These are all symbiotic relationships that take work, effort, care and consideration to maintain. They can also end in a messy split if not managed correctly.
But when pushed to their potential, the value of real relationships can take you to places, discover unknown territory like nothing else, and working in true partnership can accelerate your collaborative efforts to new heights.
Relationship Powered Marketing (RPM) should be the guiding principle for your ABM strategy. Without this, marketing can only ever do so much in demonstrating clicks, account engagements, site hits, video views, c-suite eyeballs, and likes… we all like likes.
Developing a powerful relationship with Sales, getting their buy-in and eventual advocacy is critical to your 1:1 ABM success and its future. But RPM never stops. Empowering Sales with messaging and tools to engage their prospects and build those relationships is the next piece in the puzzle that marketers and agencies must keep front of mind. The conversation must always continue.
What’s it all for? It’s for the point at which communication becomes conversation, marketing becomes meetings and ideas are shared. And importantly, revenue is returned.
But what is a relationship truly built on? It’s simple. Trust.
People listen because they like what they hear, but most of all they trust it. Customers invest in ideas, solutions and technologies because they trust the brand. They trust it’s going to solve their challenges, save them cost, get them promoted, get them an award. They trust that you know what they need.
A recent IDG survey found that 80% of the executives interviewed said that when a technology brand is trusted it immediately increases the likelihood that they will be added to the short list of vendors. Belief works, and trust is persuasive.
When crafting your ABM campaigns, building trust and telling your brand story is key for your prospects to believe that you are an enterprise they want to work with, or more importantly NEED to work with. And trust is influenced by relationships.
As an agency we spend our time with our clients creating RPM, building trust and ensuring our efforts are creative kindling to fuel the fire of relationships between Sales and their Customers, throughout the sales cycle.
You will see relationships being a key part of Forbes list of ABM must-haves and if you want to discuss an ABM program that ticks all of their boxes, then let’s talk with tea.
The best relationships are built over a cup of tea.