What has the attention of marketers for 2019?

We can talk about AI and everything it is bringing to marketing and digital experiences, but what are the things most marketers are really thinking about  What do they have to get good at this year so that they can move on to new, innovative tactics

Spotlight

Positive Keyword

Positive Keyword is an International Digital Marketing Agency, born of the common interest of multidisciplinar professionals in the digital world. Based in the UK and with members of three nationalities, we give specialized services such as SEM, SEO, Web graphic development and innovation, site hosting, location and market research in five languages for market segmentation all over the globe.

OTHER ARTICLES
Buyer Intent Data

Buying-Group Marketing: Why is it Gaining Traction?

Article | October 7, 2022

Selling more and selling faster is the goal that drives B2B marketers. Strategically implementing account-based marketing (ABM) to target individuals with hyper-personalized messaging across different channels is what helps them achieve it. But what is Buying Group Marketing (BGM), and why do B2B marketers need to keep up with it? Buying-Group Marketing (BGM): Taking ABM up a notch by focusing on an entire buyer group instead of the account as a whole, it’s called buying-group marketing (BGM). According to a recent Forrester survey, 94% of B2B organizations sell to groups of three or more. They do this instead of spending time identifying a set of ICPs and making a purchase decision. Let us take a look at what BGM is all about. Buying Group Marketing: The Next Evolution of ABM To implement BGM, you first need to understand what buying groups are. A purchasing group is a group of people within a target account who have a say in the purchasing decision. This makes them crucial in B2B targeting. Once B2B marketers learn about their target personas, they can come up with an effective marketing plan and approach them strategically. In large enterprises, purchase decisions are never restricted to one individual. The larger the purchase decision, the larger the size of the buying groups. When a decision involves new technologies, services, or products, an individual struggle to make a purchase decision swiftly. According to Gartner, more than 75% of customers describe these purchases as very complex or difficult. With the help of BGM, the decision-making process can be streamlined and shared among multiple people within an organization. Driving Success with BGM To better execute BGM, organizations need to change their mindsets, processes and technologies and work to understand how buying groups work together. Until demand management matches the ways buyers are making purchasing decisions, marketing and sales alignment will not be possible. Organizations need to first understand how buying groups work together, then align their mindsets, technologies, and processes to efficiently execute BGM. When the marketing and sales teams align their demand management goals with the decision-making groups, only then can they drive success in their campaigns. Interest from more than one person from a single company can lead to more success and influence in the buying phase. B2B marketers need to move beyond the idea that only the first person to respond from a company should be entertained as a lead if a second person from the same company shows interest in their product or services. They need to understand that no matter how tempting account-based advertising may seem, it doesn’t guarantee success. They should focus on engaging the actual decision-makers of their target accounts. When customer personas are mapped according to their buying roles within a group, organizations will have the much-needed intelligence required to make personalized sales. The success of BGM demands the delivery of content that resonates with an individual as per their role in a buying group. B2B marketers must meet them where they are with the content that they need. Organizations can have crucial intelligence on their customers after mapping their personas and considering their roles in the buyer groups. Delivering content that the target individual can relate to is a prerequisite of BGM. BGM may not be new as a concept, but B2B marketers see improvements in their performance by harnessing it as their principal strategy. Adapting to BGM will give them the edge that they seek, while the rest try to keep up with the changing trends of the ABM industry. ________________________________________

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Account Based Analytics

4 Metrics to Measure ABM Impact on Sales

Article | August 3, 2022

Dealing with lengthy sales cycles, multiple decision-makers, and aggressive sales quotas must not be new for sales leaders like you. However, if you collaborate more closely with marketing and customer success, you will likely achieve better results with your ABM strategy. According to Forrester, highly aligned businesses grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable. In this article, we will cover four ABM metrics you should be concerned with and how to track them to inform future ABM campaigns. 4 Metrics to Measure ABM Impact on Sales Pipeline Velocity When calculating pipeline velocity, compare the progression of opportunities through the sales cycle stages before and after. Measure how the velocity compares to previous cycles, whether you're running an ABM pilot or a mature program. Pipeline Velocity will help sales teams find opportunities during the sales cycle and close those good deals faster. Average Sales Cycle Length Measuring the average sales cycle length before and after the launch of your ABM program allows you to see if marketing activities have reduced the time it takes for your team to convert likely buyers from an opportunity to closed-won deals. A shorter sales cycle results in a greater number of closed deals per year and impressive ROI figures for your team. Average Contract Value (ACV) Average contract value (ACV) is one of the most important ways to measure the success of account-based marketing (ABM) because one of the main benefits of ABM is to find and convert high-intent, high-value accounts. Gartner found that the average deal size for ABM programs was 20% higher than for traditional demand generation programs. Measuring ACV can give you information about sales results and show how changes to ABM planning and strategy affect the bottom line. Customer Lifecycle Value (CLV) Customer Lifecycle Value is an all-encompassing metric that helps you determine how well your ABM program works and lets you predict future ROI. Once you've measured and optimized your CLV, you can assess customer churn and retain your high-value accounts. If you give accounts what they need at every stage of the buyer's journey through excellent customer service and personalized content, your customer churn rate will drastically decrease. Finishing Up Any successful ABM program starts and ends with strategic goals, objectives, and data-driven metrics. ABM programs done right can equip sales teams to point to a more valuable pipeline, shorter sales cycles, and more closed-won business.

