IT Services Marketing Association

Account Based Marketing: Four Steps to Adopting and Optimizing a Successful ABM Program

ITSMA Admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:28:13 +0000

Web Briefing

Account Based Marketing: Four Steps to Adopting and Optimizing a Successful ABM Program

March 20, 2012
8:00 am Pacific – 11:00 am Eastern – 16:00 London (Duration: One hour)

(Free for ITSMA members)

Overview

Account Based Marketing (ABM) is a powerful strategy for building deeper relationships with top accounts. ABM helps you achieve long-term influence with your clients, moving you from a vendor to a trusted advisor. It can also help B2B marketers generate more revenue for their companies.

ITSMA has worked with companies to develop and implement key account marketing strategies for more than a decade. With the ITSMA ABM approach, marketing and sales work side-by-side to look at key business issues facing target accounts, then tailor campaigns to address those issues and fully integrate them into the sales account plan.

In addition to our client work, ITSMA has done extensive research on ABM. We have found that ABM requires a strong partnership between sales and marketing, a commitment to building new levels of relationships with customers, and strong support from sales and marketing leadership. That kind of change takes time and effort.

In this ITSMA briefing, Jeff Sands, Vice President and ABM Practice Lead, ITSMA, draws from experience and research to identify the four steps for ABM adoption and shows you how to optimize and scale your ABM program for better results.

This Briefing is complimentary for ITSMA members and $195 (€160) for non-members.

Presenter

Jeff Sands
Vice President and ABM Practice Lead
ITSMA
Learn More >

General Information

ITSMA’s Online Briefings offer recent research findings or survey results from thought leaders on a variety of services marketing topics. The Online Briefings can be viewed individually, or in groups composed of people within the same company. The briefings are available anywhere in the world that has telephone service and access to the Internet. A typical program runs 45 minutes followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers. The person making the online presentation speaks into a telephone and advances the visual portion of the presentation via their computer connected to the Internet. At the end of the presentation and at the presenter’s discretion, the listeners are invited to ask questions. Each listener with a question identifies him or herself and is listed in a queue and taken one at a time by the presentation monitor. The monitor also manages the question and answer session by giving each questioner access to the phone line to communicate with the presenter.

This briefing will be administered by BT Conferencing. All participants are required to test their browsers 24-48 hours prior to ensure compatibility. This test can be done by clicking here: Check your system. You will receive a pass code and dial in number three business days prior to the briefing.

Technical Requirements

The technical requirements for this ITSMA online briefing are:

Direct or dial-up Internet connection of 56Kbps or higher.
A separate telephone line to access the audio teleconference.
If participating from your company, ask about your company’s Internet Firewall 48 hours prior to the event. This will enable your IT technician to reconfigure your connections if necessary to ensure access to the Internet portion of the briefing.
No plug-ins or software downloads are required.
System Requirements: Windows 2000 or higher, Internet Explorer 6.x or greater, Netscape 7.2 or later. The following operating systems will work with limitations: Windows 98 SE, NT Server or Workstation 4.0, Mac OSX 10.3 with Safari 1.2; Solaris 9 with Netscape 7.0 or Mozilla 1.4, Sun JVM 1.4.2.

Fees and Registration

Aside from the telephone call, the fee for the presentation is complimentary for active ITSMA members, and $195 (€160) per location for non-members.

Note: Registration is on a first-come/first-served basis.

Building the Idea Organisation: How Sustainable is Thought Leadership in Client Engagement, Lead Generation and Building Brand Preference?

ITSMA Admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:47:45 +0000

Inner Circle Meeting

Building the Idea Organisation: How Sustainable is Thought Leadership in Client Engagement, Lead Generation and Building Brand Preference?

22 February 2012
6–9 pm London Time
Venue: Greig’s, 26 Bruton Place, Mayfair, London (by invitation only)

Overview

With up to 88% of buyers* now saying thought leadership is critical to their buying decision, and executives searching online for answers, before they have figured out what the problem is, getting—and keeping—buyers’ attention requires the participation of the entire company—not just marketing.

During recent years, thought leadership research, content dissemination and discussion has had plenty to offer the CEO and CMO, but what is the value of thought leadership to the business?

