Customer Obsession, Analytics & ABM Take Center Stage At Marketing Nation Summit

 At this year’s Marketing Nation Summit, hosted by Marketo in San Francisco, industry experts fueled attendees with tips and best practices on how to become more insights-, customer- and account-driven in a B2B buying economy, focusing heavily on the relationships brands can build with prospective customers.

“Last year, we introduced the Engagement Economy, this notion that we're in a hyper-connected world that is controlled, influenced and defined by our customers,” said Steve Lucas, CEO of Marketo, during his opening keynote. “The brand is now defined by the customer. We're now at the tipping point.”

Lucas added that we now live in a new world where we're curating the buyer's experience years before anyone in sales knows they exist. And speakers throughout the event agreed that marketing teams must position themselves to curate an experience for their customers so they can make their purchase decision on their terms.

“It's our responsibility as marketers to meet buyers on their journey,” said Lucas.

Investment In Analytics To Grow, Showing Need For Strong Data Foundation

Many of the conversations and presentations at the Marketing Nation Summit this year revolved around the importance for a strong data foundation to better understand customer needs, how they are engaging with the brand and what marketing programs are actually working. Lucas highlighted research conducted by Deloitte and Duke University, which said marketers plan to increase spend on analytics by roughly 200% over the next three years.

Marketers plan to increase spend on analytics by roughly 200% over the next 3 years. Need it to not have an obscure view of the customer #MKTGnation pic.twitter.com/U9mWvDnPzL

— Brian Anderson (@G3Brian) April 30, 2018

“This isn't something that marketing normally does alone; it requires partnership with sales to gain that insight,” said Gray.

When done correctly, B2B organizations can leverage ABM to streamline messaging — through inbound and outbound channels — to increase consistency and trust with target accounts. In a session presented by Uberflip and CollabNet VersionOne, Jodi Lebow, Director of Marketing Operations and Demand Generation of CollabNet VersionOne, shared her company’s journey to aligning her marketing, sales and other teams on the right messaging to surround their target accounts with information they need.

“Within your organization, if they think marketing is the only one doing ABM, it's not going to work,” said Lebow. “Sales, CX, SDRs and everyone else need to be aligned. You must have a coordinated ‘all-bound’ strategy with SDR-marketing alignment, as well as tailored and personalized messages.”

The company used Uberflip to provide a central location for marketing-approved content. VersionOne also targeted accounts with ads using the Terminus platform to drive prospects into their content hubs. This positioned the company to gain better engagement data to further personalize messaging as they move along the funnel.

“Sales can now create relevant content experiences for individual prospects,” said Lebow. “They are able to create that customized experience in an easy way.”

Lebow noted that, after aligning her interdepartmental teams on messaging throughout all channels for target accounts, the company saw:

• 124% increase in lead conversion within target accounts;
• 88% increase in engagement with top-tier accounts, roughly 4X their initial 20% goal; and
• 23% of new enterprise bookings came from target accounts.

“ABM is a journey — you’ll make mistakes, but it's important to start with aligning with sales,” said Lebow. “From agreeing what target accounts are going to be, to understanding roles for the program, you have to have tight alignment.”