Ashleigh Betvardeh, Senior Marketing Manager, Demand APAC at Kaseya, shares her journey from digital marketing roots to driving integrated, revenue-focused strategies. She explores demand generation beyond lead volume, scales ABM with sales alignment, optimises omnichannel campaigns, and uses AI responsibly, highlighting how to accelerate pipeline, tell stories, and business metrics.

Welcome to the interview series, Ashleigh. Could you tell us more about yourself and your journey as a marketer?

I’ve been fortunate in my marketing career. I started in digital marketing, gaining exposure across multiple industries before specialising in B2B technology and representing APAC at scale.

I’ve never lost sight of my digital roots. For many marketers, including myself, that’s where the passion for marketing starts, understanding audiences, testing, optimising, and achieving measurable results. Over time, I broadened my focus to include webinars, events, public relations, and fully integrated omnichannel campaigns.

Working across APAC often means wearing multiple hats. It’s not always a market where deep specialisation is possible; you naturally evolve into a well-rounded generalist. But at the core of my journey has been a consistent focus on business value, ensuring every strategy, campaign, and channel contributes directly to pipeline creation and revenue.

What key elements define a high-performing demand generation strategy in today’s competitive B2B landscape?

A high-performing demand generation strategy considers the entire funnel, not just lead acquisition. I map each stage of the buying journey and align messaging, channels, and touchpoints to where the buyer is in their decision process. In increasingly saturated markets, simply generating leads is not enough. The ability to track, nurture, and deliver personalised engagement throughout the sales cycle has never been more critical.

The most successful B2B demand generation programmes, and the ones I prioritise, focus on pipeline progression as much as pipeline creation. Acceleration strategies that move opportunities from early stage to close won can significantly impact revenue outcomes, particularly in longer sales cycles and complex enterprise deals.

Ultimately, the marketer’s role has evolved beyond campaign execution. It is about owning influence across the full revenue journey and driving measurable commercial impact.

How do you customise ABM programmes to address the distinct needs of different industries and account tiers?

I would argue that account-based marketing (ABM) programmes define B2B marketing. I customise my programmes through products, messaging, copy, and design and work closely to make the journey feel personalised. Having a strong programmatic platform will help you segment your accounts, analyse intent signals, and control messaging for your accounts. I have built many of these programs throughout my career.

Taking ABM further requires deep alignment with sales. Defining 1-to-1, 1-to-Few, and 1-to-Many strategies together ensures shared priorities and clear measurement frameworks. Agreement on the target account list shapes how accounts are tiered, what resources are allocated, and which tactics are deployed. This clarity strengthens partnership with sales and ensures marketing messaging directly supports their conversations, particularly within enterprise accounts where longer cycles, multiple stakeholders, and sustained engagement strategies are essential to winning the opportunity.

With your expertise in digital marketing, how do you optimise multi-channel campaigns and allocate resources for maximum ROI?

Digital marketing encompasses both paid and organic channels, and true impact comes from understanding how they work together rather than in isolation. In a recent cybersecurity campaign, I integrated physical and digital touchpoints across multiple channels. QR codes on event swag directed attendees to a webinar landing page, while a social activation encouraged them to share which AI character they chose, tied to our branding, which printed their face with the character. By integrating booth engagement, social media amplification, and webinar conversion into a coordinated strategy, we extended the lifecycle of a single activation and turned event interest into measurable social engagement and pipeline contributions.

A strong foundation in digital has kept me agile. The landscape shifts quickly. The first time I saw a ChatGPT referral link appear in traffic sources, it was clear that traditional SEO would continue to evolve. Buyer behaviour is changing, and intent signals are becoming more dynamic and fragmented across platforms. Understanding buyer intent, how prospects discover, research, and validate solutions, is where modern marketing strategy is heading. It gives you more entry points, more precision, and more opportunities to ensure your message reaches the right audience at the right moment.

“The marketer’s role has evolved beyond campaign execution. It is about owning influence across the full revenue journey and driving measurable commercial impact.”

What strategies have you found most effective for aligning marketing and sales while scaling demand across global markets?

I believe the most effective sales and marketing alignment starts with a shared understanding of goals and a clear north star. When both teams agree on priorities, target accounts, and revenue outcomes, decision-making becomes sharper and execution more focused. My personal mantra is that sales and marketing together form the revenue engine of the business. How well they operate in partnership directly influences demand creation, pipeline progression, and overall growth.

In APAC, particularly, relationships matter. Strong alignment is not just about dashboards and metrics but about trust and consistency. Investing time in regular collaboration, shared planning sessions, and team engagement lays the foundation for effective scaling. Having helped grow businesses in the region, I have seen firsthand that genuine partnership is what ensures marketing strategies translate into sales conversations and, ultimately, into revenue.

Beyond lead volume, which KPIs do you focus on to measure the true impact of demand generation on pipeline and revenue growth?

Beyond lead volume, I measure demand generation by its impact on pipeline quality and progression. Leads alone have little value without a clear follow-up and activation process. I look closely at how quickly and effectively leads are engaged; whether there is a structured outreach flow; and how tools like Outreach are being used to sequence, personalise, and optimise engagement. A light but intentional script, paired with consistent testing, ensures marketing-generated interest turns into meaningful sales conversations.

The next metric is opportunity creation. Over time, I have observed that some salespeople can convert a white paper download into a qualified opportunity, while others require a stronger buying signal. After working closely with revenue teams, I learned that performance often comes down to approach. Some sellers are natural hunters; others relationship builders. The key is not just generating more leads but continuously A/B testing sequences, messaging, and even assignment models to understand what drives conversion. Testing between reps, outreach cadences, and messaging can have a greater impact on revenue than simply increasing lead volume. This is especially important when lead scoring models may not surface every viable opportunity for review.

