Explanation of Account Based Marketing and Its Functioning
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has become one of the best strategies for B2B companies that are interested in closing high-dollar deals and developing better relationships with customers. If you’re a newcomer to ABM, or even someone who has just heard about it, sit tight as we’re about to give you an all-you-need-to-know rundown on what, why, and how to get started with Account Based Marketing.
If you are on a marketing or sales team and need to simplify your strategy of going after key accounts, keep reading.
What Is Account-Based Marketing Anyway?
ABM is an extremely targeted B2B strategy that identifies high-value prospects and treats each one as a “market of one.” Rather than casting a wide net in the hopes of snaring some leads, ABM gets your sales and marketing teams working together to narrow down and target only the accounts that are most likely to produce the best ROI.
Change the equation The concept of account-based marketing is straightforward but effective — spend more time and effort to create customized campaigns for smaller numbers of high-value accounts, as opposed to a one-size fits all strategy.
Instead of casting a wide net for new leads, as traditional inbound marketing does, ABM reverses the order of the funnel and begins with pinpointing the exact companies you want to target.
Why Choose ABM?
Better ROI: ABM targets a smaller number of high-value accounts, so your resources go further.
Better Relationships: Personalized engagement to gain trust and engage decision-makers.
Sales and Marketing Aligned: ABM unites sales and marketing with common mission and goals, that simplifies the way people work and supports teams being in sync.
Faster Sales Cycles: Targeted effort and aligned teams frequently lead to accelerated decision making in accounts.
How Does Account-Based Marketing Work?
What makes ABM work, you ask? Here is a top-down look of how does account-based marketing work in practice:
Find and Target Key High-Value Accounts
When it comes to ABM, do it without really trying The very first step of ABM is choosing which accounts you want to pay attention to. These are the companies that will be most valuable to your business. Sales and marketing work together to create their ideal customer profile (ICP), which may be informed by industry, revenue, company size, and geography.
Pro Tip: Leverage software such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator or HubSpot to build account lists and learn more about your target companies.
Research and Gather Insights
Once you have a list of your target accounts, do as much of that research as you can to really know what their needs, pain points, and goals are.
Focus on:
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Company goals and priorities
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Pain points or problems they are trying to address
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Policy-makers and other stakeholders
That’s the intelligence this study gives you to tailor your campaigns to the right accounts.
Create Customized Messaging
One of the most powerful tech tools available to marketers is personalization.
ABM does not work from generics. Instead, customize your outreach to communicate case-specific needs and objectives.
Tips for personalization:
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Create content that solves for their unique problems.
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Use professional jargon to gain credibility.
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You should be referencing recent company news or milestones throughout your message.
If you are reaching out to a software company that was recently funded, for instance, recognize that they’re going to use the funds to grow, and propose something that can help a growing company.
Alignment between Sales and Marketing Teams
Effective ABM requires close collaboration between your sales and marketing departments. They will also have to coordinate to deliver a coherent message and a cohesive strategy.
How to align effectively:
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Collaborate on data insights with teams.
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Develop shared targets together (e.g. “let’s aim for X accounts and convert Y% of them”).
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Keep hitting up your mutual threads of communication via meetings or collaborative PM tools.
When sales and marketing are in sync, the customer journey is smooth and prospects have cohesive discussions from first touchpoint to deal closure.
Use Cross-Channel Campaigns to Your Advantage
Hitting target accounts on multiple channels means that not only will your message be seen, it will be appreciated more.
Some of the top ABM channels include:
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Email Campaigns reaching out to customized and targeted buyers and DMs.
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Social Media. Another area is reaching out on platforms that only professionals use like LinkedIn.
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Individualised Paid Ads to mark prospect companies in tools like LinkedIn Account Targeting.
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Direct Mail targeting unique, cutting through touch points, such as personalised gifts or handwritten notes.
Don’t forget to monitor engagement statistics for constant campaign improvement.
Measure Results and Optimize
And lastly, in order to refine the process over time, measuring your ABM campaign performance is critical. As you do, be sure to monitor metrics such as:
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Engagement rates (open and click for email and form interaction for forms)
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Account conversion rates
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ROI per account
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Length of sales cycles
Learn what’s working well and work to integrate the pieces of your strategy that you’re lacking.
Pro Tip: A/B test different communication styles and methods of content delivery to see what sticks with your audience.
Account Based Marketing Examples
Looking for inspiration? Here are real ABM use cases that companies leveraged these strategies to drive extraordinary results:
Snowflake’s Personalised Content Strategy
Personalization can be a key strategy for retaining your subscribers OVER a long period.
Snowflake, a cloud-based data platform, served up hyper-targeted personalized ads on LinkedIn, alluding to specific pain points the account of interest might face. This effort drove dramatically more engagement and a much more robust pipeline.
Terminus’ Account-Tier Strategy
In an effort to go beyond the lead (or contact) and drive more business with ABM, the team at Terminus uses one very cohesive-looking set of ABM metrics throughout the entire Buyer Funnel, from account through to opportunity and closed-won revenue.
ABM platform Terminus employed a three-tiered approach by categorizing accounts into tiers. Their team was spending resources based on what an account was worth, to approach them in a hyper-targeted, and resource-efficient manner.
Adobe’s Direct Marketing Campaign
Whether or not this campaign is considered sexist, this is a sexist campaign.
Adobe utilized ABM to focus on 500 priority accounts with a campaign that consisted of LinkedIn ads, email marketing, and hosted events. They saw a 60% conversion rate on these accounts.
Key Tools for ABM Success
To effectively run your ABM programs, here’s a list of tools and solutions you can consider:
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CRM Tools (Salesforce, HubSpot): Use account lists to manage sales, track engagement, and align sales and marketing efforts.
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ABM Platforms (Demandbase, Terminus, 6sense) Boost ABM with data-driven insights and support for multi-channel campaigns.
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Analytical Software (Google Analytics, Tableau): Track and optimize campaign results.
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Marketing Automation Tools (Marketo, Pardot): Automated email campaigns, workflows, lead scoring.
Why ABM Matters Today
In the hyper-competitive market focus on the high value accounts which take time for conversion. Such personalized experiences are what make a B2B company’s products or services irresistible to their ideal customers, and enable them to transact on both a rational and emotional level.
Moving from a volume-based to a quality emphasis for marketing is a great way to attract long-term clients, build relationships and remain at the top of their industry.
Start Your Journey to ABM Success
ABM is now a marketing essential for B2B companies, not a nice-to-have. Whether you’re just getting started or are ready to scale ABM throughout your organization, these principles can help ensure your ABM strategies are successful.
Would you like assistance in devising strategic approaches and creating tailored campaigns? Get in touch with us or sign up for a free demo!
For better understanding, you can read this: Account-Based Content Marketing: A Guide to Precision and Impact
