Keyplay

The idea of "signal-based" sales or marketing is great in theory. Signals can be gold. But in practice, we’re ending up with a new form of spray and pray. This is how it looks: “Hey I saw that you did {{insert signal or trigger}}… let’s book 15 mins to connect… or u ready to buy now?!” I joke, but you know these messages. I see three problems here: 1.) Signals ≠ personalization Signals are great for prioritization and timing. But signals alone don’t really help you personalize. There’s a translation required to understand how the signal maps to the buyers situation or problem. If you just insert {{signal name}} + pitch, you’re not much better than inserting their industry name. 2.) Signals don’t replace ICP With a solid ICP program, signals are magic for timing. But collecting signals doesn’t mean you can skip the ICP model. We all know the truth — a small number of people visiting the website or liking on social are actually a good fit. So you need a foundation of fit (account and persona) before acting on signals. Without ICP, signals can pull you in unproductive directions (non-ICP accounts, low quality leads, low ACV). This has a real opportunity cost. 3.) “Signal” is a blackhole word. We love our buzzwords. But “signals” can be soooo many things — intent signals, fit signals, engagement signals, problem signals, etc. Signal-first thinking can lead to boiling the ocean. It’s better if you work backwards. First — what are the plays and programs we want to run? Then — what are the signals we need to enable them? The idea of "signal-based" sales or marketing is great. Signals can be a huge lever. It's helpful to track them, aggregate them, and take action when you see signals that indicate intent or open the door to engage with your target buyer in a meaningful way. But they aren’t silver bullets. You still need the right foundation — the fundamentals still apply. #sales #marketing #b2b

ABM ⇆ ABS ⇆ ABX/ABE ⇆ ABGTM. WTF?! The ABM movement started with good principles – clarity, focus, coordination. But then it became a vendor category. 😢⚰️ Many marketers bought “ABM platforms” without having a strategy. Then the ABM vendors went 'ham on buzzwords and FUD to justify their massive prices. Things got very complex, confusing, and convoluted. Today ABM is a completely loaded term. It’s a black hole. Talk to a dozen marketers, you'll get a dozen different definitions of ABM. Because of all this confusion, I prefer to talk about ICP Marketing. It’s not a new buzzword. It’s just a way to say “we put ICP at the center of our strategy and operations.” It doesn’t need a fancy name — the value of a well defined ICP program is already well known. ICP just got lost in the ABM confusion. Marketers started throwing those WTF-intent-qualified-leads over the wall rather than doing the work on ICP. We are now shifting back. The best are throwing out legacy ABM jargon and getting back to fundamentals. #ABM #ICP #Marketing

Amazing to see Keyplay at the center of Mutiny's ICP Marketing strategy. More of this coming in 2025.

Exciting news — Keyplay is THE momentum leader in our G2 category! Thank you to our amazing customers.🙏 We're a relatively new player. We entered the most crowded and confusing SaaS category in 2023 — marketing & sales tech. How did Keyplay rise above the noise?   I see three reasons: 1.) Specialization. While others are building suites and bundles, we’re focused. Solving ICP is hard. It can’t be an afterthought feature in the suite. We deeply specialized to help b2b SaaS companies go from PowerPoint ICP to dynamic ICP models. 2.) Service orientation. We go beyond software. We roll up our sleeves and help our customers define their ICP, build models, backtest, and align around their best-fit accounts. We prove it before you buy and don’t sell to people we can’t serve. 3.) Built for the ICP Marketing era. Spray and pray may have “worked” for growth at all costs. But now buyer rigor has returned. Marketing and sales teams must meet the higher bar. We believe the future is about ICP Marketing — coordinated focus on the best accounts. It’s not a new buzzword, but it’s a return to fundamentals. It’s early days for us. We’re wrapping up our second year in market. Our methodology for ICP Marketing is getting built with some of the best GTM and RevOps practitioners in the game. Want to join them? DM me or Katie about an ICP Study. We’re here for the long haul. #ICP #marketing #sales

The 5 most dangerous words for B2B companies. We. Can. Sell. To. Everyone. CEOs are the worst offenders. It’s not our fault. We have been taught to show investors the infinite TAM slide. That’s important. But your giant TAM is not your ICP. Confusing the two leads to spray and pray. The “sell to anyone” mind virus will hurt sales and marketing performance and quality. Marketing will waste spend in the wrong places. Sales will waste time on the wrong accounts. The best marketing leaders fight this. They won’t fall into the “we sell to everyone” trap. They understand an important truth. ICP is upstream of everything — conversion rates, sales efficiency, retention, revenue growth persistence. It’s worth the social capital and attention to get it right. This is a key step toward ICP Marketing. #b2b #marketing #ICP

