How to reach high profile customers in the US with email marketing

Interview with Ieva Salina, Global Head of Marketing @ Caljan. Ieva will speak at Parrot B2B conferences in Riga and Vilnius on the 11th and 12th of February.

Caljan is best known for its telescopic conveyors used in parcel, e-commerce, and distribution centers. Caljan was founded in Denmark, and it operates production facilities in Latvia, Germany, and the United States, with its largest site in Liepāja, Latvia. 

What’s your journey as a marketer?

I spent about ten years in B2C marketing, which is typically campaign-driven and quite reactive. My first experience in B2B was at Venton, a SaaS IT company. But my major career step was when I joined Caljan.

That was a substantial jump, not only in scope but also in my role and responsibilities. My mind is very data-oriented, which fits perfectly at Caljan, because it is a highly data-driven company. My rule is: if I can measure it, then we should do it.

Who is your ideal customer in the US market? What is the profile?

The most important factor is how many parcels the company handles daily. If the volume is low, they don’t need a complex system.

We usually don’t segment by revenue, though revenue does indicate purchasing power — generally, companies with at least €250 million to €1 billion in annual revenue. In terms of industry, e-commerce is an obvious target.

Market leaders in retail and logistics are our ideal customers, we work with most of them in Europe, but not yet in the U.S., where they historically chose cheaper alternatives. Now they understand our unique selling points and why we are the best in the market.

Caljan is best known for its telescopic conveyors used in parcel, e-commerce, and distribution centers.

How do you identify the right people to talk to, and how do you actually reach them? 

That’s true — sometimes the buying group can include 25 people. We know which job titles we usually need to approach: operations managers, warehouse managers, procurement managers, engineers, CEO.

To reach new potential clients we use ZoomInfo. We select the company, the job titles, and the region, and we get contact information. Then we build targeted email lists and start nurturing them. At the same time, sales teams reach out via LinkedIn.

Our target market is not huge; many customers are well-known. Often, someone in sales knows someone who knows someone, the “word-of-mouth” effect.

But marketing relies heavily on ZoomInfo. Before that, we used Cognism. ZoomInfo performs better for us. It also shows which companies visit our website, which pages they view, and how often.

What is your email marketing strategy?

We run a four-email nurturing sequence, scoring recipients based on their engagement — opens, clicks, repeated clicks, etc. Once a lead reaches a certain score, we hand it to sales.

If the company doesn’t know Caljan — and many still don’t — we begin with education: how our solutions can improve their operations.

To give you an example: we recently targeted the fashion and retail industry. We understand their pain points and their technological maturity. With sales, we define which product is most relevant. In the U.S., the strongest fit is robotics combined with our conveyors. Why? Because they calculate ROI largely through the cost of lawsuits. If they remove people from trucks, they reduce injuries and therefore legal costs.

Other markets operate differently — some have strict ergonomic regulations. In the US, working inside a truck is considered the worst job. On a hot day, 40°C, unloading 3,000–4,000 parcels in an hour or two is extremely demanding.

So we adjust our content accordingly and create a tailored landing page. We don’t start by pushing products — we build trust. We tell stories, share case studies, scientific research, and include webinars. We explain step by step why the solution matters and how it benefits them.

We also need to speak differently to different roles: operations cares about speed and downtime; procurement cares about price and total cost of ownership; health and safety cares about ergonomics; engineering cares about integration. We try to personalize accordingly.

Do you personalize messages for different job titles?

Yes, we try. But it’s challenging. Content creation takes a long time. Every market requires localization, and content is the key to capturing and holding attention.

We also use our demo centers in the U.S., Germany, and Latvia. Customers can visit or send us their parcels. Tire companies, for example, send tires, and we demonstrate how our system handles them — often in real time via online meetings.

What are the results of your email campaigns?

We send them by campaign, not as regular newsletters.

For the fashion retail campaign, after market research and job-title filtering, we reached 10,000 contacts. Out of those, 400 completed the full four-email sequence, and 37 were handed over to sales.

This is a solid number for a high-value CapEx product.

You mentioned ZoomInfo and Cognism. Have you tried other solutions, and why did you choose ZoomInfo?

First, ZoomInfo is GDPR-compliant, which matters because we operate from the EU. We also run campaigns in Europe, so GDPR is essential.

Second, unlike some tools (e.g., Apollo), ZoomInfo doesn’t use our data to enrich their own database, which was important to us.

Functionally, ZoomInfo is stronger. It shows website visitors, page views, intent signals (such as searching for “telescopic conveyors”), and integrates with LinkedIn. It can also send emails directly, though we don’t use that feature.

And importantly, it has strong coverage in both Europe and the U.S.

What is your biggest challenge at the moment? Do you plan to continue with this strategy?

We will absolutely continue. I see strong potential. We started earlier this year, so we are still testing. Success also depends heavily on sales — their reaction time and their feedback.

The main challenge is time. Preparing campaigns takes a long time: testing, content creation, localization, adaptation for different markets. And results take time. I may only be able to fully measure success in one or two years.

But we will continue.

We already see signs — for example, one huge International fashion retailer. We worked with them five years ago. Recently, ten people from that company clicked our emails dozens of times. That reopened the door. Sales now has a reason to reach out again.

This strategy also embeds the Caljan name in their minds for future decisions.

How well aligned are sales and marketing? In many organizations, these teams are more like enemies than partners.

We are becoming friends. Sales is starting to see marketing as a true partner. Of course, it varies by market, but in the U.S. we work closely.

We have regular meetings. I present the campaign, the content, the process, and how we support them after handing over leads.

This success comes from the Regional Sales Directors and from a global strategic direction — not just my own ideas. For example, our global target for Q4 and Q1 is the fashion industry, so the entire organization aligns behind that.

In six months, we may switch to another industry if needed. But right now, the cooperation works well — knock on wood.

What about emotional marketing? B2B is often too rational — features and specs — and lacks emotion. Yet emotional B2B campaigns can be very successful, but hard to justify with ROI. As someone with B2C experience, how do you view this?

It’s a great question.

At the end of the day, people buy from people — not Excel sheets buying from Excel sheets. Storytelling is becoming increasingly important for us. I have a team member who is extremely strong in storytelling, and I give her creative freedom.

Yes, we need to talk about safety, quality, and technical superiority. But to stand out, we must also touch people emotionally. It’s easy to forget that in B2B.

Decision-makers sit in different boxes, and influencers — even operators — can affect the purchasing process. If they see something engaging, they can point their managers toward it.

So yes, we need emotional marketing, even in B2B.

I allow myself — and my team — to do things we can’t immediately prove with numbers. I’m fortunate that I don’t need to justify every euro spent.

Right now, we just completed a rebranding, built a new website, and launched new campaigns. That’s the foundation. Now I feel ready to experiment with ideas that speak to people’s hearts.

For example, tomorrow we’re filming a Christmas “elf” video in the factory with our employees. It will not sell a single machine — but it will get attention. And attention matters.

Caljan marketing team testing the equipment