Keynote stage
We kicked the morning off with an invite only breakfast Q&A. Propolis members and other senior VIPs joined Jarmila Yu to discuss how ABMers can attract the right talent – the cornerstone to developing and deploying any successful ABM programme.
ABM’s codifier, Bev Burgess, then challenged delegates to throw what we (think we) know about ABM out the window, explaining how Pareto’s law applies to ABM on a fractal basis.
You can find out more about delivering sustainable, profitable ABM growth in her book, Account-based growth.
It comes as no surprise that the downturn dominated. Demandbase’s Jon Miller challenged us to work smart, not hard (with some self-proclaimed nerdy dad jokes for good measure) before our expert panel took a deep dive into the 2022 ABM Census – a survey of approximately 100 client-side marketers gaging their views on ABM.
Facing an economic recession, in the next 12 months 13% of survey respondents are planning to decrease their ABM investment. 46% aren’t changing their budget, whilst 41% are actively increasing investment.
What does this mean for marketers? “In a downturn, clients are naive if they think they won’t need to rely on experts,” ABM maestro Robert Norum added. “ABM marketers are like orchestra conductors – they don’t have to play all the instruments, but they need to know who and when to bring in at the right time.”
“There’ve been some really interesting topics that I thought might be trends, but [have] confirmed that that’s what people are thinking. I think we’re all a bit nervous about the economic climate we’ve got coming up, and there’ve been some really good sessions focused specifically around that and [that] we’re all in the same boat”
We rounded off the day with The Marketing Practice’s Alastair Hussain and ServiceNow’s Elise Miller on how ABM supports the drive to win the right kind of customer. They offered three pieces of sage advice to pay attention to:
Choose the account team, not the account. It sounds simple, but don’t forget that you get to pick the accounts. Choose the account teams that are really up for it. Needless to say, you’ll see better results.
- Find an internal champion. Seek out the Eric to your Ernie. This isn’t necessarily the obvious or most senior person, and it’s not always easy to find your twin ABM flame. But it’s the core to a strong ABM programme.
- Orchestrate around the customer. Create a smooth sailing experience for your customers. They may get passed from team to team, but they need to have a consistent experience. Make them the organising principle.
Carmen Simon rounded off the evening by bringing neuroscience into B2B – trust us, it’s not as scary as it sounds. Corporate Vision’s chief science officer took us through three evidence-based, practical guidelines that took delegates through how to keep your audiences’ attention and how to create engaging content that’ll actually work.
Her advice is clear: “Attention paves the way to memory, and memory paves the way to decision-making. Your content has to stand out to push your customers through the funnel and win that sale.”
“Looking to influence buying decisions in your favour? Your brain is more likely to make decisions on things you remember well. You need to stand out, grab attention and be memorable”
Customer insight
Twogether’s Minaz Tejani walked us through their award-winning ABM campaign with Salesforce, demonstrating that to succeed in ABM, you need to put creativity, emotion and human connections at the heart of what you do.
We continued with the case studies as BlueBotic’s Matt Wade and Strategicabm’s Jack Rawlings took the stage. The pair outlined how BlueBotics headed up an ABM programme that saw £4m+ pipeline and £750,000+ closed-won sales from scratch – oh, and in less than three years, y’know, just for good measure.
Jack’s advice is clear – slow and steady wins the race: “Successful ABM isn’t about quick wins and easy channels. You need to go after long-term success and lay the foundation for trust.”
“Being a sponsor and speaker here has been fantastic. I think it’s such an amazing event. B2B Marketing are one of the biggest, most well-known brands in our space. From an ABM perspective, the kind of content and thought leadership they put out is something we’re always aware of, always engaging with”
Olga Gregory from WSP gave us the four steps to managing ABM transformation through the lens of people – shaping your ABM team and educating stakeholders; processes – how to institutionalise ABM; impact – demonstrating the value of ABM; risks – identifying and managing areas of concern.
Her formula for success? ABM impact = people x processes – risks.
Sales alignment and enablement
We took a plunge into the Metaverse with Digital Radish’s Alexa Stone and Applaud’s Rachel James. The pair walked us through what memorable ABM moments look like, from the dos and don’ts to a stand-out campaign to how to (finally) get sales and marketing singing off the same hymn sheet. Delegates even got a taste of the Metaverse at their stand!
You can find out more about their session in a recent interview with Digital Radish’s managing director, Renaye Edwards, here.
CongiClick’s co-founder Helen Kensett talked us through how to sell more with your content. Her expert panel walked through how they’re building a sales focussed content strategy to increase demand from key accounts and drive sales during a recession.
“You need content that delivers meaningful engagement with customers and gives insights to sales. I don’t just mean slapping a gate on it, but actual, real engagement. There’s got to be a value exchange”
There were (literally) no seats left in the house for Google’s head of strategic accounts, ABM, EMEA, Alice Clarke.
Alice challenged the view that ABM is all about the new, stressing the importance of leveraging ABM for existing customers, and talking us through the ins and outs of how Google adopts this approach to drive long-term growth – a strategy that no doubt will play to their advantage in the face of a looming recession.
The highlight for Alice bar being the most packed session of the day? “Being in a room where people actually know what ABM is! It’s so refreshing to be amongst talented ABMers and in a room packed with talent.” What more could you want?
“The conference was great! It gave me so many highlights and things to learn and I’m definitely feeling super inspired now. I wish I could just go to the office now and say ‘guys, let’s do that!”
Execution and experiences
ON24’s Gemma Christine and Demandbase’s Leanne Chescoe kicked things off with an insight-packed session on the tips and tricks to driving engagement with target accounts before ReallyB2B and Avanade walked us through a case study in setting up a successful ABM pilot.
“We really like the ability to share what we’ve learnt from the campaigns we’re running and be able to pass that information on to other people,” Charlie Nicholson, strategy director at ReallyB2B added. “ABM is constantly evolving, so it’s really important to go to events like this and learn what’s happening and actually be willing to talk to people candidly about what you do and don’t know so they can genuinely help you. That’s where we get the most value for ourselves and for our clients.”
“What I like about the ABM conference is meeting other like minded marketers, meeting other ABMers, sharing ideas, giving some tips and passing on my own tips of things that are working for me”
Andrew Fitzgerald, head of ABM, Kyndryl, spilled the secrets behind building an ABM growth engine for a $19 billion startup. His advice was clear: “ABM isn’t golf. It’s not an individual sport. It’s a team sport. If you don’t recognise that, you won’t succeed.” We can’t give away all his wisdom here, so make sure you check out his session on-demand!
Our expert panel of judges at the B2B Marketing Awards discussed the shortlisted entries for ‘Best use of ABM’. If we take one thing away from their session, it’s that the standard of entries is high this year.
The biggest night in B2B is fast approaching. Get your glad rags on and join us on 16 November to celebrate the best and brightest in the industry. Hurry, we’re down to our last seats!
And for all you ABMers, we’ll see you next year.
"It’s lovely to have so many ABMers in the same place. What’s lovely about this community is that you see friendly faces, people we know, people who came to Ignite, Martechopia, who we know through Propolis. But lot’s of new faces as well. What’s amazing about B2B Marketing Industry and the ABM Conference as well is there’s a warmth and generosity of spirit and willingness to share their challenges and concerns”
