Streamlining Events Seamlessly | Santhoshi Natarajan from Zuddl

Kevin Shirley: Welcome to the Pathmonk Presents podcast. Pathmonk is the AI for website conversions. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50% by adding Pathmonk to your website in seconds, letting the artificial intelligence do all the work and increase conversions by 50% while you keep doing marketing as usual. Check us out on pathmonk.com. Hey everybody. Welcome to today’s episode of Pathmonk Presents. Let’s talk to today’s guest. I’m excited to introduce Santhoshi from Zuddl. Santhoshi, how are you doing today?

Santhoshi Natarajan: I’m great, thank you for having me. Kevin, how are you?

Kevin Shirley: I’m doing quite well and I’m excited to chat with you. So today’s episode, I know we’re always focusing on things like marketing growth, product digital strategies, things like that. But I always like to start things off with a nice little easy question and be able to give our guests the opportunity to talk about their own company in their own words. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about Zuddl? What’s it all about?

Santhoshi: Sure. So Zuddl is a unified event management platform. It streamlines every phase of your event across conferences, field events, webinars, virtual events, basically everything in between. So whether you’re running a 10-person webinar or a large-scale conference with thousands, I think Zuddl is designed to scale with the event marketer’s strategy without compromising on attendee experience, flexibility, or outcomes. I would like to think of Zuddl as something that is present not just for planning and execution, but even post-event analysis. We’re more outcome-focused.

Kevin Shirley: Wonder if it could help me plan my Christmas with my in-laws. That would be exciting.

Santhoshi: Yeah, we can do that.

Kevin Shirley: To dive into things a little bit more, I want to talk about some of the strategies that you guys are utilizing over there. But to get started, maybe a little bit more about your audience and your clients. Are you guys focused on any specific industries or focus areas? Maybe just tell me about your clients in general.

Santhoshi: Right. Zuddl focuses largely, or rather we are only focused on B2B companies and conference organizers at this point. We are thinking of scaling later, but at this point, we are focused on targeting just B2B companies and conference organizers, especially those with robust event programs where they are conducting many conferences, field events, virtual hybrid events, and so on. We’re looking at companies that do a minimum of 30+ events a year so that we can provide the maximum value.

Kevin Shirley: Understood. And when we talk about reaching this B2B conference organizer-type audience, what are some of the top channels to reach them? Are you guys doing a lot of SEO, paid ads, or is it more face-to-face? Do you actually go to conferences to meet these people and generate leads? What are some of those top acquisition channels?

Santhoshi: When we began, we started out as a virtual webinar-oriented platform, but the idea was always to scale full-stack. Initially, back in 2020 when we began, it was mostly about outbound, and outbound was the only acquisition channel we focused on. But now things have changed. We’ve spent quite some time building and polishing the product to make it very purpose-built for event marketers. Event marketers juggle at least 10+ tools for landing pages, automated communication, registration, badge printing, check-ins, and more. Zuddl consolidates all of these under one platform.

Right now, our primary acquisition channels are mainly search ads, LinkedIn ads, and a lot of word-of-mouth. We’ve been doing well in organic growth too. Partnering with organizations like Exit Five has brought us traffic and even customers. Additionally, as an event company, we do events ourselves. We were at IMEX recently, and we held Event Marketers Week, a virtual event that drew over 2,000 attendees worldwide. That’s how we bring customers to our platform and turn them into clients.

Kevin Shirley: Excellent. I’m glad to hear that you guys have grown. I know every organization has to rely heavily on outbound efforts early on, but it’s nice to hear you’ve reached a point where inbound strategies are now working for you. Congratulations.

Sticking on the idea of website success, I want to know more about how your website plays into your client acquisition strategy. What role does the website play in gathering new clients?

Santhoshi: The website is a huge part of our client retention strategy. It acts as a gateway where people learn about the brand and understand more about the product. Depending on the stage of the customer, the website caters to different needs.

If they’re exploring options, the website provides initial information. If they’ve shortlisted four or five platforms, the website helps differentiate us. At this point, I wouldn’t call our website a client acquisition channel, but rather a gateway that guides prospects towards becoming clients.

Kevin Shirley: Awesome. Let’s talk about how Zuddl differentiates itself. You mentioned there are only a few competitors. What’s Zuddl’s value proposition, and how does it stand out?

Santhoshi: Our differentiation lies in customizability and flexibility. Platforms like Cvent also provide a unified experience, but they’re not purpose-built for event marketers. Cvent started as a field event platform and retroactively added virtual webinars.

Zuddl, on the other hand, is purpose-built for event marketers, addressing real pain points. We’ve spent the last two years building a comprehensive product that’s ready for any type of event. Another key differentiator is our focus on outcomes.

Event marketers need to justify ROI. Zuddl provides detailed revenue dashboards showing how events influence revenue and pipeline. Native integrations ensure all data flows seamlessly into CRMs and marketing automation tools.

Kevin Shirley: That’s impressive. I’ll definitely be thinking about Zuddl next time I attend a conference. I want to shift gears and talk less about Zuddl and more about you as a marketing and growth professional. What are some tools or methods you use to generate growth?

Santhoshi: As a product marketer, my primary goal is empowering the sales team. For growth, I focus on improving the website, driving product launches, and ensuring prospects are aware of Zuddl.

My approach includes social media, creating sales enablement materials like one-pagers, and working with customer success teams to curate case studies and testimonials. Collaboration across teams ensures the right resources are available to drive growth.

Kevin Shirley: Sounds like your day-to-day revolves around supporting the sales team and ensuring they have what they need. Let’s move to the rapid-fire round—quick questions, quick answers. Ready?

Santhoshi: Yes, let’s go!

Kevin Shirley: What’s the last book you read?

Santhoshi: “Everybody Writes” by Ann Handley.

Kevin Shirley: What’s one thing your company is focused on the most?

Santhoshi: Expanding the product and marketing efforts.

Kevin Shirley: If there were no boundaries in technology, what would you create to make your job easier?

Santhoshi: An AI-powered tool for real-time competitive analysis and strategy recommendations.

Kevin Shirley: If you could automate one repetitive task, what would it be?

Santhoshi: Delivering relevant content to sales teams based on the buyer’s journey stage.

Kevin Shirley: What advice would you give yourself if you were restarting your marketing journey?

Santhoshi: Stay curious and embrace the learning curve. Adaptability is key.

Kevin Shirley: Great answers! Thank you so much, Santhoshi, for joining us. Before we wrap, what’s the one thing people should remember about Zuddl?

Santhoshi: If you want stress-free event marketing, check out Zuddl first.

Kevin Shirley: Well said. Thank you, Santhoshi! It’s been a pleasure. Have a great day.

Santhoshi: Thank you, Kevin. Nice talking to you.