Audience Segmentation
To find potential customers, we conducted a profiling activity to learn how to segment the audience to achieve the most accurate sales opportunities for the client. In the profiling process, it’s important for us to understand the overarching goal and how we can reach it using the available parameters: geographic region, industry type, job role, seniority level, company size, etc.
During the profiling, we decided that significant business opportunities were in European countries (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and England) and in the East. Later, we expanded the audience to relevant companies in the USA. The goal was to reach decision-makers and high-level roles such as Purchasing Managers, Chief Technical Officers, Heads of Information Security, and more.
In a certain way, the companies Shield wanted to reach are still considered “niche” in the LinkedIn domain, meaning they cannot be broadly targeted using Sales Navigator’s advanced parameters. Therefore, we had to manually target the audiences and reach out to them one by one according to the profiling definitions.
What Makes the Activity Special
In cases of companies selling technology, the audience is often defined by parameters that cannot be filtered using LinkedIn’s advanced tools. Therefore, deep manual work is required to thoroughly understand the companies and their needs, identify the decision-makers and leaders, and reach out in a targeted manner, one by one, but in large quantities, to create effective activity.
The client requested that we contact companies that own and operate IoT devices in various fields – industry, electricity and water, energy, smart construction, device manufacturers, smart cities, and more. We understood that choosing industries and roles alone would not be accurate enough, so we cross-referenced LinkedIn data with additional tools and internet data, along with manual work, to select the relevant companies.
Patience, Data Analysis, and Continuous Improvement
We started the activity in a somewhat challenging month. In April 2020, shortly after, the world was adjusting to social isolation, and many companies were grappling with the new reality of working from home. The overall goal of the activity was to create an average of one positive lead per day (hot/relevant). This means receiving approval for an “offline” conversation with a pre-defined target audience member who accepted the connection request and responded positively to the initial text.
However, we concluded the first month of activity with an average of 1.5 positive responses per day. By the second day of activity, a lead classified as “hot” had already come in, and the client categorized it as relevant with potential for further deal closure. In May and June, we almost doubled the target.
The profile from which we worked went through an improvement and refinement process, and the texts were crafted in a respectful manner suitable for the times. The purpose of the texts (“Pitch”) was not to sell but to generate interest.
What Worked Well and Brought Us Successes:
- Engagement: Throughout the activity, the client was involved in the process on a daily basis. Quick and professional responses to prospects, scheduling meetings, sending information, and answering any questions increased the chances of closing deals.
- Our clients are busy people, and we encourage communication between us to be focused. For this purpose, we established our LeadHub system, where we upload all leads and data from LinkedIn. Here, the client can indicate whether a lead is relevant, giving us an indication for audience optimization.
- The solution for chaotic targeting was the precise use of keywords: The search field by keywords allows us to search for specific words or phrases in profiles that meet our search criteria. Using this search field simultaneously broadens and narrows the search results to lead us to the most accurate results for the activity.
As in other activities we manage, we took full responsibility for the entire activity leading to lead generation and delivered a relevant lead for client handling.
Average Monthly Results:
- Average connection requests per month: 1,600 – Brand Awareness
This is the number of Marketing Qualified Leads exposed to the company name, the website link, and a connection request from the company CEO (by the way, don’t try sending such a large number independently; it’s likely to result in account blocking. We use advanced techniques and build a strong profile image against LinkedIn’s algorithm). - Business Network – Average approvals per month: 800
This is the number of people who connected with the company CEO and became 1st-degree connections, allowing us to message them, expose them organically (without payment) to our posts, and see their data (often including email). - Response rate – Number of replies:** 300
This is the number of people who responded in all forms, from “not relevant” to hot leads, and everything in between. - Lead conversions:
- Hot lead: 10-20 per month
- Relevant lead: 5-10 per month
- Future lead: 5 per month
- Referral lead: 8-12 per month
- Additional messages (partnership offers, employee recruitment, etc.):5-10 per month