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Account Based Data

Can Your ABM Solution Measure For Your ABX Needs?

Article | June 29, 2023

ABX is about quality, not quantity. The traditional metrics that have been used to gauge ABM success are not useful in the experience-centric realm. The new and more complex benchmarks for measuring success revolve around: Relationship analytics Journey analytics Attribution analytics Once you’ve successfully closed accounts, you want to make sure you understand which ABM programs helped to contribute to that sale so you can rinse and repeat. This is where you can evaluate how a vendor measures ABM success and the entire Account-Based Experience. You will want to choose a vendor who can help you optimize your programs from the top of the funnel to the bottom, and grow your customer’s lifetime value. Some examples of metrics to measure include the volume and velocity of an account as it makes its way through the buyer journey. This helps you understand whether your programs are engaging enough as well as whether your sales cycle is too long. A strong ABM vendor will also have different methods for measuring attribution since not all businesses are alike, and marketers love seeing attribution models so they can measure the success of their marketing efforts and ROI. Other metrics to consider include advertising campaigns and website visits – but with an account-based lens. After all, you want to understand whether your advertising is reaching the right accounts and which accounts are engaging on your website. If you find you’re short-staffed, some ABM vendors offer strategic services to help you with your ABM strategy and measurement. To learn more about vendor onboarding and support, read the next section. Because ABX has a different set of metrics than ABM, when it comes to measuring the performance of the ABM solution from the vantage point of the customer experience, the scope also changes. The vendors on your shortlist should, among other features: Offer a dashboard to measure ABM impact from across the funnel. Track volume, velocity and conversion metrics for each journey stage. Offer customizable subscriptions for all custom reports. People and account based heatmaps. Allow you to combine first party, third party, firmographic and technographic data for segmentation and reporting. Allow you to compare the performance of different audiences or account lists and evaluate the impact of specific programs. Enable you to see the engagement and activities that influenced the different stages of a deal cycle. Measuring a journey and a relationship in the long term requires measuring as much data as possible, so find out if they also: Centralize your existing data sources in one location? Track B2B metrics by account? Track and report on anonymous first-touch visitors by account? Have strategic services in place to help you set up ROI reporting based on your strategies? Allow you to compare different timeframes for account stages? Provide advanced BI capabilities for ABM? The point of measuring is to take action based on knowledge and insights, and having an ABM solution that allows you to bring together all of the relevant data points for your decision-making is pivotal for the success of your business. Our agnostic Definitive Guide to Choosing an Account-Based Marketing Platform provides you with checklists like the one above as well as the reasoning behind the need for each of the features outlined in the ebook. Check it out and take advantage of the printable list we put together for your own use at the end of the guide. ABX is about quality, not quantity. The traditional metrics that have been used to gauge ABM success are not useful in the experience-centric realm. The new and more complex benchmarks for measuring success revolve around: Relationship analytics Journey analytics Attribution analytics Once you’ve successfully closed accounts, you want to make sure you understand which ABM programs helped to contribute to that sale so you can rinse and repeat. This is where you can evaluate how a vendor measures ABM success and the entire Account-Based Experience. You will want to choose a vendor who can help you optimize your programs from the top of the funnel to the bottom, and grow your customer’s lifetime value. Some examples of metrics to measure include the volume and velocity of an account as it makes its way through the buyer journey. This helps you understand whether your programs are engaging enough as well as whether your sales cycle is too long. A strong ABM vendor will also have different methods for measuring attribution since not all businesses are alike, and marketers love seeing attribution models so they can measure the success of their marketing efforts and ROI. Other metrics to consider include advertising campaigns and website visits – but with an account-based lens. After all, you want to understand whether your advertising is reaching the right accounts and which accounts are engaging on your website. If you find you’re short-staffed, some ABM vendors offer strategic services to help you with your ABM strategy and measurement. To learn more about vendor onboarding and support, read the next section. Because ABX has a different set of metrics than ABM, when it comes to measuring the performance of the ABM solution from the vantage point of the customer experience, the scope also changes. The vendors on your shortlist should, among other features: Offer a dashboard to measure ABM impact from across the funnel. Track volume, velocity and conversion metrics for each journey stage. Offer customizable subscriptions for all custom reports. People and account based heatmaps. Allow you to combine first party, third party, firmographic and technographic data for segmentation and reporting. Allow you to compare the performance of different audiences or account lists and evaluate the impact of specific programs. Enable you to see the engagement and activities that influenced the different stages of a deal cycle. Measuring a journey and a relationship in the long term requires measuring as much data as possible, so find out if they also: Centralize your existing data sources in one location? Track B2B metrics by account? Track and report on anonymous first-touch visitors by account? Have strategic services in place to help you set up ROI reporting based on your strategies? Allow you to compare different timeframes for account stages? Provide advanced BI capabilities for ABM? The point of measuring is to take action based on knowledge and insights, and having an ABM solution that allows you to bring together all of the relevant data points for your decision-making is pivotal for the success of your business. Our agnostic Definitive Guide to Choosing an Account-Based Marketing Platform provides you with checklists like the one above as well as the reasoning behind the need for each of the features outlined in the ebook. Check it out and take advantage of the printable list we put together for your own use at the end of the guide.

