Brewing Success with Jim Gilkey: Blending Creativity and Data in Marketing

This week on Pipeline Brew, host Matt Hummel is joined by marketing expert and fellow podcaster, Jim Gilkey. Jim hosts the podcast Account Based Beverages, and is a veteran with experience at massive companies like Salesforce and 7-person startups like trueU. Matt & Jim’s conversation covers topics including ABM, demand gen, sales and marketing alignment, and the current state of AI in marketing.

Jim argues that ABM isn't just a rehash of demand generation but a strategic approach that aligns highly personalized campaigns with specific buyer needs. He provides  examples to demonstrate how ABM can seamlessly integrate with demand gen strategies, creating a powerful marketing synergy. 

The discussion takes a practical turn as Matt asks Jim to share his wisdom on sales and marketing alignment. His advice is practical: listen to sales calls and identify common queries to tailor content that addresses real customer concerns. This approach not only bridges the gap between sales and marketing but ensures that messaging is both relevant and impactful.

Beyond marketing tactics, the conversation reveals Jim's dynamic career journey and personal passions, including his love for bourbon and music. His firsthand experience as both a marketer and an account executive offers a unique perspective, making this podcast a must-hear for aspiring marketers and seasoned pros alike.

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Guest Bio

Having worked on all sides of the go-to-market team, Jim Gilkey is a dynamic speaker who pulls from his experience as a salesperson, account manager, marketer, and leader to give practical advice that GTM teams can leverage for immediate results. He has experience working for both industry giants like Salesforce and startups like Odyssey and trueU. 

Jim is passionate about unlocking potential in others, which he does through his podcast, Account Based Beverages, and through speaking at universities and conferences. 

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Guest Quotes

“ We can get so into a project that we're working on for marketing, that we forget that there's a human on the other side of it. There's a lot of data that shows what design would work or what messaging or call to action, or even some of the colors. But we don't often enough step back and think, ‘What would I feel if I went to this website and saw these pieces?’ And so for the biggest lesson in my career, it has come from learning empathy. The empathy of putting myself in other people's shoes and seeing through their eyes puts me in a place where I want to be helpful to them without any expectation of receiving something on the other end.”

“If you imagine you're walking through the mall and you hear somebody yell, ‘Hey Matt!’ You'd probably turn and look, but if you didn't see something that would continue to get your attention, you're going to very quickly go back to what you're doing. The companies that focus on tactics are the ones that think if we just have this company's name on our website, that's enough. But it really isn't.”

“If you want to create content that you know is going to have a huge impact right away, why not create that content around pieces that people are already asking questions about? It can allow you to move some of these accounts that are maybe on the fence or in the research phase further down toward wanting to meet with your team because a lot of the things that they are trying to find the answer to, you're already providing that for them.”

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Time Stamps 

00:00 - Episode Start

00:51 - Ice Breaker

02:51 - Jim's Background

05:36 - Art vs. Science in marketing

07:28 - Lessons from Jim's career

09:50 - Account Based Beverages

12:35 - ABB to ABM

14:58 - Can ABM & Demand Gen coexist?

21:03 - Know your audience

24:22 - One piece of advice to start a new ABM program

28:49 - Engineering serendipity 

32:12 - Aligning sales and marketing

35:18 - Tactical ways to leverage AI today

40:25 - What's on Tap

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Links

• Connect with Jim Gilkey on LinkedIn
• Listen to Account Based Beverages
• Connect with Matt Hummel on LinkedIn
• Check out Pipeline360