From Day One | Stories

Cut Costs, Not Corners: Effective Marketing in Lean Times

Don’t be afraid to question things you’ve always done, says Allison Gillespie, VP of marketing for O'Reilly Media. “We as marketers always need to look at that, while also leaving room for experimentation, because everything is changing and the playbooks we’ve been using for years are not working anymore,” she said.Rapidly changing landscapes in technology and customer behavior are forcing organizations to think creatively about fundamental shifts in their marketing effectiveness. This was the topic of a panel discussion moderated by Workforce Observer founder Subadhra Sriram at From Day One’s Silicon Valley marketing conference.Traditional qualified leads can feel like a marketing-driven initiative without any sales buy-in. That’s why Kumarbabu Vanapalli, VP of digital experience & engagement for Infineon Technologies, worked with junior sales reps to co-define valuable leads and experiment with continuous feedback loops and weekly iterations to refine lead targeting. “Our job is to enable salespeople to sell, not tell them which leads they have to go after,” he said. This strategy grew Infineon’s lead pipeline to over 55,000 per year over the course of three years.With customer indicators coming from multiple sources, customer voice, leads, socials, marketing now requires an omnichannel approach, says Gillespie. She believes it is crucial to find the right mix of channels and be flexible enough to redirect underperforming initiatives into new opportunities.Leaders spoke on the executive panel titled, "Effective Marketing in Lean Times: Creative Approaches to Delivering Value"AI search functionality is quickly reshaping marketing measurement as we know it. Hugh Burnham, head of search (SEM / SEO) at Ford Motor Company, shared that 70% of informational Google searches do not get past the AI overview, which makes traditional metrics like website visits and page flow less relevant. He encourages active optimization of your website content for AI-driven discovery.“Being passive and looking at your Google Analytics or Adobe is last year,” Burnham said. “You really need to change things, like crawlability, citation score, sentiment analysis, and how is your citation viewed?”Echoing the need for updated metrics, Andrea Cutright, VP of marketing for Upwork, says that Upwork replaced over one-third of its KPIs within its most recent annual planning cycle. “If you haven't swapped out a lot of your KPIs, you’re not watching where the market’s going.”Sajag Chikarsal, VP of marketing at DigiCert, advocates for a shift to revenue-aligned marketing measurement. By redirecting his marketing organization’s focus from top of the funnel to metrics like deal velocity, average sales cycle, and average sales price trends, he is able to connect focus areas back to specific marketing channels. “Now you can even say how many leads or MQLs or engagements am I getting from the AEO,” Chikarsal said, “and are they converting at a faster pace than the leads that I’m generally getting from the website from just pure SEO?”Rather than building content based on brand messaging, Burnham suggests researching real user questions and using FAQ structures and schema markup tools to create content that’s more easily discoverable by AI agents. “What ends up happening is, your answers from your website populate the Google ‘also asked’ questions. That also helps get a signal to the AIO so your data ends up showing your circuit.”Treating FAQs as living documents and ensuring they are written conversationally, says Vanapalli, makes your content more likely to match AI query patterns, increasing the chance that it will show up in searches.Internal AI transformations can drive marketing value as well, as long as organizations avoid some common mistakes like misalignment with customer needs and focusing solely on AI as a tool rather than a broader strategy.A clear definition of success and structured experimentation are important steps to effectively pilot and implement AI, says Cutright. Lack of confidence in outcomes can create barriers, but working together to define success provides a tangible, shared goal for teams to pursue. “You can visualize or feel your path to that success, rather than what I’ve seen some peers struggling with, where you just need to move to AI. That can be a little bit overwhelming, and it can’t really feel real.”To ensure consistency and avoid legal risks, warns Burnham, companies must standardize any LLM tools used by their teams, including the capability to monitor use and inputs. It’s also critical to reskill talent from authors and creators to editors and strategists. When using AI for content, journalistic integrity is paramount. “Make sure that your editors are also very good at prompt data and make sure that they read it. They just don’t copy and paste it.”Framing AI as a growth opportunity rather than a threat can help gain marketer buy-in and encourage skill-building, says Cutright. Show employees how they can eliminate repetitive or disliked tasks, she suggests, and create environments that are safe for experimentation. She told the story of Upwork’s Festival of Failure, which celebrates learnings based on failed initiatives, creating a safe space for employees to explore new things and learn from each other.Marketing leaders also embrace unconventional methods to drive ROI. To maximize his team’s cost efficiency, rather than investing in expensive event sponsorships, Chikarsal sends sales development reps to events with meeting quota targets. This has reduced their cost-per-opportunity from $23,000 to $6,500, while giving them better insights from direct customer interactions and breakout sessions.In-person engagement through trade shows, dinners, and events are outperforming digital marketing for O’Reilly Media, says Gillespie. People want to see that there is a human behind the brand, so direct interaction, especially at trade shows, helps reinforce trust. “Going back to that very human face-to-face is actually moving the needle. And we get so much direct attribution from trade shows.”Cutright advocates for a simple solution that empowers teams and helps integrate new processes: “Just give people permission to move in the new direction without trying to hang onto what’s in the past.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer and proofreader based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)

