There are two core ingredients to any fairytale quest. The hero and the treasure.
This Account-based Marketing story has both. However, our hero was not blessed with a map to where X marks the spot.
She had to forge her own path to success - with the help of an experienced sidekick and a team driven by determination, ambition, and a clear goal.
Kineo’s venture into ABM involved obstacles, dead ends, and unexpected turns, but in time, the company could transform its vision into a tangible reality.
But we’re not one for spoilers - why don’t we start at the beginning?
At a glance:
Alex Treasure may not have a coat of shining armor, but she does wield over 15 years of experience working in data-driven marketing at various London agencies and B2B brands.
Having worked across a broad range of sectors - from financial services to travel, retail, automotive, and charities - you could say she is something of a Marketing warrior.
In 2021, Alex joined Kineo - a digital learning pioneer with limitless possibilities for creativity, innovation, and out-of-the-box thinking.
She describes herself as a hands-on Marketer, with a particular passion for creating engaging content aligned to the buyer journey.
What Alex may not have realized at the time, though, is that these qualities are precisely what would make her the perfect hero for Kineo’s ABM story.
At the core of Kineo is one simple idea: to design a better learning experience to help businesses achieve better results.
Whether it’s compliance training or upskilling existing employees, learning has become a critical aspect of employee development. However, to unlock real results, businesses must first reshape their approach to learning.
Tired of witnessing uninspired, ineffective learning experiences, the company’s mission is to shake up the digital learning space and change its perception. With personalized, custom elearning solutions, Kineo helps businesses to improve engagement, drive productivity, and transform learning outcomes.
Since 2005, the Kineo team has been experimenting with technology and design to build impactful, inclusive, and tailored learning solutions for employees across a wide range of sectors.
Today, as a member of the City & Guilds Group, Kineo has solidified its status as an award-winning digital learning partner, boasting:
Customer loyalty and repeat business were two things that Kineo had already mastered.
Its dedicated support, comprehensive solutions, and people-first approach meant customers became customers for life.
However, when it came to landing new customers or initiating conversations with prospects, this is where the Kineo team often hit a roadblock.
Like many businesses, there was a lack of alignment between Marketing and Sales efforts. Paired with overly generic campaigns with no real sector-specific propositions, it was clear that Kineo wasn’t achieving the results from its marketing efforts that the team there desired.
This is where Account-based Marketing offered a promising solution.
“ABM was a completely new approach for Kineo, so we realized pretty quickly that we needed to bring in the right expertise – someone with deep experience of this approach. Not just from a strategy perspective, but also in terms of how we positioned the campaign internally to ensure Sales buy-in.” - Alex Treasure, Marketing Manager for Learning Content at Kineo
While Alex had heard of the impact of an Account-based strategy, she was completely new to the approach.
She knew that, if they were to build a successful program, the team would need the right expertise to guide them - both from an ABM strategy perspective and to help secure organization-wide buy-in.
So, they turned to strategicabm as their trusty sidekick on Kineo’s quest to unleash ABM’s full potential.
Since boosting reputation and starting new conversations was Kineo’s predominant goal, the team elected a One-to-many approach for their ABM program, driving awareness and targeting accounts across the financial services, pharmaceuticals, and technology sectors.
Confident in their customer value proposition, what they lacked was the strategic planning to drive the campaign.
“We were pretty confident in having a solid customer value proposition, and the content to back it up; where we most needed help was with the strategic planning of the campaign. We wanted to ensure we were targeting our marketing spend in the right places – making the most of the resources we had available.” - Alex Treasure, Marketing Manager for Learning Content at Kineo
Securing buy-in and following the data
The first port of call was to sell ABM internally.
With the support of strategicabm, Alex and her team ran a series of Sales onboarding workshops to secure buy-in and sales alignment and gain the necessary input from Kineo’s Sales people surrounding the Ideal Customer Profile definition and target account .
Following an in-depth market insights report, strategicabm used a combination of first- and third-party data to lay the groundwork for the messaging strategy, account list, and execution plan for the program.
Creating the hook
At the heart of every effective ABM program is compelling and personalized messaging combined with a knock-out creative experience.
Using the insights uncovered, strategicabm built out an ABM Value Proposition that clearly communicated Kineo’s core values and strengths, and directly addressed the pain points of the target accounts and key people - in this instance, Learning & Development Professionals and Heads of Compliance.
Launching the campaign
Once the core ABM campaign messaging was in place, Alex’s team and strategicabm together crafted an engaging selection of sectorized content, including an eBook, videos, and a customized landing page.
To ensure a cohesive, seamless journey from initial awareness through to conversion, the campaign was rolled out using a combination of LinkedIn paid ads, email sequences, social selling, content syndication, and retargeting - all pointing towards a unique workshop proposition that would act as the final ‘Influence’ stage of the journey.
At the start of their ABM journey, Kineo wanted to raise awareness of its digital learning solutions, start new conversations, and secure new business – so the company didn’t have to solely rely on repeat customers.
The impact of the program speaks for itself.
“The in-depth reporting from strategicabm on engagement across channels like LinkedIn, media, and owned channels has also informed our future planning. As has the many learnings around the target audience, ad formats, campaign splits, and set-up for our primary paid channels. Not to mention the four highly engaged target accounts that are currently being nurtured by our Sales teams!” - Alex Treasure, Marketing Manager for Learning Content at Kineo
From an awareness standpoint, the content created in alliance with strategicabm gained significant account engagement across the target accounts.
There was impressive engagement, driving increased reputation and brand awareness across the Financial Services, Pharmaceutical, and Technology sectors.
Reputation
Off the back of this, Kineo secured several strategic meetings, new relationships, and Marketing Qualified Accounts (MQAs) - many of which now show considerable revenue opportunities.
With four highly engaged target accounts currently being nurtured by the Kineo Sales team, the program has had a marked impact on Kineo’s current and future pipeline.
Relationships
Of course, at the outset of the program, Alex noted that she was eager to generate new business and eventually see increased revenue - though she recognized this wouldn’t happen overnight.
Even at its early stages, however, the program has already seen one high-value new account win for the Kineo team, with more potential in the pipeline moving forward.
Revenue
It’s equally important to recognize that the outcome of Kineo’s ABM program goes beyond the direct impact on ABM’s 3 Rs – Reputation, Relationships, and Revenue. Having started its ABM journey with little alignment between Marketing and Sales, and an unclear vision when it came to approaching new business, it is the internal impact that is arguably the most remarkable result for Kineo.
Now, with the support and guidance of strategicabm, the Kineo team has secured the internal buy-in and clear direction needed to expand their ABM efforts and aligned their teams around common, defined objectives.
With a taste for ABM, Kineo’s Account-based journey is just beginning.
The impact on account engagement has been extraordinary.
Accounts and key people within each account are actively engaged with Kineo content and thought leadership.
This is music to the ears of the Kineo Sales team who now have the ammunition from the ABM Account Experience and the hard data to know which accounts to engage with and which topics.
The Kineo Marketing team is reviewing new activities to stimulate demand and account engagement - with a particular focus on those accounts that ‘raise their hands’.
For Alex, ABM has proven no fairytale, but a very valuable real-world experience.
Her quest has become an ongoing journey, filled with challenges, learnings, and successes – and with much more to come.
The biggest takeaway for her?
“You really need to lay the groundwork internally to bring everyone onboard first. ABM isn’t a quick win, so you need to work collaboratively, not just with your Sales teams (although they are arguably the most important!) but also across your Product and Finance teams to ensure they understand the value of what you’re trying to do. If you can get that right, it will be so worth it!” - Alex Treasure, Marketing Manager for Learning Content at Kineo