Welcome to The B2B Marketing Brief! Your front-row seat to the ever-evolving world of B2B marketing. Where we keep it real—sharing wins, tackling pain points, and uncovering growth opportunities. Each edition is packed with stories, tips, and the latest trends to help you master the art of B2B engagement. Get your cup of coffee, and let’s get marketing!

In this issue:

• Get ABM Accolades with Precision Targeting: A Case Study

• FARTSS: Why So Much B2B Technology Marketing Stinks—and What We Can Do About It

• Why Bother with Awards?

Account-based marketing gives companies the power to engage high-value accounts with laser-focused precision. Forget casting a wide net; a well-executed ABM strategy should make your key prospects feel like they’re the only ones in the room.

It’s what hybrid IT service provider Flexential had in mind when they partnered with ROI·DNA in 2023 on a sharp new marketing strategy. The “Let ‘er Rip” ABM campaign — a dynamic shift from static account targeting to intent-based precision with the power of 6sense data — did more than hit new leads. It helped Flexential connect with the right prospects and seriously leveled up their pipeline.

And spoiler alert! It was nominated for ABM Program of the Year at the 2024 Breakthrough Awards. Read on to see why multi-channel intent-driven ABM reinvents what it means to speak your prospects’ language.

A Dynamic, Intent-Driven ABM Model

Flexential needed help reinventing the traditional approach. That meant abandoning the old static target account lists that weren’t cutting it. So, we introduced a dynamic intent-driven model.

Enter “Let ‘er Rip” — an ABM strategy that flipped the script on targeting. Instead of blanket approaches, Flexential’s prospects were segmented by real-time intent signals, focusing on two key solutions: colocation and cloud data protection.

We helped Flexential leverage 6sense's predictive model, categorizing accounts by their place in the buyer journey. That opened the door to engaging key accounts when it mattered most—during critical decision points—with tailored messaging that moved the needle on conversions.

Targeting the Right Audience with Intent-Driven Insights

No more guesswork! Flexential’s target accounts weren’t just random names on a list. The power of intent data lies in the ability to segment by buying signals — meaning every touchpoint was backed by real-time, meaningful data.

This dynamic segmentation helped Flexential cut through the noise and invest resources where they mattered — accounts deep in the colocation and cloud data protection funnels. No more wasting dollars at the top of the funnel; the team received coordinates on high-intent, middle-of-funnel prospects and doubled down. That’s the power of dynamic ABM.

Multi-Channel Execution for Maximum Reach

Executing this type of strategy requires more than good data — it needs multi-channel mastery. So, we worked with Flexential to deliver the strategy across multiple platforms, blending owned and paid media.

• Owned Channels: Flexential’s own ecosystem got a revamp with a redesigned website, targeted webinars (FlexTalk), an optimized SEO strategy, and a sophisticated email nurture flow.

• Paid Channels: We helped drive the strategy through 6sense Advertising, LinkedIn, content syndication, and laser-targeted Google Search ads.

In a successful ABM strategy, blending paid, owned, and earned channels is crucial for a holistic approach. Paid channels like LinkedIn and 6sense ads drive targeted awareness, while owned assets — such as your website and email nurtures — offer deeper engagement with tailored content. Earned media, like press mentions or user-generated content, builds credibility and trust.

Record-Breaking Results

The first full quarter of the “Let ‘er Rip” campaign was a game-changer:

• 48% increase in Account CTR, hitting a 12.69% CTR across the board

• 60% boost in influenced form fills quarter over quarter

• 251% to the annual pipeline target and 100% to close one target with one-quarter of performance

It bears repeating: a well-executed ABM strategy isn’t just about hitting new leads. It optimizes resources, reduces wasted spend, and shifts the focus to prospects that matter the most.

Demandbase vs. 6sense: A Clear Win

Our ABM plan included a switch from Demandbase to 6sense, and Flexential was on board. Compared to Q1 2023 on Demandbase, Q1 2024 on 6sense showed:

• 127% more accounts reached, with 44% less spend

• 10,674 accounts reached through 6sense, compared to just 2,379 on Demandbase

• A 56% drop in cost-per-click, leading to a 105% increase in influenced form fills

6sense brings real-time intent data and predictive insights to the ABM table. That means strategic decision-making (like ad spend) based on actual behaviors, not assumptions.

