Community Engagement Services Program

Global Rational User Group Community Engagement Services Program

 

Global Rational Community overview
The Global Rational User Community (GRUC) is the largest information and community hub for Rational user groups, business partners, IT professionals and users worldwide. This highly focused audience comprises a diverse and knowledgeable network of members in over 125 countries. The GRUC currently includes nearly 100 user groups around the world serving over 22,000+ community members. The community continues to expand and has been growing by more than 25% per year over the past several years.

• The GRUC covers the full Rational portfolio
• The community includes live events through local user groups and online support with a community website that delivers relevant content and member services
• The community is actively managed by Group Intelligence to achieve higher levels of member participation and independence from IBM

 

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The benefits of a GRUG sponsorship
Sponsorship allows your organization to reach a targeted audience of 20,000+ Rational professionals - decision makers, influencers and users worldwide. The GRUG provides IBM Business Partners the opportunity to:

• Extend your brand's visibility to the largest organized group of Rational professionals worldwide with over 20,000 + members
• Engage with over 95 global user groups around the world
• Create greater awareness of your solutions and capabilities through online events and the Vendor Zone
• Post your organization's news directly
• Generate leads and establish new customer relationships
• Exchange ideas/information with customers
• Monitor the pulse of the Rational customer base
• Partner with other member or vendors in our Vendor Zone
• Gain recognition by IBM sales people as an active player in the ecosystem

 

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Community Engagement Services Program Offerings
The program is designed to provide IBM Business partners with direct access to the largest organized audiences of decision makers, users, business partners and influencers from the Global Rational User Community, and is coordinated with key IBM programs and campaign initiatives to maximize effectiveness and help you meet your goals.

Using a portfolio of proven, cost effective go-to-market services, you can increase brand awareness, generate leads and expand your market. Our services will help you:

• Reach a target audience of over 22,000 community members
• Leverage IBM's campaign communications for your solutions
• Launch your solution in synch with IBM’s focus areas
• Take advantage of global and local user groups that are linked with the community
• Utilize professional community engagement expertise and tools from Group Intelligence
• Generate leads with cost effective, proven tactics

How does it work? We develop a campaign calendar with IBM on a quarterly basis, and identify solution areas that optimize your participation. Then we work with you to apply our services to meet your specific needs:

• The Member level package lets you select relevant campaigns to drive your brand awareness. Services include content insertions in community newsletters, web campaign tactics and custom web content on the community website.
• Select from a menu of add-on Collaboration Services such as community webcasts, Ask the Expert jams and IBM sponsored panel discussions to help generate leads.
• Our Premium package combines Member level services with the most popular Collaboration Services for an offer that maximizes your exposure to and participation with the community.

 

Member level - $1,000 for 1 year term, automatic renewal
Participation in one quarterly based campaign promoted jointly with IBM through the GRUC. (Note: campaign durations may vary). Campaign items include:

• A published calendar for IBM campaigns announcing campaign focus, i.e. Jazz, Agility and scalability, Enterprise Modernization, IT Business Transformation, etc.
• Partner write-up (75 words) and logo to be included in a special section of the monthly newsletter sent to all community members and internal IBM audiences including solution sellers, marketers, technical support
• Website section created specifically for each campaign with promotion on community home page and in community newsletters. A separate landing page will be created for each campaign, listing each partner with links to individual pages featuring the partner’s content. Campaign content is archived for one year.
• Webpage to showcase up to five solution maps on a designated campaign section page alongside IBM content. Display partner content with IBM branded software using innovative web tools provided by Group Intelligence. Embed links to offers such as whitepaper, webcasts, videos, etc. Get member feedback on solutions and generate leads.

Other items included are:

• Dedicated webpage in our new Vendor Zone with self-service content updates. Includes logo placement and links to/from campaign pages
• Press release announcing partner participation in community

 

Collaboration Services - Priced individually (see below)

• Online events promoted to community- $3,500 each
• One hour webcast with polling, includes all infrastructure and project management
• Ask the Experts (ATE) jam, a 4 hour asynchronous session with partner’s internal experts responding to technical questions. Participants may also send and receive messages from each other
• All online events promoted through community, internal IBM communications and social networking sites. Events are archived for 12 months for replay.
• Special solution panels hosted by IBM featuring up to three business partners - $1,500 per event (scheduling dependent on partner availability)
• Participation in additional quarterly campaign - $500/qtr
• Premium newsletter insert (150 words) with logo - $850 per issue (limit 1 issue/yr)
• Non-premium newsletter insert (75 words) with logo - $600 per issue (limit 1 issue/yr)
• Lead nurturing services for lead qualification (custom pricing)

 

Premium Package
The Premium package is designed to provide a broad range of go to market services to drive awareness, generate leads and develop deeper customer relationships.

Components of this bundled service offering include base level services with the most popular Collaboration Services, discounted to provide added value.

Component	Value
Member level	$1,000
(2) additional campaigns	$1,000
(2) Community webcasts	$7,000
(1) Ask the Experts jam	$3,500
Premium newsletter insert	$850
Total value	$13,350
Discounted Price	$11,000

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Offering Details

Community Webcast

Present a technical focused presentation to our targeted audience of Rational professionals and generate leads, $3,500 per webcast.

Group Intelligence handles all of the promotions and webcast logistics

• Your webcast is promoted to our entire community
  • Email promotion
  • Home page promotion
  • Events page promotion
  • Newsletter promotion
  • Promotion on selected social media sites
  • Dedicated webcast page promotion
  • We encourage you to promote this webcast to your customers as well to deliver optimum value.
• Webcast includes:
  • One rehearsal prior to the event
  • Live session for up to 200 persons (Additional charges apply beyond this level)
  • Audience polling option
  • Q and A options during webcast
  • Desktop sharing
  • Break out sessions

Lead generation

• All attendee registration information is provided to your company following the webcast
• Includes, full names, company name, job titles, telephone numbers, email addresses.
• Polling results are provided
• Recording provided and archived on our website

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Ask the Experts jam

The GRUC offers IBM Business Partners a unique opportunity to establish their expertise within the GRUC community and generate leads through our Ask the Experts jam, priced at $3,500.

The Ask the Experts jam event puts your experts in front of a targeted audience for a 4 hour period of Q/A with prospects and existing customers. Participants also have the opportunity to communicate with each other and bring new perspectives to the issue. Topics can be far ranging from strategy and industry trends to technical discussions on products and solutions.

This cost effective on-line session now provides an innovative approach for:

• Reaching a highly targeted audience of influencers and decision makers
• Showcasing deep subject matter expertise
• Connecting with community members on 1:1 basis
• Using limited marketing resources most effectively
• Helping your sales teams advance leads with your own prospects and up-sell customer targets
• Generating leads!

The total Ask the Experts jam includes :

• Delivery of 4 hour online jam session with up to four experts
• All promotional activities
• Training sessions for your experts prior to the call, including orientation on the user interface and how to engage participants in an asynchronous chat session
• Content archiving for 12 months after the event
• Lead forwarding (all contact information captured at registration)

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Special solution panels

Solutions panels showcase up to five business partners' content as components of an overall IBM solution. Business Partners are selected based on their value add the overall solution and only non-competitive partners will be presented. Price is $1,500 per partner

The event is planned, promoted and run similar to a one hour webcast with IBM as the host. Each partner panelist will be allotted a specific block of time to describe the partner's value add to the solution. A brief Q&A session follows the presentation.

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Monthly newsletter sponsorships

Gain brand and company exposure to our 12,000 + newsletter subscribers with traffic back to your website.

Premium sponsorship - $850

• Includes prime positioning of your company’' logo at the top mid section of the Monthly newsletter
• Links back to your company website
• Includes up to 150 words announcement or company summary. (Note: promotions of events is prohibited)
• Non-premium sponsorship - $600
• Includes positioning of your company’s logo at or below the top mid section of the Monthly newsletter
• Links back to your company website
• Includes up to 75 words announcement or company summary. (Note: promotions of events is prohibited)

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Rational Vendor Zone web page

Includes your own webpage that can be updated independently

Your company logo positioned at the top of this page

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Launch 2.0 Service for IBM Business Partners
Activities required for product launch and sales enablement typically have execution gaps that impact success. These problems can be magnified for smaller partners who need to gain a larger share of voice. Key challenges experienced in product launches and sales enablement include:

• Lack of automated and repeatable processes; limited resources beyond launch event
• Launch content limited to the most basic selling points; not dynamic or linked to enablement
• Communication gaps between product teams, sales team, influencers, customers and partners
• Limited information flow to / from sellers and sales management teams
• Lack of knowledge about add-ons and other up-sell and cross-sell opportunities

Our Launch 2.0 services deliver results - whether you're launching a new product, new release, solution bundle, or want to re-energize your message. Services consist of two managed services that combine the targeted focus of an-line event with real time collaboration.

1. "Ask the Experts" jams consist of an online jam with your expert sellers, pre-sales technical experts, competitive team, etc. used to enable sellers through a direct dialogue. A searchable knowledge base is created through the event which includes FAQ's and in-depth product knowledge.

2. Our SolutionizeTM web tools and services enable on demand decision support; systematic cross-selling/ up-selling; and partner go-to-market support. Tools provide wiki-like functionality to support collaborative selling, offer customization and personalization.

We'll develop and deploy a customized program to reach your target audience of customers, internal sales, external sales or influencers. Our managed services delivery closes communication gaps while providing the infrastructure to support collaborative selling. We host your content and provide all support, content management to keep your sales kits up to date and complete.

Pricing is based on your specific needs. Contact Mark Sidlauskas for details and a demo of capabilities.

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FAQ's

1. Can I get insights on how to best position my solutions within each community?
Yes. Please contact our community manager Alexandra Robertson at alexandra.robertson@groupintelligence.com to set up a meeting to discuss your needs.

2. Can any business partner participate?
Only IBM business partners meeting the following criteria may participate in the Community Engagement Services Program :

• BP products can compliment/enhance the products (Direct competitors of Rational software will be approved for sponsorship on a case by case basis)
• must be an IBM Business Partner

3. Are my competitors allowed to sponsor the community?
This business partner engagement program is offered to all Rational/IBM business partners.

4. Am I able to track the effectiveness of the services I receive through the program?
Yes, we have created a standard set of metrics relative to the services purchased and provide quarterly reporting. We can create customized reporting for an additional fee.

 

Contact us

To learn more about how your organization can take advantage of sponsorships in the Global Rational User Community, please contact Alexandra Robertson at alexandra.robertson@groupintelligence.com.

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