Finally, I focus on pipeline acceleration. Marketing plays a critical role in supporting sales once an opportunity is created. Whether through targeted content, executive engagement, account-specific assets, or coordinated touchpoints, the goal is to help close the gap between opportunity and sale. In B2B environments, where buyers are often evaluating multiple vendors, strategic marketing support throughout the later stages of the funnel can be the difference between progressing a deal and losing momentum.

What makes a brand message compelling, and how do you maintain consistency across all marketing channels?

Brand is the story that marketers are trying to sell.

Having a compelling brand with a clear message and a unique selling proposition will help any B2B or B2C company. As a marketer, I have seen how branding supports channels by feeding the message and leveraging it for ad copy, and by keeping design aligned, which can help with brand recall.

Finally, having some consistent elements can help you scale your business or support new market expansion, which I have had to do for a few businesses. Working with the brand team has always supported me when going to market with multiple channels.

With AI enhancing scalability, how do you maintain genuine human connection and engagement in your marketing?

At this stage, I use AI every day, but never as the finished product. Marketing teams are evolving quickly, yet the foundation of great marketing remains in human psychology; connection and depth are what differentiate strong brands in a landscape where speed often takes priority over creativity. In many cases, the art behind campaigns has been ruled by deadlines, lead models, and attribution pressures. AI can accelerate output, but you still need to validate and relate it back to align with the overall brand.

I have always been a reader, particularly of fiction, and that has shaped how I approach storytelling in marketing. Reading across different perspectives strengthens my ability to write for varied audiences and build messages that resonate with different personas. This has helped me with all forms of copywriting, especially with ads. Ultimately, AI is a tool to support, not replace, because human connection is based on how we feel, and those are the emotions marketers are trying to focus on in their campaigns.

About Ashleigh Betvardeh

Ashleigh Betvardeh is a strategic marketing leader known for driving revenue-focused programs across APAC/APJ. She specialises in aligning marketing with sales to accelerate pipeline, improve conversion, and deliver measurable growth. With expertise in full-funnel demand generation, events, partnerships, and integrated campaigns, she builds data-driven strategies that strengthen pipeline health, enhance buyer engagement, and deliver strong commercial outcomes.

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B2B marketing in 2026 is defined by complexity, scale, and heightened buyer expectations. Decision makers move fluidly across channels, research independently, and expect every interaction with a brand to feel connected, relevant, and intentional. Integrated marketing brings together channels, messaging, data, and teams under one strategic vision. Rather than executing isolated campaigns, B2B organizations use a unified marketing approach to deliver consistent narratives across the entire buyer and customer lifecycle. As AI-driven personalization, revenue accountability, and cross-functional alignment become standard expectations, B2B integrated marketing is the operating model that enables sustainable growth.

This blog explores what integrated marketing means for B2B in 2026, why it matters more than ever, and how organizations can build strategies that drive trust, pipeline, and long-term value.

What Integrated Marketing Means in B2B Today

Integrated B2B marketing is the strategic evolution of brand consistency, enabled by modern integrated marketing solutions that unify data, messaging, and execution across teams. While multichannel marketing focuses on broad reach by using various platforms independently, it often creates “content silos” that result in a fragmented buyer experience. Omnichannel marketing improves upon this by ensuring technical continuity across devices, yet it frequently lacks a unified narrative. In contrast, cross-channel marketing acts as the connective tissue for a B2B organization, powered by a clearly defined integrated marketing plan that aligns messaging, data, and execution. It combines the technical connectivity of an omnichannel approach with a disciplined messaging philosophy that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success. 

In today’s landscape, an effective B2B marketing campaign is built on cohesion and intent. Instead of encountering isolated tactics, the prospect experiences a singular, evolving storytelling where every LinkedIn touchpoint, whitepaper, and sales conversation reinforces the same core value proposition. By harmonizing these integrated marketing channels, B2B brands move beyond mere visibility to build the deep, institutional trust required for complex purchasing decisions. This strategic alignment reduces internal redundancy and ensures that every dollar spent contributes to a unified engine for revenue growth and brand authority.

Difference between Integrated marketing strategies and other strategies: 

Integrated B2B marketing represents the strategic evolution of brand consistency, strengthened by scalable integrated marketing solutions. While multichannel marketing focuses on broad reach by using various platforms independently, it often creates “content silos” that result in a fragmented buyer experience. Omnichannel marketing improves upon this by ensuring technical continuity across devices, yet it frequently lacks a unified narrative. In contrast, unified marketing acts as the “connective tissue” for a B2B organization. It combines the technical connectivity of an omnichannel approach with a disciplined messaging philosophy that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success. In the 2026 landscape, this means a buyer’s experience isn’t just seamless; it’s meaningful. Instead of encountering isolated tactics, the prospect experiences a singular, evolving story where every LinkedIn touchpoint, whitepaper, and sales conversation reinforces the same core value proposition. By harmonizing these channels, B2B brands move beyond mere visibility to build the deep, institutional trust required for complex purchasing decisions. This strategic alignment reduces internal redundancy and ensures that every dollar spent contributes to a unified engine for revenue growth and brand authority.

How to create an integrated marketing plan in 2026?

In a B2B marketing campaign, consistent messaging across multiple channels, building trust, generating leads, and driving measurable business growth. Here is the integrated marketing plan for 2026: 

Set a Strategy

Align marketing goals with sales targets and revenue outcomes through an integrated brand marketing approach that balances brand building with performance. Learn from B2B leaders like Salesforce or HubSpot, ensuring integrated marketing campaigns remain coherent across all touchpoints. A strong integrated brand marketing strategy establishes KPIs, guides messaging, and creates a roadmap for long-term lead generation and customer engagement.

Know Your Audience

B2B audiences expect relevance and insight. Segment by industry, role, company size, and purchase behavior. Leverage account-based insights and buyer personas to personalize communications. Understanding decision-makers’ pain points and motivations ensures messaging resonates, drives engagement, and nurtures relationships that convert into qualified leads and long-term partnerships.