Idea organisation challenges

What do we mean by the idea organization? ITSMA sees that to be an idea organisation is a strategic challenge for marketers; to lead the transition for the entire company, to transfer one big idea into compelling storytelling, to combine business themes with research and publishing techniques aligned to the buying cycle of your target audience.

Your host Richard Seymour, ITSMA Europe MD, will facilitate a discussion to hear your views, experiences and thinking concerning thought leadership challenges, the impact of on the company and how you can make your long lasting ideas translate into revenue.

Some of the challenges we will consider around the idea culture range from regional differences and internal collaboration (or control) to whether research is integrated into your thought leadership development and dissemination processes, and more;

Business themes – is your thought leadership focused on selling what you have or meeting customers’ needs? Have you adequately researched your target audience’s needs?
Development and dissemination – do you have a proactive editorial calendar process? Are you disseminating your content broadly enough across channels?
Centre of expertise – do you have enough resources in place to adequately support your thought leaders? Are you providing enough training to your SMEs?
Metrics – are there areas of your business that would benefit from more brand recognition? Can you tell when a consumer of your thought leadership is ready to speak to a salesperson?

Putting your reputation on-line

30% of buyers* said that they would be more likely to choose a provider that helped them through the epiphany stage of the buying cycle. So, if thought leadership is about influencing and engagement starts on-line, then relating customer needs with what the company does and building social connections goes beyond just the marketing function.

It seems marketing’s new challenge is to facilitate the role of Marketing Business Partner inside the organisation, influencing strategic direction and offerings, finding ways to enhance the corporate reputation and helping SMEs keep the customer dialogue alive. What role do you think thought leadership plays in the future of profitable relationships?

* The Rise of the B2B Social Buyer: Results from the ITSMA How Buyers Consume Information Survey, 2011

Members only

To join in this lively executive sponsor discussion and leave with key “takeaways” to consider for your organisation, please email tfahmy@itsma.com or telephone +44 (0)118 9036117. Members will be charged one credit for one seat from their membership credit account for attendance at this event.

Contact: Tina Fahmy, ITSMA Europe, Member Services Manager, tfahmy@itsma.com or telephone +44 (0) 118 9036117

ITSMA’s 2012 State of the Marketing Profession Address

ITSMA Research — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:29:16 +0000

Overview

Marketers face increasingly complex challenges due to the data explosion, channel proliferation, new marketing technologies, geographic expansion and the rise of the social buyer. 2012 will be the year of mastering marketing complexity. But first, marketing must overcome six barriers:

Invisible marketing
Ineffective sales enablement
Obsolete marketing structures
Dated marketing skills
Budget limitations
Over-emphasis on ROI

In this Online Briefing, Dave Munn and Julie Schwartz give the lowdown what marketers need to do overcome the barriers and master
marketing complexity. Dave and Julie also share trends and highlights from ITSMA’s 2012 Marketing Budgets & Trends Survey:

What are the top priorities for marketers in 2012 and how do they compare with 2011?
What new marketing models, structures, practices, and skills are emerging?
How is the marketing mix changing?
How are marketers addressing the rise of the B2B Social Buyer and balancing marketing programs aimed at traditional buyers and the
new social buyer?
What are leading companies doing to take advantage of the next wave of opportunity and get ahead of competitors?

ITSMA’s Top Ten B2B Marketing Ideas of 2011

ITSMA Admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:55:37 +0000

In 2011, we posted nearly 70 pieces of research, articles, and commentaries on our website. Based on the number of clickthroughs, downloads, retweets, and mentions, the ideas that resonated most with our readers centered on thought leadership, connecting with the buyer, marketing planning and strategy, lead generation, using data, and building brands.

A special report with excerpts. Download it for free.

ITSMA clients with Online Access download your PDF here (or by clicking the icon above)
Not a client? Download your free PDF here

IBM and HP Are Still the Top Brands for Consulting and Technology Services, According to ITSMA Study

ITSMA Admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:49:46 +0000

ITSMA’s Professional Services and Solutions 2011 Brand Tracking Study reveals that IBM and HP are the most recognized brands, with Deloitte, KPMG, and Capgemini gaining ground. Accenture, PwC, CSC, Infosys, and Cognizant round out the top 10.

