Day two of Marketing Vision 2022: Taking ABM to the next level

On the second day of Momentum ITSMA’s Marketing Vision 2022 in Cambridge, MA, USA, attendees had the opportunity to explore the topic diversity & inclusion, hear from IBM, Salesforce and ServiceNow on their account-based marketing programs, hear from Marketing Excellence winning case studies and participate in hands on workshops.

I opened the day with a recap on what we’re hearing from Growth Hub members, clients and are across our research studies, together with how we’re strengthening our team to better support you in these fast moving times.

Buying behavior is unrecognizable from three years ago. And with buyers seeing provider competence during the buying process as the most significant driver of their purchase choice, it’s never been more important to make the most of both digital and human interactions. This is creating a new mandate for Marketing leaders in 2023, and we expect to see consolidation of fragmented revenue marketing teams, and the adoption of a more strategic approach to programs.

From all of these and other insights we have gathered in recent months, we’ve identified four critical actions for sustained success

• Embedding a customer-first mindset
• Truly understanding your markets
• Building the right capabilities
• Driving productivity and effectiveness

We need our firm to match what you, as clients and members, most need. This is why we’ve integrated Momentum ITSMA into one single company, bringing all of our capabilities together. Separately, Momentum and ITSMA were Account-Based Marketing pioneers; and now with ABM as a core part of every global organization‘s marketing function, we want to lead a powerful new approach to revenue growth — together as one firm –– taking the power of ABM to the next level.

We’re now delivering our integrated account-based growth services through four clear service lines:

• Growth Hub – a community that empowers teams to drive productivity and effectiveness
• Growth Consulting – uniting teams and driving business impact with hands on support to build, embed & transform strategic account programs
• Growth Intelligence – actionable insights to accelerate buying cycles and increase win rates
• Growth Academy – industry-leading professional development

Suzanne Randall, Managing Director, Marketing & Communications, Accenture and Margriet Platteau, Global Recruitment Marketing Director at Avanade followed up with a panel discussion about embracing diversity to become a top employer of choice. Some new approaches they are embracing include hiring for specific roles without requiring a four-year degree for specific roles, mentorship programs that include diversity, apprenticeships, job rotations, and amplifying the employee voice.

The attendees enjoyed hearing from Romi Ravi, VP, Field Marketing Strategy & Activation at IBM, about her company’s recent ABM Journey. While ABM is not new to the organization, Ravi and her team completely transformed it over the past two years, tasking top account field marketers to be CMOs of their accounts, responsible for end-to-end holistic growth with these customers.

During the ABM leaders panel discussion – consisting of experts Gemma Davies of ServiceNow, Danny Nail of Salesforce, and Cheryl Caudill of IBM – the focus was on ABM as a journey to tie account-centric programs to business strategy. The group consensus was that ABM is not just about technology; rather technology is still an enabler. It’s about relationships, community, and taking an outside in approach to delivering customer value.

Before heading to post-conference workshops on competitive intelligence and value propositions, select winners of the 2022 Marketing Excellence Awards shared their case studies.

As we wrapped up Marketing Vision 2022, it became clear that attendees are united with a shared sense of optimism. We’ve already witnessed marketing leaders adopting new technologies, building new organizational structures, and forging new processes to really rediscover marketing’s purpose: to win, retain, and grow customers.

This shared optimism will help drive change and navigate 2023 no matter how much turbulence we face.

We are always listening closely to what you need next and you can expect much more from us over the next 12 months – let’s keep the ongoing conversation and continue to build your marketing muscle by joining Growth Hub, the online community that empowers your team to drive productivity and effectiveness.