Most B2B marketing plans fail because of one reason:

Lack of clarity.

Demand gen is not about showing up consistently and sharing random content on social media.

ABM is not about making a wish list of accounts, running display ads, tracking clicks, and reaching out with templated emails or direct mails.

Lead nurturing is not about setting up an automated sequence of emails to promote the product.

Content marketing is not writing about how great your product or company is, and sharing corporate news.

The list of "is not about" endless.

B2B marketing is not taught at schools.

Most B2B execs and salespeople don't support marketing programs not because they don't understand marketing, but because they don't see:

-Detailed campaign playbook that describes goals and objectives, required resources and budget, timeline, metrics, and basic forecast.

-How the marketing program will help to grow revenue, increase ACV, close more deals, or shorten the sales cycle

This is why many marketing initiatives are killed beforehand and B2B marketers become sales order takers.

Not all B2B companies want to sink into the lead gen swamp. There are lots of them who want to get out but don't know how. Our goal as B2B marketers is to educate and help them.

Here are 7 steps we use:

1. Provide revenue analysis from different markets and verticals, narrow ICP replicating the best customers, and explain how ICPs buy based on the insights collected from customer interviews.

2. Explain what programs can help us to drive awareness in a target market, and how are we going to measure them.

3. Show what programs we can run to generate demand for our product

4. Explain how we can identify warm-up accounts and activate them together with sales

5. Show what we are going to do to nurture accounts that are not sales-ready without being pushy.

When you connect the dots, suddenly marketing starts making sense to everybody.

6. Next step: get feedback and listen to all the concerns about the program suggested. Come up with ideas on how to mitigate the concerns.

7. Prepare a detailed marketing plan that includes a detailed breakdown of the campaigns you want to run:

- Clear goals, objectives, and revenue forecast

- Leading indicators to measure campaign efficiency

- Detailed action plan, timeline, and task distribution among team members

To generate revenue from ABM (account-based marketing) campaigns you need to implement the research cascade method. Here is why and how.

ABM stands for personalized solutions to companies with a clear need or challenges your product solves.

Start with a list of engaged accounts that fit your ICP and passed through qualification criteria.

Next, leverage the research cascade method.

1. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.

Collect and analyze all publicly available information about target accounts' key initiatives and strategy.

Here are the main sources:

- press releases
- interviews with chief executives
- roadmaps
- corporate reports
- earning calls

2. 𝐁𝐮𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.

Research the buying committee and collect insights about how they might be involved in the key initiatives.

Here are several things you need to pay attention to:

- What's their role and area of responsibility in the stated key initiative or strategy?
- KPIs/OKRs
- Challenges
- Goals

3. 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Start mapping your value proposition with the identified KPIs, goals, and challenges of every buying committee member.

Fullfunnel.io example from selling ABM sprints:

Marketing: Get a proven process to collaborate with sales and increase marketing-sourced revenue.

Sales: Hit revenue targets faster by winning deals with enterprise accounts.

4. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

Write down short (I recommend one-page docs) personalized solutions for every buying committee member.

Include:

- Context
- How exactly your product helps to achieve their goals or solve the challenges
- Relevant social proof

5. 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦-𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧).

Create a multichannel warm-up and activation program with sales.

Include:

- Social engagement and selling
- Personalized ads
- Content hubs
- Content collaboration
- Direct mail swags
- Micro-events

Keep in mind.

ABM is not about volume.

ABM is about selecting the right accounts that have a need for your product and marketing to them with personalized solutions.

This Thursday (2nd Feb) I'm sitting with Jim Gilkey from Terminus to share:

- Live examples of the research cascade method
- How marketing and sales should collaborate when running ABM campaign
- Real ABM playbooks and case studies

Save your spot here: https://lu.ma/ei6cj42q

How to do ABM on LinkedIn 👇


1. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.

Why:

- Generating demand for your product.
- Proving niche expertise.
- Position yourself as a trusted advisor.
- Nurturing target accounts.

2. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Why:

- Create awareness & attract attention.
- Show your expertise.
- Repurpose comments into posts.

3. 𝐀𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭.

Why: Seep p.1

4. 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 (𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦).

Why:

- Regular appear in the newsfeed of the target accounts.
- Build a strong brand & a real relationship with the target audience.
- Generate and capture the demand.
- Educate & nurture the target market

5. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬.

