Keyplay

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

Every SaaS CEO wants a spot on the Forbes Cloud 100 list. Let's study the newly released winners... To make it easy, I pulled the 2024 list into a spreadsheet and enriched it with some Keyplay growth and website signals. Full sheet here: peersignal.org/cloud100 For the analysis I compared the Cloud 100 to PeerSignal's B2B SaaS index for similar sized companies (300-5,000 employees). Winners stand-out on growth and valuation, but what else shows up? Take-aways from the 2024 list: 1.) More AI companies. -- Last year, 9% of winners were AI companies. This year it’s a whopping 15%.  -- OpenAI has the highest valuation, but they aren’t alone. New additions include Perplexity, Glean, Mistral AI. 2.) More AI integrated SaaS. -- AI is eating software. -- In 2023, 28% of Cloud 100 talked about AI in their main headlines and company description. -- In 2024, that number jumped to 71%. 3.) Hiring like it’s 2024. -- Even the Cloud 100 felt the 2022-2023 SaaS correction.  -- Last year, 33% of the Cloud 100 had *reduced* headcount over the previous 6 months. Only 55% had a net increase. 13% were neutral. -- This year is different. 80% have increased headcount in the previous 6 months, only 11% reduced. 9% are neutral. -- Open roles have increased massively. Up 66% Y/Y from ~4,400 to ~7,300 for this group. 4.) B2Bs with strong brands. -- They sell enterprise software (ie. they’re not Vuori or TikTok), but top cloud cos have increasingly big audiences and broad reach. -- 250K is the average LinkedIn followers. -- 86% have top 100K website traffic. 12% are 100K to 500K. 5.) PLG. -- Consistent with last year, PLG is commonplace in the Cloud 100. -- 66% have a free plan or free trial, 2.6x more than the comps. -- 52% have transparent pricing, a massive 5.2x more than their peers. -- Most of the PLG players this year are horizontal (dev tools, fintech, collaboration). 6.) Partners/ecosystems/integrations. -- Multiple clues that suggest Cloud 100 are investing in their ecosystem.  -- 74% have a Partners page, 1.7x the comparison group. -- 48% have a public API, 2.5x the comparison group -- 39% list multiple integrations, 3.2x the comparison group. -- This is consistent with last year’s list 7.) Security winners keep coming. -- 17% are in the security space. That's 2 more than AI. -- “Boring” problems = big money. -- Wiz was the highest ranked at #11 and is likely to climb after turning down $23B from Google. I hope the spreadsheet gives you some SaaS role models to explore more. I'd love to add more to this in the coming weeks. Today's PeerSignal.org newsletter has all the charts. What’s your take-away? #SaaS #B2B #startups #marketing

Backtest reports are nerdy but also very important for ICP marketing.   I've learned two principles that help:   1.) Closed Won ≠ ICP 2.) Closed Lost ≠ Bad Fit   In other words, don't use Win vs Loss analysis as the basis for your ICP model. Instead do this…   First, create a "Best Fit" Customers list. -- Look past closed won for accounts who voted with their wallet multiple times. -- Renewals, upsells, and high NPS are good clues. -- Lean toward (or filter for) higher ACV accounts. -- Talk to your CSMs or AMs. Ask for their top 5-10 "favorite" accounts.   Next, create a "Not a Fit" account list. -- DQ'd leads with "bad fit" type reason is ideal. -- If you don't have DQ reasons, then all DQ'd leads can work. -- Don't use Closed Lost here. Closed Lost are often great fit and just bad timing. i.e. Too much noise in Closed Lost (unless you have a very low bar Stage 0). This gives you two ends of the fit spectrum. Now you can test for a positive correlation with the best fit accounts AND a negative correlation with the bad fit accounts. I've done countless backtests with Keyplay customers. It's critical for ICP Marketing. Not only does it validate your model, it helps build trust with AEs/SDRs. Once you’ve defined your ICP and run your backtest, share the results with your sales team. Show them how you arrived at the model. Make it transparent, not some secret formula. Open the door for feedback. Alternatively, you could spend $100K on a black-box "Predictive Engine" ABM platform… I'm sure your AEs/SDRs will take that trust fall. 😬 I’m betting on the transparent route. If you'd like some help with your ICP testing, Keyplay is here for you. #ICP #Marketing #B2B #ABM

