Starting Out with Account-Based Marketing with Ajay Khanna

Often for an early-stage startup, big account-based marketing (ABM) platforms can be too complex, too expensive, and ill-fitting for the stage of business they’re presently operating in. Yet, they still want to take some steps to go on that journey toward ABM. Ajay Khanna the CMO of Mezmo and an experienced marketing leader who has implemented ABM strategies across multiple companies joins us as he shares his insights for navigating the complexities of ABM, especially for early-stage startups. This week, episode 48 of the FiredUp! podcast is about starting out with account-based marketing!

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In this episode of the FiredUp! podcast, Ajay Khanna shares the challenges and best practices for implementing ABM and actionable steps you can take right now to take an ABM approach tailored to your business. 

Ajay Khanna is the CMO at Mezmo, a cloud-based telemetry data pipeline that enables application owners to enrich, control, and correlate critical business data across domains. Ajay builds data-driven marketing organizations with measurable revenue impact for growth and scale. He has led marketing strategy and planning, branding, product marketing, PR and analyst relations, and market research for various high-growth organizations, and built healthy sales pipelines with various digital, ABM, and PLG approaches. 

Ajay and Morgan discuss:

• Before implementing ABM you need to have the budget, resources, and a fundamental understanding of your ICP, persona, and repeatable sales motion to be successful. 
• Starting with a hands-on approach and prioritizing accounts based on lead scoring, intent data, and website visits can be effective without an AMB platform.
• Tools for building a comprehensive dashboard to track and measure metrics like sales pipeline, sales cycle, and account scoring. 
• ABM requires long-term commitment and sustained efforts to see significant results. 

Thank you for listening! Tune in to all the episodes for practical tips on crushing your startup marketing goals. Don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast, and tell us your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH AJAY KHANNA

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Firebrand is a startup marketing agency. We help tech startups secure outsized marketing outcomes on their path to growth.

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LINKS MENTIONED: 

The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Po

Chapters

• 0:00 Starting Out with Account-Based Marketing with Ajay Khanna
• 8:31 Using lead scoring and intent data to inform account-based marketing strategies without relying on a dedicated ABM platform.
• 16:24 Leveraging tools like Leadfeeder, Apollo, and Salesforce to track and qualify leads.
• 19:47 Educating on ICP and persona takes time, even with ABM platforms.
• 23:45 Initial buy-in is easy, but sustaining a commitment to ABM over time is crucial.
• 28:36 Measuring MQLs, account scoring, and opportunities, and how these metrics contribute to a complete view of the account.
• 33:56 Using HubSpot and other tools to understand current stack, technographic information, and present relevant information to leads.
• 40:56 FiredUp Five Segment