At this time every year we indulge ourselves in trying to guess what will be big in marketing for our clients. Over the years we have seen various “shiny toys” become the go-to technique used by marketers – podcasts, social media, content syndication, websites-in-an-ad, virtual events, viral videos, online interactive worlds. These are just a few that have been “must have” media solutions.

So for 2013 we are predicting, “key account targeting” will be the big innovation in the category of B2B technology marketing. Is this just another fad or the real deal?

Stop the presses – this is the real deal! But why?

Firstly, key account targeting gets sales and marketing working together. Never underestimate the value in this or how hard it is to achieve in most cases. This is not one of them. It’s easy.

Secondly if marketers really can prove they are influencing and affecting the closed deal, then they will see money poured into that program. With budgets still tight, campaigns linked to close deals are the ones that will survive and flourish.

So how does this work?

Several companies like Demandbase and Bizo now offer IP-targeted advertising – allowing clients to build a targeted list of companies, including in some instances the specific location, and deliver ads to users from those sites. This is not perfect for all, but most mid-sized companies with IP’s logged in national databases are fair game.

Vendors like TechTarget can also offer services identifying users from key accounts as they consume data on their network. What’s more, for a small charge, they will be all too delighted to tell you and help you engage them with your content or ads.

Add into this mix a healthy dose of direct marketing – using things like dimensional mailers, unique personalized URLs and triggers set so your sales team can identify a user and call as soon as they hit the campaign page — and we have some pretty powerful methods to really support the sales process.

Metrics of success?

Obviously, closed deals are the goal, but other metrics to measure success can be equally as important for marketing.  For example, you can just as easily set up website identification of users through IP recognition and through this track uplift in key account traffic. Again marketing can set triggers to let sales know when increased visits happen – allowing sales teams to reach into accounts, when awareness and interest is high and chance for success is at it’s best.

These are just a few of the ideas. Be on the lookout for a more in-depth Just Media white paper on the subject. We expect clients to start to push this into media briefs with increasing regularity in 2013….

Are you interested in learning more???

Dick Reed
Just Media, Inc.