Why ABM is the ’new normal’ in B2B Marketing

Account-Based Everything9th November 2017

@robertnorum@mcdonaldbutler

Introduction to McDonald Butler

A Sales & Marketing agency• 100% B2B technology marketing

• Specialising in channel & alliances, industry marketing and ABM

• Obsessed with ROI based on our proprietary Lead to Revenue Model

• Representing over 25 leading B2B tech brands across the world

• Based in London, with global footprint

• Strong ‘giving back’ culture (5 x 5 model)

Giving BackThe founders of McDonald Butler as well as the entire agency team are strong believers in the notion of business as a force for good. Since we opened our doors we have consistently donated percentage of our time and profits to giving back to society (5x5).

In the last two years our team has helped build two schools in Africa for over 2,000 children.

30 industry executives from Oracle, Google, IBM, Aruba and AWS will be joining the MBA team at our volunteer school Building Blitz to build a school in 7 days in South Africa in November 2017.

Our clients include global tech brands and disruptive tech

What is ABM in 2017?

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ABM Definitions?

“Treating individual accounts as a market in their own right.A structured approach to developing and implementing

highly-customized programmes to accounts, partners, or prospects.”

ITSMA

7

ABM Definitions?

“Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a strategic approach that aligns resources against a set of defined accounts and goals in a way that is relevant and valuable to those accounts and to sales”

Sirius Decisions

8

ABM Definitions?

ABM is a strategic marketing approach jointly implemented by sales and marketing that focuses on key, targeted accounts

(whether they’re existing customers or not).

It’s about identifying who your most important accounts are, gathering as much insight on them as possible, and then using this insight to align your proposition to the challenge(s) they’re facing and crafting a personalised

marketing campaign to win their business

B2B Marketing

ABM is no longer a budget line item

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ABM is a strategic approach to sales and marketing

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ABM

ABM has a role to play acoss the entire sales cycle

Awareness Engagement Proposal Win Retain Cross-sell Advocacy

Breaking into new Target Accounts

Bid support marketing

Protecting existing businessCross-selling into LOBsDeveloping advocacy

1:1 ABM

Industry Marketing

Channels & Alliances

Partner-based ABM to to single accounts Sector- based ABM

Partner-based ABM to industry sectors

ABE*

* Account-based Everything

ABM is adding value to other marketing segments

The different approaches to ABM

1:1

1:Few

1:Many

Mission-critical‘Must win’ or ‘must defend’ customers.

High-touchAccounts in key verticals with significant growth potential.

ProgrammaticFocused campaigns across a group of accounts which share common industry contexts.

ABM Segmentation

Taking a tiered approach to ABM

enables our clients to focus budget

and resources appropriately and to

ensure that all key accounts are

included in their ABM activity

1:1

1:Few

1:Many

Typically not more 10-20 Accounts per year .

10-15 accounts per ‘cluster’ typically aligned by vertical or common needs

All Key accounts - typically 100-200 and rarely > 500ABM ‘air cover’ across all your key accounts

ABM Segmentation

A blended approach enables our clients

to scale their ABM programme to

include all key accounts, whilst taking

a more focussed approach to key

verticals and 1:1 accounts.

Programmatic allows you to ‘flip the pyramid’ for always on coverage

10

50

200

Using an intent-based or programmatic

approach you can ensure that you have

‘always on’ coverage across ALL your key

accounts even within a basic ABM

programme

Key accounts will qualify themselves into

1:Few and 1:1 programmes by engaging with

content or showing intent in a relevant area

To

With

Through

ABM to engage most important partners(Partner engagement)

ABM with partners to create a joint proposition for key accounts(Joint go-to-market campaigns)

Enabling ABM through all partners by providing insight, content and messaging (ABM in a box)

Partner-based ABM

Partner-based ABM applies ABM

principles to your alliances and

channels

It enables you to create joint

value propositions and GTM

strategies as well as increasing

the size of your ABM budget

The ABM process

Define programme objectives?

What is the right ABM Model?

Account selection

Define success criteria

Identify key stakeholders with contact details

In-depth account profile

• Understand strategic goals

• What does their technology and supplier landscape look like?

