GE 214: How ListenLoop Uses Powerful Account-Based Marketing for B2B Companies to Stay Ahead of the Curve (podcast)

Hey everyone, today I share the mic with Rodrigo Fuentes, CEO of ListenLoop, which zeroes in on account-based marketing for B2B companies.

Tune in to hear Rodrigo break down how account-based marketing works, how a background in electrical engineering and law led him to a B2B retargeting startup, how one ListenLoop client saw a 22% increase in web traffic engagement with ABM, and what their most effective customer acquisition method is.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: How ListenLoop Uses Powerful Account-Based Marketing for B2B Companies to Stay Ahead of the Curve TRANSCRIPT

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:48 – Leave a review, rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast
• 01:31 – Rodrigo thinks ABM or account-based marketing is now past the hype curve and people are executing campaigns
• 01:44 – ListenLoop primarily helps B2B marketers who want to go after a specific set of companies
  • 02:02 – The software will place ads directly on the target companies and targeted job titles as they browse the web
• 02:31 – Rodrigo is an electrical engineer from Yale, went to Columbia Law School focusing on patent litigation and IP rights, and he practiced law for almost 3 years at Fish and Richardson
  • 02:54 – Rodrigo says law was mentally stimulating, but he found himself more curious about his client’s business problems
  • 03:12 – Rodrigo was asked by a friend to join his startup while he was still at the law firm; he decided to jump into the business
• 04:17 – Rodrigo is a visual learner and is currently into courses at Udemy because of how visual they are
  • 05:12 – Rodrigo watches videos about marketing, outreach and other business related topics
• 06:52 – Rodrigo shares an example of a company that uses ListenLoop, called Engagio
  • 07:07 – Charlie Liang, Engagio’s Director of Marketing, uses ListenLoop to combine their marketing activities and advertising with a specific list of target accounts
  • 08:02 – Engagio saw increased engagement with their target accounts when they were exposed to the ads
  • 08:17 – Account-based marketing together with advertising saw a 22% increase in web-traffic engagement
• 09:32 – Account-based marketing is a strategy that a sales marketing team will use to influence and close a specific set of accounts
  • 10:07 – It is a strategy whereby sales and marketing teams are aligned on a specific list of accounts they want to go after; they use one or more communication channels to reach those accounts and measure the results of the campaign at the account level
  • 11:32 – In a company, people are delegated with the task to research and compare information and this is shared internally
  • 12:12 – Results are measured at the account level of the company and not per individual – you get a holistic picture of how the account is engaging
• 13:15 – ListenLoop works by getting the domains of a target account; specifically a location of where those contacts will fit
• 14:28 – ListenLoop has pre-roll personalization that adds animation on top of the ads; this includes a logo of the company you are targeting
• 14:59 – Ads can be segmented to the bio persona—there can be a different sets of ads that will resonate to the marketer and another to the sales person
  • 15:34 – There can also be a segment across industries or companies
• 16:19 – ListenLoop is a different channel from Facebook or LinkedIn
  • 17:47 – A CRM retargeting tool works for B2C or business-to-consumer marketing
  • 17:59 – If you are in B2B, the match rate is lower compared to those who are in B2C
  • 18:27 – The problem here is people do not use their business accounts for online transactions
• 19:28 – ListenLoop uses the triangulation method: the first party data, third party data and the geolocation data is overlapped to create a model; the tiny area of overlap of all these three that represents a B2B persona
  • 20:26 – They were able to generate a 70% match rate in North America and 62% across all the campaigns
• 20:59 – The price is $99 per month and that includes targeting for 100 accounts that have received impressions
• 21:41 – Rodrigo says they are friendly to those who are still new to this strategy and pricing will increase for those who are targeting hundreds and thousands of accounts
• 22:13 – The most effective method in customer acquisition for ListenLoop is using account-based marketing
  • 22:32 – They use ads one month prior to an email campaign, targeting individual contacts from top to bottom. They phone the people who opened the email at least three times, and send direct mail to those with whom they connected
  • 23:06 – They also try to meet these people in person at conferences
  • 23:33 – ListenLoop is managed through outreach and other different tools
• 24:12 – What’s one big struggle you’ve faced growing this business? – When the business first began, they had to make sure there was a product market fit
  • 25:11 – They had to make two independent bets: prove they had a product market fit for investments and they had to generate enough sales
  • 26:58 – They only had a few clients at this stage in terms of a sample size
  • 27:33 – There is a correct path to do a business and it starts with the product
  • 28:03 – The pressure to show product market fit in a short amount of time forced them to do two different things; they ended up being wrong
• 29:10 – What’s one must read book you’d recommend to everyone? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• 29:49 – Check out ListenLoop and email Rodrigo at rod@listenloop.com, you can also contact him via LinkedIn
• 30:31– End of today’s episode

3 Key Points:

1. Account-based marketing is a strategy that will target specific accounts and it can be segmented into different bio personas.
2. Account-based marketing can be done alongside other advertising campaigns.
3. The type of marketing campaigns you need depends on whether you’re a B2C or B2B company and the type of accounts you’ll be pursuing.

Resources From This Interview:

• ListenLoop
• Fish and Richardson
• Udemy
• Engagio
• Must-read book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz 
• Rodrigo’s email: rod@listenloop.com
• Rodrigo on LinkedIn

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