If you know anyone at Act-On, you know we care about our customers above all, so you bet your ass we’re gonna make the best podcast we can for our community. And we’ve already hosted two bad MFs. First up, our debut episode featured Jon Miller, CMO of DemandBase, and founder of Marketo and Engagio. What? Yes.

Here’s the video:

Jon Miller of Demandbase on The Rebel Instinct Podcast

In our conversation with Jon Miller, he advises on 3 important steps to ABM.

1. Get the Account Data Foundation in Place
2. Find the Accounts That Matter
3. Engage with the Accounts and the People at Those Accounts
4. Align with Sales to Close These Accounts
5. Measure Based on Quality

It’s all about orchestration, and being NICE. That’s Numbers-driven, Intuitive, Content-conscious, who Executes consistently!

And, what about Jorie Mark, Director of Content for Life Extension, who held previous roles as Head of Social Media at Kroger/Fred Meyer and author of “Bride in Overdrive: A Journey into Wedding Insanity and Back? Yeah, we got her too.

Here’s the video:

Jorie Green Mark on The Rebel Instinct Podcast

Jorie Mark urges us to find the story in the marketing, whether that’s about a peekaboo wedge, or convincing leadership to take big content risk. Take the idea to partner Kroger with Funny or Die, and have Jeff Goldblum bond with grocery employees, or to share the raw photo of a woman who had just given birth in the aisle of the Kroger grocery store. (Play this video ?????? at 7:50 to hear the full story.)

To get to these risky and effective places with marketing moves, Jorie suggests a “patch test” where you try one small thing first, and gain the trust to go further.

Welcome to the Rebellious Future

Join The Rebel Instinct Podcast for conversations that cut through the fluff and get you to the real instinct behind some of the most badass people in the tech and software industries. Coming soon, we’ve got rebellious marketers from Nestle, Starbucks, Amadeus, and tastemakers across experiential marketing, travel technology and the world of user experience (UX).

Don’t miss the next episode. Listen and subscribe in all the places.

In today’s world, having an elevator pitch ready at all times allows you to seize the moment and take advantage of those spontaneous opportunities to tell your target audience what you’re all about. In other words, an elevator pitch is a perfect way for you to market your brand on the spot — no matter where you are.

A strong elevator pitch is essential because it provides a strong backbone for your messaging and serves as a launching point for the rest of your marketing efforts. Furthermore, it empowers every single member of your organization to serve as a brand ambassador so you never miss an opportunity to rep your brand.

Still not convinced that now is the time to refine your elevator pitch? Whether you already have an elevator pitch that just needs a nice polish or are starting completely from scratch, these strategies will help you craft a message that makes your brand shine.

Identify What Makes You Special

Unless you’re lucky enough to be the sole vendor available to meet the needs of your consumer, chances are your competitors will probably have similar things to say in their own elevator pitch. If you truly want to fuel your demand generation machine, you need to focus on what makes your organization different and better — and why it makes total sense for your customers to choose you over other options.

Keep in mind, this is also an opportunity to mention areas where your competitors fall short and you excel. For example, if you typically have customers migrating to you because they were dissatisfied with the level of support they received from a competitor, you’ll want to mention your commitment to customer service. Your leads have likely come across these critiques in their own research, so addressing this fact will reaffirm what they already know and bring them one step closer to converting into loyal customers.

Remember to Highlight Results

Even if you’ve managed to pique the interest of your target audience, your leads will want to make sure they’ll be getting the best possible return on investment. Therefore, you should highlight results that back up your claims to show that you’re the real deal and gain the trust of your target customers.

Depending on the message you’re trying to convey in your elevator pitch, these are just a few of the results you might want to highlight.

• Customer Success: Do you have a customer who has seen exceptional results from your product or service? (Bonus points if they are in the same vertical as your audience members.)
• Industry Stats: Do you have any statistics to show how your target customers are benefiting from your partnership? Or do you have any percentages that show how you’re excelling in a specific area in comparison to your competitors?
•  Value: Do you offer customers more bang for their buck? If so, how?
• High Retention Rates: Demonstrating that you have what it takes to keep customers happy can speak volumes, especially for customers looking to avoid the cost of switching vendors in the future.

Keep It Brief and Make Sure It Rolls off the Tongue

Although your elevator pitch is supposed to serve as a foundation for your overall brand messaging, you don’t want to give all your secrets away at once. Instead, give your audience just enough to keep them wanting more, and then let the rest of your nurturing efforts continue to tell your story in a way that is easy to digest and remember.

If you want to encourage members of your organization to spread the word, your elevator pitch must be easy enough to remember and recite when the perfect moment arrives. The last thing you want to do is to lose credibility with your audience because your team members don’t seem like they know what they’re talking about.

Make Sure to Relate Your Pitch to the Rest of Your Marketing Efforts

A solid elevator pitch serves as a great introduction to your brand, but your marketing and sales efforts don’t end there. Every savvy marketer knows that to convert your target audience into loyal customers, you have to invest time nurturing new contacts and providing them with a unique and targeted experience.

Your goal should be to use relevant website content, outbound messaging, social media, and other marketing efforts to support and elaborate on the claims you made in your elevator pitch. The perk is that since your customers already have an initial understanding of what you do, they’ll be more likely to engage with you as you take them on this journey.