Channel Strategy

Select integrated marketing channels where your target businesses engage, like LinkedIn, email, webinars, industry publications, and events. Integrate digital and offline tactics, prioritizing high-value touchpoints. Focus resources on channels with measurable ROI, ensuring integrated marketing campaigns are efficiently targeted while reinforcing brand positioning and thought leadership across multiple B2B platforms.

Create Reusable Content

Develop modular content that can be adapted across channels, such as whitepapers, case studies, webinars, and social snippets, to support integrated campaigns. Maintain a consistent value proposition and messaging across every asset. Repurposing content reduces costs. strengthens brand recognition and ensures prospects encounter unified messaging at every stage of the B2B buyer journey.

Launch, Measure, and Optimize

Track account-level interactions, campaign ROI, and pipeline impact to understand performance holistically. In Integrated B2B Marketing, these insights are used to optimize messaging, creative, and channel allocation. Continuous measurement ensures integrated marketing campaigns remain aligned with sales goals, nurture leads effectively, and deliver measurable revenue outcomes.

The Future of B2B Integrated Marketing

As marketing continues to evolve, integrated brand marketing is shifting from channel coordination to intelligent orchestration. In the future, success will depend on how effectively brands connect data, technology, content, and human insight to deliver meaningful experiences at scale.

Data-driven personalization will become more predictive than reactive. With advances in AI and analytics, brands will anticipate customer needs and tailor messaging in real time, creating relevance across increasingly complex buyer journeys. At the same time, omnichannel marketing will mature into experience continuity, ensuring that every interaction feels connected regardless of platform, device, or moment in the journey. 

Content will remain central, but its role will expand. High-value, insight-led content will anchor integrated marketing strategies, supported by modular formats that adapt seamlessly across channels. AI and automation will further streamline execution, enabling marketers to focus less on manual tasks and more on integrated marketing strategy, creativity, and decision-making. Audiences expect transparency, ethics, and purpose to be embedded into brand narratives, not added as afterthoughts. Finally, customer experience will emerge as the ultimate measure of integration, with brands competing on how consistently, thoughtfully, and humanly they engage. Unified marketing will define the brands that earn long-term loyalty and sustainable growth.

Conclusion

As buyer journeys span multiple channels, brands must deliver consistent, connected, and relevant experiences at every touchpoint. By aligning strategy, messaging, channels, and teams, cross-channel marketing strengthens trust, improves efficiency, and drives measurable business outcomes. It enables marketers to move beyond isolated tactics and build campaigns that reinforce value throughout the entire customer journey. Organizations that adopt an integrated approach are better positioned to increase awareness, influence demand, and sustain long-term growth. This marketing transforms fragmented efforts into a unified engine for brand impact, customer loyalty, and revenue performance.

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Marketing campaigns are evolving faster than ever, and 2026 promises to bring transformative changes for businesses looking to engage their audiences effectively. Advances in AI, data-driven personalization, and omnichannel strategies will redefine how brands connect with customers. Privacy regulations and shifting consumer expectations will demand smarter, more thoughtful campaigns that deliver value at every touchpoint. In this blog, we’ll explore the key trends shaping marketing campaigns in 2026, share strategies to maximize engagement and ROI, highlight the tools and technologies brands should leverage, and provide actionable insights to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Key Trends Shaping B2B Marketing Campaigns

Digital marketing campaigns are evolving rapidly as technological advancements and shifting consumer behaviors reshape the landscape. Despite economic uncertainty, marketing budgets remain resilient, with many brands maintaining or increasing investment across digital channels. Connected TV (CTV) has emerged as a top priority, offering advertisers the broad reach of television combined with the precision of digital targeting. Artificial intelligence is increasingly used to drive data insights and audience understanding rather than creative production, helping marketers make informed decisions. 

First-party data strategies are taking precedence due to privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies, enabling more accurate and consent-based targeting across platforms. In addition, ad verification and measurement have become critical, ensuring accountability and optimizing campaign performance through robust reporting and real-time data. Marketers are also emphasizing the integration of email marketing campaigns and social media marketing campaigns into a cohesive integrated marketing campaign across channels. Together, these trends highlight the importance of a well-defined marketing campaign strategy and data-driven, multi-channel approaches that balance innovation with precision and transparency.

Strategies for Building Effective Digital Marketing Campaigns in 2026

Marketing campaigns in 2026 demand strategic planning, creativity, and data-driven execution. Here are the key points for creating effective advertising campaigns and ad campaigns:

1. Define Clear Goals and KPIs

Successful campaigns start with clear objectives that align with broader business priorities. Whether it’s boosting brand awareness, generating leads, or increasing sales, goals should be measurable and time-bound. Establishing key performance indicators ensures teams can track progress, evaluate effectiveness, and adjust strategies in real time for optimal results.

2. Deeply Understand Your Audience

Knowing your target audience is critical for relevance and engagement. Develop detailed buyer personas by analyzing demographics, behavior, pain points, and preferences. Use data-driven insights to segment your audience effectively, tailor messaging, and select the channels where they are most active, ensuring your marketing campaign strategy resonates and drives meaningful action.

3. Craft Compelling Messaging and Creative

Your campaign’s messaging must be clear, consistent, and emotionally engaging. Leverage storytelling, value propositions, and calls to action that speak to audience needs. Combine visuals, videos, graphics, and written content in a cohesive design to strengthen brand identity and capture attention across multiple touchpoints and marketing platforms, ensuring every advertising campaign maximizes impact.

4. Optimize Channel Selection and Execution

Choose channels strategically based on audience presence and campaign goals. Integrate owned, earned, and paid media for maximum reach and impact. Launch ad campaigns with precise timing, continuously monitor performance, and iterate quickly. Cross-channel consistency and adaptive execution ensure campaigns remain relevant and high-performing in a dynamic digital landscape.

5. Leverage Data and Real-Time Insights

Data-driven decision-making is essential for modern marketing. Track performance using unified dashboards, AI-powered analytics, and real-time reporting. Analyze engagement, conversions, and ROI to identify high-performing elements and optimize underperforming ones. Continuous measurement allows for agile improvements and demonstrable business impact.