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Core ABM

How 6sense’s Embedded CDP Creates Immediate Wins

Article | June 6, 2022

Here’s a (somehow) well-kept secret about ABX: it can create immediate wins for your teams. When you and your teams start laser-focusing on the right prospects and customers — at the right time — it doesn’t take long for the wins to start piling up. Why? A winning ABX strategy will leverage an AI-powered customer data platform (CDP) that has an existing database of critical information such as: What your ideal customer profile (ICP) looks like Accounts you might not know about that are in-market and ready-to-buy The websites, keywords, and topics your buyers research most The signals your buyers give off when they’re ready to buy When you leverage this historical data, it’s like flipping on a spotlight on your most important accounts and everything they’re doing. Let’s look at why a CDP is so important for an ABX strategy and how you can switch your thinking from, “When will I start seeing ROI?” to “How will I capitalize on all of these opportunities?” How CDPs Bolster Your ABX Strategy Pursuing an ABX strategy means fine-tuning your revenue activities (marketing, sales, operations) to target very specific accounts. The critical data you need about those accounts comes from your CDP, which houses all of the interactions you have with your prospects and customers. That information includes: Web pages they visit Webinars they attend Content they download Calls they have with your sales team The CDP ingests all of that data and starts to learn what your typical buyer looks like, the patterns they follow, and what signals they give off when they’re ready to buy. Over time, and with enough data from your interactions, this information becomes very powerful and enables your teams to start honing their strategies. All of your revenue activities become more efficient because you’re reaching the right buyer at the right time. There’s a problem with traditional standalone CDPs, however. They can’t look backwards. They can only begin collecting data once implemented, and therefore take some time to start uncovering patterns and delivering results. But what if you could unlock the CDP-version of a flying DeLorean that empowers you travel into the past and unlock those missing puzzle pieces — without waiting for your CDP to ingest enough data? Win Fast with a CDP Full of Critical Data The key to unlocking fast wins for your ABX strategy is to utilize a CDP with historical first-party and third-party data. Your buyers have searched keywords related to your offerings, attended industry events, and read third-party review sites long before you implement a stand-alone CDP. Why should you have to wait for the platform to catch up and uncover those insights that are hiding in plain sight? 6sense’s embedded CDP grants you instant access to all of the historical data that our AI-powered platform has collected for years. Previously anonymous accounts that have been researching topics that match your offerings A detailed ICP based on real, historical data Insights into which of your prospects are actually in-market and ready-to-buy Clear evidence on which accounts and buyers should be prioritized We call uncovering this information lighting up the Dark Funnel™. When you shine a light on your Dark Funnel™ your teams can immediately start reaping the benefits. It won’t take months or even weeks to get your first wins — within days you can see a positive impact on your pipeline. Your sales team will get leaner and meaner. No need to spend hours trawling through LinkedIn to find the one uncovered gem of a prospect. As soon as you leverage an embedded CDP loaded with historical data, you’ll discover exactly who your next target should be. Your inside sales team can focus on personalizing outreach, not figuring out who to talk to. Your marketing team will begin improving their engagement numbers without increasing their spend. When a Director of Sales at “Ready-to-Buy Corporation” has been performing some under-the-radar research, the marketing team will receive an alert and can start targeting that person with ads that address their specific pain points. Software development company PTC is a good example. It has used 6sense to uncover more than 1,500 net new high-intent accounts that have generated $18 million in pipeline. “With 6sense, our team has driven outbound success by being empowered, motivated, and eager to strategically prospect to the right targets with relevant messaging,” says Brenda Souto, High Velocity Sales Manager at PTC. Conclusion Traditional standalone CDPs help you capture the interactions you have with your prospects and customers. All of this data is very useful to build a focused and efficient ABX strategy. But, a standalone CDP lacks historical data and trends — meaning it can take longer to see wins and ROI. An embedded CDP with a treasure trove of previous interactions, buying signals, and trend data can instantly prioritize your target accounts. Within days your teams will know much more about your buyers and how to target them with the right message at the right time.

