INTERVIEW WITH JON MILLER, CHIEF MARKETING AND PRODUCT OFFICER AT DEMANDBASE

1. Interview with Jon Miller, Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Demandbase Jon Miller, Director of Marketing and Product at Demandbase, is a marketing entrepreneur and think tank. Previously, Jon was the CEO and founder of Engagio (acquired by Demandbase) and the founder of Marketo (Nasdaq: MKTO), head of marketing automation. Jon is a frequent speaker at conferences such as Dreamforce, MarketingProfs B2B, Marketing Operations Executive Summit, OMS and Marketing Nation Summit. He is also the author of many e- books, including a complete and clear guide to account-based marketing and a definitive guide to marketing automation. MEDIA 7: What inspired you to move from marketing automation to ABM? JON MILLER: During market management, we had a lead-based demand generation model that was actually quite efficient. However, as we got closer to our initial public offering, we saw a marginal decline in productivity. We realized that we needed a different engine through which we could go to target larger companies because we wanted to move forward in the market. So we started working on an exit strategy, and we didn't even call it account-based marketing (ABM) at the time. But that's how it was. We identify accounts and collect opportunities to use them. It worked, which was good news. The bad news was that it was manual, and I drove my team crazy trying to distort Marketo and Salesforce to keep track of the things I wanted to keep track of because they weren't account-based systems. When I realized that the approach worked but was too complicated for existing lead-based technologies, I was inspired to create a new platform. M7: How do you practice on demand in ABM? What have you learned from using your lead generation product? JM: Our ABM approach in Demandbase is twofold. First, we believe in creating different ABM styles for different account levels. That’s why we practice one-on-one marketing for a few; one to a few for a larger number of accounts, but still very limited; one-to-many other destination accounts in the universe belong to the group one to many. This combined strategy allows us to differentiate the amount of resources allocated to each account based on its potential value. Secondly, we drink champagne ourselves. We use intent data and our forecast analysis to determine when our accounts are showing signs of being on the market or ready for sale. If we have one of these signals, which we call a Qualified Marketing Account (MQA), we increase it to one pair or one to one so that we can focus more time and attention on those in the market accounts. M7: What is your marketing mantra to stand out in an overly saturated MarTech space? JM: Our main mantra is "Think big, start small and move fast". Customers want to get started quickly and in less than 24 hours, and they don't have months to learn and implement a new tool. So we want the product to be incredibly easy to use and get up and running quickly. But at the end of the day, our users are complex companies that implement complex strategies. ABM can be very powerful and we don't want to give people a toy. So when we make ordinary and simple things super easy, we also try to make difficult things possible. The solution is very powerful and flexible, allowing our customers to evolve and adapt as the complexity of ABM grows.

2. M7: What do you think are the top three marketing challenges of the post-COVID-19 era? JM: COVID-19 accelerated the digital year in six years. So shoppers who never thought of making a complex B2B purchase entirely online are now incredibly accustomed to doing such a thing. To be successful after and after a pandemic, marketers must continue to build on their digital transformation and optimize their digital strategy. In addition, COVID-19 has raised buyers' expectations, so organizations need to retrain their sales approach. Marketers should not jump to "anything that moves" or track all campaign responses. Instead, they really need to know where each buyer is on their journey and bring their market entry into line. Finally, the pandemic has shown that some companies have developed successfully during this period, such as Zoom and other companies have struggled much harder. Thus, in the context of COVID, another challenge is that marketers need to review their target account lists to really understand which industries and companies are doing well so that they can double their growth. M7: What do you read and how do you consume information to stay on top of your game? JM: If I need to talk or write about a topic, I'll take care of it as much as possible. Fortunately, one of my "superpowers" is a synthesis. I'm really good at swallowing a lot of information, what I'm reading and seeing. Just hook me up to the fire hose and I can bring it all in and connect the dots. Also, when I work with my team in product development, we always update the product based on customer requirements and needs. So I am constantly learning by listening to customers and seeing how they operate. ABOUT DEMANDBASE Demandbase offers an end-to-end ABM platform that helps B2B companies identify, win, and grow the most important accounts. Our success would not be possible without focused and collaborative teams here at Demandbase. As a company, we are committed to both career growth and the creation of world-class technology. We invest a lot in people, our culture and the surrounding community, and we have consistently been considered one of the best places to work in the Bay Area.