Sheridan Gaenger

No update should ever come as a "surprise" to leadership or key GTM stakeholders. Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy that is developed in partnership with sales, marketing, customer success, and, in the best cases, product teams. It's not a tactical approach e.g., a webinar or an eBook. It involves in-depth Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) development, content and positioning strategy that supports the ICP, and operational planning including lead scoring, routing and dashboard optimization. It's a program that constantly needs to be evaluated and optimized against core benchmarks that all stakeholders define around success. The ABM strategy itself should be documented in writing and shared with all end-users, representatives, campaign managers, success managers, and everyone involved, leaving no room for surprises. Additionally, it should be presented and explained during all-hands meetings. In my experience, there are two forums of follow up, evergreen comms: 1. Monthly teardown: This is a cross functional meeting where you review operational and functional KPIs: You start with the team-level dashboard that houses the agreed upon key results and pacing towards those. Most businesses investing in ABM will be reporting on: 1. Number of named accounts touched by ABM this quarter (marketing and or sales) gold status will say 100% named accounts touched by both (shows you’re working this strategy in concert and everyone is on the same page) but if you’re ramping 80% could be a good barometer). 2. Breakdown of “worked” accounts by pre-customer and customer – this enables the teams to understand the weighting between new revenue and potential expansion revenue. 3. New S2 and Expansion Ops created this quarter – then I encourage a manager from each region to pick one deal and do a teardown of how it came into pipe. Determine “what’s the story?” 4. Lightning rounds of key players – should do MoM comparison of functional KPIs 1. Digital Team: Impression share, CTR, Qualified Meetings, Qualified Pipeline 2. Demand Gen: Specific campaigns concluded or upcoming with key content/assets 3. PMM/Content: BoFu Content to support CVR and acceleration 4. Field: What local field events (1st or 3rd party) have helped drive additional engagement/reach, pipeline influenced. 2. Weekly Pulse shared via Slack and email: 1. Owned by ABM Owner - Key Wins of the Week 1. From the top: 1. % of target personas as a percentage of fundraisers 2. Pipeline 3. CW Revenue 4. Expansion Revenue (should be a dashboard) 2. Meetings Booked, Qualified Pounces 3. Untouched 6QA’s if you’re using 6Sense 4. Key Events 5. encourage people to share wins! Small wins are important here and helps drive activity across the board! Activity fizzles when things don’t seem relevant and teams and individuals aren’t held accountable. Strategy fizzles when their executives aren’t working in concert. Using the above framework will help eliminate both fizzle risks while driving awarneess and engagement around the ABM program.

There is no other way. If you’re not going to invest in intent data, then don’t try to do ABM, you’ll waste money and employee calories. I’ve heard companies say “oh we will just focus our efforts on our ICP” Yes, of course, knowing what accounts have the most propensity to buy is critical. But where they are in their journey is just as critical. Intent data in your Account-Based Marketing (ABM) model is like having a crystal ball that helps you see which potential customers are genuinely interested in what you offer. Here's why it's important * Relevance: It helps you find and focus on businesses that are actively looking for products or solutions like yours. So, you're not wasting your time on those who aren't interested. This is why I love tools like 6Sense and Qualified. * Personalization and customization: Customize for your audiences! With intent data, you can customize your messages and content to fit exactly what these companies are looking for. It's giving them exactly what they want. Messaging for emails, ads, Outreach snippets, landing pages, all of it. * Priority: It lets you know which businesses are most likely to buy soon, so you can put your energy into them first. * The words that matter: It guides you on what to write and talk about. You create content that speaks to their needs and questions, making them more likely to choose you. * Timing: It tells you when they're most ready to hear from you, increasing your chances of making a sale. * Smart Decisions: You're not just guessing; you're using data to make your ABM strategy better, helping you make your marketing and sales work even smarter and work better together. In simple terms, intent data is the best kept secret that shouldn't be a secret in ABM, helping you find the right customers, talk to them in a way they like, and make your business grow faster.

In any strategy, it's not just about how much you measure but also what you’re measure and why. It's about setting the barometer for what success looks like and how KPIs are monitored, discussed, and leveraged to drive improvements. It's beneficial to break your KPIs into Operational North Stars – these are the Key Results (KRs) that every GTM TEAM should strive for. They are the metrics on your CEO's daily dashboard. Remember, ABM is about targeting specific audiences and accounts with more specific and relevant marketing tactics that focus on who they are, the problems they have and how your solution is differentiated in solving for their problems. Therefore, your company's KPIs should align with this approach: * Percentage of target accounts in your marketing database * Percentage of target personas generating MQLs * Percentage of pipeline originating from named accounts * Percentage of target personas as the primary contact * Percentage of expansion pipeline from named accounts * Percentage of revenue from named accounts * ACV (Average Contract Value) from named accounts * Average Deal Cycles from named accounts All of these should have quarterly goals set.