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts - Jan 25, 2012 - In its eleventh year conducting the Professional Services Brand Tracking Study, ITSMA sees the strong brands getting even stronger. IBM remains number one for top-of-mind awareness, with more than half the respondents naming IBM as the company that first comes to mind without prompting (unaided awareness) when they think of consulting and technology service providers. This is a significant jump from the 2010 study, where 39% named IBM.
HP was helped by its acquisition of EDS, and has secured its position in the number two spot for unaided awareness after vaulting ahead of Accenture for the first time in the 2010 study.

“Interestingly, EDS has just about fallen off the radar screen as a brand, just one year post acquisition. This, combined with HP’s brand equity improvement, points to a smooth transition,” said Julie Schwartz, ITSMA’s Senior Vice President of Research.

The study also showed that most companies continue to be associated primarily with their traditional roots and less so with their newer services and capabilities. Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, Accenture, and Capgemini are strongly perceived as consulting providers; Wipro, TCS, HCL, CSC, and Cognizant are perceived mainly as outsourcers; and HP, IBM, and Infosys are seen as technology services providers. Infosys stands alone as the only global India-based company not seen primarily as an outsourcer.

Brand Growth Opportunities Abound

The market remains fragmented as “other” companies, or those named only once, commanded 35% of the unaided awareness, more than any single company, except IBM.

“In a market as uneven as this, less well-known players have an opportunity to gain mindshare,” Schwartz observed. “However, brand equity cannot be built overnight. It takes consistent and persistent marketing. This includes activities like conducting research to find out what’s most important to your target market, promoting your strengths, highlighting your thought leadership, and substantiating your brand and differentiation with proof points.”

Consulting and Outsourcing Seen as Important Investments During Economic Fluctuations

Other areas of opportunity include outsourcing and consulting, as one-third of respondents plan to increase spending on outsourcing and more than half think that investing more in technology or business process outsourcing and consulting better prepares organizations for economic fluctuations.

Brand Equity Index Score

ITSMA determines brand leadership by assigning each company an ITSMA Brand Equity Index (BEI) score, a composite index based on individual firms’ ratings for unaided awareness, aided awareness, top-of-mind recall, familiarity, and favorability. The index allows companies to track changes in brand strength over time in addition to making competitive comparisons.

Based on its BEI, IBM emerges with the highest brand equity for the examined professional services firms. Other top achievers include HP and Accenture. The next tier of BEI ranked companies includes PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and Capgemini. The top five Indian-heritage companies tracked in the study include Infosys, Cognizant, TCS, Wipro, and HCL.

Methodology

ITSMA interviewed 460 senior IT and business decision makers based in the US, UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Australia. Study respondents all held director, vice president, or C-level positions and represented organizations with revenue or operating budgets ranging from $100 million to over $20 billion in seven major industries:

Communications
Energy/Utilities
Financial Services
Healthcare
Life Sciences
Manufacturing
Public Sector

Respondents qualified for inclusion based on their involvement in purchasing professional services and solutions, defined as “technology and/or related business services (such as consulting, systems integration or implementation, or outsourcing) applied to address customer business objectives and valued at $100,000 or more.” The report examined 15 professional services and solutions firms, including Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, Cognizant, CSC, Deloitte, HCL, HP, IBM Global Services, Infosys, KPMG, Logica, PwC, TCS, and Wipro.

For more information on the study, please see http://www.itsma.com/research/professional-services-and- … or contact Julie Schwartz at +1-781-862-8500, Ext. 112, or at jschwartz@itsma.com.

The Four Stages of Account Based Marketing Adoption

Jeff Sands — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:11:55 +0000

Marketers often ask us: what’s so different about Account Based Marketing (ABM)? Whether you call it one-to-one marketing or key account marketing or ABM, doubters point out (correctly) that the tactics differ little from what B2B marketers have been doing for decades.

Yet there are important differences that may not be apparent at first. Primary among them is that ABM is not a tactic or even a set of tactics; it is a strategy for providers to build long-term influence and trusted advisor status with the company’s top accounts. ABM requires a new level of partnership between sales and marketing. ABM also requires marketers to have a broader range of skills to work effectively with these accounts.

