Hi, .

Here is what happened in Trenches last week.

ABM cadence and prospecting multiple buying committee members

We've hosted a 2nd ABM roundtable and discussed:

• What’s the problem with ABM campaigns orchestration
• How to arrange a cadence of touches for your ABM program
• Warm-up plays that make sense

Access the recording here. Passcode: +m32Yf7D

Also, please, comment here on what questions/topics you'd love to discuss at the upcoming roundtables.

Upcoming events

• How to differentiate your product in 2022 with Peep Laja (founder of CXL and Wynter) - 21st Oct, 4 PM CET - 10 AM EST.
• Iterate your way to perfect marketing with Trevor Longino - 27th Oct, 5 PM CET - 11 AM EST
• Developing a centralized ABM playbook and scaling ABM with Andy Culligan - 28th Oct, 4 PM CET - 10 AM EST

Questions from fellow Trenchers

Let's help each other. If you can contribute or answer any question below, just click the link and share your thoughts.

• Is a webinar/virtual workshop/whatever-you-call-it a good idea for re-engaging "frozen" opportunities?
• Hubspot vs Salesforce vs Pipedrive?

Post Of The Week

Can your marketing strategy fit on a spreadsheet?

And more importantly, is it ACTIONABLE?

Let's be honest.

If you asked 10 B2B marketers and execs what marketing strategy is, you'd likely get 10 different responses.

Even Wikipedia makes this weirdly unclear:

"A marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-looking approach to planning with the fundamental goal of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage."

No wonder so many companies create long documents... while in reality, no one has a clear idea WHAT should be achieved and HOW.

That's why I love this definition:

"A marketing strategy outlines the way to get from A (where you are) to B (where you want to be) using affordable resources (marketing budget, team, etc.)"

An actionable strategy that stacks the odds in your favor should include:

1. Point A: current indicators

2. Point B: goals you want to achieve (e.g. increase sales by 30%)

3. Target market (the most promising segments and verticals)

4. Ideal customer profile (list of attributes that your best customers from target segments have in common, including the buying committee and the reason they choose you over competitors)

5. Best-fit account selection & disqualification criteria

6. Positioning and value proposition

7. Buyer's journey (how and where your ideal customers discover, evaluate and purchase a product like yours, and how you'll influence the buying journey)

8. Priority channels, thought leaders, partners, communities, content topics, strategies, tactics and tools we’ll use at every stage

9. Milestones and marketing sprints you'll run to get from A to B

10. Detailed plan, including the resources you'll need (team, budget, etc.)

Such a strategy fits on several sheets of a spreadsheet.

And most importantly, it's 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆:

You know WHOM and HOW to target, WHICH content and campaigns to run — and WHO in your team should do WHAT (and WHEN).

By Vladimir Blagojevic

Best Shares From Trenches Community

• Copying what others are doing and being a commodity is a safe decision, but you'll always be struggling by Andrei Zinkevich
• Have you ever experienced goal setting that created a negative effect by Wiebke Arendt?
• Have you started your 2022 planning by Gaby Grinberg
• You need to say NO more often by Vladimir Blagojevic
• How would you define Sales? by Relja Denic
• You don't need to post viral content on LinkedIn to use this platform as the engine of your business or career by Tomasz Maciejewski
• The B2B Revenue Waterfall in 2021, according to Forrester by Paul Denham

See you in Trenches 😉

Andrei Zinkevich