Interview with Peter Isaacson, Chief Marketing Officer, Demandbase

Tell us about your journey into the tech industry. How is SF’s tech ecosystem different from when you first started here?

I got my start in the tech industry while I was working at a New York advertising agency on the Compaq account. From there, I moved to the Bay Area to work at Adobe where my responsibilities ran the whole gamut of marketing, from advertising and brand marketing to field marketing and demand generation. I’ve been in the Bay Area for over two decades now and it’s been incredible to see the tech ecosystem evolve and grow. Having been through the dotcom bubble of the early 2000’s as well as the current boom of technology growth, I’ve seen multiples cycles of both rapid growth and consolidation. But what’s different in today’s tech landscape is the pace of innovation. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the massive amounts of data we have at our disposal, and the analytical power of data scientists and engineers, technology is making what was previously just a pipe dream a possibility.

How did you manage to make ABM Innovation Summit 2018 a must-attend event for B2B marketers?

This was our fifth ABM Innovation Summit and our best one yet, for several reasons. First, ABM as a category has grown rapidly over the past few years. The technology has gotten better, and as a result, adoption has skyrocketed. Secondly, the market has moved beyond the “why” to understanding “how to do ABM better” and this year’s conference addressed that need with the theme of “Get Real.” We had a stellar roster of real practitioners provide practical how-to advice on what has and hasn’t worked for them in their ABM journey. We also added a third level – “Expert” in addition to “Foundations” and “Advanced” – to our ABM certification. And finally, we’ve become pros at putting on conferences! With inspiring keynotes with tennis legend Billie Jean King and comedian Aasif Mandvi, and speakers from companies like Salesforce, Forrester, LinkedIn and others, add to that the great food and beautiful location on the waterfront in San Francisco, I couldn’t have asked for a better summit.

What is the biggest drive for you and your team to recreate success at every ABM Innovation Summit?

The ABM Innovation Summit is our seminal event each year that brings together over 1,000 B2B marketers from around the world. It’s an opportunity to network and share ideas, learn from each other, but mostly importantly, grow both the ABM community and ABM as a category.

How are data-driven branding strategies evolving with the maturity of AI/ML and Marketing Analytics?

As marketing technologies leverage AI and machine learning and become both more powerful and easier to use, marketers are increasingly embracing data-driven strategies. Measurement is the cornerstone of an ABM strategy and having accessible, easy-to-use tools that measure across the entire funnel will be instrumental in helping marketers scale and improve their efforts. Also, we see the actions that are based on AI becoming more and more automated. AI is great, but if it requires human intervention and decision making at the back end, it will slow everything down, and undermine the effectiveness of your programs. So triggering an automated action based on AI will become more and more standard.

What are your predictions on the ‘State of B2B Marketing’ platforms in 2018-2022?

In the next few years, we’ll continue to see B2B marketing platforms grow and flourish. We’ll see the pace of innovation skyrocket, with new companies and partnerships forming at every turn. It will be an exciting time for B2B marketing filled with creativity and improvement. It will also be a time of major consolidation. It’s already happening, with some small companies taking on even smaller companies, who just couldn’t get traction in a crowded landscape.

How should young sales and marketing professionals train themselves to master automation and sales intelligence tools?

Focus on the tools that will really impact your role and sign on for training sessions and tutorials, take advantage of your vendors’ Customer Success Managers, read up on tips and hacks, and talk to your peers and colleagues on how best to use these tools. And of course, practice makes perfect, so actually using the tools on a daily basis will naturally provide you with a solid understanding of how these tools work.

Tag the one person at the ABM Innovation Summit 2018, who has made big strides in the tech industry.

Pat Oldenburg, ServiceMax

Thank you Peter! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.