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Happy March 1! We’re in that weird in-between time as we feel winter is now behind us, and start looking ahead to spring. It might still be too early to break out the summer wardrobe, however… But in the meantime, give this song a listen with me and let’s keep thinking warmer thoughts!

ABM – The Future is Bright

The recent capital raise by Terminus highlights the interest in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) in the industry. Last week, the company closed a Series C of $90 million!

While sales and marketing are typically considered a single category, the apps and services built for each often end up separating the two functions. This causes a divide not only between the software, but between the teams themselves. However, smart marketers also need to engage the C-suite in their sales and marketing efforts!

Research shows that since the pandemic began, organizations are 2.2x more likely to have a C-level executive join a sales call, citing higher scrutiny and tighter budgets as the core reasons. So when engaging the C-suite, it’s important to address these top business priorities:

  • Transformation to enable digital business
  • Upgrading of infrastructure to enable remote work and collaboration
  • Cost Cutting
  • Revenue Growth
  • Increased Productivity

Engaging and interacting with the whole buying team is a key part of any good ABM strategy. Sales teams must be equipped with the knowledge, content, and messaging needed to engage with C-level executives. It’s all about the right message resonating with the right person at the right stage of the buyer’s journey!

Three Disruptive Elements for Entertainment

What are some of the emerging trends and themes that will impact entertainment in 2021 and beyond? Hypebot published their three disruptive themes that will flow from the new, ‘immersive’ web:

Lean In – Balancing ‘lean forward’ and ‘lean back’ experiences – the degree to which audiences actively choose what they are engaging with vs. what they sit back and consume. Digital audiences will increasingly expect to be a part of the content itself.

The Insurgent Opportunity – Across all of digital entertainment, big incumbent players (Facebook, Google, Spotify, etc.) are becoming so mainstream that they are having to slow their innovation so as not to alienate their newer, mainstream audiences. And this creates a huge opportunity for disruptive insurgents who can focus on disruptive vs. sustaining innovation.

Entertainment Internets – Some of the biggest platforms on the planet have become so dominant that they are effectively creating ‘mini internets’ – YouTube is the internet of video; Amazon is the internet of commerce; Facebook is the internet of social. Their huge audience has allowed them to pull the majority of the partner and creator value chain into their orbit because those parties simply cannot afford not to be there.

Read the full article here.

How does this affect you? Are there ways for you to engage your audience so they are not only leaning forward, but leaning in? How are some of these disruptions going to play out in 2021 and what opportunities will they create? Maybe in the meantime wait and see…

Is ABM right for you?

We’ve convinced our friends at Forrester to join us for another webinar – “Are You Ready for B2B Account-Based Marketing?” Learn how to create ABM Success in 2021 – sign up and we’ll send you their research report too!

As always, if I can help you out, let me know! Don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello.

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat