Last week I had the pleasure of keynoting B2B Marketing Exchange: Next-Level ABM — the first edition of the popular B2BMX conference to focus specifically on best practices in account-based marketing. And the first to go entirely virtual in light of the pandemic.
This keynote was a bit different from my typical talk. For starters, it drew heavily from my 2010 book microMARKETING, and tied the framework from that book to current ABM principles and practices. It was also a rare speech that gave me the opportunity to talk a bit about the work we’ve been doing here at our B2B content marketing agency.
I did, of course, manage to weave in some of my usual material about the Never Normal and how marketers can help their customers better navigate the challenge of relentless change. This short video clip captures that part of my speech.
Looking for a more complete summary of my message to marketers? Demand Gen Report, the host of B2BMX published a solid overview of my talk. Here’s what they had to say:
The evening keynote led by Greg Verdino explored the shrinking of mass marketing initiatives and the influx of small-scale, 1:1 ABM programs.
Verdino focused on the importance of forging intimate account relationships. He said marketers are slowly moving away from reaching as many accounts as possible in favor of building stronger relationships with targets through real-time engagement in a smaller setting. This allows marketers to foster mutually beneficial relationships with accounts that drive lifetime value for customers and lead to brand advocacy.
“Mattering a lot to a few of the right people is worth far more than mattering just a little to everyone else,” said Verdino. “Forget about reaching as many people as possible — the future of marketing was, and still is, about building and maintaining deep, meaningful relationships between your company and its customers.”
Verdino emphasized the importance of involving key accounts in the ABM process, and that having a “Customer Council” is the best way to hold the accounts’ attention while building brand credibility. This involves the accounts in the brand’s ABM process, which allow marketers to take in feedback and shape future engagement to appeal to the account’s own processes.
“Brands earn attention when they give attention,” Verdino explained. “Businesses become more interesting to buyers when brands are more interested in those buyers, which helps you move away from interruption marketing to more interactive marketing. This is an opportunity to create participation, partnerships and dialogue through collaboration and co-creation.”
Verdino explained that while many modern marketers are leveraging personalization in their ABM programs, they often fail to engage the buying group or person that makes the purchasing decisions.
Digital marketing, however, has made it easier for marketers to learn about the interests and pain points of various individuals, and Verdino believes that marketers have an opportunity to connect with the individuals behind the accounts. Some tactical examples he explored include:
- Customizing Content For Individuals: Research reports, surveys and E-books can be marketed and customized for an individual’s pain points and areas of interest, which increases engagement with relevant data, research and case studies;
- Recalling First-Person Experiences: Sales reps in charge of accounts can speak to their own personal experiences on a pain point or process in 1:1 meetings with individual buyers, allowing the individual to build rapport with the brand they are engaging with and accelerate the buying process; and
- Leveraging Social Media Data: Marketers can determine an individual buyer’s interests through their social media activity, paving the way for creative outreach based on shared interests or pain points between the individual and the brand.
“The boundaries of the personal and the professional have eroded due to the pandemic,” said Verdino. “Marketing to an account without engaging each individual within that account in a genuine human way falls short of the promise of personal.”