Why:

- Higher acceptance rate
- Opportunity to build a real relationship

6. 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬.

Why:

- Stay top of their mind & nurture the audience.
- Capture demand.

7. 𝐀𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬/𝐁𝐎𝐅𝐔 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬.

Why:

- Generate demand.
- Generate inbound opportunities.

8. 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡.

Why:

- Higher response rate.
- Opportunity to get customer insights and see if there is a fit.
- Build a relationship.
- Capture the demand and generate a sales opportunity.

----

Luckily, most B2B companies on LinkedIn have a lead generation mindset:

- Send 1000 spammy inmails -> get 1 meeting booked.
- Display ads routing to landing page -> get 1 demo request.

I said «luckily» because it leaves a space and generates a tremendous opportunity for others who understand full-funnel ABM and think long-term.

People buy from people they know, like, and trust, and that's the ultimate goal for ABM on Linkedin.

We also covered the process in detail here: https://www.youtube.com/live/RYZbQekQUTA?feature=share

8 pillars of ABM (account-based marketing) strategy.


1. 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬.

There are 4 goals ABM helps to achieve:

- Net new revenue - generate sales opportunities
- Pipeline acceleration - win stalled opportunities
- Expansion - upselling or cross-selling to existing customers
- Renewal / Churn prevention - renewing contracts with key customers

Make sure to include all 4 campaigns in your marketing plan.

2. 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 (𝐈𝐂𝐏).

ICP includes:

- Firmographics
- Buying committee
- Account qualification
- Account segmentation
- Account enrichment

3. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.

- Engagement threshold to identify engaged accounts
- Sources of intent data
- Account-ICP fit

Make sure all accounts are qualified and fit ICP. Avoid broad targeting or creating a wish list.

4. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠.

- Account key initiatives, strategy, and goals.

- The role of every buying committee in the strategic initiatives, their KPIs, needs, and challenges

- Value proposition mapping: how exactly your product fits their needs and what value it brings.

5. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤.

- Warm-up: how marketing and sales will create awareness inside buying committee, connect and engage with them.

- Activation: how sales should activate accounts

- Nurturing: how marketing and sales will stay in touch with target accounts

6. 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐭.

Here is the lean ABM team setup and 5 core functions.

- Senior ABM manager

Somebody who has experience in marketing & selling to enterprise, understands the role and goals of ABM and can be in charge of developing ABM strategy, campaigns planning & orchestration.

- Researcher.

A person who is in charge of intent data tracking, account qualification, and account and buying committee research.

- Copywriter

- Designer

- SDR

7. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤.

If you are building a pilot ABM motion, don't buy an expensive stack. Start with Sales Navigator and website traffic reveal software.

If you have robust processes and scaling ABM, consider more expensive software to enhance your processes.

8. 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Define key metrics and leading indicators for all 4 campaigns.

Create simple dashboards to track campaign performance.

Align everybody on reporting.

---

The success of account-based marketing lies not in your stack or budget, but in solid foundations.

Make sure you have a team and skillset that can dedicate enough time to developing ABM strategy and maintaining the motion.

Don't ditch MQLs as everybody advises on LinkedIn. Instead, fix the broken lead generation playbook. Here is how.

Let's start with the definitions.

MQLs are:

- Accounts that fit your ICP but AREN'T SALES-READY (no buying intent)

- Hit engagement threshold (spent 30 minutes on the pricing/case studies or other high-intent pages, signed up for a product webinar, etc.)

⛔️ 𝐌𝐐𝐋𝐬 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍!

The last point is critical.

If MQLs were sales-ready, they'd book a call with your sales team right from the website. It's not that hard to fill in the "request a demo" form.

Never save MQLs to CRM, assign them to sales, and add them to the automated outbound cadence. Also, never include MQLs in the marketing or revenue report.

Do this instead.

✅ 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐃 𝐃𝐎 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐐𝐋𝐬.

1. 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: define the revenue potential.

2. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Collect more info about needs, goals, and priorities.

Connect and engage on LinkedIn with Tier 1 and Tier 2 accounts, or follow up by email with an open question. Build relationships and continue nurturing.

3. 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐦-𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Depending on the tier, add an account to the relevant nurturing program. From 1-1 fully personalized programs to standard retargeting and semi-automated non-sales touches.