Tools and Technologies to Use in 2026

In 2026, B2B marketers must leverage specialized tools and technologies to drive smarter campaigns, optimize media allocation, and enhance customer engagement. Tools like iceDQ ensure data accuracy by monitoring and testing pipelines across multiple sources, preventing revenue leakage and compliance issues. Loyalty and retention are elevated with solutions such as Addtowallet and Exchange Solutions, which enable seamless mobile passes and real-time, margin-aware offers to increase repeat purchases and average order value without heavy tech investments. AI-powered platforms like Scrunch and Need Codes help marketers understand brand visibility, optimize content for AI-driven search, and uncover the psychological motivators behind purchasing decisions, enabling hyper-personalized messaging. Media optimization tools like LiftLab combine marketing mix modeling with rapid experimentation to quantify incrementality and guide channel spend effectively, ensuring every dollar drives measurable impact. 

Across these solutions, AI transitions from a productivity booster to a strategic growth enabler, supporting experimentation, adaptive campaigns, and decision-making at scale. Complementing these technologies, Marketing Ops 3.0 empowers teams to integrate AI, data, and strategy, bridging innovation and execution while fostering organizational adaptability. By embracing these niche yet powerful tools, B2B marketers in 2026 can create campaigns that are data-driven, customer-centric, and performance-focused, delivering tangible business outcomes while staying ahead in a rapidly evolving martech landscape. Incorporating a social media marketing campaign as part of an integrated marketing campaign helps amplify reach, engage target audiences, and drive measurable results.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in 2026

Creating an effective marketing campaign in 2026 requires careful planning and avoiding common mistakes that can undermine results. One major error is setting unclear objectives, where vague goals, such as increasing brand awareness without measurable targets, lead to misaligned efforts, wasted resources, and difficulty in evaluating success. Every campaign should have SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound to provide clarity and direction. Another frequent mistake is failing to align strategy with execution. A well-designed plan is ineffective if it does not translate into actionable steps, assigned responsibilities, synchronized budgets, and measurable KPIs. 

Continuous tracking and regular reviews are essential to ensure initiatives stay on course. Ignoring data-driven insights is also detrimental, as relying solely on intuition or past performance can miss shifts in audience behavior, channel performance, and competitive dynamics. Leveraging first-party data, CRM dashboards, web analytics, and social listening ensures campaigns are informed and optimized in real time. 

Overreliance on AI tools without human oversight can create monotony and misalignment with brand voice, while weak SEO, poor social media marketing campaign strategy, and neglecting E-E-A-T principles reduce visibility and engagement. Continuous adaptation, performance measurement, and audience-focused content are critical for avoiding these pitfalls and delivering impactful marketing campaigns in 2026.

Conclusion

Building high-impact B2B marketing campaigns in 2026 requires a balanced approach that blends strategy, data, technology, and human insight. As AI, first-party data, and omnichannel execution become the standard, success will depend on clear goals, a deep understanding of the audience, and continuous optimization. Marketers who align strategy with execution, prioritize measurement and incrementality, and adapt quickly to changing behaviors will outperform those relying on outdated tactics. Equally important is avoiding common pitfalls such as vague objectives, overautomation, and weak content credibility. By staying agile, customer-centric, and performance-focused, B2B brands can create campaigns that drive sustainable growth and measurable business impact in 2026 and beyond.

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Dawn Liu, APAC Field Marketing Lead for IBM’s Data & AI portfolio, shares her journey from digital, social, and event marketing to leading integrated field and ecosystem campaigns. She discusses driving customer-centric engagement, leveraging AI for smarter targeting, aligning cross-functional revenue teams, orchestrating regionally relevant programs, and building marketing as a value-driven engine that delivers measurable business impact.

Great to have you on this interview, Dawn. Could you tell us about your journey as a marketing leader?

Thanks for having me! My journey has been shaped by a passion for connecting technology to purpose and people. Over the past 19 years, I’ve held leadership roles across various marketing disciplines—from digital and social strategy to event marketing, partner and ecosystem engagement, account-based marketing, and integrated campaign execution. I’ve led regional and APAC-wide functions for some of the most transformative technologies—from cloud and data platforms to AI. I’ve always believed marketing is more than demand generation; it’s about building trust and connection and creating meaningful experiences. Today, I lead field marketing for IBM’s Data & AI portfolio in APAC, with a focus on driving business value through innovation, ecosystem collaboration, thought leadership, and customer-centric engagement.

Where do you see the biggest benefit of increased collaboration between the different revenue functions—marketing, sales, product, RevOps, customer success, etc.?

The biggest benefit is alignment around the customer. When these functions collaborate, we move from isolated efforts to a unified go-to-market strategy. Marketing brings the voice of the customer, product brings innovation, sales drives relationships, RevOps ensures operational efficiency, and customer success closes the loop. Together, we create a seamless experience that accelerates pipeline, improves win rates, long-term loyalty, and, importantly, value to the customer. In my experience, the most successful initiatives are those where these teams co-own outcomes and continuously share insights.

With your experience in digital, social, event, and ecosystem marketing, how do you prioritize channels and tactics for the greatest impact?

It starts with understanding the buyer journey and regional nuances. In B2B, especially in APAC, decision-making is complex and often consensus-driven. I prioritize channels based on where our audiences seek validation and insight—as examples, LinkedIn or industry publications for thought leadership, roundtables for peer engagement, etc. I also consider the maturity of the market and the strength of our ecosystem. For example, in emerging markets, partner-led events can be more effective than direct campaigns. Ultimately, it’s about orchestrating the right mix across the funnel, with agility to adapt as we learn.

How do you identify the most promising opportunities for field marketing in different regions?