At a foundational level, it’s relatively the same, prioritizing the right accounts based on intent and lifetime value. Where it can change is the messaging, tactics and channels. Let’s start with messaging: Mapping your messaging to the customer journey is critical. ToFu content begins by educating your audience on your category which will anchor thought-leadership messaging and content that validates why the category exists. MoFu, the middle of funnel content, provides your pre-customers information that helps them evaluate their options. You'll see a lot of customer proof and feature-type content required at this stage. They know your category is validated, it’s about knowing why your product exists. Leads in the BOFU stage need persuasive content to make the final decision. They know your product exists but now they need to know why it’s the very best. Now messaging for upselling and cross selling is different as well. I've seen a lot of companies try to cut corners and blend these. Don’t. Upselling requires content that educates your customers to purchase a more advanced version of your product, typically giving them access to more capacity, features, and users. Cross-selling helps them understand the value-add of additional tools from your suite, add ons, including services and integrations can bring to their use case. Expanding within landed customers is about helping them understand the business benefits of bringing on more users or teams to your tool and requires more customer understanding and ROI-type content than other plays. In regards to the tactics, while there is definitely not a one-size-fits-all-business, typically you’ll be invest more in digital channels such as paid and owned media when trying to acquire customers while when going wider and deeper in an account, you’re teams will invest more in events, 1:1 activities, product landing pages. Email plays a role in both but again, the messaging and personalization will be different. All of this requires strong PMM and great content writers.

Leveraging intent data, like what companies such as 6Sense, Qualified, and Demandbase offer, provides several key advantages to identifying the right company targets and more. * It allows your marketing and sales teams to proactively reach out to accounts showing purchase intent or exploring competitors, giving you a competitive edge. This is a no-brainer for today’s landscape. If you’re running paid ads without intent data, if you’re doing outbound without intent data, stop. Now. Call your CFO, CRO. Get the budget to get intent. It’s worth the pause to get it right. You’ll go faster in the end. * You can pinpoint your most effective activities and invest more in them to boost engagement. No more guesswork; you'll have concrete insights that drive action, especially with the help of AI. * It enables you to create highly personalized campaigns tailored to your buyers' specific needs and experiences, adding that extra personal touch to your marketing efforts.

Content audits are very complex and for a good reason, content forms the bedrock of your Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy. It powers the education of your category and product, nurtures trust, and transmutes mere words into the embodiment of your brand and its distinctive voice. To get to the questions, you need to think about the audit in terms of phases. Phase 1: Stage and persona framework: Do you have content that touches every stage of the customer journey, pre and post sale, for every layer of the buying team including. 1. Individual contributor/end user. 2. Mid-level or Senior Management. 3. C-Level. Phase 2: Relevance and engagement framework: Is the content accurate and up to date? Is it current, factual, and relevant? A great way to break this out is a simple spreadsheet that lists your content, and columns that capture content type, date published, target persona, funnel stage, in market, status (relevant/not), action (keep, refresh, cut). The next part of this exercise is to measure the engagement level? While KPIs will differ based on “role” or “job” of the content, it’s important to list these out, granularly. Phase 3: Summarize your plan forward: Where are the gaps? What’s the plan for the future? Does it fit into your overall content strategy? Do you have the right infrastructure to measure success? From there you have an attack plan for campaigns, ads, enablemen, nurtures and more. And remember SEO is a strategy of its own. So while it’s integrated, a campaign content audit must be approached uniquely from SEO. By keeping these phases anchored on these questions in mind, you can conduct a thorough content audit that helps refine and optimize your content strategy for better results.

At a foundational level, it’s relatively the same, prioritizing the right accounts based on intent and lifetime value. Where it can change is the messaging, tactics and channels. Let’s start with messaging. Mapping your messaging to the customer journey is critical. ToFu content begins by educating your audience on your category which will anchor thought-leadership messaging and content that validates why the category exists. MoFu, the middle of funnel content, provides your pre-customers information that helps them evaluate their options. You'll see a lot of customer proof and feature-type content required at this stage. They know your category is validated, it’s about knowing why your product exists. Leads in the BOFU stage need persuasive content to make the final decision. They know your product exists but now they need to know why it’s the very best. That being said, messaging for upselling and cross selling is different as well. I've seen a lot of companies try to cut corners and blend these. Don’t.Upselling requires content that educates your customers to purchase a more advanced version of your product, typically giving them access to more capacity, features, and users. Cross-selling helps them understand the value-add of additional tools from your suite, add ons, including services and integrations can bring to their use case. Expanding within landed customers is about helping them understand the business benefits of bringing on more users or teams to your tool and requires more customer understanding and ROI-type content than other plays. In regards to the tactics, while there is definitely not a one-size-fits-all-business, typically you’ll be invest more in digital channels such as paid and owned media when trying to acquire customers while when going wider and deeper in an account, you’re teams will invest more in events, 1:1 activities, product landing pages. Email plays a role in both but again, the messaging and personalization will be different. All of this requires strong PMM and great content writers/strategy.