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Spotlight

Positive Keyword

Positive Keyword is an International Digital Marketing Agency, born of the common interest of multidisciplinar professionals in the digital world. Based in the UK and with members of three nationalities, we give specialized services such as SEM, SEO, Web graphic development and innovation, site hosting, location and market research in five languages for market segmentation all over the globe.

Related News

Core ABM

Marketers Given Marginal Grades for ABM-Driven Revenue Growth

GlobeNewswire | January 25, 2024

Seeding and harvesting the sales pipeline — the process of acquiring, capturing, qualifying and converting business opportunities — are essential to the growth and profitability of B2B marketers across every industry and geographic sector. Marketing is largely responsible for driving this business process, yet nearly two-thirds of lead gen and engagement strategies are underperforming. A new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report, produced in collaboration with WM America, entitled “Fire Up Your Revenue Generation Engine,” covers critical aspects of lead generation and engagement. This includes models and metrics for tracking and measuring performance, best practice demand-gen execution, ways to score effectiveness, and more. The latest CMO Council research finds scores of marketers falling behind in lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing. Key findings from a Q4 survey of over 170 B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution leaders include: 63% say marketing must own and optimize a company’s revenue-generation engine 64% say their lead gen and engagement strategy underperforms 78% of highly evolved marketers are satisfied with their accelerated pipeline, compared to only 15% of lesser evolved marketers “In today’s competitive data-driven environment, marketers should no longer be satisfied with paltry returns on their sizable lead-gen and ABM investments,” the report notes. “It’s time to turn the tables on inefficient, ineffective, and outdated practices for anticipating, adapting, and responding to customer needs and opportunities.” “Marketers must climb the evolutionary ladder and leave behind outmoded and dated practices,” notes CMO Council executive director, Donovan Neale-May. “Using AI-derived, intention-based buyer data and advanced sales intelligence are among the ways growth marketers bring more precision, predictability, and performance to B2B account marketing investments.” The CMO Council’s research revealed the top five skill sets contributing to improved ABM-driven business outcomes: Better segmentation and precision targeting of buyers and influencers On-demand customer business intelligence and personal buyer insights Tighter integration of demand gen, channel, direct sales, and support teams Greater utilization of tools and data sources for richer prospect profiling Proactive and timely pre-sales follow up and cultivation strategies The CMO Council has uncovered widening gaps in performance between highly evolved marketers and lesser evolved marketers. Gaps are occurring in four core capabilities: lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing. This report tiers factors that make up a model for better identification, engagement and conversion. The model coincides with the CMO Council and WM America’s thought leadership initiative to advance lead revenue science practices through a certified Lead Evaluation and Assurance Process, or LEAP model. “Marketers will need to take a few LEAPs of faith in the coming months, because sticking to the status quo is just not practical or possible anymore. As data becomes more critical than ever before, CMOs need to extend their visions for innovation and forward-thinking strategies,” according to Lee Salem, WM America’s Vice President of Sales. Methodology The report is based on a survey of over 170 heads of B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution in Q4 2023. It also included content from in-depth interviews with executives from Netline, Autodesk, T-Mobile, NTT, ABM Consortium, TechTarget, IBM, B2B Marketing, Reachdesk, Momentum ITSMA, and Xometry. About the CMO Council The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 16,000+ members control more than $1 trillion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 65,000 global marketing and sales executives in over 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council’s strategic interest groups include the Customer Experience Board, Digital Marketing Performance Center, Brand Inspiration Center, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, GeoBranding Center, and the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE). To learn more, visit https://www.cmocouncil.org. About WM America WM America is a leading B2B marketing company specializing in targeted in-market demand generation. The intent database at WMA tracks the intent behavior of over 75 million business professionals globally, 24X7. The database is segmented into 3,300 categories. WMA keeps around-the-clock track of buying signals from each category in this database. Based on this extremely strong foundation of data points, the company delivers precisely targeted prospects for focused marketing. Accurate keyword search enables deriving of active content consumption and opt-in content downloads. WMA's deep search ensures accurate and targeted information delivery that helps craft successful, cutting-edge marketing strategies. For more information, visit www.wmamerica.com