Flexential’s Next Steps

We’re proud to have had the opportunity to continue working with Flexential. In April 2024, we helped launch the “Scaled Buyer” program to target new markets outside their traditional ICP. Using 6sense intent signals and optimizations learned from “Let ‘er Rip,” Flexential exceeded its pipeline goals by 321% of the annual target just two quarters into the year.

Conclusion

The Flexential “Let ‘er Rip” campaign highlights the powerful synergy between a robust ABM strategy and 6sense's capabilities. By leveraging real-time intent data and predictive insights, Flexential achieved laser-focused targeting, better engagement, and stronger pipeline growth.

For any marketer looking to sharpen their ABM efforts, the key takeaway is clear: ABM goes beyond simply targeting accounts—it’s about leveraging powerful tools like 6sense to reach those accounts at exactly the right stage in their buying journey, ensuring engagement is both timely and effective. Take note: precision targeting drives success.

FARTSS: Why So Much B2B Technology Marketing Stinks—and What We Can Do About It

You’ve probably heard of the legendary physicist Richard Feynman. He’s known for a lot of things—winning a Nobel Prize in physics, and even pioneering fields like quantum computing and nanotechnology. Some count him among the top 10 physicists of all time.

But perhaps, his most enduring legacy is the cataclysm sentence.

“If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence was passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?”

His answer?

It’s a mouthful, but it gets the job done.

What happens if we try his thought experiment? If all B2B tech marketers were wiped off the earth, in a The Leftovers-type event, what pithy sentence could we leave behind? What single statement would capture the essence of B2B tech marketing so clearly that future marketers could find their way back to us?

In the end, we went one step further than Feynman. We distilled it down to a single, if rather unpalatable, word: FARTSS.

And, in the process, we uncovered one of our biggest problems.

The Flat-ulence of the FARTSS Formula

FARTSS stands for flexibility, agility, resilience, transparency (in pricing), scalability and security. Don’t you just love a good acronym? More seriously, have you noticed how so much of B2B technology marketing—across all stages of a customer journey and asset types—uses these words?

The FARTSS formula touches nearly everything in B2B technology. From IaaS to connectivity, and from application modernization to data management tools, we keep coming back to the same well-worn set of promises when persuading audiences.

Whether it’s tech giants with decades of history or born-in-the-cloud SaaS startups, global companies or local ones, whether they serve a swathe of industries or just one, or offer a range of solutions to just a few, marketers of all stripes seem to obey the golden law of FARTSS.

Whatever happened to differentiation? Wasn’t it supposed to be at the heart of marketing?

An ill, Ahem, Wind That Blows No Good

The faint funk of flatness—one that FARTSS represents—wafts into other areas, too.

Let’s take a closer look at how we approach our audiences, and we’ll likely see the same two-sizes-fits-all thinking at play. Most of us have a good handle on the CIO persona, and that of their immediate teams (CIO-minus-1 personas). And we can speak to them well. But beyond that, it’s often a wash of titles lumped into one big bucket. The result? We end up marketing everything from observability tools to databases to CI/CD solutions to the same set of “IT managers.”

We could argue that we’ve gotten better at segmentation, especially as budgets have shifted from CIOs to other business leaders. And we have. But then we recycle the same old FARTSS messaging to business audiences, as if the only thing distinguishing CEOs, CFOs, and CMOs—from CIOs—were their middle initials.

This lack of differentiation also shows up in the words we use: Achieve, leverage, enterprise, efficiency, and initiative. The same monochrome voice, from brand to brand. The use of emotion, humor, satire, and storytelling is either banned, or employed tentatively, as we look over our shoulder, waiting to be pulled up.

None of this is to belittle the challenges we face as marketers. In an era when it’s easy to offend—or have what we say distorted—what used to be guardrails (read: old school brand guidelines), can be seen by some as prison bars, caging empathy and differentiation. (The living Brand Guideline — which is updated as the brand, and world changes around it, is alive and well. In fact it’s something we create for clients. But that’s a story for another day.)

Going from Generic to Genuine

There are a few ways we can break the spell of sameness, but let’s focus on just one approach that can make a real impact: Having real human conversations.

What’s the best way to get here? By doing the basics, only better. We start by truly getting to know the people we are talking with: Who they are, and what matters to them.