• Account based SWOT

Relationship mapping

Develop an account specific value proposition and supporting messages

Identify key content assets

Develop detailed go to market account plan

Replay the account insight and findings

Map opportunities and focus areas

Prioritise opportunities into an account plan

Agree strategy by account

Curate/develop content assets

Deliver & execute against the plans

Review each activity and its success

Quarterly account review of overall plan

ABM strategy development session

1:1 calls with the sales/account team

Desk research

Group workshop: account strategy

Group workshop: account messaging

ABM Marketing campaign starts

Quarterly review cycles

ABM | 1:1 Account Focus

Scoping your ABM Programme Account Insight Strategy & Planning Account Messaging

& GTM PlanCampaign Development

& Delivery ROI & measurement

Week 1 Week 2-4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7+ Week TBC

MBA’s end-to-end ABM process for 1:1 accounts

Define programme objectives?

What is the right ABM Model?

Vertical segment or cluster identification

Agree success criteria

Industry sector profile

• Major players• Industry drivers• Pain points• Competitive

Landscape• Regulatory

Identify key stakeholders with contact details within cluster of accounts

Relationship mapping

Develop a specific value proposition for vertical/cluster and supporting messages

Identify key content assets

Develop detailed go to market account plan

Replay industry sector insights and findings

Map opportunities and focus areas

Prioritise opportunities into a sector-based plan

Agree strategy by segment/cluster

Curate/develop content assets

Deliver & execute against the plans

Review each activity and its success

Quarterly account review of overall plan

ABM strategy development session

1:1 calls with segment and account specific sales leaders

Desk research

Group workshop: segment/cluster strategy

Group workshop: segment/cluster messaging

ABM Marketing campaign starts

Quarterly review cycles

ABM | 1:FEW Account Focus

Scoping your ABM Programme Account Insight Strategy & Planning Account Messaging

& GTM PlanCampaign Development

& Delivery ROI & measurement

Week 1 Week 2-4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7+ Week TBC

MBA’s end-to-end ABM process for 1:FEW accounts

The Key Role of Insight in ABM

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ACCOUNT INSIGHT BREAKDOWN

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In-depth company profiles – business model, financial overview, strategic priorities, SWOT analysis

Industry Overview – overview and market size, with key trends

Executive profiles – employee structure, educational background and career overview

Opportunity analysis – Where your organisation has an opportunity to engage within the account

Stakeholder identification and relationship mapping – key contacts, hierarchy and full contact details subsequently mapped by any current or past relationships

The key role of insight

Setting KPI’s & measurement criteria

BUSINESS GOALS:

• Achieve £xx revenue from an industry and/or account list

• Grow account(s) revenues by {£xx or %}

• Break into new account(s)

• Reduce time to pipeline/deals by X

• Relative deal size compared to non-ABM accounts

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

• Increasing marketing value to sales

• Improved brand sentiment within accounts (NPS)

• Earlier customer engagement and reduced sales cycles

• Breaking into new parts of the organisation

• Greatly improved ROI on typical B2B marketing

ABM allows you to set precise targets by account or sector

ABM Content & Creative

With billions of content pieces

posted online every day,

producing content with visual

appeal and impact is more

important than ever.

Infographics are a great way to

tell a digestible story combining

typography and iconography.

Infographics are suited use in the

early stages of the sales cycle

and often ungated.

INFOGRAPHICS

Infobites are snack-sized pieces of content optimised social channels and the mobile user

experience.

Written, designed and formatted to concisely support a campaign message, these content

pieces can help increase both reach and impact with a social audience.

Infobites are ideally suited the early stages of the sales cycle.

SOCIAL INFOBITES

eBooks allow brands to tell a more

comprehensive story relating to their

proposition or solutions.

Whilst still benefitting from optimised design,

this form of content is suited engagement in

the attract and nurture stages of the sales

cycle.

EBOOKS

Blogging for businesses is a great

way of driving traffic to your

website, among other calls to

action.

With the option of integrating blogs

into mature platforms such as

LinkedIn, creating and posting blogs

can also help elevate brand

perception and establish thought

leadership.

BUT, there is an art to it! Correct

blogging can add significant value

to a brands inbound efforts.

BLOGS

Longer form content still has it’s rightful

place in the modern marketing remit.

Although the format may have changed to

include more visual elements, the ability to

communicate comprehensive – and often

complex messages – is undisputed.

