Is leads the only way to go
Leads have long been the golden child of marketing metrics, enticing us into the never-ending whirlwind of lead generation excitement.
Lead generation is the process of identifying and attracting potential business individuals who are interested in your products or services. It generally involves creating and purchasing products such as blog posts, white papers, and webinars, which inform and educate your decided personas about your company’s offerings. The goal of leads is to attract a large pool of potential individuals, educate them with relevant content and convert them into something sales can begin to process in their physical sales dialogues. But what happens after that lead gen?
Let’s embrace a new perspective leads and MQLs alone aren’t the only secret sauce for success in B2B marketing.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) isn’t about quantity; it’s all about quality.
So, what does this shift entail? It means focusing on how your engagement not only enhances your reputation but also nurtures meaningful and enduring relationships with key individuals within accounts. By doing so, you spark revenue opportunities. This is the essence of ABM (Account-Based Marketing) success.”
In this new paradigm, we move away from simply analysing lead generation metrics. Instead, we shift our attention to showcasing the digital footprint within a target account. We aim to quantify how many employees actively engage with our content, track their journey to our homepage, and measure their dwell time (at the account level). This data provides invaluable insights for our sales teams, turbocharging our pipeline. As we embrace this new approach, several key principles emerge that redefine our understanding of B2B marketing success:
Key Principles
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Rethinking Success Metrics
It’s no secret that leads have been the holy grail of B2B marketing for years. However, in the ever-evolving landscape of B2B, it’s crucial to rethink our success metrics. Leads can be a deceiving indicator of success, often leading us astray. - Quality Over Quantity
ABM reminds us that it’s not about generating a sheer volume of leads; it’s about nurturing high-quality relationships with the key individuals within target accounts. These relationships, when properly nurtured, can lead to substantial revenue opportunities.
- Engagement as a Key Metric
In this new era of marketing, engagement becomes a key metric. Measuring how actively target account employees engage with your content, tracking their journey on your website, and assessing their dwell time provide insights that are far more valuable than lead counts alone. - Empowering Sales Teams
The data gathered through account engagement metrics isn’t just for marketing teams. It’s a powerful tool for empowering your sales teams. They gain a deeper understanding of how engaged an account is, which can significantly impact their approach and success in closing deals. - The Path Forward
As B2B marketers, let’s shift our gaze from only focusing leads to engagement. Let’s focus on nurturing relationships, enhancing our digital footprint within target accounts, and providing our sales teams with the insights they need to thrive.
In conclusion, the next time you’re evaluating your B2B marketing success, remember that it’s not just about leads; it’s about the quality of engagement within your target accounts. Embrace the power of ABM and watch your marketing efforts truly take flight.
Which way do you want to go?
Leads
- Quantity, Personas
- Hand-over to sales
- Top funnel
ABM
- Quality
- Personal and relevant
- Sales and marketing alignment
- Deal and account focus
