Cracking the ABM Code: 6 Years of Refinement with Stuart Matthewman

APAC's B2B Growth Podcast

In this episode, we delve into the world of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) with Stuart Matthewman, who shares the hard-won lessons from IR’s six-year journey with ABM.

From early failures and misalignment issues to achieving an incredible 80X return on marketing spend, Stuart reveals the critical importance of sales and marketing alignment. He provides a detailed blueprint for implementing a successful ABM program. This episode is packed with actionable insights for B2B marketers looking to move beyond traditional lead generation tactics and build sustainable revenue growth through strategic account targeting.

Guest Introduction

Stuart Matthewman joined IR in 2014 and was promoted to CMO in 2022, having risen through the ranks and strengthened the marketing function. Under his leadership as CMO, he has been a key contributor to IR's remarkable growth, driving a 132% increase in revenue, a 289% growth in EBITDA, and a complete overhaul of the global marketing team. Stuart is a B2B CMO of the Year Finalist for 2025 and brings extensive experience leading global marketing teams across ASX-listed technology companies.

Key Topics

• The early ABM struggles: Why IR's initial attempts at account-based marketing failed over six years, including issues with sales alignment and over-personalisation too early
• The turning point: How bringing in new sales leadership and rebranding ABM as "Account Based Everything" (ABE) transformed their approach and results
• The 12-16 week ABM process: A detailed breakdown of IR's structured approach, from pre-warming accounts to SDR activation and sales follow-up sequences
• Sales and marketing alignment: Practical strategies for getting sales teams fully bought into ABM programs and maintaining consistent execution
• SDRs under marketing: Why IR moved their SDR function from sales to marketing and the benefits this structure provides for ABM execution
• Measuring ABM success: How IR tracks progress without traditional MQL metrics and focuses on account engagement and pipeline generation
• AI integration: Current experiments with AI to automate and scale ABM activities while maintaining personalisation
• Branding evolution: IR's journey from "Integrated Research" to "IR" and the market research that guided their brand consolidation strategy

Resources & Links

People Mentioned:

• Stuart Matthewman - CMO, IR
• Byron Sharp - Director, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
• Professor Jenni Romaniuk - Associate Director, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
• Mark Ritson - Marketing Professor and Mini MBA Founder
• Kerry Cunningham - 6Sense ABM Expert
• Kim Scott - Author of "Radical Candor"
• John Lombardo - B2B Institute (LinkedIn)

Companies & Tools:

• IR (Integrated Research) - Performance monitoring software for critical IT infrastructure
• Ehrenberg-Bass Institute - World's largest centre for marketing research
• 6Sense
• DemandBase

Books & Resources:

• "How Brands Grow" - Byron Sharp
• "How Brands Grow Part 2" - Byron Sharp and Jenni Romaniuk
• "Radical Candor" - Kim Scott
• "Better Brand Health" - Jenni Romaniuk
• "Building Distinctive Brand Assets" - Jenni Romaniuk
• Women in Product Marketing Podcast

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Contact & Credits

Host: Shahin Hoda

Guest: Stuart Matthewman

Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell

Edited by: Alexander Hipwell

Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder

APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth