Author Archives: Mani

Marketo ABM: How Will It Impact ABM Plans in 2017?

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Marketo just announced an updated release of their Account-Based Marketing (ABM) offering. The new release builds on their ABM launch in September, with more details on key milestones achieved in the past three months and new features including:

  • Over 50 customers signed including Avanade, MuleSoft, NAVEX Global, Sovos, and more.
  • Support for Account Teams within ABM for better sales & marketing collaboration
  • Deeper ABM reporting on account-level engagement and it’s impact on sales pipeline
  • Launch of new Named Account APIs to enable strategic technology partners to integrate their ABM capabilities into Marketo’s core ABM platform functions.

Kwanzoo ABM Display for Marketo ABM
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From Demand Gen To ABM: 5 New Rules for B2B Marketing

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A few days ago, I was at an after party at the SiriusDecisions Technology Exchange 2016 conference in Austin. The best part of these live meets – you get a level of candor that rarely comes through in web meetings or conference calls with fellow B2B marketers.

One Senior Martech Product Leader said this about their Account-Based Marketing (ABM) plans: “Our (Enterprise) Customers are telling us that they’ve all the new product they need for now.” It turns out this Product Leader’s organization delivers an industry-leading marketing automation platform. However the platform has yet to offer core ABM capabilities. That said, their customers were quite happy (it seems) running traditional demand gen programs – tracking Leads, MQLs, and Sales Accepted Leads. All the “ABM” buzz seemed to have simply passed them by… Continue reading →

ABM Planning: What Makes a Great Vendor Discovery Call?

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Yes, it is that time of the year again. It’s budgeting time for 2017 marketing technology & programs at many B2B companies. Your time is short. You don’t want to waste your colleagues’ time either, setting up ABM vendor calls that bomb. What can you do to keep the discovery process tight? What can we do as ABM tech providers to make it easier for you?

Here at Kwanzoo, we are talking with customers every day, and in constant touch with our partners and industry analysts. So we thought, why not share back a bit about what seems to make a Great ABM discovery call for us and our clients? A call where both parties come out feeling like it was time well spent. Where we hopefully want to continue the conversation, but even otherwise, wrap up on a positive note with the possibility of working together in the future. Continue reading →

Marketo ABM: The End of ABM Hype, the Start of ABM Done Right?

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We had 600+ B2B marketers present this past week at the Four Seasons in San Francisco, as Marketo launched their new Account-Based Marketing (ABM) offering. Marketo ABM is generally available as of September 23rd. We first heard about Marketo’s ABM plans  at the Marketing Nation Summit 2016 in Las Vegas (see “Marketo Is Serious about ABM”).

Marketo ABM and the Emerging ABM Tech Stack

Another development over the past few weeks has been David Raab releasing his comprehensive ABM Guide (covers 40 providers, available here). This was just prior to the launch of Marketo ABM.  

3 Bands

So what are the implications of Marketo’s entry into the ABM space for other ABM tech providers? Which areas within ABM tech are now directly in the “line of fire” of Marketo ABM? Should customers take a serious look at Marketo ABM? What are the potential costs and benefits? And if they do, what should they expect will be available to them re: core ABM  capabilities? How will Marketo ABM (re)shape today’s Marketing and ABM tech stacks (at least for Marketo customers)? What’s its likely impact on ABM deployment plans at B2B companies? Continue reading →

The Road Ahead for ABM: 6 Key Takeaways from Oracle MME16 and Marketo Summit ’16

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For B2B marketers, the months of March to May are well and truly “conference season”. From the Martech Conference (#Martechconf) in San Francisco in March, to the Oracle MME Event (#MME16) in April, the Marketo Summit (#Mktgnation) and IBM Amplify (#IBMAmplify) events in April-May, topped off with the Sirius Decisions Summit (#SDSummit16) at the end of May, it’s a full plate of B2B marketing innovation for everyone. We at Kwanzoo have been present at all 3 of the “Big 5” marketing events this conference season so far, while the IBM and Sirius events are still ahead of us.

ABM: Is it Rough Waters or Clear Skies Ahead?

Account-based Marketing (ABM) was front and center everywhere at the past 3 conferences. What became very clear to us was the following: The faster an enterprise B2B CMO has confidence that her team was equipped with the right answers to their questions (i.e. they are headed to clear skies, and not caught deep in rough waters) the faster they would move forward with their first ABM “pilot” or kick off a strategic ABM initiative.

ABMDoneRight: Moving from Rough Waters to Clear Skies

This post is part of Kwanzoo’s “#ABMDoneRight” series of posts and webinars.
Storm vs CalmWhether you are a mid-to-large enterprise B2B company, a B2B SMB business, or a high tech startup, you simply cannot ignore ABM. You need to map out your ABM strategy. You need to make decisions around your ABM tech stack and solutions, both tactical and strategic. You need to educate and build up ABM skills within your teams. You need to make a decision around ABM related investments. You need to cut through the “noise” from martech providers, with just about everyone telling you they can help you with “ABM”!

This post is our attempt to help clear some of the ABM “rough waters” today and help you get to “clear skies”. If you are new to ABM, we hope it helps you get started. If you are already in, we hope it helps you avoid some wrong turns, get serious, and start seeing near-term results.
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