It’s a combination of data, market intelligence, and local insight. I start by analyzing industry trends, whitespace opportunities, and customer pain points. Then I validate with sales and partner feedback to ensure relevance. Cultural context is also key—what works in Australia may not resonate in Korea or Indonesia. Field marketing thrives when it’s hyper-local and aligned to business priorities. I look for moments where we can create meaningful engagement—whether it’s a strategic roundtable, an ecosystem-led forum, or a digital experience that drives action. Continuous measurement and iteration also help refine our approach, ensuring we invest in the opportunities with the highest potential impact.

How has the adoption of AI impacted your field marketing campaign strategy and execution?

AI has fundamentally changed how we plan, execute, and optimize campaigns. We’re using AI to analyze intent signals, personalize content at scale, and orchestrate engagement across channels. AI also helps us test and learn faster—refining messaging, identifying high-propensity accounts, and optimizing performance in real time. Beyond efficiency, it provides deeper predictive insights, enabling more precise targeting, better resource allocation, and stronger alignment between field and demand generation teams. I see it as a strategic enabler that’s helping us deliver smarter, more impactful marketing.

“Great marketing is about creating moments that matter—when innovation meets purpose in a way that resonates. Seeing the genuine excitement it sparks makes it unforgettable.”

Which KPIs do you monitor most closely to determine the effectiveness of a field marketing strategy?

I focus on a mix of pipeline metrics and engagement indicators. Influenced revenue and pipeline contribution are key, but I also track account progression, conversion rates, and velocity. Engagement metrics—like event attendance, content consumption, and digital interactions, including social—help us understand resonance. Increasingly, I’m looking at account-based KPIs: how we’re penetrating key accounts, expanding relationships, and accelerating deal cycles. And of course, qualitative feedback from sales is invaluable. KPIs should tell a story—not just report numbers.

What has been your most challenging yet memorable experience as a marketer?

A recent one was hosting an AI-themed open house during F1 week in Singapore. It was a bold concept—blending sports & technology—a powerful platform for client engagement. The challenge was orchestrating an experience that felt authentic, relevant, and differentiated. We brought together clients, partners, and thought leaders to explore how AI is transforming industries. It reminded me that great marketing is about creating moments that matter—when innovation meets purpose in a way that resonates—and seeing the genuine excitement and curiosity it sparks in the audience makes it truly unforgettable.

As a marketing leader, what lessons or advice would you share with aspiring marketers?

Stay curious, stay customer-obsessed, and never stop learning. Marketing is evolving faster than ever, and the best marketers are those who embrace change and lead with empathy. Build strong cross-functional relationships—they’re your superpower. Don’t be afraid to experiment, but always anchor your strategy in insight. Seek feedback constantly and reflect on what works and what doesn’t. And most importantly, find your purpose. When your work aligns with what you believe in, it becomes a platform for impact—not just a job.

About Dawn Liu

Dawn Liu is a seasoned marketing leader with 18+ years of experience driving field, digital, social, and event marketing across APAC. As IBM’s APAC Field Marketing Lead for Data & AI, she champions outcome-driven, collaborative campaigns, ecosystem engagement, and account-based marketing. A mentor and innovator, Dawn excels at leading cross-functional teams, leveraging data-driven insights, and creating impactful integrated campaigns that connect technology, purpose, and business value.

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Julia Kertesz, Senior Marketing Manager at Acronis, shares her journey from spearheading marketing for a family business to crafting high-impact campaigns for international corporations. In this conversation, she dives into aligning marketing and sales, balancing global brand consistency with local relevance, and the transformative power of AI in modern B2B marketing.

Welcome to the interview series, Julia. Could you tell us about your journey to becoming a marketing leader?

Hi, thank you for having me here!

My journey to becoming a marketing professional has been long and full of learning.

I started working early, as I was involved in a family business from high school through university. Being part of a family-run company, I naturally took on responsibility, supporting operations, helping with management, and eventually leading marketing. I also had the chance to apply my university learning in real time. For example, I wrote an analytical report aligned with quality standards (similar to ISO 9001), combining academic and practical experience. As a result, the company received a state award for management quality. That early exposure taught me to take initiative, act on knowledge while it’s fresh, and approach tasks with purpose.

Later, I moved into sales and marketing roles across SMBs. I worked hard, often beyond my job description, driven by a hunger for knowledge and well-rounded experience. Before entering the corporate world, I was the sales and marketing director at a hotel chain. All the companies I worked for had under 50 employees, so there were no strict department lines, we did everything: strategy, lead gen, closing deals, and partner enablement.

That environment gave me a strong, hands-on understanding of how closely marketing and sales must work together to drive results.

When I moved into a large international corporation, I brought that mindset with me. Today, I lead marketing campaigns for diverse audiences, with a core focus on operational technology (OT) industries.

I’ve always believed real growth comes through learning. That’s why, in addition to my master’s in business administration, I completed a cyber-resilience course to better understand the challenges professionals face from compliance and incident response to ransomware and business continuity. In a few weeks, I’ll be taking part in penetration testing training focused on OT environments, and I’m genuinely excited to keep learning.

What’s your approach to aligning marketing and sales teams when launching integrated campaigns across multiple markets?

For me, alignment between marketing and sales isn’t just important; it’s foundational.

I typically work on campaigns across regions like NAM, Japan, DACH, and others, where customer expectations, regulations, and buying behaviours vary significantly. So our alignment starts early in the planning stage: we discuss campaign goals, the target audience, common objections they encounter, and what types of assets or tactics perform best locally. These conversations help shape campaigns that are truly relevant and ready for local execution.

Once the campaign is live, I stay close to performance metrics and feedback loops. I regularly check in with sales teams to hear what’s working, what’s not, and where they might need additional support, like follow-up materials, localized content, or refreshed messaging.

Over time, I’ve tested different collaboration models, but the most impactful results always come when global and regional marketing and sales teams work closely together from day one. That synergy of knowledge is what drives stronger engagement and higher conversion.

Having run marketing programs across different regions (US, UKI, DACH, and APAC), how do you strike the right balance between global brand consistency and local market relevance?