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Core ABM

Demandbase Gets Named 2023 ABM Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant

Demandbase | November 06, 2023

Demandbase, an AI-driven account-based go-to-market (GTM) leader, has been named a leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Platforms. The recognition is based on Demandbase's completeness of vision and ability to execute and follows being named a Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice for ABM earlier this year. Demandbase's CEO, Gabe Rogol, attributes the recognition to product innovations and positive customer reviews. Demandbase, a pioneer in AI-driven account-based go-to-market (GTM), announces its recognition as a leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Platforms. This honor, which follows a comprehensive evaluation of nine vendors, is a testament to Demandbase’s comprehensive vision and its ability to execute effectively. Earlier this year, the company also received the Gartner Peer Insight Customers’ Choice for ABM. Gartner defines ABM platforms as software that empowers B2B marketing and sales teams to implement ABM programs at scale, including account selection, planning, engagement, and reporting. These platforms facilitate the creation of target account lists by integrating first- and third-party data. Additionally, they may engage audiences by activating channels such as display advertising, social advertising, email, and sales engagement, using a combination of native capabilities and integrations. Gabe Rogol, CEO of Demandbase, expressed his praise for the innovations the team had worked on by exclaiming, We are honored to be recognized as a leader in the Gartner ABM Magic Quadrant once again this year. We believe this recognition is a reflection of the dedication and effort we’ve invested in our product over the past year, including innovations in connected TV advertising, non-English intent, new integrations, continuous improvement of our account intelligence, the release of workspaces for enterprises, simplified dashboards, UI improvements, and more. We also believe this recognition mirrors the consistently positive reviews we receive from customers through Gartner Peer Insights and on G2. We extend our gratitude to Gartner, our customers, and our entire team. [Source – Cision PR Newswire] According to the Magic Quadrant report, the essential capabilities of ABM platforms include: Account-level intent data (proprietary and/or licensed) to understand customer behavior and buyer interest. Multi-channel campaign orchestration and activation drive engagement and progression in the buyer’s journey. Monitoring accounts and measuring analytics to quantify progress and performance across channels, campaigns, and programs On the downside, Demandbase may face stiff competition from other vendors in the ABM market, such as 6sense, Terminus, and Roll Works. It may need to invest more in product development, marketing, and customer support to maintain its leadership position and customer satisfaction. Additionally, it may encounter challenges in integrating its platform with other systems and data sources, such as CRM, marketing automation, and analytics tools. On the upside, Demandbase can leverage its recognition as a leader and a customer’s choice to attract new customers and retain existing ones. It can also showcase its product innovations and customer reviews as proof of its value proposition and differentiation in the market.

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ABM Accounts

6sense Recognized as a Leader in 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing Platforms for the Third Consecutive Year

