In today's marketing world, buzzwords like MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) and ABM (Account-Based Marketing) are more than just acronyms; they're hot topics for debate. We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Ross Howard, Product Marketing Director at Inbox Insight, to chat about these enduring concepts and the role they continue to play in marketing.
At the heart of our discussion was this question: Are MQLs truly obsolete, or do they still hold value? Ross offers a nuanced perspective, explaining that there's a tendency for movements to declare the "death of an old tactic" only to push a new solution often tied to software sales. This dichotomy is evident in the division between traditional MQL strategies and the newer ABM focus.
"People have ended up jumping into sort of, I would say, two camps. There's the ABM crew and then there's the demand generation, demand creation, I should say, people." - Ross Howard
So what happens if you decide to ditch MQLs entirely? Ross cautions that while it's fashionable to pivot to solutions like ABM, it's not always the best or even a practical move. He points out that ABM can be resource-intensive and assumes that all targeted companies are ready to buy, which is frequently not the case.
Ross further elaborates, "The challenge in [ABM] is that not everybody's ready," which could result in throwing resources at accounts that simply aren't interested yet.
The conversation naturally drifted into the tug-of-war between lead generation and demand generation strategies. As Ross puts it, "Lead gen increases solution awareness," whereas demand generation focuses on pushing your message to the market with content of value.
"Putting it into a practical set of steps is sort of tricky because every business has different funnels and different pipelines." - Ross Howard
Quality also plays a significant role in the conversation. Ross is a proponent of making your content so great that people would be willing to pay for it. Emma, one of the hosts, also highlights that, "the content should be amazing. It should be singing."
The consensus seemed to be that while gimmicks and quick-fixes might offer fleeting satisfaction, nothing trumps genuine engagement and high-quality material. It’s essential for marketers to realize that sometimes the problem isn’t the MQL itself but the quality of the marketing behind it.
As the episode drew to a close, Ross and the hosts agreed that MQLs are far from dead. The catch is, as always, ensuring they're done right and aligned with overarching business goals. As Ross succinctly puts it, "I just don't want to see us throw those out the window because life's getting noisier with AI salespeople and it's harder to cut through."
The debate on MQLs in the marketing world continues, but if there's one takeaway from this episode, it's that old strategies aren't necessarily void; they just need a fresh perspective and careful execution.
So, MQLs for life? Well, maybe. But quality, context, and collaboration remain the real game changers.