Everyone is talking about account-based marketing. It has become a trend and one that has been made out to be complex. It’s time to simplify it to its core. A Multi-Industry Marketing Leader and the VP of Product Marketing at Salesforce, Nate Skinner, unmasks the notion that ABM needs to be more than what it is, which is just marketing to accounts. Have you read countless articles on ABM, but just want the simplified guide? Then check it out!   Takeaways: Account Based Marketing is a way to focus marketing efforts rather than to spray and pray. Decide on the strategic accounts your business wants to reach and then think about the people at that account that you want to market to. Sales and marketing alignment is more of a partnership now. The two departments speak two different languages, but they need to be focused on the same goal, revenue. “It’s a big opportunity for us marketers to think about the language of sales and then incorporate that into our way of doing things.”-Nate Skinner As a marketer, go to a sales meeting prepared to give marketing updates, but start with the sales number. Speak sales in terms of sales to build that partnership. Make them understand that you have the same end goal as them in mind. None of the metrics that are green for marketing matter if the revenue and sales targets are not also green. Marketing and sales own the responsibility of driving revenue together. Look at your audience and think about where they are spending their time. Consider how you can maximize your marketing on those platforms for a better reach. Podcasts allow people to learn anywhere and everywhere that they are, but it also allows a business to expand their brand reach. Trailhead is a free training tool that tears down the barriers for people to learn the skills needed to be successful and makes professional development accessible to everyone. Understand your business’ product or service and how it makes people feel. If the buyer does not have your product or service, what do they have? If you are a marketer and you have never been in sales, listen to a half-day of sales calls. It will give you a picture of what sales goes through on a day-to-day basis and you will get to see how your messaging is coming across to prospects. If you are in a stage in life where you are changing careers every few years, do not change anything. The skills that you learn with each experience will only make you better later in your career. Don’t be afraid to dream. Be future minded and think about where you want to be down the road and then execute the steps you want to do to get there.   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nateskinner/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/renniksn  Marketing Trends Podcast: https://marketingtrends.com/ Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ Trailhead: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/home   Busted Myths: ABM is not new and it is being made to be something that is very complex. In simple form, it is just marketing to accounts. It focuses marketing to target strategic accounts and then strategize how to market to people at those key accounts. ABM is not binary, where if marketing does ABM then they can get rid of all their other strategies. Most companies use ABM to augment their marketing. Targeting specific accounts allows teams to customize the customer’s journey according to their persona and behavior.   Shout Outs 47:02 Greg Shotland 1:01:04 Arizona State University