Business Wire | November 03, 2023

6sense, the leading platform for B2B organizations generating predictable revenue, announced today that it has been named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for ABM Platforms report for the third consecutive time. 6sense is positioned highest for Ability to Execute and highest score for Completeness of Vision in the Leaders’ Quadrant. For the Account-Based Marketing Platforms report, 6sense received the highest score for all three Use Cases evaluated by Gartner, including New Account Acquisition, Account Retention, and Account Expansion. This recognition, we feel, validates what we hear from our customers every day: 6sense is integral to executing ABM in an ever-evolving B2B buying environment, said Latane Conant, CRO of 6sense. For more than a decade, we’ve obsessed over perfecting a revenue platform that delivers the highest-quality data and AI to sellers and marketers so they can confidently build pipeline and revenue. Being named a Leader for the third year in a row fuels our drive to keep raising the bar. 6sense leaders believe notable product launches this year contributed to the company’s ability to remain a Leader and strengthen its ability to deliver significant value for both marketing and sales teams, including 6sense Revenue AI for Sales and Conversational Email's AI Writer. The company's dedication to product innovation and customer-driven roadmaps solidifies its standing as the premier Revenue AI platform for go-to-market teams. “Over the past decade, 6sense has been at the forefront of the data and AI revolution, and we're proud to have played a pivotal role in helping our customers drive revenue growth with efficiency,” said Viral Bajaria, CTO and co-founder of 6sense. “Our unwavering commitment to uniting data and AI has empowered businesses to make smarter, data-driven decisions and achieve remarkable results. We look forward to continuing to lead the way in this space, delivering cutting-edge solutions that enable our customers to stay ahead of the curve and maximize their success.” “6sense has more than a decade of experience offering AI-backed solutions, including generative AI, to support our customer’s go-to-market success. Our AI solutions not only provide a multitude of possibilities for revenue strategy but also enhance long-term success for our customers,” stated Viral Bajaria, CTO and co-founder of 6sense. “We are committed to a clear and inspiring vision, focusing on driving efficient revenue growth that is customer-driven and achieved through our utilization of superior data and proven AI innovation.” Customer Satisfaction in the Market In addition to being named a Leader in this Magic Quadrant, 6sense also holds the highest overall rating (4.6 out of 5) based on 53 reviews as of April 30, 2023 and the most 5-star reviews –on Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer for Account-Based Marketing Platforms. Highlights from customers who shared their experience of using the 6sense platform in the past year include: “Best martech AI tool to empower sales and marketing team for informed decision making.” – Sales and Business Development Strategy Manager in the healthcare and biotech industry “The alignment of marketing and sales priorities, processes, and accounts provides clarity into our total revenue funnel. We've identified new opportunities, accelerated existing opportunities, and learned more about the interests of existing relationships because of 6sense.” – CMO in the IT services industry “Choose 6sense and get ready for one of the best SaaS experiences you will ever have.” – VP of Global GTM Operations in the software industry. Gartner states in the report that “Leaders demonstrate broad support for all ABM critical capabilities and consistently meet customer needs across the three core ABM use cases (acquisition, renewal, and expansion). They have high market visibility, high market penetration, strong market momentum, and a clear, long-term strategic vision and roadmap for growing their ABM platform business. Their customers report high levels of satisfaction and success with their implementations. Leaders also have initiated plans for geographic and industry expansion.” In September 2023, 6sense was honored as a Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice in the Voice of the Customer for Account-Based Marketing Platforms. The recognized vendors meet or exceed both the market average Overall Experience and the market average User Interest and Adoption. Additionally, 6sense was named a leader in the Cloud Ratings Category Report for ABM Software Platforms based on over 4,000 customer ratings. These accolades highlight the exceptional value and satisfaction that B2B sales and marketing professionals find in the 6sense Revenue AI platform. About 6sense 6sense is on a mission to revolutionize the way B2B organizations create revenue by predicting customers most likely to buy and recommending the best course of action to engage anonymous buying teams. 6sense Revenue AI is the only sales and marketing platform to unlock the ability to create, manage and convert high-quality pipeline to revenue. Customers report 2X increases in average contract value, 4X increases in win rate and a 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything. Do anything, with 6sense.