I keep seeing negative LinkedIn posts about 6sense. They have some good points.   It's expensive, complex, black box, and has been oversold. Shelling out $100K for an "ABM platform" does not mean you get to skip having an ABM strategy. Plus there's the whole Adam Robinson cease and desist thing.   But have you heard their numbers?   6sense is doing >$225M ARR, growing at ~40%.   Their management team is smart. They've built a CMO community, they understand GTM, and they've been in the game a long time. Many customers will go to bat for them.   So how can the LinkedIn feed be so negative, but the numbers be so positive?   I see 3 things happening.   1.) Unbundling ABM. The "ABM platform" promise is too broad. Early adopters use 6sense as an intent provider, but don't value the 27 other modules. They're moving to a modern ABM stack. Keyplay for ICP modeling. Common Room, Pocus for intent signal aggregation. RB2B, Koala for visitor ID. Metadata for ads. Clay for outbound orchestration. 6sense is still a piece, but not the whole answer. This is especially true in mid-market. 2.) The shine is off “Intent” data. Works great for some, but it's not a panacea. Topic-based searches are a smart way to generalize the concept, but are not always a true signal of buyer intent. Sometimes the topic searches are nonsense. Sometimes you need something more specific. And it's never a shortcut for having an ICP program.   3.) Sales people are skeptical ABM platforms are usually sold into marketing, but at some point you need sales to adopt. 6sense has mixed reviews from sellers. There are fans. You don't get to $200M+ without many successes. But a lot of sales teams are questioning the utility. And if the reps don't use it, can the business case hold up? I'm impressed by how 6sense survived and thrived while many others consolidated away in the last decade of mar-tech.   I expect their success in the enterprise to continue. But for the mid-market and early adopters, I think there's a new wave coming to ABM. I'm betting Keyplay on that trend. And I think more and more CMOs are starting to see that ABM Platform ≠ ICP Marketing. Where do you see this going? #b2b #marketing #ABM #ICP

Keyplay + Clay integration is live. 🎯🦾   3 things to cover...     1.) How Keyplay compliments Clay 🤝 Clay is a Swiss Army knife for creative outbound. Keyplay is a specialized ICP solution.   Clay handles a wide range of data types. Keyplay exclusively handles account scoring and signals. If you want to execute the best creative outbound in Clay, you need a reliable ICP program that powers account selection and segmentation. Whether you have humans or AI doing the outreach, you need to work the right accounts. 2.) Why we built it 💡   We’ve seen an increasing number of customers experimenting with Clay. Users we trust like Kaylee, Brendan, Arpan, Stella, Mark, and Joe wanted us to integrate the workflow. CRM integrations are our focus, but this is another way we can help customers. 3.) How it works 🛠   Follow these steps for creative outbound plays, targeted at your best-fit accounts.   In Keyplay: -- Define an ICP model -- Find accounts -- Prioritize by score -- Select a group of best-fit accounts for a play. -- Sync list to Clay table (via webhook)   In Clay: -- Find contacts -- Enrich with email and phone (use waterfall) -- Craft AI messaging per person -- Send top tier to SDR team -- Send mid tier to Sequencing tool     Want to try it? Free to start at Keyplay (dot) io. Want me to help you set-up & back-test your ICP model? Email adam@ our domain. #sales #marketing #ABM #outbound #AI

I’m grateful to Joe and Tyler. 🙏❤️ It’s not everyday that an up and coming vendor gets a glowing G2 review from both the CMO and Director of Demand Gen. PartnerStack has been a Keyplay customer for 2+ years. They took a chance on us early. They’ve pushed us, helped us learn and improve, and been amazing advocates. I appreciate how their entire team has engaged — bringing us problems, considering our ideas, and treating us as a partner. I’m proud of the value we’ve delivered and excited to keep serving them for a long time. Startups need this kind of customer. In fact, all businesses need this kind of customer! As said Peter Drucker said: "The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer." CEOs, go say “thank you” to one of your customers today. #startups #customersuccess

This is a real report from Mutiny's ABM ads.   What would you do with this? Duh, spend on As and Bs! Cut the Cs and Ds. This is how an ICP model can make your marketing spend more effective.   But Mutiny didn't stop with LI Ads. They brought this focus across sales and marketing.   I’ve been lucky to have a front row seat on Mutiny’s ABM journey. They were Keyplay’s first design partner back in early 2022. We’ve helped hone their ICP program and account selection process ever since. I’ve learned a ton from Ryan, Liam, Stella, Regina, and their team.   Their results are impressive.   1.) But Picture Shift -- Doubled deal size -- Increased pipeline by 35%   2.) LinkedIn Ads Conversion -- Implemented a Keyplay ICP model, then split LinkedIn ads by account tier. -- Saw the conversion to opportunity split in this table. -- Obviously with this finding they chose to focus spend on As and Bs! That meant more results per dollar.   3.) BDR Focus -- Clear prioritized account lists as their team grows. -- Signals to segment and personalize outbound plays. -- Celebrate ICP meetings (not any meeting).   So how did they get here?   Next week I’m joining their team on a webinar to go behind the scenes. From scrappy spreadsheets to ICP program.   They’ll share tactics and process, along with their actual account list. I’ll share some of my favorite frameworks and principles for ICP development.   Are you working on your ICP strategy this summer? Email me: adam(at)keyplay.io to trade notes.   And I'd love to see you on the Mutiny webinar (link in the comments). 📺👀 #sales #marketing #ABM #ICP

For 2 years, I've been talking to B2B companies about their ICPs. Most don’t have an ICP definition problem. They have a translation problem. The exec team can describe their ideal account. The AEs and SDRs “know it when they see it.” There’s often a slide that everyone can agree about. They know the difference between a dream account and a DQ. But many lack a translation layer. The PowerPoint slide needs to become an ideal customer model. The model needs to deliver scores and tiers that everyone can trust. Finally, you need an ongoing program to improve and keep things fresh. When companies nail their ICP translation, magic happens. That's how you get focus. What do you think -- should ICP go beyond the board slide? #B2B #sales #marketing #ICP