I remember my first paid search campaign from many, many years ago. Believe it or not, the first inbound lead came via Bing from Walmart, which generated celebratory high-fives between the marketing and sales teams. Over the next few days, the campaign generated over 100 leads -- 75 percent from companies within our ICP -- and the sales team was ecstatic. Mission accomplished. 

You can imagine my disbelief three weeks later when the campaign generated zero meetings from the SDR team's aggressive follow-up tactics. Today, I look back and chuckle at my naïveté at confusing early-stage interest with a real intent to buy. That said, there's still a small part of me today that still gets excited whenever I review the results of an early-stage demand program and fantasize about quickly converting these prospects into customers. And, from the looks of my clogged email inbox from the many SDR teams trying to convert my eBook download into a first meeting, I'm not alone. 

Thankfully, we are witnessing the expected convergence of demand generation and ABM technologies. More than half of the marketers participating in a recent Forrester- SiriusDecisions 2020 Global ABM Survey said their "desired future state" was to have demand and ABM practices that were at least "broadly aligned" — sharing people, processes, and tools — with nearly a quarter aspiring to programs that were "fully aligned" in a single initiative.

This welcome news is a natural evolution for marketing teams as they continue to optimize the B2B buyer experience. 

Create connected digital experiences and contextual customer journeys

For years, marketing teams focused exclusively -- and obsessively -- on acquisition programs to drive growth. During last year's COVID chaos, many organizations were reminded that fueling growth from existing customers was equally, if not more important, than early-stage growth. Today, marketing teams are taking a holistic and account-centric view of the customer journey (early-, mid-, and late-stage) and deliver personalized digital experiences that are both connected and contextual. 

‍Digital intent signals will guide marketing teams 

Today, marketing teams can tap into a wealth of first- and third-party intent data and propensity and audience models to help us understand the B2B buyer and separate the signal from the noise. Armed with these insights, marketing, and revenue teams can better understand early demand signals from their target accounts and related buying groups and plan focused ABM strategies. 

Give your B2B buyers what they want, early and often

Improving early-stage demand programs represent the most significant opportunity for marketing teams. By starting on the right foot, marketing teams can optimize each phase of the customer journey and ultimately boost customer lifetime value (CLV). 

On February 25, 2021, I look forward to hosting a webcast with Steven Casey, Principal Analyst from Forrester, where we will discuss why the convergence of demand generation and ABM technologies will fuel more conversions and revenue in 2021 and beyond.

• What are the key factors driving and accelerating this technological shift? 
• How should B2B marketing teams begin to prepare for the eventual convergence of demand generation and ABM technologies? 
• What can we learn from Folloze customers and other top B2B brands that are already rethinking their demand generation and ABM programs?

Click here to register and save your spot today.