Field Notes with Abhishek Yadav, Senior Field Marketing Manager of Freshworks

Welcome, Abhishek. Maybe you can just start off with a quick introduction of who you are and your role at Freshworks and then just give us a little background about yourself and how you got into marketing.

Sure, thank you for having me here. I think it’s good that we are catching up. Let me introduce myself. I’m Abhishek. I have been in the field of marketing for the last 15 years, and with Freshworks, my role is in field marketing, which includes campaigns and demand generation. It is very exciting how I came into marketing because marketing has evolved a lot in the last 15 years. What marketing used to be earlier is not what it is today. We talk about a lot of technology, a lot of tools, which we couldn’t even think about 10 or 15 years ago. So there’s been a lot of evolution and a lot of changes in this field.

It’s also a more calculative thing because mathematics has been one of the subjects I’ve really liked, right from my childhood. It was one of my favourites. Whenever I had a mathematics exam, I used to make sure I played cricket the entire day before. Cricket is very popular in India, and I’d make sure that, a day before the math exam, I spent the whole day playing cricket because I didn’t want to get into that study mode of repeating things again and again. I used to prepare myself well in advance, and then I’d play cricket all day, and the next day, I’d go to the exam and make sure I scored at least a good percentage in it. So, mathematics has always been one of my favourite subjects throughout my studies and education. I really liked algebra, arithmetic, and trigonometry. In fact, even today, when I’m free, I still read a lot about what’s happening in mathematics.

This love for numbers, logic, and questioning is what brought me into marketing. And you know, marketing has also become very calculative—it’s like ROI-driven marketing. You have to make sure what you’re running is aligned with your goals and objectives and that you’re reaching the right set of people. That’s very important because, just like in mathematics, when you do a calculation, you know exactly what’s going to happen when you apply certain things. It’s the same in marketing. When you do certain things, you can predict the expected outcomes. There may be some deviations, plus or minus, but generally, what you expect is what you want to deliver. That’s one of the things I really enjoy, and it’s why I’m in the field of marketing.

 

Fantastic. You’re a data-driven marketer, for sure. Awesome. And maybe just give us sort of a 30-second overview of what Freshworks does.

Sure, I can definitely do that. Freshworks was founded in 2010, and our IPO was released in September 2021. We currently have more than 68,000 customers whom we are serving. We create business software that anyone can use. Our software is built for IT, customer support, sales, and marketing teams. Our products are AI-boosted and designed to help people work more efficiently and deliver more value for immediate business impact. We are headquartered in San Mateo, California, and we operate around the world. If I have to call out some of our customers, I can mention American Express, Blue Nile, Bridgestone, Databricks, and Airbus.

 

To delve more into field marketing—since we’re coming to the end of the year, what’s your main field marketing focus at the moment? And also, how would you define success in field marketing?

See, if we talk about success in field marketing, one thing that is very important is how we measure it. There are a lot of aspects to measurement—every campaign has its own KPIs and goals that need to be achieved. It’s not always quantitative; sometimes it can be qualitative. When you talk about awareness, it’s more about impressions, and when you want to create awareness, it becomes more of a qualitative approach.

In terms of planning and success, I think field marketing is a function that brings a lot of stakeholders and people together. Success is clearly defined by collaboration with different stakeholders across the organisation and, in fact, across the partners we work with as well. We talk about collaboration with the product marketing team, our partners’ team, the campaigns team, the social team, the solutions engineering team, and definitely our sales team.

So, the way we look at success is by bringing all these people together with clearly set goals. What we drive needs to be aligned with our objectives. We all have different paths—we may follow different ways to get there—but if the objective is the same, it’s clear that we’re all going to reach the same place. There’s also a timeline to reach that objective, and no matter which path we take, we need to make sure we hit our goals within the set time frame. That’s how I think field marketing should work—bringing teams together, collaborating with partners, and running across all functions, not just events or social campaigns, but everything together that contributes to our success.

 

Yeah, definitely. And I think having that very clear goal with multiple teams is so important, and it often doesn’t happen, which causes a lot of challenges. In terms of challenges, what’s the biggest challenge that field marketers are facing at the moment?

