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How do you capture goodwill from thousands of customer touches while avoiding the risk arising from an undisciplined army of social media participants? Dell’s approach could be called disciplined autonomy: a mix of central oversight and local execution that manages risk while leveraging the power of 100,000-plus employees.

There are four keys to success in any Account Based Marketing program: co-ownership with sales, individually targeted messaging, solutions that help a broader range of decision-makers and influences, and relationship metrics. Here’s why they’re important.

Two-thirds of marketers say that they’re underinvested in technology. At the same time, a significant portion of technology purchases go unused or underused. The reason is that cutting a check is easier than devoting the time and resources to post-purchase training, support, and incentives. First comes months of listening to vendors and comparing features. Then the more important work begins.

The ultimate test of marketing’s success is its ability to influence business outcomes, according to Dmitri Shiry. That means either engaging with clients or working closely with those who do. One way to do this is to integrate the sales and marketing team. That’s what Deloitte did.

In June, ITSMA is offering the first-ever online Introduction to Account Based Marketing online program. It’s intended for experienced B2B marketing professionals new to ABM methodology. Participants will learn all of the key components of a successful ABM program. The program is designed as a catalyst for igniting a more focused approach to big-ticket pursuits of deals in high-value accounts.

Most companies fail to get the hoped-for level of business value from their investments in marketing technology. One reason is that many reward the legacy skills of marketing – the creativity and messaging activities – more than they encourage the data and analytics piece. There’s a strong correlation between the marketing culture embedded in management’s DNA and the success of technology initiatives. Tone from the top matters. Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

The impact of SMAC – social, mobile, analytics, cloud – on IT Services Marketing will be more far-reaching than that of the internet. The positioning that made an IT Services company successful in the past won’t necessarily work in the future. Malcolm Frank, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Marketing at Cognizant, described how marketing will have to change to successfully navigate this new world.

Marketers who enroll in ITSMA’s Account Based Marketing Certification Program will learn how to improve their relationships with executives at key accounts and become more efficient and effective in their marketing efforts.

When pursuing large deals, brand awareness is important because it gets you on the shortlist. But only a handful of services companies have significant brand awareness. One way to increase awareness is to build business relationships with a large number of customers. But this runs counter to the business model of many IT services companies. That’s why it’s necessary to invest in the brand. Unless it is also big in the B2C market, it’s not likely that a B2B IT services company will become a household name.

ITSMA’s Budget and Trends Survey, 2013 shows that marketers plan on spending more on Account Based Marketing in 2013. But not everyone is clear on what Account Based Marketing is, or what it isn’t. Read on to hear the five biggest misconceptions about ABM.

New information from the ITSMA Budget and Trends Survey, 2013 shows that IT services marketers are taking the leap into technology, with many planning on making big investments in marketing automation.

At ITSMA’s 19th Annual Marketing Conference in Cambridge last month, Dell’s Vice President of Americas Marketing, Monique Bonner, chronicled the journey the technology company took to build a purpose-driven brand.

ITSMA’s recent How Buyers Consume Information Study contradicts popular marketing theories that sales is obsolete. In fact, it shows that sales is more important than ever in the early stages of the buying process, but it might not be providing the right type of information.

Why does marketing need a new value proposition? Why now? What should it be? And how can marketers not only develop a new value proposition, but deliver on it? These are some of the questions we addressed at ITSMA’s 19th Annual Marketing Conference: Marketing’s New Value Proposition, in early December.

Every year ITSMA collates the top ideas in marketing to come up with our Research Agenda. We don’t do this alone—we work closely with our Boards of Advisors (marketing leaders from ITSMA member companies). The result is not a prediction of things to come, but a roadmap for our research and thought leadership content.

There was a strong pool of applicants for ITSMA’s 15th Marketing Excellence Awards. The winning programs stood out because of the way they married strategy and execution to demonstrate the significant impact marketing can have on business results.

In 2011, ITSMA introduced the term “B2B Social Buyer,” based on our research on how buyers choose providers. We found that social media is increasing as a source of information. But who are these social buyers and how do we reach them?

ITSMA recently published a special report to help B2B marketers build successful customer satisfaction and loyalty programs. This excerpt from that report outlines the six steps needed for marketers to establish a formal customer engagement program.

On November 19, ITSMA will launch its 2013 Budget and Trends Survey, which will enable B2B services marketers to compare their marketing performance measures and budget allocations to those of their peers.

Colette LaForce advises B2B marketers on how to embrace both the art of storytelling and the science of measurement for business results. Here, we highlight her ideas for applying the storytelling techniques from the blockbuster ‘Star Wars’ to the world of business.

It’s time for marketers to stop being modest—you’re important! Well, at least the work you’re doing to get relevant information to buyers is important. And it’s resonating with them, as ITSMA’s most recent How Buyers Consume Information survey shows.

In January 2011, Capgemini’s CMO set out to transform the marketing organization with the goal of moving beyond just a support organization to one that could help drive real business value. Although the transformation is not totally complete, marketing at Capgemini is now seen as a partner to both business leaders and the sales organization. How did they do this?

It’s important that you make the most of attending ITSMA’s Annual Marketing Conference, so ITSMA staff has come up with their list of suggestions to maximize your conference experience.

Marketers who enroll in ITSMA’s Account Based Marketing Certification Program will learn how to improve their relationships with executives at key accounts and become more efficient and effective in their marketing efforts.

What do best-in-class marketers know that others don’t? How important it is to align their goals with the goals of the business and show how marketing activities tie to business results.