That’s a great question!When running marketing programs across multiple regions, I always start with the foundation of global brand consistency: the core messaging, visual identity, tone of voice, and values should remain strong and recognizable across all markets. This consistency builds long-term trust and reinforces brand equity, no matter where the customer is.

At the same time, each region brings its own unique context: different levels of digital maturity, industry challenges, cultural nuances, content preferences, and regulatory requirements. That’s why my approach is to create a solid global campaign framework and then work closely with local teams to adapt it for their specific market realities.

That might include adjusting examples to reflect local industries, selecting key visuals that resonate regionally, highlighting case studies from familiar and respected customers, or translating content not just linguistically but culturally (with valuable input from local teams). It’s also important to tailor messaging, for example, to reflect relevant compliance frameworks like NIS2 in Europe, HIPAA in the US, or 2G3M in Japan. To sum up, I see it as a balance between structure and flexibility: setting a clear strategic direction globally while working closely with local teams to adapt campaigns in a way that connects with their audience.

“Marketing’s role isn’t just to generate leads but to create a pipeline of future customers who are already familiar with value when the time to buy comes.”

Can you share one of your most impactful or memorable marketing campaign experiences?

Absolutely! There are many ways to define impact, from engagement to pipeline influence, but one of the most memorable campaigns for me began back in December 2022.

Like many marketers, I regularly collaborate with subject matter experts. One day, my colleague James floated an idea about the rising relevance of ChatGPT and the implications of evolving cyber threats. I was inspired: it was timely and relevant, and I knew it would resonate with our audience. And it absolutely did.

We quickly mobilized a multi-touch campaign with a top-of-the-funnel webinar series at its core to drive awareness. The response exceeded expectations: over 3,700 registrations for that event.

To nurture prospects further along the journey, I proposed a middle-of-the-funnel tactic as part of this campaign: an incident response planning workshop, supported by actionable templates and checklists. This initiative had a direct sales impact, attracting buyers who were already actively exploring solutions. As a result, it led to some of the fastest deal conversions of my marketing career.

We ran this campaign for about a year, and it proved highly effective because we focused on relevant topics and moved quickly when new opportunities emerged while building a solid funnel-aligned plan that reflected the interests and needs of our audience.

What are some of the major challenges and opportunities for marketing in the cybersecurity space?

Today, one of the biggest challenges in tech, including cybersecurity, is the complexity of the solutions we market. In many cases, you’re not just selling to one person. You’re engaging with a committee of decision-makers from various departments, each with different priorities, levels of technical understanding, and expectations. That makes it critical to create messaging that resonates with different audiences, from engineers to executives, without losing clarity or consistency.

Another challenge is how buyers behave today. Most of the journey happens long before a prospect ever talks to sales. Buyers do their own research, shortlist vendors, read peer reviews, attend events, and consume content on their own terms. So, as marketers, we need to show up early and not with a pitch, but with value. That’s where I see a real shift toward brand-to-demand marketing. I often speak about this in my LinkedIn blog: modern B2B marketing isn’t just about generating leads; it’s about building credibility and trust long before someone fills out a form.

At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity in this space. Tech is fast-moving, rich in innovation, and constantly evolving. That means there’s always something new to talk about: a new use case, a new regulation, or a shift in the market. It gives marketers the chance to be true enablers: simplifying complex topics, connecting people with the right solutions, and helping businesses move forward with confidence.

How do you approach managing the marketing budget across different channels, and which metrics do you monitor most closely to ensure a strong ROI?

In B2B tech marketing, especially when working across different regions, managing spending is always a balance between short-term performance and long-term brand building.

When allocating budget across channels, I start by mapping marketing activities to the full customer journey and aligning those activities with regional goals and market maturity. I also set clear benchmarks and analyze channel performance at regular intervals, because in B2B, especially with longer sales cycles, what doesn’t perform in one quarter may prove its value later, particularly for larger or more complex accounts.

In terms of metrics, I closely track MQL to SQL conversion, deal size influence, and conversion to closed-won opportunities. These KPIs help measure not just volume but also the quality and sales readiness of leads, which reflects how well campaigns, messaging, and targeting are resonating with the right audience.

In markets with long buying cycles (often 6–12 months or more), it’s also important to use multi-touch attribution to understand the impact of marketing over time. I also combine this data with qualitative feedback from sales, especially when we’re focused on high-value accounts, because it gives context that numbers alone can’t provide.

Finally, I believe in consistent investment in brand-building, even when ROI isn’t immediate. Educating the market, building credibility, and delivering value early in the journey all help shorten sales cycles and increase win rates in the long run. Marketing’s role isn’t just to generate leads but to create a pipeline of future customers who are already familiar with value when the time to buy comes.

How has AI impacted the planning and execution of your marketing programs?

One of the biggest shifts I’ve experienced is in how AI accelerates everyday tasks like copywriting, proofreading, brainstorming, and analysis. What used to take hours of ideation and refinement can now be done in minutes. It doesn’t just save time, it improves quality too, because reviewing 3–4 solid options and selecting the best one is more effective than starting from scratch.

Of course, it still requires guiding the output with the right prompt, but once you learn how to collaborate with AI properly, the time savings are real. Personally, I estimate it saves me around 5 hours per week. That’s nearly a full workday every month: time I can now spend on deeper analytics, strategic planning, better alignment with regions, or refining campaign frameworks.

To sum up, AI allowed me as a marketer to shift focus from repetitive execution to higher-value work. It helps me to move faster, stay agile, and be more intentional with how I use my time. And that’s a huge competitive advantage in today’s fast-moving tech landscape.

About Julia Kertesz

Julia Kertesz is a marketing professional with over 15 years of experience in both B2B and B2C. She began her journey in a family-run business, gaining early hands-on experience across operations and marketing. Her career spans sales and marketing leadership roles in SMBs and large corporations, with a strong focus on operational technology industries. Julia is passionate about combining tech, psychology, and analytics to create data-driven campaigns that drive real business impact.

