Market View
Beyond MQLs: Reframing success in B2B marketing
Sponsored by:
Produced by:
Keith Povey
Director of Revenue Marketing at Panaseer
Market View
Beyond MQLs: Reframing success in B2B marketing
Sponsored by:
Produced by:
Keith Povey
Director of Revenue Marketing at Panaseer
About Keith Povey
Keith Povey is the Director of Revenue Marketing at Panaseer, a leading cybersecurity company. With over two decades of experience in marketing, Keith specialises in building and managing revenue-driven marketing teams in high-growth tech environments. At Panaseer, he has played a pivotal role in expanding the marketing team from two to eight members and driving the company's marketing strategy to support its evolution into a hyper-growth scale-up. Keith is passionate about leveraging Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to foster trust and build deep relationships in the cybersecurity sector.
How does Account-Based Marketing (ABM) contribute to building trust in the cybersecurity sector, and can you share an example of a successful ABM campaign?
ABM is fundamentally about trust through value exchange. In cybersecurity, where trust is paramount, ABM allows us to be focused and specific rather than ubiquitous. We aim to identify and engage accounts well before initiating formal marketing efforts, consistently providing value without immediately asking for something in return.
A prime example of effective ABM was a small, bootstrapped campaign we ran targeting about 25 to 30 accounts. We meticulously analysed their annual reports to understand where cybersecurity was mentioned and crafted personalised outreach addressing their specific challenges. This was followed by various engagement methods over several months, including personalised videos, VIP dinner invitations, and strategic reports. The success lies in being non-intrusive and benevolent in your approach. When you're genuinely helpful without being forcefully sales-oriented, people begin to trust and open up to further dialogue.
It's important to note that in cybersecurity, professionals might already believe they know the best solutions. We avoid being overly aggressive or sales-driven. Our approach is about delivering substantial, relevant content that addresses our prospects' specific needs and challenges.
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ABM is fundamentally about trust through value exchange. In cybersecurity, where trust is paramount, ABM allows us to be focused and specific rather than ubiquitous.
You've mentioned the importance of measuring relationship strength. How would you implement this metric, and what challenges do you foresee?
I've been advocating for a 'strength of relationship' metric in my recent roles, though it's challenging because it involves metrics that are not commonly embraced due to their uncertainty. Currently, our metrics revolve around scoring activities like clicks, opens, and views. While these are self-gratifying, there's no real measure of what these scores mean for the relationship itself.
Implementing this metric would involve quantifying interactions that contribute to relationship building, such as meeting at an event. When the relationship is strong enough, that's the right time to seek a conversion. A former CMO of Dell introduced a manual process where marketing, sales, and SDRs would each rate the relationship on a scale of one to ten. They would then average these scores, and if it reached a certain threshold, they'd maintain that level of engagement.
The challenge lies in getting the entire organisation to buy into this approach. Every organisation would likely have its own way to score relationships. Just because an account is in buying mode doesn't mean they're ready to buy from you, or that they even know who you are or trust you. There's a critical need to connect these metrics, if only they were in place.
This approach contrasts with traditional lead scoring models, which can be inadequate when dealing with complex enterprise-scale organisations. In cybersecurity, you're often managing 15 to 20 stakeholders, and you only see a fraction of their activities. That's why relationship-level metrics are crucial for guiding sales teams in building those relationships and strategic account planning.
How do you maintain engagement and provide value as opportunities move through the pipeline?
Once we've qualified an opportunity, the key is not to stop providing value too soon. As conversations deepen or become more frequent, marketing tends to be phased out unless there's a dedicated function for funnel conversion. Sales teams focus on future returns and ROI post-payment, but during the negotiation and development stages, if we're not continuously providing value, our priority on their to-do list can decrease.
Maintaining perceived value is crucial. This could involve offering early access to a proof of concept or running some of their data for free while discussions are ongoing. There are opportunities to provide value that can secure a more substantial foothold. Typically, once marketing hands off to sales, there's a critical period in the first half of the pipeline where the interaction is mostly about extracting information from the client. This one-way transaction doesn't provide them with value.
True value in the early stages is as crucial as it is to initially get them into the opportunity. If you can offer something meaningful during those early interactions, you stand a much better chance of moving the opportunity through the pipeline effectively.
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True value in the early stages is as crucial as it is to initially get them into the opportunity. If you can offer something meaningful during those early interactions, you stand a much better chance of moving the opportunity through the pipeline effectively.
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More data, CRM data, intent, and installed base set up a human for success rather than continuing solely with tech. It's about finding the right balance between leveraging technology for efficiency and maintaining the personal touch that builds trust and relationships.
How do you balance the demand for both quantity and quality of leads, especially with limited resources?
This is a typical struggle in our industry. The sales team often demands quantity while expecting quality, which creates a paradox. They want more qualified leads with the same resources and budget, but they need to be as good as, if not better than, before. When you say it out loud, it sounds unrealistic, but that's the expectation.
To address this, we leverage data and technology quite extensively. We harness intent data and conduct manual research through our ABM programs. We're also utilising AI, notably for copywriting and content creation. However, there's definitely a point where human input takes over. We provide the data to our Account Executives (AEs) or Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), and they line up their strategies using those indicators and intent data filters. But then it's all about the human touch, depending on what you're selling.
More data, CRM data, intent, and installed base set up a human for success rather than continuing solely with tech. It's about finding the right balance between leveraging technology for efficiency and maintaining the personal touch that builds trust and relationships.
About Panaseer
Panaseer is an innovative cybersecurity company that provides cutting-edge solutions for security controls and metrics. Founded with the mission to enhance digital security landscapes, Panaseer helps organisations effectively measure and manage their cybersecurity posture. Their technology delivers critical insights and analytics, enabling businesses to identify, prioritise, and respond to risks more efficiently in an increasingly complex digital environment.
About 6sense
6sense is on a mission to revolutionise the way B2B organisations 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 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything, do anything, with 6sense.
