Account based marketing Archives

The Rubicon Agency In Account based marketing, Enterprise demand generation, Miscellaneous, Our industry, Strategic content

How smart Account Based Marketing can work with ‘off the peg’

Like Account Based Marketing (ABM) programmes, not all ABM content can be created equal in terms of audience resonance.

While the precision of any programme depends on time, effort and budget, the effectiveness of its content payload depends on how much customer context can be threaded into a campaign.

ABM can fall into one of four execution strategies. Basic ‘volume and automation’ strategies tend to rely on using existing ‘one size fits all’ messaging and collateral while more sophisticated Key Account Based Marketing with Sales Enablement will tailor content to a bespoke level – using sales intelligence to create the best possible fit for customer, sector and even lifecycle stage.

In an earlier blog we spoke about the need for ABM content to be curated, created and compelling.

By curating existing content for an ABM campaign, you not only create greater relevance to the customer situation but can also accelerate interest and decision making. It’s also worth thinking about how much of that content could be easily adjusted to support the vision/proposition/messaging of an ABM campaign. A key tip for this exercise is to be ruthless – could that generic white paper actually undermine the customer’s perception that you really do know about their specific challenges?

Being creative and compelling can seem easier when you have the resources for a bespoke campaign or programme.

However, in the middle ground of execution strategies, personalisation and ‘off the peg’ content can be combined with small adjustments and alterations to create a highly effective campaign. Close co-operation with the account team can yield valuable insights into functional challenges, embedded competitors and corporate aspirations that can be reflected in a highly personalised manner. For example:

The ‘off the peg’ portfolio proposition may be ‘Flexible, integrated solutions’ but a better fit for an influencer or decision maker in a Public Sector organisation may be ‘Achieve more for less.’
An existing market briefing or white paper can be adjusted to place greater emphasis on the aspects of a product or solution that achieve more for less.
The call to action could include the offer of a dedicated ‘achieve more for less’ workshop.
Ultimately, the cut of an ABM strategy may be determined by cost, amongst other factors, but between ‘off the peg’ and haute couture’ there are ways to be smart and effective with customer programmes.

To explore how ABM can work ‘off the peg’ for your organisation, contact The Rubicon Agency

The Rubicon Agency In Account based marketing, Enterprise demand generation, Sales enablement

Not all Account Based Marketing is created equal

Complex propositions, long sales cycles and big customers make the tech sector a prime practitioner of Account Based Marketing (ABM).

If you believe the old maxim that 80% of business comes from 20% of customers then the case for ABM grows even stronger. Whatever the actual percentages, it’s true to say that focussing on key account customers (and prospects) can deliver significant returns.

Whether it’s time, effort or money, your level of investment in ABM determines the precision of any programme. By recognising that fact you can set realistic success metrics. From ‘lite’ account profiling to ‘up close and personal’, ABM can fall into one of four execution strategies. Each can work successfully but needs the right mix of content, communication, and collaboration.

ABX: Many models - Many objectives infographics

Let’s consider those three things in reverse order. True collaboration, between sales and marketing, not only increases the potency of an ABM programme but also the critical ability to move an influencing and decision making group through the sales funnel and into the business pipeline. An effective communication strategy for Key Account Based Marketing will put as much emphasis on internal onboarding as customer marcomms. It will also include media and channels that can generate and sustain engagement at every point in the sales funnel.

While collaboration and internal communication rely on in-house time and effort, the creation and development of your marketing content will no doubt depend on an external agency. While that comes with an associated cost, the good news is that content can create the biggest impact in ABM.

Like ABM programmes, not all ABM content is created equal. With the perfect opportunity to convey the right proposition or information to the right person at the right time, ABM content should cut through anything else that competes for your customers’ business or attention. To do that, requires a combination of content that’s curated, created and above all – compelling.

Peppers and Rogers asserted ‘when two marketers are competing for the same customer’s business, all other things being equal, the marketer with the greatest scope of information about that particular customer will be the more efficient competitor’. When you may not have access to that information it pays to create content that can generate the kind of customer confidence that says you know what’s challenging them (and their decision-making peers) in their professional role, sector or market.

