The

journey

Predicting deal win rates

(Paperflite Deal Intelligence)

Remember, in the beginning, we mentioned how Chris was also a “Chief Pipeline Officer”?

Well, time to bring it back again.

“I live in a world of unweighted and weighted pipeline and my unweighted pipeline is sufficient. My weighted pipeline is dramatically insufficient”, Chris points out.

So I'm looking for ways to create progression from discovery to business alignment and beyond. And I see Paperflite Deal Insights feature as a way to drive deals forward.

“It's going to help advance opportunities that show promise and gracefully step away from those that don't. As the conversion rate improves, not only does the potential for more deals increase, but there's also a positive impact on the entire demand generation model. 

This means potential savings in marketing spend, making the return on investment about much more than just closing more deals; it's about smarter, more efficient operations and planning”. 

Content Creation and Governance in an AI-powered Post-GPT World

“In the world in which we live in with the GPTs that are now available, the content that you're creating is filled with hallucinations”.



I don't think, no matter how smart it gets, you're going to want Generative AI to create the source content. Source content needs to come from us. We're the creativity.

The challenge here is that companies now that think that they have an answer to solving the content creation problem. Like I can just ask this thing to create a new document on a certain topic and just go and do it. And so you see these companies that have made the bold step of saying, we don't need content creators. I'm going to send my content people home.

keep a person that can be the chatGPT administrator, and they're going to create all this content now. 

Okay but who's copy editing,
who's reading. 

I fired all my content people. So who's checking this to make sure that it's not going to destroy my business?

So we have a whole new problem that we didn't think about. 

So that leads into, can you really, without the people, create interesting, engaging content, or are you just creating bulk noise?

Standing out in the world of AI-powered Content Landscape

"We're creating content nobody asked for, that nobody's going to read. 

I think that companies that have created good content that continue to create good, engaging, emotional content that talks to the personas that they're trying to market to will get better as a result of generative AI. Companies that try and shortcut this process will get worse as a result of and we'll see that divide and it'll become very clear.

Companies with a a tone, a voice and a recognizable brand and people that can create content on that brand will continue to be more successful as we go forward as a result of these new technologies.

But you have to have that base. You can't just open up a company and be creating a portfolio of content. It's going to be garbage and people are going to know it.

A Crossfit Approach To Marketing

“Yeah, they both beat the shit out of you”.

In describing his leadership style, Chris draws an intriguing parallel between his passion for Crossfit and his approach to managing Acrolinx's marketing. 

“So one of the most interesting things about Crossfit as an approach is its constantly varied nature. Every day is different, you know what your metrics are that you're aiming for. And each day you strive to hit those through different means,' Chris explains.

“And then the day ends. There's a necessary amount of tenacity in both. It's not easy, but the hard is rewarding. It's not easy, but if you're doing it with the right people, it's going to be great.”

Chris Willis and Acrolinx faced a critical challenge: their content was losing value because it was not easily findable, accessible, or shareable. The in-house portal they used added more complexity than it resolved, involving cumbersome manual processes. 
Chris and the Acrolinx team were on the lookout for a solution that could help them get the most out of each piece of their content.After thorough evaluations, they chose Paperflite, which came closest to meeting their requirements. 


After Paperflite’s implementation, the Acrolinx team now had a single location for all their content, making it easy for teams to find and share content.  Leveraging insights from Paperflite, the marketing team identified content gaps and created high-impact content to drive business growth. The Sales teams now have complete visibility into how their prospects and customers are engaging with their content in real-time. This has shaped how they approach their follow-ups and cadences to drive deals to closure.


Chris is also very bullish on the Deal Insight engine of Paperflite. He says, “This module is a game-changer and helps leaders understand their pipelines better and focus on optimising their demand gen strategy”.
He then touches on how Generative AI shapes the content landscape and how brands can stand out by creating unique, engaging, emotional content. 


Drawing parallels between the grit of his Crossfit workouts and the grind of marketing, he says “Both of them beat the shit out of you, but that’s where the magic happens. And working with the right set of people is what makes the difference”
Ending on a personal note, Chris reflects on his journey with Paperflite. He says, “Working with Paperflite feels like I’m doing business with my friends".

Working with

"I feel like we're doing business with our friends. And it's not just on the website but not just in your materials. It comes into the real world. Your CEO's and founders come to the United States and take people like me to dinner.


I feel like the people at Paperflite are my friends. Maybe you're maniacal, crazy people who just tricked me into believing that, but we've been together now for three years. And I have friendly feelings for people at Paperflite that I do not have with my other vendors. It just doesn't work that way always”.

Summary

The Team

customer success manager

Priya
Kennie Thomas

Account Manager

“If you can’t find the content you’ve created, it’s not worth anything.”

Every piece of content that you create has an expected outcome, whether that's a big 50-page ebook or a short email, there's an expected action. And we feel that it's very important to get the highest impact out of each piece of content”


So making that content usable, findable and impactful became job one — effective governance in creating and maintaining content (manage, measure and amplify).

Chris was on the lookout for a content system that would allow them to make the most of their content, make it available, findable, and shareable.

A day in the job of every marketer?

At the time, back in 2020, Chris and the Acrolinx team were trying to create a central location for all their content. The in-house portal that they had built to store and organise content was not serving its purpose.