ABM isn’t a bad concept. But the way it’s been implemented is often problematic. Intent + Ads. 👆That’s where big ABM vendors have pushed the market. They made “intent” the basis for account selection. And touted account-based ads as the way to take action. They charge a lot of money for these things. Both these things are good pieces. But they aren’t a panacea. And that orientation causes a few suboptimal behaviors: 1.) Skipping ICP  — with the promise of magical intent qualified accounts, many b2b orgs shortcut their ICP program. Without a foundation of fit, the whole thing falls apart.  — it’s not just about putting ICP on a PowerPoint. There needs to be a model that translates the definition into data, scores, and segments that both sales and marketing use. This is where Keyplay ICP models help.   2.) Sales does their own thing.  — When it’s just Intent + Ads, sales doesn’t participate. ABM gets lost inside marketing.  — Sales territories & plays are disconnected. Sellers and marketer aren’t coordinated, and the concept falls over.   3.) Lack of “surround sound” strategy.  — ABM ads are wonderful. But it’s not enough. The smartest CMOs work to create a “surround sound” effect for their best-fit accounts.  — It’s about focus across all motions. This is why I prefer to think in terms of "ICP Marketing." ICP Marketing is the anti spray and pray. It’s about finding and prioritizing the best-fit accounts for marketing and sales. It puts your ICP program at the foundation. Then you can layer intent, ads, content, inbound, outbound, ABM, product-led sales, channel, and all your “surround sound” strategies on top.    It’s not new. It’s just back to fundamentals. Want to better understand & model your ICP? Try Keyplay   #ICP #B2B #marketing #sales

ICP Marketing isn’t just for outbound and ads. It’s about focus across motions.   Outbound and ABM Ads are the usual suspects — because you need a target account list to do anything there. So SDRs and Demand Gen teams push for ICP clarity first. That's big.   Keyplay helps you build an ICP model to support these strategies. But ICP is foundational for much more. A few examples:   Sales Territories.  — Instead of random zip codes, use account tiers and segments to assign best-fit territories to AEs. Stop having $300K OTE reps stuck working non-ICP accounts. 😩   Inbound.  — Instead of treating every inbound lead the same, prioritize and give more effort to the highest ICP fit hand-raisers. Different nurtures for different tiers & segments.   Product-Led.  — Instead of actioning trials/signups based on usage alone, prioritize sales or marketing activity based on ICP tier and usage.   Events/Field.  — Pick cities based on where you have concentration of Tier A/B accounts, instead of where your CEO likes the weather. ⛅️   Strategy. — Instead of sizing and valuing new markets by TAM, look deeper for ICP fit and segment potential. ICP Marketing is not about another new buzzword-led-growth (BLG) tactic. It’s not some big platform you need to buy. It's a mindset that's always worked. I see it as the antithesis of spray and pray. We all know that focus leads to GTM excellence. We just lost track for a few years. When buyers had open wallets, we could slip and be ok. Now buyer rigor has returned. Now the best CMOs/CROs are back to fundamentals.   #b2b #sales #marketing #ICP

At Keyplay we're building for this paradigm. We can't get your team aligned & committed, but we can help you implement a ICP Model that provides dynamic scores, accounts tiers, and the context needed to enable modern ICP Marketing.

These days anything that could build pipeline is fair game. Here are 40+ GTM plays to reach and influence your target customers ⤵ There might have been a time when marketing generated pipeline and sales closed it. But that’s not the world we live in now. Marketing, sales, CS, product, and even ops all play a role in building pipeline. There might've been a time when marketing could be spray-and-pray — hoping it reached the right people (#MQLs). But that's also not the world we live in now. We can’t convince the CEO or Board to fund broad-based brand awareness when we’re behind on pipeline goals. The magic happens when we *combine* these plays in coordinated campaigns aimed at our *best* target customers. (And that won't happen if we're stuck with MQL targets and channel-specific attribution fights 😉) — 🎁 For more growth insights, subscribe to Growth Unhinged — my free weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/exTbjKaM #marketing #abx #icp

Imagine a CMO who is anti MQL, anti spray and pray. I met one last week. He's working at an exciting series C company. They’re doing north of $50M, growing. He said their next phase of growth is about focus. The opposite of spray and pray. He said that success would come from creating a “surround sound effect” with their top tier target accounts and segments. What did he mean? 1.) Nailing their ICP model. -- Not just a PowerPoint, making it actionable for sales and marketing (where Keyplay helps). 2.) Getting smarter about segments & verticals. -- Where do they double down? What new segments do they explore? 3.) Narrowing targeting. -- Instead of spending a little across a lot of accounts, spend a lot for a smaller number. Be everywhere for your top tier. 4.) Tailoring content for those top accounts and segments. -- Not just ABM ads - thought leadership, events, etc. The smart b2b marketing leaders seem to be going this direction in 2024. I love the “surround sound” idea. Some might call it ABM, but that term kinda got ruined by overpriced “intent” platforms. I call it ICP Marketing. Whatever you call it, the road to GTM Excellence is about focus. Anti spray and pray is the way. #b2b #marketing #ICP