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Core ABM

Marketers Given Marginal Grades for ABM-Driven Revenue Growth

GlobeNewswire | January 25, 2024

Seeding and harvesting the sales pipeline — the process of acquiring, capturing, qualifying and converting business opportunities — are essential to the growth and profitability of B2B marketers across every industry and geographic sector. Marketing is largely responsible for driving this business process, yet nearly two-thirds of lead gen and engagement strategies are underperforming. A new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report, produced in collaboration with WM America, entitled “Fire Up Your Revenue Generation Engine,” covers critical aspects of lead generation and engagement. This includes models and metrics for tracking and measuring performance, best practice demand-gen execution, ways to score effectiveness, and more. The latest CMO Council research finds scores of marketers falling behind in lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing. Key findings from a Q4 survey of over 170 B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution leaders include: 63% say marketing must own and optimize a company’s revenue-generation engine 64% say their lead gen and engagement strategy underperforms 78% of highly evolved marketers are satisfied with their accelerated pipeline, compared to only 15% of lesser evolved marketers “In today’s competitive data-driven environment, marketers should no longer be satisfied with paltry returns on their sizable lead-gen and ABM investments,” the report notes. “It’s time to turn the tables on inefficient, ineffective, and outdated practices for anticipating, adapting, and responding to customer needs and opportunities.” “Marketers must climb the evolutionary ladder and leave behind outmoded and dated practices,” notes CMO Council executive director, Donovan Neale-May. “Using AI-derived, intention-based buyer data and advanced sales intelligence are among the ways growth marketers bring more precision, predictability, and performance to B2B account marketing investments.” The CMO Council’s research revealed the top five skill sets contributing to improved ABM-driven business outcomes: Better segmentation and precision targeting of buyers and influencers On-demand customer business intelligence and personal buyer insights Tighter integration of demand gen, channel, direct sales, and support teams Greater utilization of tools and data sources for richer prospect profiling Proactive and timely pre-sales follow up and cultivation strategies The CMO Council has uncovered widening gaps in performance between highly evolved marketers and lesser evolved marketers. Gaps are occurring in four core capabilities: lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing. This report tiers factors that make up a model for better identification, engagement and conversion. The model coincides with the CMO Council and WM America’s thought leadership initiative to advance lead revenue science practices through a certified Lead Evaluation and Assurance Process, or LEAP model. “Marketers will need to take a few LEAPs of faith in the coming months, because sticking to the status quo is just not practical or possible anymore. As data becomes more critical than ever before, CMOs need to extend their visions for innovation and forward-thinking strategies,” according to Lee Salem, WM America’s Vice President of Sales. Methodology The report is based on a survey of over 170 heads of B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution in Q4 2023. It also included content from in-depth interviews with executives from Netline, Autodesk, T-Mobile, NTT, ABM Consortium, TechTarget, IBM, B2B Marketing, Reachdesk, Momentum ITSMA, and Xometry. About the CMO Council The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 16,000+ members control more than $1 trillion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 65,000 global marketing and sales executives in over 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council’s strategic interest groups include the Customer Experience Board, Digital Marketing Performance Center, Brand Inspiration Center, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, GeoBranding Center, and the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE). To learn more, visit https://www.cmocouncil.org. About WM America WM America is a leading B2B marketing company specializing in targeted in-market demand generation. The intent database at WMA tracks the intent behavior of over 75 million business professionals globally, 24X7. The database is segmented into 3,300 categories. WMA keeps around-the-clock track of buying signals from each category in this database. Based on this extremely strong foundation of data points, the company delivers precisely targeted prospects for focused marketing. Accurate keyword search enables deriving of active content consumption and opt-in content downloads. WMA's deep search ensures accurate and targeted information delivery that helps craft successful, cutting-edge marketing strategies. For more information, visit www.wmamerica.com

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Core ABM

Demandbase Gets Named 2023 ABM Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant

Demandbase | November 06, 2023

Demandbase, an AI-driven account-based go-to-market (GTM) leader, has been named a leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Platforms. The recognition is based on Demandbase's completeness of vision and ability to execute and follows being named a Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice for ABM earlier this year. Demandbase's CEO, Gabe Rogol, attributes the recognition to product innovations and positive customer reviews. Demandbase, a pioneer in AI-driven account-based go-to-market (GTM), announces its recognition as a leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Platforms. This honor, which follows a comprehensive evaluation of nine vendors, is a testament to Demandbase’s comprehensive vision and its ability to execute effectively. Earlier this year, the company also received the Gartner Peer Insight Customers’ Choice for ABM. Gartner defines ABM platforms as software that empowers B2B marketing and sales teams to implement ABM programs at scale, including account selection, planning, engagement, and reporting. These platforms facilitate the creation of target account lists by integrating first- and third-party data. Additionally, they may engage audiences by activating channels such as display advertising, social advertising, email, and sales engagement, using a combination of native capabilities and integrations. Gabe Rogol, CEO of Demandbase, expressed his praise for the innovations the team had worked on by exclaiming, We are honored to be recognized as a leader in the Gartner ABM Magic Quadrant once again this year. We believe this recognition is a reflection of the dedication and effort we’ve invested in our product over the past year, including innovations in connected TV advertising, non-English intent, new integrations, continuous improvement of our account intelligence, the release of workspaces for enterprises, simplified dashboards, UI improvements, and more. We also believe this recognition mirrors the consistently positive reviews we receive from customers through Gartner Peer Insights and on G2. We extend our gratitude to Gartner, our customers, and our entire team. [Source – Cision PR Newswire] According to the Magic Quadrant report, the essential capabilities of ABM platforms include: Account-level intent data (proprietary and/or licensed) to understand customer behavior and buyer interest. Multi-channel campaign orchestration and activation drive engagement and progression in the buyer’s journey. Monitoring accounts and measuring analytics to quantify progress and performance across channels, campaigns, and programs On the downside, Demandbase may face stiff competition from other vendors in the ABM market, such as 6sense, Terminus, and Roll Works. It may need to invest more in product development, marketing, and customer support to maintain its leadership position and customer satisfaction. Additionally, it may encounter challenges in integrating its platform with other systems and data sources, such as CRM, marketing automation, and analytics tools. On the upside, Demandbase can leverage its recognition as a leader and a customer’s choice to attract new customers and retain existing ones. It can also showcase its product innovations and customer reviews as proof of its value proposition and differentiation in the market.