To put the misconceptions about ABM to rest, we have been working with ITSMA’s ABM Council member companies as well as ITSMA’s ABM associates and consultants to paint a picture of the journey that most companies take when they adopt ABM.

A Linear Progression through Four Stages

Our research has shown that there is a linear path to follow in ABM. Try to get ahead of yourself by skipping steps or moving too fast, and you jeopardize the program. Go too slowly and you risk losing momentum and support in the company. Here are the four stages of adoption:

Pilot. Companies select a few top accounts to prove the concept of ABM to the rest of the organization and to begin developing the skills and people needed to sustain a program.
Build. Using the lessons learned from successful pilots, the company refines selection criteria for accounts and begins defining common metrics and success criteria. An informal alliance of ABM supporters begins advocating for funding and support from senior executives for a more formal program.
Standardize. A formal project management office (PMO) is established, along with standard metrics and a staffing model so that ABM can be integrated into the standard reward/recognition system.
Scale. As the program grows, companies begin to reap the rewards of scale, including shared processes, services, and automation. A knowledge management system helps new account teams get up to speed faster and allows ABM practices to spread to other areas of marketing.

To get the full story of the ABM journey, read the ITSMA Update Four Stages to Full ABM Adoption.

How to Sustain the B2B Social Media Conversation

Jeanne Brown — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:11:10 +0000

When Larry Weber spoke at ITSMA’s Annual Marketing Conference in October 2011 on his book Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era, one theme came through loud and clear: simply being present in social media is not enough to build customer relationships over the long haul. Actively listening and responding to them is what matters.

Early in Everywhere, Weber offers a four-step approach to creating social engagement as a model all companies can follow. The steps include setting strategic business goals, aligning the program with those goals, activating and sustaining the program, and finally, measuring and analyzing the program. Throughout each of these steps, the level of customer engagement is a key driver in how marketers should leverage social media.

Step one, social media engagement begins with business goals, is the planning step. Weber urges companies to have goals beyond just setting up their social media channels; he writes, “successful social engagement is rooted in business objectives, not in a desire to ‘be on Twitter’ or to ‘build a microsite.’” Marketers need to be clear and specific when setting goals; Weber includes examples of clear goals, such as increasing awareness, providing industry thought leadership, and improving customer service. They also need to fully understand how each social media activity touches the target audience.
Step two, align social programs with business objectives, is about designing the social experience. This is where you align your strategy and business objectives with social media tools. Weber emphasizes the need for marketers to understand more than how customers connect emotionally with an offering; they need to know how customers actually behave. The answers to questions such as “what content does my audience want?” and “which channels do they use at each stage of the buying process?” will help determine a social media strategy that, ideally, will engage the customer and influence the purchase decision.
Step three, activate your program, highlights where many companies fall short: they build the social media tools, but they don’t nurture the community. Activating the program means reaching out to customers, discovering their hot buttons, identifying key influencers, and inviting and encouraging participation. This is not a one-time step; it is an ongoing process that requires constant attention. This is where Weber’s idea of social sustainment comes into play. He defines this as a “daily and weekly review of program results and identification of new ways to improve the experience.” In other words, to engage with customers in social media, you need to create an ongoing presence. Because content is what drives engagement, you need to focus on generating content in all forms (blogs, tweets, SlideShare, contests, white papers, etc.).
It is during the last step, measurement and analytics, that the focus on the customer really gels. Weber suggests measuring not just reach but also engagement. The difference? Reach looks at the number of clicks, visits, page views, and so forth, but engagement takes a deeper dive and tells you how and where customers engage with your content. Do they comment on a blog? Do they rate, share, or retweet it? This is the information marketers need to truly understand their audience’s behavior so they can create content in the future that is more relevant to the customer.

Larry Weber is chairman of W2 Group, a digital ecosystem of marketing services companies that build brands, deepen customer and partner relationships, and drive demand for products and services. He is also the author of four books, including Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era.

Featured Research: Marketers Must Beat the B2B Brand Titans at Their Own Game

Julie Schwartz — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:09:32 +0000

ITSMA’s 2011 Professional Services and Solutions Brand Tracking Study reveals that there are a few market leaders and a large pack of followers; yet the market remains fragmented and opportunities for differentiation abound.