The post Campaigns, Culture & Cybersecurity: Julia Kertesz’s Blueprint for Impactful Global Marketing appeared first on iTechSeries.

Annie Arora, Account-Based Marketing Manager at Icertis, brings extensive experience in ABM, customer marketing, and integrated campaigns. She shares insights on aligning marketing with revenue, driving personalized engagement, and building strategic programs that accelerate pipeline growth and deepen customer relationships across global markets.

Welcome to the interview series, Annie. Could you please tell us more about yourself and your marketing journey?

Thank you! I’m delighted to be part of this series.

My marketing journey began at Cvent, where I joined as an Internet Research Specialist. Over the years, I grew within the organization, eventually leading customer marketing initiatives. That foundational experience sparked my interest in customer engagement and advocacy, and I’ve since worn multiple hats across marketing functions, most notably as a customer marketer and an account-based marketing (ABM) specialist.

After Cvent, I took on roles at Cognizant and Zycus, where I led integrated marketing campaigns for marquee clients and global events, built loyalty and engagement programs, and executed ABM strategies targeted at high-value accounts. These roles gave me a 360-degree view of how strategic marketing can influence both customer satisfaction and pipeline acceleration.

Currently, I lead the ABM strategy for APAC and EMEA at Icertis. My role involves crafting highly personalized marketing campaigns that align tightly with sales objectives and customer needs. What I enjoy most is being able to blend creativity, data, and collaboration to deliver impact—whether it’s expanding customer relationships or influencing multi-million-dollar deals.

Throughout my career, I’ve remained passionate about creating meaningful customer experiences and driving growth through insight-led marketing.

How has marketing’s role evolved within an integrated revenue organizational structure?

Marketing’s role has significantly evolved—from being seen primarily as a brand-building or lead-generation function to becoming a strategic growth driver tightly aligned with revenue goals.

In today’s integrated revenue structures, especially within B2B SaaS organizations, marketing is no longer working in isolation. It’s deeply interwoven with sales, customer success, and product teams to drive full-funnel impact. The focus has shifted from just generating MQLs to influencing pipeline velocity, deal acceleration, customer retention, and expansion.

In my own experience, especially while leading ABM and customer marketing, I’ve seen how marketing acts as a bridge between sales and customer success—crafting personalized engagement strategies that resonate with both prospects and existing customers. ABM has enabled us to take a highly targeted approach to revenue generation, while customer marketing ensures that we’re not only acquiring new business but also nurturing loyalty and advocacy from existing customers.

Data, technology, and alignment have become key. We now have better visibility into the buyer journey and can tailor our messaging and tactics accordingly. Ultimately, marketing’s success is measured by its contribution to revenue and customer lifetime value—something that reflects its strategic position in today’s integrated revenue engine.

“Marketing’s role has significantly evolved—from being seen primarily as a brand-building or lead-generation function to becoming a strategic growth driver tightly aligned with revenue goals.”

What are the key factors for successfully executing integrated marketing campaigns for high-value accounts?

Though there are many factors contributing to a successful campaign, as per my experience, it hinges on four core pillars:

1. Sales and Marketing Alignment: A strong partnership with sales is non-negotiable. Collaborating on campaign goals, account selection, and messaging ensures both teams are working toward shared revenue goals. Regular syncs and a unified account plan help maintain momentum and accountability.
2. Insight-Driven Personalization: Leveraging intent signals, firmographic data, and buying stage insights allows us to deeply understand each account’s needs. This intelligence drives hyper-personalized messaging and content—tailored to individual stakeholders and buying committees.
3. Multi-Channel Orchestration: Successful campaigns engage accounts across multiple touchpoints—from emails, paid media, and content hubs to executive outreach, events, and direct mail. Coordinating these efforts ensures a consistent and immersive experience throughout the buyer’s journey.
4. Measurement and Optimization: Defining clear metrics tied to pipeline and revenue influence is key. Equally important is gathering feedback from sales and using real-time performance data to iterate quickly and optimize.

How can marketers customize their programs for different customer profiles using the three core pillars of demand generation: accounts, personas, and segments?

Customizing programs for different customer profiles starts with a deep understanding of the three pillars—accounts, personas, and segments—and using them in tandem to drive meaningful, personalized engagement. Here’s how:

1. Accounts–Prioritize and Personalize
   Each account has its own set of priorities, challenges, and buying dynamics. By using firmographic data and intent signals, marketers can tailor messaging, content, and outreach strategies to align with the specific goals of that account. For high-value or strategic accounts, this may even involve creating bespoke campaigns or co-branded experiences in collaboration with the sales team.
2. Personas–Speak to the Decision-Makers
   Within each account, multiple stakeholders influence the buying decision. Customizing programs based on persona roles—like procurement leaders, IT heads, or finance execs—ensures that messaging addresses their unique concerns and KPIs. For example, while a CFO may care about cost optimization, a CPO might prioritize risk reduction and compliance.
3. Segments–Scale with Relevance
   At the segment level—such as industry, geography, or company size—marketers can create scalable campaigns with tailored value propositions. This is especially useful for 1: few and 1: many ABM, where messaging remains personalized but operationally efficient. Segment-level customization helps deliver relevance at scale while maintaining a level of precision.

By integrating these three pillars, marketers can ensure that their programs not only capture attention but also build deeper resonance with target audiences—ultimately increasing engagement, accelerating pipeline, and improving win rates.

Please tell us about your most memorable marketing campaign experience so far.

