The Gradient Works Blog

Let’s talk about messaging and hard it is to do well. Have you ever noticed how bad most website copy is? How every B2B software company’s website looks the same? How every sales outreach email feels like it's copied from one template? 

2021 has been a year, huh? Just two weeks into this promising new year, and somehow it’s gotten off to an even worse start than last year.

We’re living through a time of “unprecedented turmoil” (a phrase I read about once a week in the news). There’s a lot going on, like the out-of-control pandemic, an attempted coup, and rampant systemic racism, not to mention a thousand other things. It can be hard to focus on something like selling B2B software during times of global crisis.

Marketing at an early-stage, pre-product company looks a lot different than it does at more mature company with a product. When no one is selling anything yet, marketing's role is to build a foundation for the company's future efforts - launching the first product, recruiting employees, attracting customers.

ABM is more than just marketing. Really, "account based marketing" is a bad name for it - it should be called "account based everything." Because, to actually be successful, ABM requires coordination between marketing, sales, account management, and customer success. Account based marketing is way more than just marketing. 

This post originally appeared in the Revgenius Mag, and is republished here with permission.  

At your company, how often does a customer account change owners?

As someone moves from lead to prospect to new customer to retained customer, their account changes ownership at least four times. They have dozens of interactions with your company.

And at every step, you have an opportunity to improve those interactions and make those ownership handoffs smoother.

An effective content marketing program can help boost sales and keep customers engaged. 

But how can sales teams actually use that content effectively? How can you be sure your AEs and AMs and BDRs and CSMs are incorporating marketing resources into their interactions with prospects and customers?