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ABM Accounts

6sense Recognized as a Leader in 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing Platforms for the Third Consecutive Year

Business Wire | November 03, 2023

6sense, the leading platform for B2B organizations generating predictable revenue, announced today that it has been named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for ABM Platforms report for the third consecutive time. 6sense is positioned highest for Ability to Execute and highest score for Completeness of Vision in the Leaders’ Quadrant. For the Account-Based Marketing Platforms report, 6sense received the highest score for all three Use Cases evaluated by Gartner, including New Account Acquisition, Account Retention, and Account Expansion. This recognition, we feel, validates what we hear from our customers every day: 6sense is integral to executing ABM in an ever-evolving B2B buying environment, said Latane Conant, CRO of 6sense. For more than a decade, we’ve obsessed over perfecting a revenue platform that delivers the highest-quality data and AI to sellers and marketers so they can confidently build pipeline and revenue. Being named a Leader for the third year in a row fuels our drive to keep raising the bar. 6sense leaders believe notable product launches this year contributed to the company’s ability to remain a Leader and strengthen its ability to deliver significant value for both marketing and sales teams, including 6sense Revenue AI for Sales and Conversational Email's AI Writer. The company's dedication to product innovation and customer-driven roadmaps solidifies its standing as the premier Revenue AI platform for go-to-market teams. “Over the past decade, 6sense has been at the forefront of the data and AI revolution, and we're proud to have played a pivotal role in helping our customers drive revenue growth with efficiency,” said Viral Bajaria, CTO and co-founder of 6sense. “Our unwavering commitment to uniting data and AI has empowered businesses to make smarter, data-driven decisions and achieve remarkable results. We look forward to continuing to lead the way in this space, delivering cutting-edge solutions that enable our customers to stay ahead of the curve and maximize their success.” “6sense has more than a decade of experience offering AI-backed solutions, including generative AI, to support our customer’s go-to-market success. Our AI solutions not only provide a multitude of possibilities for revenue strategy but also enhance long-term success for our customers,” stated Viral Bajaria, CTO and co-founder of 6sense. “We are committed to a clear and inspiring vision, focusing on driving efficient revenue growth that is customer-driven and achieved through our utilization of superior data and proven AI innovation.” Customer Satisfaction in the Market In addition to being named a Leader in this Magic Quadrant, 6sense also holds the highest overall rating (4.6 out of 5) based on 53 reviews as of April 30, 2023 and the most 5-star reviews –on Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer for Account-Based Marketing Platforms. Highlights from customers who shared their experience of using the 6sense platform in the past year include: “Best martech AI tool to empower sales and marketing team for informed decision making.” – Sales and Business Development Strategy Manager in the healthcare and biotech industry “The alignment of marketing and sales priorities, processes, and accounts provides clarity into our total revenue funnel. We've identified new opportunities, accelerated existing opportunities, and learned more about the interests of existing relationships because of 6sense.” – CMO in the IT services industry “Choose 6sense and get ready for one of the best SaaS experiences you will ever have.” – VP of Global GTM Operations in the software industry. Gartner states in the report that “Leaders demonstrate broad support for all ABM critical capabilities and consistently meet customer needs across the three core ABM use cases (acquisition, renewal, and expansion). They have high market visibility, high market penetration, strong market momentum, and a clear, long-term strategic vision and roadmap for growing their ABM platform business. Their customers report high levels of satisfaction and success with their implementations. Leaders also have initiated plans for geographic and industry expansion.” In September 2023, 6sense was honored as a Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice in the Voice of the Customer for Account-Based Marketing Platforms. The recognized vendors meet or exceed both the market average Overall Experience and the market average User Interest and Adoption. Additionally, 6sense was named a leader in the Cloud Ratings Category Report for ABM Software Platforms based on over 4,000 customer ratings. These accolades highlight the exceptional value and satisfaction that B2B sales and marketing professionals find in the 6sense Revenue AI platform. About 6sense 6sense is on a mission to revolutionize the way B2B organizations create revenue by predicting customers most likely to buy and recommending the best course of action to engage anonymous buying teams. 6sense Revenue AI is the only sales and marketing platform to unlock the ability to create, manage and convert high-quality pipeline to revenue. Customers report 2X increases in average contract value, 4X increases in win rate and a 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything. Do anything, with 6sense.

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