Here’s an example. It’s tempting to view personas as broad job titles such as ‘network teams’. But there’s incredible value in drilling down further. Instead of approaching network teams as a monolith group, we could identify three distinct sub-groups: Network leaders, managers, and practitioners. Each of these have different aspirations, challenges, and key performance indicators.

Network Leaders are focused on the big picture, such as future-proofing enterprise IT by modernising networks to enhance customer, employee, and partner experiences.

Network Managers, on the other hand, are more concerned with overall operational efficiency, innovation, and team productivity. So they aim to retire technical debt; improve network security; support data-intensive, low latency applications that power competitive differentiation; simplify and automate network operations; and improve talent acquisition and retention, among others.

In contrast, Network Practitioners, such as Network Engineers and Administrators, are consumed by daily challenges like raising network uptime; accelerating mean-time-to-detect-and-respond to network outages; and improve network visibility, sizing, elasticity, latency, and bandwidth utilisation, among others.

By acknowledging these distinctions, we can speak to each in a way that feels specific and relevant. We create messaging that feels personal, contextual, and deeply aligned with their real challenges, aspirations and jobs. This approach helps avoid generic, one-size-fits-all messaging and creates stronger connections with audiences. 

FARTSS is fun, but it’s time to open a window. Here’s to being the spark that lights a match—and clears the room of hot air.

Why Bother with Awards?

There were points while preparing our most recent awards submissions where I thought, ‘I don’t have time for this!’ That wasn’t because I didn’t believe in the quality of the work, or its ability to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best our industry has to offer, but just because submitting awards can be difficult. So why do we bother?

The simple answer is that we do it because we want to win (of course). Award wins can be an incredible external validation of the expertise we have, and a much-deserved nod for the teams that work so hard to take our marketing programmes from an initial concept or idea all the way to hard, quantified results for the client.

But I’ve learned that there’s another answer: the process of developing award submissions can actually bring you just as much value as the fancy ceremony and (hopefully) trophy at the end of it all.

Gaining Perspective on What Happened

The work we’ve recently submitted for the B2B Marketing Awards was our ABM programme with the Honeywell Productivity Solutions and Services team. It’s been running for almost five years now. Over that time our approach has matured, scaled, and adapted to a market and a business that have been fast evolving.

Even though we had a clear sense of the recent phase of the campaign that we wanted to discuss, that history meant digging deep into the what, why, when, where and how of the decisions we made. When did our sense of the client’s challenges really click? How did boundaries emerge, and what gave us the drive to push them?

Key stakeholders (internally and externally) will remember critical elements differently, so it’s crucial to gain multiple perspectives. Talking to them through the awards lens, not just about today’s workback plan or tomorrow’s KPIs, makes you realise: oh, that’s what unlocked that insight. Or, that’s why we finally won buy-in for that idea.

As we build out a more holistic picture – and pull together the various outcomes in a really concentrated way that has the benefit of hindsight – it all starts to feel like a cohesive story.

Reflecting on the Marketing Challenge

It’s crucial to avoid looking back with rose tinted glasses. As you pull your programme narrative into the shape of the submission form, take the time to reflect on the roadblocks, delays and unseen complications that forced you to pivot.

When you lay out all the pieces of the puzzle, it’s much easier to spot the opportunities you might have missed along the way and think critically about how you could have done things differently and maybe better. Take these learnings and use them to evolve and enhance existing programmes or solve new client challenges to deliver even stronger programmes next time round.

Awards indisputably come down to results, and when you’re putting together a deep dive award entry, different ways to measure success above and beyond client targets will undoubtedly come to the fore. End of campaign reports tell us whether we met the targets we set out to achieve. However, there’s much more growth to be had from assessing your success through a story, with a healthy dose of criticism as well as praise. Take the opportunity to assess the bigger picture and true business impact of the campaign.

Investing in the Team

We’re delighted that our awards submission with Honeywell has landed us a shortlist position for Best Use of Account-Based Marketing at the B2B Marketing Awards. No matter what happens when we find out the winners at the end of the month, the efforts we spent on making the submission strong and cohesive and persuasive will have been worth it as a moment of team reflection, celebration and learning.

And that’s what I tell people: winning is the ultimate goal, but if you’re proud of the campaign and you want to do more like it, and better, it deserves that awards consideration.

Having said all that, and being a little self-indulgent, I do really want to win. Wish us luck?

Catch our next issue out on 22 January 2025!

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