Live Conference Recap BY Jessica Swenson | May 11, 2026

The Invisalign Story: A Case Study in Marketing a Revolutionary Product

While Invisalign is known for changing lives through innovative digital orthodontics, the company has had to think creatively to actually earn that relevance among its customers and partners.The evolution and strategy behind its marketing approach was discussed by Kamal Bhandal, SVP of the global Invisalign brand for Align Technology, during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Silicon Valley marketing conference. The session was moderated by independent video host, journalist, and producer Claire Reilly.“Really identify the stakeholders in your customer journey, so that you know that you’re attacking points of failures or points of delight,” said Bhandal. Invisalign started by identifying the service providers who would comprise its delivery network, and invited them to help test and refine its products, she says. To maintain the partnership and trust of their clinical partners, the company makes continuous efforts to understand and meet their needs. “We’re looking to understand their business needs, their clinical needs, and the clinical outcomes that they’re looking for, and then designing products that meet those clinical needs,” she said. Kamal Bhandal, SVP, global Invisalign brand, consumer & Americas Marketing at Align Technology, spoke during the fireside chatInvisalign also engages in peer-to-peer training, education, and certification programs to prepare clinicians to use its products, as well as conferences and specialized sessions with deep dives into treatment techniques. Other key stakeholders in the Invisalign customer journey include end users, decision-makers or influencers, and frontline staff. Understanding each of these stakeholders is important, she says, as each can impact those points of failure or delight. The company spent its early days proving that the product worked, before shifting to a lifestyle marketing approach that highlighted how Invisalign could seamlessly fit into consumers’ lives. Continuous innovation prepared the company to manage increasingly complex cases, which broadened its scope. “We always first start with understanding the consumer, understanding the person, and what their lives are like,” said Bhandal. This helps the brand focus its marketing less on product features and specs and more on solving key pain points that matter to the customer. By studying the real lives of teens and parents, from social pressures and confidence issues to practical constraints like family schedules and multiple responsibilities, Invisalign can position itself as a product that reduces friction by fitting into the user’s life rather than disrupting it.She cited two examples that appeal to decision influencers (parents): damage to traditional braces during sporting events can cause emergency orthodontist visits—with Invisalign, these visits are greatly reduced. Additionally, the simplicity of hygiene as compared to traditional braces makes it easier for teens to maintain. For the teens themselves, the draw becomes straighter teeth and increased confidence without the stigma of traditional braces.Solving these problems for families also earns Invisalign its relevance in current culture. “We think about not talking at people, but really creating a conversation and being a part of culture,” says Bhandal. “Brands who integrate into culture, who move at the speed of culture, are brands who win.” Invisalign shifted its branding from a top-down to a community-driven approach, using real stories from patients and doctors to shape the brand. Cultural participation and user-generated content are key.As a healthcare-focused company backed by science and technology, however, it doesn’t tie itself to any one category of social influencers. It partners with lifestyle, fitness, beauty, and health influencers who represent the brand’s typical customers and showcase Invisalign as one part of their well-being process.A core takeaway from Invisalign’s brand evolution is to become obsessed with understanding your customer and what their life is like. “Not through just quantitative data and quantitative data analysis,” said Bhandal, but really dig into who your consumer is, who is influencing the decisions along the way, and what they are thinking about. “Become super obsessed with understanding human behavior of those that are involved in your buying journey.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer and proofreader based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)