Whichever category your Account Based Marketing falls into, it can drive far more business than generic marketing when content, communication and collaboration are correctly geared to create maximum momentum.

To explore which ABM model is appropriate for your organisation, contact The Rubicon Agency.

The Rubicon Agency In Account based marketing, Enterprise demand generation, Partner marketing, Programme planning, Proposition development

Aiming for a perfect pitch

The pitch may have moved on from the days when a firm handshake and a set of overhead projector slides might suffice but some fundamentals never change.

With technology marketing dominated by digital ‘distance selling’, the pitch presents a unique opportunity for up-close and personal engagement with an audience sat within the sales funnel.

The pitch is the equivalent of a live stage performance; an opportunity to wow an audience by feeding off the unique energy that only comes from everyone being in the moment.

In the technology world, Steve Jobs was arguably one of the finest exponents of the pitch. For more than three decades, he transformed product launches into an art form. He may have benefitted from expensive minimalist staging and some carefully orchestrated audience anticipation but he still had to single-handedly deliver a winning performance.

Jobs’ pitch method included pen and paper planning; using the rule of three; introducing an antagonist; making numbers meaningful; using zippy words and revealing what he called a ‘Holy Smoke’ moment. But above all, Jobs would ruthlessly and relentlessly distil the essence of every product into simple one-liners such as ‘the world’s thinnest smartphone’.

Of course, it would be interesting to imagine how Steve Jobs might have handled a rainy Monday morning pitch to an un-primed audience of business and technical decision makers in a cramped meeting room somewhere off the M25. However, given the challenge, it’s difficult to imagine him not using some of the techniques that can play just as successfully to an audience in Swindon as they could in San Francisco.

Take a look at our quick guide to discover how content can be more ‘killer’ and less ‘filler’.

The Rubicon Agency In Account based marketing, Corporate comms, Digital lead generation, Programme planning, Sales enablement

Why technology marketing needs mojo

Somewhere between ‘influence’ and ‘sex appeal’ there’s another dictionary definition of mojo that could be applied to technology marketing:

‘A quality that attracts people to your technology and makes your product / service / solution / portfolio / brand successful and full of energy.’

Technology may be a considered purchase for organisations but mojo has the power to create that first spark of interest amongst business and technical decision makers. In a multi-media, multi-message world, that spark is vital.

So, what does mojo actually mean in marketing terms? If you believe marketing is a combination of left and right brain thinking then mojo is definitely generated from the right hemisphere. By generating the right combination of language, images and concepts, ‘mojo creativity’ can tap into whatever is most resonant to an influencer or buyer- whether that’s aspiration, frustration or any other trigger.

Marketing magic isn’t just window dressing

Make no mistake though, mojo isn’t a creative veneer that’s thinly applied to heavy layers of content. Mojo begins with a breadth and depth understanding of your technology proposition followed by what could be described as a creative ‘curation’ of content for your target audience.

With mojo, it’s easier to compel a line of business manager who may be more interested in collaboration than cloud-enabled communications or a CIO who’s equally bothered by both. Combine their curated content under an overarching campaign idea and you begin to influence and motivate a decision-making group. Mojo even has the power to set your brand or portfolio apart when product features can’t.

It seems simplistic to think of technology as a non-emotional purchase for organisations when at the receiving end of marketing content there are people. People can be drawn to content when it appears to have been crafted by someone who had almost read their mind. People also depend on a filtering process that allows them to focus on what they believe is essential and valuable and yet their interest can be piqued by content that has mojo – especially when it’s closely aligned with their care abouts.

Another definition of mojo is ‘a magic charm or spell’ – as if it were something which mysteriously happens. It doesn’t. To work effectively, content mojo requires extra effort and rigour, and a hybrid set of skills that fall somewhere between ‘creative’ and ‘analytical’. But when you do get your mojo working, the added attraction for your target audience can transform marketing success.

To find out if your content could do with a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust, register for our unique M4 content audit.