Commercial strategy · Market activation

Reach the decision-makers at the accounts you actually want.

In short: Market activation is an account-based programme by STOF to Grow. Together we choose a short list of target accounts, map who decides in each account and why now is the moment, and design a pilot of about ninety days that marketing and sales run together. Measured on follow-up meetings and opportunities, not on reach.

Market activation is the step after a sharp choice. You know which customers you're there for, but getting in doesn't happen by itself. In this programme we turn that choice into an account-based approach: a short list of the accounts that really matter, a clear picture of who decides in each one, and a first pilot that marketing and sales run together.

We design and support. Execution sits with your team or your agency, and campaigns and media budget stay with you. That way, what works stays in place once we've gone.

When to choose Market activation

You know who your ideal customers are, but you can't reach the decision-makers, or only one department.
Sales cycles are long and many people have a say, while marketing mainly steers on volume.
Marketing and sales each work from their own list of target customers.
Events and webinars draw plenty of attendees, but rarely the people who decide.
The ideal customer profile exists on paper, but not in the CRM or in sales' calendar.

Three questions per account

Working account-based means fewer accounts, and more depth per account. Every activity in the pilot answers three questions. If it doesn't, we don't do it.

Which accounts, and why now? The accounts where a conversation this quarter moves an opportunity forward. A new site, a new director or an upcoming tender are reasons. A nice logo is not.
Who needs to be in the room? Not the most senior title you can find, but the roles that shape the decision: who holds the budget, who feels the problem every day, who assesses it technically and who guards procurement.
What does each account leave with? A reason to take the next meeting, with an owner on both sides. That's what we measure, not attendance or clicks.

How Market activation works

Look and listen — we look at won and lost deals and at what's in the CRM, and talk to the account owners. For each account we look for the trigger: what's changing for them, and why would it matter now?
Make a sharp choice — together we choose a short list of target accounts, with one objective per account. We map the buying group: which roles decide, how strong the relationship is per role, and which route leads to a purchase. And we choose what we deliberately leave out.
Align — marketing and sales make the plan together. A message per role with the words to use and avoid, one owner per contact, and everything in your own CRM, not in a separate spreadsheet.
Follow through — a pilot of about ninety days with a few targeted plays, such as a warm introduction, a small session with decision-makers or a personal message with one relevant asset. After ninety days we evaluate against the agreed yardstick and decide what to scale.

What you'll have at the end

A list of target accounts, with the reason why now is the moment for each.
An account map for each priority account: the buying group with roles, the strength of each relationship, the route to buy and one next step per gap.
A message per role, with the words to use and avoid.
A 90-day plan with plays, contact moments and owners.
A yardstick agreed at the start: accounts with a next step, follow-up meetings and opportunities in the CRM.
An evaluation of the pilot and a handover, so you can scale what works yourselves.

Starting small works

A good pilot is small and designed backwards from pipeline. Take a session with decision-makers: we don't invite as many people as possible, but eight to twelve people from the accounts that matter, each with a reason to be there. Six weeks ahead, the accounts and the objective per account are agreed, and within 48 hours of the session every account has an agreed next step. That shows quickly whether the approach works, before you commit to anything larger.

What it asks of your team

An account owner from sales for each target account, who thinks along and holds the conversations. Someone to run the pilot, in-house or through your agency. Access to the CRM, so the account map lives there. We design and support, and check every contact with the account owner before anything goes out.

Where this approach comes from

For years, Nona built account-based programmes for an international enterprise SaaS company, covering the UK, Benelux and the Nordics. With regional sales leadership and the BDR team she chose the target accounts and built executive roundtables, dinners and events around them, measured on their contribution to pipeline. At Driftawave she set up an ideal customer profile, a score for buying signals and landing pages per target account. Read more about Nona.

And then?

After the pilot you know which accounts, roles and plays work. You scale that up yourselves, with support if you like. If the choice of ideal customer isn't made yet, start earlier: with a Positioning sprint or a Growth diagnosis. Also read ‘We know who our ideal customers are, but we can't get in’.

Want to sharpen the profile first? The guide Ideal customer profile shows in six steps how to choose the organisations that deliver the most, and who doesn't fit.

Cases

What that looked like at Driftawave

Driftawave

First a complete brand, then a route to market and the systems to run it every week. In two months the account database grew almost tenfold and visibility in Google more than doubled.

Frequently asked questions about Market activation

What does Market activation cost?

We work on a project basis, not by the hour. If STOF is a good fit for your challenge, you'll receive a proposal after the introductory call with a fixed price, a clear timeline and what you'll have at the end. Longer-term support is agreed per month, all-in.

How long does it take?

Usually a few weeks to choose and map, followed by a pilot of about ninety days. We agree the exact set-up in the introductory call.

Do you run the campaigns too?

No. We design the approach and support the pilot. Execution sits with your team or your agency, and campaigns and media budget stay with you. That keeps the know-how in-house.

Isn't account-based marketing only for large companies?

No. With a small team, choosing pays off even more. Five accounts you know well often deliver more than five hundred addresses in a mailing. It does need to be about customers with a substantial deal size and several decision-makers.

Does it work with our CRM?

Yes. The account map, the roles and the next steps go into your own CRM, whether that's HubSpot, Salesforce or another system. Sales works with it where they already work, and you see progress without extra reporting.

Who is Market activation not right for?

If you're only looking for extra hands to execute, a standalone website or a new logo without the choices behind it, or someone to keep managing it forever, we're not the right partner. We do build brands and websites: as a translation of your positioning, in sprints, with a trusted technical partner when it gets technically heavier. We do need to be able to sit in on the teams and conversations where the story is told.

Is Market activation right for you?

In a free 45-minute introductory call, we look at which accounts matter, and whether an account-based pilot is the right step.

Discuss Market activation

Challenge