WHITE PAPERS

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THE STARTING POINT FOR LEADING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY

THE RISE OF CLOUD BROKING SERVICES: WHAT A CIO NEEDS TO KNOW

Market research reports is a great way for marketers to predict how consumers will respond to

new marketing strategies and proposition developments.

Gain insight on – and value from – industry overviews, key industry and macro-economic trends

and challenges, market share analysis, and general end-user business issues and pain points.

MARKET REPORTS

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arrow.com

Strategy & Insight ResearchEuropean Medical Imaging Equipment Market

Media-rich content formats are a great way to bring your brand personality and

message to life. Brands are able to deliver more immersive viewing experience,

whilst taking advantage of mature video platforms and their SEO capabilities.

ACCOUNT AND CLUSTER SPECIFIC VIDEO CONTENT

Sales enablement encompass a wide range for formats and is an ideal way to align

direct and indirect sales force behind a united message and brand – from battle

cards, to guides, to cheat sheets, to PowerPoint presentations.

SALES ENABLEMENT

ABM in practice

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Vertical Cluster ABM with HPE (DXC)

HPE reorganised their business around a vertical approach to market and worked with HPE to develop the vertical ABM strategy across retail and finance

We identified the top key accounts in collaboration with HPE and the personalised GTM execution plan to drive existing and net new client growth across multiple platforms.

This became the cornerstone for their vertical (‘cluster’) ABM focus

“MostCommerciallySuccessfulCampaign”

ShortlistedB2BMarketingAwards2017

1. Approach based on MBA’s defined ABM methodology

Strategy &

PlanningIndustry Messaging

& GTM Plan Asset Development

Execution

4 5

6 7

Planning & Creative

1 2

3

Research & Insights

Cluster & Account InsightsScoping the ABM

Programme

Campaign ExecutionROI &

measurement

2. Vertical sector and account insights

Define retail and FSI sector map – market size, geography, technology adoption

• Identify industry drivers & pain points (inc. regulatory issues)

• Understand competitive landscape

• Validate sub-segment model for targeting

• Validate top 15 key target accounts (based on revenue opportunity)

Account profiles

• In-depth company profiles – business model, financial overview, strategic priorities, SWOT analysis, technology & supplier background

• Executive profiles – employee structure, educational background & career overview

• Opportunity analysis – where HPE had an opportunity within the account

• Identify key stakeholder contacts with contact details (e-mail & telephone numbers) per account

Stakeholder mapping

• Identify key stakeholder contacts

• Relationship mapping with client contacts

MarketMap

Industrythemes

Keyinfluencers

Associations

Keyevents

Socialnetworks

Media

Competitors

Marketsize

3. Industry Messaging & Go to Market Plan

INSIGHT

CREATIVE

STRATEGY&PLANNING

EMAILNURTURE

SOCIALLISTENING SOCIAL

MICROSITE

PAIDMEDIA

TELEMARKETING

Research & Insight

Brand Awareness & Demand GenerationData &

Content

DATABUILD

CONTENTPRODUCTION

DIGITALECO

QUALIFICATION

LEADNURTURE

SALESACTIVATION

SALESENABLEMENT

Awareness

Activation and lead nurture

COMMS SUPPERCLUBS

4. Creative Messaging, Content & Asset creation

The foundation of the campaign was the development of the interactive ‘innovation model’ which guided retailers and financial services companies through their digital transformation journey.

This was developed into a microsite with supporting content assets including thought-leadership points of view, blogs and a thought leadership ‘supper club’ series.

5. Campaign Execution

Personalised communications

Social Brands and social community (through SMEs)

Thought leadership blog series

VIP events (supper club series & VIP retail tour)

Lead nurture and mapping and tracking through buying cycle

Namedtargetedaccounts

Interactive ‘Innovation Model’ microsite

Measurement & ROI

$150m pipeline value$33m revenue won within 12 months

• Sales and marketing alignment

• In-depth Industry insight

• Compelling messaging and value proposition

• 100% engagement across named accounts

• Net new relationships developed

• Opportunity pipeline created

• Revenue wins

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McDonald Butler have worked extensively with me on executing on an integrated marketing plan across my FSI and Retail sectors. The team have great industry knowledge and have helped drive real intimacy with our key prospects through digital, social and account based marketing, always with a focus on innovation in our messaging

Jeremy Suddards, VP Industries, HPE

“”

Thank youAny questions

@robertnorum@McDonaldButler