IBM tops the list for the 11th year in a row for unaided awareness, with more than 50% of respondents naming IBM as the company that first comes to mind when thinking about consulting and technology services. This is a significant jump from th e 2010 study.

HP, clearly helped by its acquisition of EDS, has secured its position in the number-two spot for unaided awareness after vaulting ahead of Accenture for the first time in the 2010 study. Interestingly, EDS has just about fallen off the radar one year post-acquisition—a testament to a smooth transition.

“Other” companies, or those named only once, commanded 35% of the unaided awareness, more than any single company, save for IBM.

The India Gap

The data shows that the strong companies are getting even stronger. Based on ITSMA’s Brand Equity Index, IBM’s and HP’s brand equity increased in 2011 while most others’ stagnated. IBM, HP, Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte have the highest brand equity. Global India-based companies continue to lag behind US- and European-based providers. Among these companies, brand equity is highest for Infosys, Cognizant, and Tata Consultancy Services.

In a fragmented market such as this, less well-known players have an opportunity to gain mindshare. However, brand equity cannot be built overnight. It takes consistent and persistent marketing, which means as a marketer, you must:

Conduct research to find out what is most important to your target market and how clients currently perceive you.
Promote your areas of strength that align with client and prospect priorities.
Launch both broad and more targeted marketing campaigns (on- and offline), highlighting thought leadership, not capabilities.
Market to your current clients as well as your prospects.
Educate prospective buyers via nurture campaigns that engage clients and prospects on an ongoing basis.
Substantiate your brand and differentiation with proof points (e.g., case studies, benchmarks, testimonials, simulations, etc.).

Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

ITSMA Research — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:48:02 +0000

Strong brands are getting stronger; the rest are stagnating. Yet, there remains plenty of opportunity for services and solutions providers in the middle of the pack to gain ground in terms of brand equity and market positioning. It just takes consistent and persistent marketing.

ITSMA’s Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study helps services providers understand buyer attitudes and beliefs, their company’s brand equity, current and/or aspired market positions, and buyers’ perceptions of performance.

ITSMA has been of conducting the Professional Services Brand Tracking study for more than a decade, and continues to see strong brands get stronger. While the 2011 study results reinforced the dominance of a few leading brands, it also revealed plenty of opportunities in the market.

Study Scope

ITSMA’s 2011 Professional Services and Solutions Brand Tracking Study provides a balanced look at measures of:

Brand equity. Awareness, familiarity, preference
Market positioning. Brand attribute perception and message relevance

The study also provides data and analysis on key areas of buyers’ behavior, including:

Outsourcing and Consulting trends. What has been the impact of the fluctuating economy on investing in outsourcing or
consulting? What are their future buying intentions?
Services decision influences. When there are a number of qualified providers, what is needed to stand out?
Perceived areas of competitive differentiation. Is what’s different really different? Does it matter?
Market knowledge. Who are the leaders and followers? Are providers recognized for their services capabilities?

In addition, the study explores buyers’ definitions and perceptions of services provider attributes, including:

The buyers’ journey. How are buyers making decisions and what information do they need at each stage of the process?
Use of social media. How are buyers using social media and other online sources as part of the buying process?
Partnering with service providers. What does it mean to buyers to partner with a service provider? How important is this?
Client advisory boards. Do buyers participate on client advisory boards or councils? What do they get out of it?

This study delivers the data study sponsors need to validate internal assumptions, improve marketing strategies and tactics, and hone their brand communication.

Study Methodology

Between August and October 2011, ITSMA completed telephone-based interviews in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Australia with 460 IT and business executives who either provide input into or authorize the purchase of IT professional services and solutions.

The interviews were designed to assess the brand awareness and market positioning of the major industry services providers and explore key market drivers.

In addition, ITSMA conducted 25 qualitative interviews with buyers.

For the purposes of this study, ITSMA defines professional services as:

Technology and/or related business services (such as consulting, systems integration or implementation, or outsourcing) valued at $100,000 or more.

Study respondents all held director, vice president, or C-level positions and represented organizations in seven major industries with revenue or operating budgets ranging from $100 million to over $20 billion.

This sponsored research initiative represents the 11th iteration of ITSMA’s flagship brand awareness and tracking study focusing on IT professional services and solutions.