Feature: 6 Tips for Partner-based ABM

Let's talk ABM | CARTO

Let’s talk ABM | CARTO

6 tips for Partner-based ABM

What if there was a way to take your products or services to market quicker? To accelerate the process and boost brand awareness at the same time?

That is exactly what CARTO has achieved through their partnerships.

As ABM continues to evolve, the popularity of partner and channel-based ABM surges, and the results speak for themselves.

In a recent episode of Let’s talk ABM, I had the pleasure of speaking with Florence Broderick, CMO at CARTO, about the ins and outs of Partner-based ABM.

In the interview we discussed:

How CARTO's marketing has pivoted over the last 18 months
What makes Partner Marketing different
Why nurturing talent is so important
Advice on how to succeed at Account-based Marketing

Get to know your partners

With Partner-based ABM, building strong relationships is critical to the success of your program.

Whether partnering with complementary tech and data companies or with experts within your target industry, you need to understand what drives them, how they’re structured, and how their compensation model works.

Leveraging partners that have a direct line to your target accounts is a great way to build relationships and boost brand recognition, but you need to give them a reason to want to work with your brand over your competitors.

What value can you bring to the table? Map out your accounts, educate your partners, and ensure you’re partnering with the right people, who can take your program to the next level.

One of the biggest bets for us is our Partner Marketing and really leveraging some of our strategic partners, like Google, as channels, because they have a direct line to so many accounts and a really strong, large salesforce that we can work very closely with.

Florence Broderick | CMO | CARTO

Provide a ‘Campaign in a box’

Your partners will never know your brand as well as you do. They don’t know the ins and outs of your products or solutions, they don’t know the use cases, and they don’t know the value you have to offer.

It’s up to you to communicate that.

Providing partners with what is essentially a ‘campaign in a box’ is a great way to ensure they deliver the message that you want.

From videos to mapped-out target accounts to one-pagers and eBooks – give your partners the materials they need to move deals forward and create opportunities within your target market.

Make it very clear to them. Give them the materials. Give it all 'on a plate' - one-pagers, videos, etc, and that will really help them to move deals forward and for us to create opportunities.

Florence Broderick | CMO | CARTO

Embrace outbound

Outbound isn’t just for Sales. To get the most out of your Partner Marketing, you need to be prepared to get out there and build connections.

Opportunities will not arrive at your doorstep – you have to go and find them. And with Partner-based ABM, those opportunities could be the difference between landing your target accounts or not.

Reach out to Partner Marketing Managers, reach out to Demand Gen experts and show them your ideas, your game-plan and the potential revenue you can drive.

I think if you're looking to find those opportunities, be outboundish about it as Marketers, outbound isn't just for salespeople, outbound is for Marketers.

Florence Broderick | CMO | CARTO

Find the right person

The right team can make a world of difference to ABM.

But finding the right people to complement and progress your vision is no easy feat. Talent is scarce, and the job market is difficult world to navigate.

The key to securing the right people is to invest. Invest in training, upskilling, and promoting employees so you can shape a company culture that fits with your program.

With ABM, curiosity and a hunger to learn is far more important than years of experience. You can build skill and experience – what matters is the attitude of you employees and their willingness to progress and learn.

It's very important to be able to attract the best Marketing talent. So, something we always try and do is we try and keep a talent pipeline within CARTO and train people internally.

Florence Broderick | CMO | CARTO

Get everyone to ‘row in the same direction’

Alignment is the secret to ABM success.

If your teams aren’t on the same page, you’ll be ‘rowing in different directions’, and get no closer to your destination.

Focus in on a universal goal – in this instance, landing your target accounts – and align around that. Your metrics, your content, your entire process should all come back to working towards that goal.

In the midst of a marathon, it can be very easy to get distracted and try to take shortcuts or side roads – but with ABM, everyone needs to head in the same direction and stick to the planned path.

I think sometimes people want to jump off and do CrossFit instead of doing the marathon. And that's the challenge. And the best way to deal with that is very strong communication.

Florence Broderick | CMO | CARTO

Don’t neglect content

With ABM, it’s very easy to get caught up in the technology, software and tools, and lose focus over what really matters – the content.

After all, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated your tech stack is if you don’t have anything to use it on.

Your content is the only part of the program that’s visible to your accounts – it’s the outcome of all the insights, research, technology and data that came before it, and it’s the bit that will make or break your campaign.

Invest in it, improve it, and make sure that the content you’re producing does your program justice.

Some people think that when you're starting off an ABM strategy, it's best to invest in tools. But what's the point in buying ABM tools if you don't have great content and great campaigns to push through those tools.

Florence Broderick | CMO | CARTO

Watch the full interview