Yes, I have, three times over. Before you evaluate current tools or consider bringing in new ones, it's crucial to align on your goals. What problem are you trying to solve? Things can spiral out of control rapidly, especially when dealing with salespeople. It's important to keep them within their comfort zone, which is typically their CRM. Attempting to do too much at once can lead to complete failure. Don't be lured by the shiny object or the “quick fix button” you are being sold on. It's not just about "indication,"; it's more about the experience you want to provide for your customers. This includes a frictionless journey and ensuring that your teams prioritize the right accounts. Intent is a significant factor in both Audience-based and Account-based strategies. I highly recommend using tools like 6Sense or Demandbase to gain predictive insights into your pipeline. These tools help you understand who, based on CRM and Marketo data, is in their buying journey, showing strong intent, and is ready to be contacted by sales. They also enable you to run targeted advertising at the account level based on the stage and the audience. I emphasize the importance of audiences, as they represent the people with pain who need solutions. Companies should focus on building, engaging, and monetizing their audience first, and then the accounts will follow. Take a look at what my friend and marketing superstar Anthony Kennada is developing. Additionally, it's vital to provide these audiences with a frictionless path to connect with you, which is why I recommend using Qualified or Chili Piper. As mentioned, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need everything. Have conversations, create a prioritization framework supported by a business case, and ensure that each tool has an implementation owner on the ops side for seamless integration and a champion on the GTM side to drive adoption.

Start by establishing swimlanes with all key stakeholders and leaders, not just within Demand Gen. Map out the teams and define distinct areas of responsibility and roles within the wider organization to ensure that each team knows what they are accountable for. This involves creating boundaries around tasks, projects, and functions to minimize overlap and confusion. Document these roles and review them at least once a quarter, adjusting as needed. Additionally, don’t be afraid of conflict. By embracing disagreement and talking through it, you can build more trust with your internal partners and gain new perspectives that may lead to shifts in organizational planning or responsibilities, ultimately benefiting everyone.

Structure depends on the size of the organization, the GTM motion (sales-led or product-led, for example), and where the business is in its growth and maturity lifecycles. You can organize these roles in multiple ways, but it's crucial to avoid a bloated org; you don't want it too wide (+6 direct reports), and you should be cautious of having one manager with only one direct report. The core functions that run the demand engine must include integrated campaigns, digital demand, and event and field marketing. If you're a larger organization (over $50M in ARR), you'll likely build out an ABM and Customer Marketing function. The ABM arm can operate independently under your VP or Sr. Director of Demand or be nested within Integrated Campaigns or Digital. Customer Marketing typically sits with Demand or PMM, depending on the business goals. Integrated Campaigns: Works closely with Product Marketing on core business themes, leveraging them to build audience-first campaigns. Campaigns are not just eBooks or webinars but a collection of assets targeting a core audience across the entire account lifecycle. Measuring integrated campaigns can be tricky, so it’s important to measure signals via leading indicators like asset performance, audience engagement, lead creation, MQL conversions, and pipeline sourced and influenced. I spoke about this in detail at my 2023 SaaStr talk, check it out here. Digital Demand: Manages your inbound digital funnel; paid, organic, and owned properties. They activate, acquire, and convert leads across multiple channels, working closely with integrated campaigns, Product Marketing, Brand/Creative, and Content. This team often includes digital (paid and organic) associates and conversion rate optimization and analytics managers. They also manage key agency relationships. Monitoring leading metrics ensures efficiencies in ad spend, including impressions, CPL, CPMQL, first touch conversions, pipeline sourced, and pipeline influenced. Field and Event Sponsorships/Marketing: Manages in-person, virtual, and hybrid events, aligning with broader marketing goals. Event shapes vary based on GTM motion and core ICP. Efficient event spending requires field sales team enablement, clear objectives, audience targeting, and budget management. Key activities include logistics, content creation, and promotional campaigns. The golden thread principle comes to life here, as events reach your target ICP, and the team must work closely with PMM on positioning, campaigns on content and activations, digital on promotion, and customers on participation and engagement. Performance metrics, feedback collection, and data analysis measure event success. They track pre-event engagement, day-of metrics, and long-term pipeline and revenue metrics, ensuring new and the right audience engagement.