Orchestrating growth: Nailing your GTM motion after an acquisition

Understanding and adapting to change becomes even more crucial when companies merge. During a recent episode of Game Changers, host Oana Manolache introduces Paige Lapen, Senior Director of Marketing at Personify Health. This newfound association is a result of a merger between Virgin Pulse and Healthcom. For Paige, the merger served as a perfect stage to explore new roles, responsibilities, and opportunities. She detailed her journey, highlighting how the conference in LA gave her insights into the product marketing, sales enablement world, and therein, she got the chance to learn more about leading go-to-market practices. Over time, Paige switched her role from overlooking the product marketing team at Virgin Pulse to focusing mainly on retention, renewal, and client relationships at Personify Health. When asked about the challenges and the exciting bits of being part of a merger, she stressed the importance of communication. Adapting to new processes, reviewing whether they suited the future growth of Personify Health, and ensuring that everyone in the team was on the same page was paramount. The entire team had the flexibility to review existing processes and decide whether they would work in the future. With the merger came the humanitarian task of rebranding, a process Paige found to be both stressful and exciting. Rebranding didn't just entail refreshing the website or building a brand new image. It also involved changing the visual experience for their clients who were already used to the older interface and messaging. Virgin Pulse, known for its well-being ethos, was seen in a different light after the merger. So, a rebrand was a necessary step to signify the forging of a newer path. The key focus of Personify Health now lies in meeting their existing customer's needs and expectations. Client feedback has become an indispensable part of their model to bring about improvements and changes. They offer opportunities for clients to influence their product roadmap, which has resulted in intimate round-table discussions, bringing along shared growth and progress. Product marketing, according to Paige, is adaptable and molds itself as per the needs of the organization. It adds immense value to the company by focusing on differentiating the product, concentrating on value propositions, and effectively communicating it to the prospects. Finally, Paige views marketing to be gravitating more towards relationship building. The emotional connection built with the customers often overshadows mere analytical feature comparison, making marketing a more personal domain than ever before. For companies like Personify Health, trust, and a good relationship is a fundamental requirement for client retention and growth. ‍