Simple example:

We connect with people who fit our MQL definition, asking for feedback on the content they consumed and if they found what they were looking for.

We genuinely try to help, continue engaging with them, and building the relationship.

It doesn't generate an immediate opportunity, but these opportunities come in 8-10 months whenever our "MQLs" have a need.
---

I prefer to call MQLs "Engaged accounts". It describes more precisely the stage of the buying process.

"Leads" by default should have a buying intent.

Most B2B companies I've talked to have a broken MQLs playbook.

They assume that gated content download or webinar sign-up = buying intent, and it's all a game of numbers. Hence, they motivate marketing to generate more MQLs to generate more sales opportunities.

It doesn't work!

The buying journey is not linear. You can influence it, but you can't push your buyers.

Instead of immediately attacking MQLs, understand the revenue potential, and the buyer journey stage, connect and help. This way you lay a solid foundation for your future pipeline.

Also, don't blindly follow the advice of ditching MQLs.

If your organization cultivates full-funnel marketing, MQLs are a perfect leading indicator to measure:

- The success of awareness campaigns
- Forecasting ABM programs because MQLs are the perfect accounts to be included in warm-up campaigns

B2B marketing reporting shouldn't be complex. Here are 3 categories and 11 core metrics I recommend looking at for a B2B company with high ACV and a long sales cycle.

REVENUE METRICS.

1. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞.

How much revenue came from marketing campaigns? Aim to increase the % compared to sales-sourced revenue. It proves the efficiency of your marketing and growing brand recognition.

2. 𝐖𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞

If the win rate is low, it means that either you have bad targeting, have low-quality opportunities (ICP issue), or have a misalignment with sales.

3. 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡.

When the sales cycle length decreases, you are accelerating revenue.

4. 𝐀𝐂𝐕 (average contract value).

5. 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Sales pipeline velocity demonstrates revenue trajectory according to your sales cycle length, sales-qualified opportunities, ACV, and win rate.

If this metric is growing, it proves that you:

- target the right accounts,
- have a marketing message-market fit,
- good buyer enablement
- no friction points in the buying process.

6. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐎𝐈.

Demand or brand activities can't be measured by sales opportunities or CAC.

Hence, I recommend holistically looking at marketing-sourced revenue, sales pipeline velocity, and budget spent to calculate marketing ROI.

You need to have a holistic approach.

PIPELINE METRICS

7. 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬.

The more engaged accounts you have in your pipeline, the more sales-qualified opportunities and marketing-sourced pipeline you'll generate.

I also recommend looking at the length of conversion from engaged accounts to sales-qualified opportunities. It will help you to make better revenue and pipeline forecasts.

8. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬-𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬.

BRAND METRICS.

9. Inbound opportunities.

10. Media invites

Podcast invites, speaking gigs, and featuring in guest posts - all are positive signs that your brand gains traction.

I also recommend looking at the quality of the invites. The more invites you are getting from the industry-leading media, the higher your brand anticipation.

11. Brand traffic and brand mentions.

Pay attention to how often your product is being recommended on social and in communities. The more mentions you gain, the higher your brand recognition.
---
Depending on your business model, you might change metrics by adding churn, LTV, CAC, but the principles will be the same.

You need to have an integrated revenue report.

That being said, every marketing program you run should have its own set of metrics.

Don't measure ads, demand generation activities, or a specific channel in isolation - this is a recipe for disaster. Don't make decisions about what works in marketing based on the last-click attribution only.

Develop a blended attribution model and understand what influences the buying process.

The best way to plan ABM programs for a specific cluster of accounts (1:few) is to create a cluster challenge map. Here is how.

1. Select a use case.

E.g. Fixing marketing and sales misalignment and developing joint playbooks to drive revenue.

2. Involve SMEs and sales to discuss challenges related to that use case.

Structure all challenges by painful and non-painful.

Painful: Low MQL to SQL conversion and lack of collaboration between marketing and sales.

Non-painful: Not enough sales enablement content.

3. Go through the list of questions:

- What are the signs of the challenge?
- Why did it occur?
- How to prevent it?
- How clients try to solve them?
- What are the efficient ways to solve them?
- What are the typical objections? What is the change management we need to initiate?

4. Create a 1:few program based on the collected insights.

- Decide what content should be created
- What messaging should you deliver through ads?
- What activation formats would you use?

---
Remember that most buyers are not in the market.

Cluster-based ABM programs help you to become relevant for a specific set of accounts, educate them and become the first vendor they think about when the need emerges.

But this requires thorough planning and execution by all GTM teams: marketing, sales, SMEs, and client success.

We're back with a Full-Funnel Virtual Summit. Grab a FREE ticket here and win the recordings of past summits here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/azinkevich_b2bmarketing-fullfunnel-activity-7161335023344713729-pf_M?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop We saw a huge demand last year from marketing and sales teams for practical advice:

- How to fix a broken marketing and sales playbook and develop joint playbooks to drive revenue

- How to create awareness among target accounts that are not in the market (not buying)

- How to land enterprise deals when you sell to hard-to-reach buyers

Here is what the 5th Full-Funnel Summit is all about. Meet our speakers.

𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 & 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤

- Jen Allen-Knuth: How to Overcome the Buyer's Mental Spam Filter
- Morgan J Ingram: How to Assemble a Content Army of SMEs That Drives Pipeline
- Leanne Chescoe & Paul Gibson: Connect, Engage & Win Deals
- Nate Nasralla: How to Craft a Compelling, Value-Based Message that Doubles Win Rates in 2024
- Me and Vladimir Blagojević: Full-funnel ABM: How to drive sales opportunities THIS quarter while creating a FUTURE pipeline

𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 & 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤

- Jonathan Bland: How to Build a Modern Paid Social Strategy
- Megan Bowen: The Case for Change & What's Required for Your Business to Win
- Kathleen Booth: Community-Led Growth: Best Practices and Proven Strategies for Driving ROI
- Drew Spencer Leahy: The Demand Ladder: How to Create Behavioral Change with Your Messaging
- Alex Olley: 10 Steps To Execute an Allbound Strategy
- Kerry Cunningham

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐓𝐌 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤

- Steffen Hedebrandt: The B2B customer journey benchmarks that you need to be aware of
- Thomas Sjöberg & Daniel Nackovski: The Art of building a B2B Community!
- Corrina Owens: Creating Micro-moments That Win Over Your Audience
- Dani Woolf: Navigating the Trust Barrier: Effective Marketing Strategies for Skeptical IT Buyers
- Sam Kuehnle: From Big Swings to BDRs to Building a Team: Getting (and Keeping) Leadership Buy-In

The summit is FREE to attend because of the support of our partners: Goldcast, Reachdesk, Demandbase, 6sense, and Dreamdata. But after the summit, the recordings will be locked in our vault.

Want to win the recordings from the past summits including keynotes of Peep Laja, April Dunford, Gaetano Nino DiNardi, Chris Walker, Jon Miller, Sam Jacobs and other fantastic speakers?

Sign up for the event and tag 3 colleagues in the comment who might be interested in our summit.

We'll run a live random selection and announce the winners on Friday.

Depending on the market and ICP, we develop a mix of activities from each of 6 groups to warm up target buyers:

- create awareness of our product- engage and connect with them (awareness of us)

- validate their needs and understand where they are in the buying journey (progressive profiling)

These activities always include personalized non-sales engagement, content aligned with Jobs-To-Be-Done, and micro collaborations to get acquainted and build a relationship.

You don't win enterprise deals because of programmatic display ads, 21-touches outbound cadence, or dynamic personalized landing pages.

You win enterprise deals when you create trust with the buying committee and have Champions who would like to work with you.

​In the new episode of Fullfunnel Live we cover How to warm-up target buyers, including:

- 6 categories of warm-up tactics and why they don't work if siloed.

- How to warm up buyers who are not active on social

- The right KPIs to measure "warm up" program performance
https://youtu.be/SdU4eiVovyY?si=ngo9lqyuV-j-Huct

In the new post I share how to select the accounts that are likely to become sales opportunities this quarter, how to prioritize and approach them.

https://open.substack.com/pub/fullfunnel/p/selecting-accounts-for-the-abm-program?r=11qrwn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Demand generation ≠ ads promoting ungated content, random webinars and product content. To avoid random acts of marketing we need a demand gen calendar.

Here is how we create it.

1/ DEFINE CORE DEMAND GEN PILLARS.