If we talk about challenges, I’d say learning is one of the major things in the current era. You know, things keep changing, like how we’ve evolved from 3G to 4G to 5G to now 6G. There’s so much change on different platforms. One challenge, though I wouldn’t call it a challenge but more of something people need to push themselves for, is learning new things every day. If you can learn one thing a month, by the end of the year, you’ll have learned 12 new things.

It’s really important to find the right sources and platforms to learn from and keep updated with the latest tools and technologies in marketing. AI is a big topic right now—everyone’s talking about it. AI is helping people save time on repetitive tasks and focus more on strategic thinking. So, I’d say learning is a push factor, or even a challenging factor, where people have to figure out which platforms to learn from and at what time.

Learning is part of everyone’s life, really. Just like in school, where you have a timetable and a bell, learning has to continue in our professional lives as well.

 

Definitely, definitely. And when that learning doesn’t happen, you fall behind. Fantastic. Right, just to sort of go into the event side of things, what’s the most successful event that you’ve seen recently or engagement piece that you’ve hosted or been a part of? And what did you see? What were the metrics of success that you put it down to?

Sure, I think I can talk about one of the events I recently hosted, which was our flagship event, Refresh. In Refresh, we bring a lot of stakeholders together, including the partner ecosystem and the customer ecosystem.

Recently, I hosted a specific partner ecosystem event as part of Refresh Partner. This was one of those events where we had a lot of contributions from our partners. It was a great opportunity to collaborate closely with our partners, understand the landscape, and take them through our product and innovation side, particularly our AI-boosted products across different solutions like CX and EX.

In terms of success, NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a very important metric for us. After every event or engagement, we always check the NPS to see how it was received by the audience. For this particular Refresh Partner event, we had a really high NPS, which was a great success factor. It was held in London on the 2nd of October, just three weeks ago.

 

Nice. Fresh event. And in terms of that event, or maybe other events as well, since I’m sure you haven’t quite got the full understanding of the ROI from that event just yet, what are the key pillars in terms of ROI that you measure?

One key thing which is very important is the target audience. When you run an event, it’s crucial to reach out to the right set of people, those who are actually looking for some kind of consulting or advice. From an ROI perspective, it’s a must to have the right target audience. The segmentation of data and the right set of people is essential—not only for us as hosts but also for the people attending because we value their time.

The second pillar is the pipeline. After every event or investment, there should be a specific pipeline goal. We define our pipeline commitment before every event. If we are investing X amount, we expect X output in terms of pipeline.

The third pillar is collaboration. Collaboration is crucial when we talk about the success or output of an event. We ensure that all stakeholders agree on the objectives of the event, be it pipeline generation or awareness. While some events focus on pipeline, others focus on awareness. So, it varies, but the key is targeting the right audience, defining the pipeline, and collaborating effectively to meet those goals.

 

And you work off a strict ABM (Account-Based Marketing) model for that? Is that very much part your strategy?

Yes, we definitely have ABM as part of our strategy. We have different functions within the organisation, and the ABM team works extensively to align with the goals of our events and campaigns.

 

Awesome. You touched on tracking pipeline and generation earlier. One question that I’m always interested in asking is how you track the impact of events on multi-touchpoint leads, especially when those leads are large deals that may take close to a year to close.

See, it’s very important to provide a great experience for anyone expressing interest in our opportunities. For example, if a contact comes in and attends an event, we need to take them through the entire awareness and experience cycle. We show them what our customers are saying on various platforms, what analysts are saying about our products, and how our support teams assist after deploying a solution. This creates a complete experience for the contact.

We track this through automation, which helps us monitor the different touchpoints a contact goes through. Every company does this now—there are plenty of tools available that make it easier to track and manage multi-touchpoint leads.

 

Yeah, fantastic. And what challenges are you seeing at the moment around events? I know we’ve had big swings over the last few years with COVID and budgets. What challenges are you facing with events currently?

Actually, one good thing is that our events have been very well received. We’ve seen great participation from audiences across various regions. During the pre-COVID and COVID times, it was tough because everything was virtual, but now things have changed. Over the last year and a half to two years, people are eager to meet in person again. They’re receptive to attending events, sharing their experiences, and networking.

