Strategic executive engagement is a core building block in any account-based marketing strategy. Done skillfully, it can unlock opportunities that can’t be found anywhere else.
Founded by ABM experts, Boardroom Insiders provides marketers with leading-edge insights to help them engage more effectively with target executives. In that work, we’ve learned five secrets for forging lasting connections with C-suite executives.
Secret #1: Get your hands dirty
Automation gets a lot of love in marketing these days. On the surface, it looks like a great tool. The idea is, you can reach out to far more executives with a fraction of the effort of personalized outreach. Lather, rinse, repeat.
But the strategy should come with some reflection. How we engage with others says more about us than we realize. Consider what automation says about you and your company. Sure, you can get in front of executives, but at what cost? Do you want to be the vendor who treats each customer as just another number? That’s unlikely to elicit a response.
Personal interaction still carries weight in the C-suite. Executives are busy people with no time for generalized marketing efforts. So, an email newsletter is unlikely to leave a lasting impression, but a handwritten note might.
Recently, one of our clients used a personal approach to reimagine their event marketing. First, they realized they needed to increase their event attendance for C-suite executives. So, they reviewed hard data on what these executives were focusing on and used those insights to source speakers for the event. Then, our client topped it all off by prompting their own executives to get their hands dirty with phone calls, emails and handwritten notes. The event was a roaring success.
The takeaway: Make an effort to connect with your prospects and nurture a dialogue, if at all possible. Executives will do business with you if they think you can help, and listening is the first step.
Did you miss our Master Class Series Webinar where we broke down all of the Secrets for building strong relationships with C-level executives? Catch up here!
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