Creating the strategy
To close the revenue gap for EQ, Bc developed a substantial account-based marketing (ABM) strategy designed to:
- Redefine who EQ are as a business
- Introduce seamless cohesion and collaboration between EQ’s sales and marketing teams
- Help EQ better understand their target audiences and nurture prospects more effectively
- Cement EQ’s position as a thought leader
Bc recommended a blended approach to serve two important purposes concurrently: a robust marketing strategy to drive solid new business opportunities quickly; and an awareness-stage content plan to improve EQ’s awareness and reputation in the marketplace.
Bc designed the initial ABM strategy and helped EQ to understand their key buyer personas, then mapped out the technology required to enable the business to accurately measure their success. Following that, detailed personas, SMART goals, sales process mapping and lead lifecycle stage definitions were developed, before content, activities and sequences were planned to help EQ effectively target identified key accounts.
Bc then identified areas of upskilling needed to successfully execute the strategy and offered the appropriate training and support as needed.
Addressing the need for a more robust marketing automation and CRM platform
To implement the strategy, EQ needed a powerful marketing automation and CRM solution that would create visibility between their sales and marketing teams, yet is cost-effective and easy-to-use.
Bc identified HubSpot Basic with its built-in CRM and add-on Sales Pro license as a good fit that would strongly align marketing and sales activities, without breaking the bank. Essential to the recommended platform was that it needed to enable EQ to:
- Track and log when key account prospects landed on their site
- See the entire prospect-to-customer journey, including pages and topics each was most interested in
- Review what content topics and case studies were resonating the most with their audience
- Prioritise sales activity based on lead demographics and behaviour
Guiding the execution
With a limited budget, EQ chose to implement the strategy themselves. So Bc took on a mentoring role to guide EQ through the strategy execution.
Once the ABM strategy and supporting content plan had been designed and put into place, Bc started to deliver monthly training, mentoring and support on:
- ABM techniques
- Platform management and optimisation
- Creation and execution of the initial contact piece
- QA and editing of content
- Inbound marketing tools and techniques