Content was hard to find, hard to access, and even harder to manage. The manual process was becoming a bottleneck in their workflow. 

SEE IT IN ACTION

we asked Chris.

So, what really stood out?

Choosing 

Ease of use

“There were a lot of content management systems available out there, but we were looking for something that was easy to use that could help us make sense of all the wide range of content that we have”

Early access to product development

“It was attractive that at the time, Paperflite was a relatively newer company and this partnership gave us an opportunity to be closely tied to product development and have input on the roadmap along with a close tie to the business”.  This close collaboration ensured that the tool evolved in a way that fully supported Acrolinx’s goals.

“During our exploration of different solutions, a critical turning point occurred when Kiana, embarking on her initial purchasing role, brought Paperflite to our attention. She thoroughly researched its advantages, potential drawbacks, and the distinct possibilities it offered our team. Her detailed analysis and efforts became a foundational aspect of our decision-making process. 


Here’s what stood out to the Acrolinx team:

Chris was particularly struck by the ability to update content even after it was already shared with customers. The capability to modify content post-distribution perfectly aligned with Acrolinx’s mission of leading with top-notch up-to-date content. 

Dynamic Real-Time Content Updating

Combining
Crossfit & Content

A CMO’s Take on Content, Marketing and Generative AI

Chris Willis

“The value of the content we were creating was being lost,”

-CHRIS STARTS. 

CMO at

His LinkedIn bio lists “Chief Marketing Officer” and “Chief Pipeline Officer” along with podcaster, founding member,

Acrolinx is a premier content governance company reshaping enterprise content creation and management with its advanced AI platform. We know what you're thinking — 'Another AI company?' But hear us out.


Acrolinx’s enterprise editorial management system empowers organisations to expand compliant content creation and governance while navigating the complexities and inherent risks of generative AI.

On their mission to drive the world with amazing content, Acrolinx faced a challenge common in the industry: effectively managing and accessing their content.

Crossfit coach and might we add, “rockstar CMO”.

A mix you don’t see often. 

 

With Paperflite, Chris and Acrolinx were able to address challenges with content accessibility and organisation. The platform provided a centralized location to deliver their content to their audience, making it easily accessible and organized.

Using the “Streams” on Paperflite, Acrolinx now has a Netflix-like content management system, with content categorized by content type, use case, internal guides, sales plays and services offered. 


Acrolinx has leveraged the “Collections” feature on Paperflite to create microsites of content tailored to specific clients or industries. For example, when preparing for a pitch, the sales team can now assemble all relevant case studies, white papers, and product info into an aesthetic, shareable collection.

 Chris remarked, “The ability to build out content collections and making that content easily accessible was a big thing for us with Paperflite.” 

Content is not just a necessity but the lifeblood of our organisation.

Plugging content gaps and creating high impact content 

Acrolinx’s journey with Paperflite began when the tangible impact of content was more a guesswork than science. Using Paperflite, Chris and Acrolinx have been able to understand content’s impact across the funnel.

These insights have allowed them to maximise the impact of each touchpoint with their audience. Specifically, here is how Acrolinx is benefitting from Paperflite: 

With Paperflite, Chris and the marketing team now know exactly how their content is working.

And they’ve been able to identify what more to do of and what to do less of, and has shaped how they go about creating content and how sellers engage with their prospects.

Chris says, “The insights from Paperflite have been invaluable in shaping our strategy. We're no longer guessing which content performs best or investing resources into areas with little return.

The platform's detailed analytics provide a clear picture of content engagement and effectiveness, allowing us to make informed decisions about our content lifecycle.”

Paperflite has also changed the way Acrolinx go about creating content. “Now we know what works do more of it, we know what doesn't work, do less of it, and put everything into the things that are most impactful”.

We started asking, 'How can we increase the impact of every touchpoint we have with our audience?' It was not just about making content easier to find and use, which Paperflite helped immensely with, but also elevating our content to drive real business growth and change how we operate”.

Benefits Seen After Using Paperflite

Implementing Paperflite

We began to approach our content with the seriousness and strategic intent it deserves, and Paperflite has enabled us to tie that impact to content” 

Chris notes.

Acrolinx Sales teams now have real time insights if the content they're sending out is being opened, used, and shared. This visibility allows them to gauge the effectiveness of their materials and adjust their strategies accordingly, running their sales cadences more effectively and understanding where they stand in the sales cycle.

“It's very valuable in helping the sales reps understand how to communicate with our prospects. They can send out Collections, see how those are being consumed and that gives them signals on when they should be following up and how they should be pushing opportunities to the next stage,” Chris suggests.

Real-time buying signals for Sales teams

Delivering a great buying experience

With Paperflite, Acrolinx has moved beyond the clunky old way of sharing content as attachments and have been able to provide their customers with a digital first buying experience. 

“Paperflite allows us to deliver an experience that matches the vision we see for the world. Sending attachments is clunky and awkward, but building collections that evolve with the customer relationship has changed the way we appear to our audiences. It makes us look like we're practicing what we preach, aligning our outward image with our internal values and strategies”.

This shift has not only improved Acrolinx’s operational efficiency but also enhanced their brand perception, making interactions with customers and prospects smoother, more sophisticated, and in line with their vision for content excellence.