One of the most memorable campaigns of my career was during my time at Cognizant, where I led an integrated marketing initiative to amplify a major Comcast deal win. This wasn’t just a celebration—it was a strategic effort to convert a marquee win into broader market influence and pipeline growth. We built a 360-degree campaign that spanned digital engagement, sales enablement, personalized outreach, and executive conversations. Here’s how we approached it:

1. Strategic Content Foundation
   We crafted a strong narrative around the Comcast win, showcasing Cognizant’s expertise in transforming customer experience in the media & telecom space. This included a detailed customer success story, thought leadership blogs, and tailored sales collateral.
2. 1:1 ABM Campaign
   We launched a 1:1 ABM campaign targeting key personas in Comcast. Using PathFactory, we delivered personalized content journeys based on personas and buying stages—ensuring every interaction was relevant and timely.
3. Personal On-Site Workshops
   To further engage priority accounts, we conducted personalized, on-site workshops with client stakeholders—showcasing the Comcast success playbook and co-creating solution roadmaps aligned to their business challenges. This built trust and positioned Cognizant as a transformation partner.
4. Sales Enablement and Executive Engagement
   We empowered the sales team with battle cards, win wires, and email templates. Also personalized our outreach to Comcast decision-makers, highlighting parallels between their challenges and the Comcast success story.

This campaign is especially memorable because it brought together strategic storytelling, high-touch engagement, and strong sales alignment. It ultimately influenced over $150M in new pipeline and set a benchmark for how integrated ABM can drive real business outcomes.

How can marketers leverage customer events to support marketing goals such as brand awareness, engagement, and revenue growth?

Customer events are powerful levers for achieving a range of marketing goals when strategically planned and executed.

1. Boosting Brand Awareness
   Events position your brand as a thought leader by showcasing innovation, customer success, and industry insights. Flagship events like Zycus Horizon or Cvent Connect significantly elevated our brand presence across key accounts.
2. Driving Deeper Engagement
   They offer direct, personalized interaction with customers—strengthening relationships, fostering loyalty, and turning satisfied users into advocates through panels, roundtables, and success stories.
3. Fueling Revenue Growth
   Events provide a high-touch platform to introduce new solutions, uncover upsell/cross-sell opportunities, and accelerate deal cycles—especially when marketing and sales work in tandem.
4. Generating Content and Insights
   Customer events also yield rich insights and reusable content—from session recordings to customer testimonials—that amplify impact beyond the event itself.

With the right strategy, customer events go far beyond networking—they become key drivers of awareness, engagement, and pipeline growth.

What are some of the emerging trends that will shape ABM strategies in the years to come?

ABM is rapidly evolving, and several emerging trends are set to redefine how marketers engage high-value accounts:

1. AI-Driven Personalization
   AI and predictive analytics are enabling deeper account insights and helping marketers deliver hyper-personalized experiences that adapt in real time to buyer behavior and intent signals.
2. Dynamic Content Targeting
   Marketers are increasingly using dynamic content to tailor messaging at scale—serving personalized content based on account, industry, persona, and stage in the buyer journey. This ensures relevance across all touchpoints, without sacrificing efficiency.
3. ABM and Customer Marketing Convergence
   ABM is expanding beyond net-new acquisition to include cross-sell, upsell, and advocacy—creating a continuous value loop across the customer lifecycle.
4. Signal-Based Targeting and Timing
   Using real-time intent signals and behavioral triggers, marketers can better prioritize accounts, tailor outreach, and launch campaigns at the right moment for maximum impact.

Together, these trends signal a shift toward more intelligent, scalable, and customer-centric ABM strategies—where relevance and timing are everything.

How do you evaluate the effectiveness of ABM campaigns, and which key metrics do you prioritize?

Evaluating ABM effectiveness requires a shift from traditional volume-based metrics to deeper, account-centric indicators tied to engagement, influence, and revenue impact. I focus on a blend of qualitative and quantitative metrics across the buyer journey:

1. Account Engagement
   We track how deeply and frequently target accounts are interacting with our content, channels, and campaigns. Metrics like account-level website visits, content downloads, event participation, and time spent help gauge interest and intent.
2. Pipeline Influence and Acceleration
   A key success factor is how ABM campaigns contribute to pipeline creation and deal progression. We look at sourced and influenced pipeline, deal velocity, and progression across stages for target accounts.
3. Conversion and Win Rates
   Higher conversion rates from marketing-qualified accounts to opportunities and, ultimately, closed-won deals are strong indicators of ABM success.
4. Customer Expansion and Retention
   For existing customers, we track upsell/cross-sell pipeline and renewal influence to measure ABM’s role in deepening account value.

Ultimately, the goal is not just engagement, but meaningful progress toward revenue and relationship growth. ABM success lies in quality over quantity—and how well marketing helps move the needle where it matters most.

Where do you see AI-enabled tools playing an integral role in marketing campaign operations?

AI-enabled tools are becoming foundational to modern marketing operations, especially where efficiency, personalization, and precision are key. Here’s where they’re making the most impact:

1. Audience Insights and Segmentation
   Tools like 6sense, Demandbase, and ZoomInfo analyze intent data, firmographics, and buying behavior to prioritize high-value accounts and uncover hidden opportunities—making segmentation smarter and more targeted.
2. Personalization at Scale
   Platforms like PathFactory and Drift use AI to deliver personalized web experiences, content journeys, and conversational marketing—tailored in real time based on account or persona.
3. Predictive Campaign Optimization
   AI-driven A/B testing and performance prediction from tools like Optimizely or Marketo Engage help optimize messaging, timing, and channel mix based on what’s likely to convert best.
4. Reporting and Attribution
   AI tools like Bizible simplify multi-touch attribution and help marketers connect campaigns to pipeline and revenue impact—driving more strategic decision-making.

As marketing becomes more data-driven and outcome-focused, AI is moving from an enhancement to an operational necessity—helping teams execute faster, personalize deeper, and continuously optimize across the full campaign lifecycle.

About Annie Arora

Annie is a seasoned marketer with over 10 years of experience specializing in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and integrated campaigns. She has led high-impact, personalized strategies that align with business goals to drive engagement and pipeline growth. Having held key roles at Cvent, Cognizant, and Zycus, Annie currently leads ABM strategy for APAC and EMEA at Icertis, blending creativity and data to deliver measurable business impact.

The post Personalization, Pipeline & Performance: Annie Arora on Winning with ABM appeared first on iTechSeries.