Define core awareness, demand gen and demand capturing programs.

If you don't have a mature function, select 1-2 programs per pillar and run them until you excel at them.

2/ DEFINE DAILY ACTIVITIES.

We do:

- Thought leadership
- Engaging with our target accounts, clients and peers
- Engaging in our Trenches - B2B marketing community

3/ DEFINE WEEKLY ACTIVITIES.

Questions that resonate with our ICP we cover in-depth on weekly Full-Funnel Live and our newsletter.

4/ DEFINE MONTHLY ACTIVITIES.

We either host live workshop, deep dives, or webinars where we explain a specific concept or work on a specific challenge.

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We'll host 2 live workshops on launching a pilot ABM program 30.09 in Amsterdam and 3.10 in London.

If you're interested in attending, leave a comment - I'll share details.
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Once a month we also aim to release a new practical case study with our clients either in the format of an interview or a written case study.

5/ DEFINE QUARTER ACTIVITIES.

Depending on market trends and demand we either host a live bootcamp, record a new on-demand course or create a free email course to maximize nurturing of our market on broader pillars of full-funnel B2B marketing:

- GTM strategy
- Demand generation
- ABM
- Thought leadership and social selling on LinkedIn

6/ DEFINE ANNUAL ACTIVITIES.

Once a year we run two major programs: Full-funnel summit and The State of Full-Funnel B2B marketing research.

These programs help us to engage with a broader community and amplify brand awareness.
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A lot of B2B teams complain they don't have time, stack, budget or resourses. But I think the root reason is lack of prioritization and proper planning.

You don't need 15 different programs.

You need 3-5 programs which are split between daily, weekly, monthly, quarter and annual activities that you excel at.

Here is an overview of a cohesive B2B demand generation and ABM function
(and 6 steps to develop it).

1. DEFINE CLEAR ICP CRITERIA.

- Firmographics/technographics
- Account qualification and disqualification
- Buying committee roles

2. DEFINE ACCOUNT PRIORITIZATION CRITERIA.

Develop an internal opportunity likelihood assessment: Which accounts can become sales opportunities this quarter?

- What tells us that this account is "vendor aware"?
- What information do we need to have to be able to create a personalized offer?
- What signals can tell us they have a need in our product?
- What is the revenue potential of accounts we want to focus on? Prioritize Tier 1 and Tier 2 accounts.

3. DEFINE SOURCES OF INTENT AND ENGAGEMENT DATA.

Prioritize:

- Social repetitive engagement
- Website intent
- Event sign ups
- Champions/power users joined a new company
- Content hubs

Define an engagement threshold to select accounts that are already aware of you.

4. SEGMENT ACCOUNTS INTO THREE LISTS.

Segment all accounts into 3 lists:

- Cluster ICP: vendor unaware, product need is not known.

Goals: make them vendor aware, get engagement from the buying committee members.

- Future pipeline: vendor aware, product need is not known.

Goals: collect information about account needs, build relationship with potential Champions.

- Active Focus: vendor aware, product need is known + strong buying signals.

Goals: create internal Champions, generate sales opportunities.

To create champions you need to generate enough credibility and set up a belief that you have the right solution to their challenge.

Spend 20% of marketing and sales activities on Future Pipeline and 80% - on Active Focus.

Cluster ICP (where accounts from territory planning should fall down) should be added to your demand gen program.

5. ACCOUNT MAPPING.

If you are targeting enterprise companies, you can easily end up with hundreds of people who have VP/ Chief / Head Of ..<your solution>.

Define the right buyers you need to engage with, understand their jobs-to-be-done, KPIs, roles in the strategic account initiatives.

Then, align them with the buying committee roles: champions, decision-makers, blockers, etc.

6. PLAN LIST ACTIVITIES.

Answer 3 questions:

- What content and activities should we run to create vendor awareness and generate demand for our product among cluster ICP?

- How can we build relationships with the buying committee of Future Pipeline accounts and validate their challenges?

- How can we nurture and accelerate buyer journey of Active Focus accounts to generate a sales opportunity?

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Not all accounts that demonstrate high engagement are ready to buy.

Instead of siloed functions, we should focus on marketing across the whole funnel.

This model helps you create a cohesive loop to activate accounts that are ready to talk to you and stay top of the mind of the companies that are not ready to buy.