Right now, I don’t see any significant challenges. We’ve been running a series of engagements, and the participation has been fantastic. However, one thing that is always challenging is making sure everything is well-prepared. Bringing a great experience to the audience means you need to work very hard in advance. You need to plan, stay on track, and have the right messaging in place. I believe that victory loves preparation. That’s something I picked up from a movie—victory loves preparation. Being well-prepared is key to achieving success.

 

Yeah, and I think as well, if you’re happy with the preparation, it’s easier to pinpoint what went wrong if you don’t get the desired output.

Exactly, I completely agree. If you’re well-prepared, you know exactly what’s happening, what’s in the pipeline, and what happens if certain things don’t go as planned. Preparation is key.

 

Yeah, yeah, I agree with all those points. I think people are more focused on getting value out of their time, so you have to dig deeper to provide that value. So, how does Freshworks as a company stay ahead of its competitors in terms of marketing?

One thing that sets us apart is that we stay very focused on our core business. As I mentioned earlier, we create business software that anyone can use, specifically for IT, customer support, sales, and marketing teams. Our products are AI-boosted and designed to help businesses work more efficiently and deliver value. We’re very clear about what we want to achieve and how we want to make an impact. We’re also very collaborative as a team, and we value our customers and prospects. We aim to always be available to help them create business impact through automation.

 

You’ve spoken a lot about collaboration, and it’s clearly important in your role. Could you tell me more about the collaboration between marketing and sales? What marketing initiatives have the sales team been most excited about, and how did you get that buy-in?

Sure, I think working with sales is very exciting. Marketing provides assets, content, and promotions that sales can use in the best possible way. What really helps is having proper conversations on a regular basis. Frequent, defined conversations help build trust between marketing and sales. Taking their feedback, incorporating it into our campaigns, and making sure that it’s part of future plans helps us stay aligned and build more trust between the teams.

 

What marketing strategies have delivered the most success in terms of pipeline generation?

What really works well is a 360-degree marketing plan. It’s important not to rely on just one activity. A 360-degree marketing approach ensures that all channels—events, social media, and campaigns—are working together to engage the right audience and generate results. When we talk about campaigns that have worked well, it’s always been about a 360-degree approach. If you don’t use multiple tactics, it’s tough to keep the momentum going.

For example, the Refresh event I mentioned earlier is one of our flagship events. It’s a massive undertaking, driven by many teams at a global level across different regions. I’m just a part of that team, but it takes a huge effort from the entire organisation to make it a success.

 

Brilliant. I’m going to fire off some quick questions now, more on the career side of things. What career advice would you give to someone starting in marketing?

I would say to be sure about the tools and the logical perspective. Be calculative when you’re learning and applying anything in marketing. Always try to reason through what you learn and what you implement. If you’re excited about numbers, metrics, and digging into data, then marketing is a great career choice.

What’s a piece of traditional leadership advice that you think doesn’t apply to modern field marketers?

When it comes to leadership advice, I think making people accountable and responsible and building trust is what’s important. It’s essential to motivate people and give them a set of responsibilities. Field marketers work across regions with many different teams, so these leadership traits—accountability, responsibility, and trust—are crucial for success.

 

What do you see as the biggest opportunity for field marketers today?

The biggest opportunity for field marketers is the potential to learn and grow. There are so many opportunities in the market right now, from creating GTM (Go-to-Market) strategies to executing plans. There’s also a big opportunity to take on leadership roles and coach younger marketers.

Many graduates are entering the workforce, and they need people to help them understand how marketing functions today. So, there’s a huge opportunity to not only grow your own career but also give back by mentoring and guiding new marketers. It’s a great opportunity to learn and teach simultaneously.

 

Lastly, how would you describe the role of a field marketer in one word?

If I had to describe a field marketer in one word, I’d say “passionate.” A field marketer needs to be passionate about everything they do—the people they work with, the content they create, and the strategies they develop. Passion is what drives a field marketer to stay on top of their game and keep evolving.