About Matteo Ducci
Matteo Ducci is the Head of Marketing at Ascential Plc, a holding group known for owning and managing leading event-led business. In his role, he leads a central digital marketing team, supporting the various brands within the group. Matteo focuses on devising and implementing marketing strategies, primarily across paid media channels and broader internet-based initiatives.
How do you approach measuring the effectiveness of marketing efforts in B2B contexts?
Measuring marketing effectiveness in B2B isn't straightforward. When we talk about ROI, it's not just a simple metric. We need to consider whether we're looking at lifetime value or just the initial purchase.
In terms of acquisition metrics, we focus on things like lead drop rate. It's really about the quality of leads we're generating. We look at how many actually start the sales process and how many get discarded during that first interaction. You'd be surprised how often we find that some leads aren't actually looking for what we're offering.
Ultimately, what's crucial is that when someone decides to engage with us, they understand exactly what they're looking for and that it aligns with what we provide. We're not just looking at failed conversions, but rather identifying leads that prove to be a waste of time. The sales team's feedback is vital in this process. If we're delivering the right leads, the sales process should naturally progress without issues.
"In terms of acquisition metrics, we focus on things like lead drop rate. It's really about the quality of leads we're generating."
You've mentioned account-based marketing (ABM) outperforming traditional audience-based marketing. Could you elaborate on this?
In my experience, ABM tends to yield better results than traditional audience-based marketing. Audience marketing is about targeting individuals based on job titles, company types, and channels, maintained over a period until a certain action is triggered. ABM, on the other hand, is about targeting specific individuals who have shown clear intent at a particular stage in the buying process.
With ABM, we're constantly adapting our messages based on how people interact with us. It's really about focusing on the most promising accounts and being as relevant as possible depending on where they are in the buying cycle. We're not just sticking to a rigid plan - we're constantly adjusting based on real-time feedback and engagement levels.
This approach works particularly well in B2B contexts where we're not dealing with the mass volume of content that some B2C businesses might. It gives us more flexibility to personalise our approach compared to a business dealing with thousands of contacts weekly, which often needs more rigid structures just to manage the scale.
How do you foster alignment between marketing and sales teams in your acquisition strategy?
Building alignment with sales teams is crucial. What's worked well for us is directly involving the sales team in marketing activities. We regularly include sales reps in our marketing meetings. Every week, we review the performance of our campaigns, and I always recommend having someone from sales on the call. It's important they provide their feedback—what's working, what isn't, and any insights they've gathered from the week.
More broadly, it's crucial for the sales team to be as informed about our marketing strategies and ads as we are about their follow-ups on leads. I encourage our marketers to dive into the sales accounts, review notes, and really get familiar with the history of the interactions. It's all about fostering mutual understanding between both teams.
This approach is about treating people as people first, not just as members of sales or marketing teams. We're trying to create a straightforward, collaborative environment. While we still have distinct processes, we're emphasising the importance of including everyone in the decision-making process.
"This approach is about treating people as people first, not just as members of sales or marketing teams."
"It's about understanding AI and its proper application—it's like an extension of our resources."
How does your marketing approach differ when dealing with smaller versus larger target account lists, and where does AI fit into this?
The approach really differs based on the scale of your target account list. When you're dealing with a smaller, high-quality account list, it's often more effective to handle things manually. This involves getting to know each account in detail, understanding the commonalities, and annotating insights. Incorporating feedback from sales is crucial—they often have insights that might not be immediately obvious from a marketing standpoint.
For larger lists, typically in the thousands or tens of thousands, AI becomes a necessary tool. It's about understanding AI and its proper application—it's like an extension of our resources. If you're dealing with a list of about a hundred or a hundred and fifty accounts, AI might not make as much sense. But when you're dealing with thousands, AI can be invaluable for tasks like strategic segmentation and planning.
However, it's important to distinguish between different applications of AI. While it's useful for handling large-scale data and segmentation, its application in creative fields, like generative AI, is a different scenario altogether. The key is to understand where AI can truly add value and where human insight and creativity are irreplaceable.
In my current role, we typically deal with between 5,000 to 15,000 accounts, depending on the specific business context. This shift in scale has allowed us to be more targeted and personalised in our approach, while still leveraging AI where it makes sense.
But here's the thing with AI in B2B contexts - even a small error rate can mean losing significant contracts. So while AI is a powerful tool, we need to approach it carefully, especially when dealing with high-value accounts.
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About Ascential Plc
Ascential Plc helps the world’s biggest brands navigate what’s next through events, intelligence and advisory. Their two divisions, LIONS and Money20/20, serve the marketing and financial technology industries. Ascential’s unforgettable events bring customers from over 100 countries together to have the conversations that count. And with 700 employees across three continents, their experts ensure that the customers never miss a beat. Ascential plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
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.
6sense are changing the world of marketing, one customer advocacy programme at a time. Ready to transform your business?