According to Gartner
By the end of 2020, more than 70% of B2B marketers at midsize to large organizations will either pilot or launch full-scale account-based marketing (ABM) programs to target and engage buyers.
One More Stats
An ABM strategy can be particularly helpful for B2B companies looking to build long-term relationships with key accounts. 76% of B2B marketers who used ABM in 2020 reported an increased ROI compared to other forms of marketing.
So, First, we will discuss what is account-based marketing (ABM)?
What is Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?
Account-based marketing (ABM), a marketing strategy for businesses that focuses resources on specific accounts in a particular market, is called account-based marketing. This marketing strategy uses customized campaigns to engage each account. The message is tailored to the needs and attributes of the account.
ABM takes a holistic marketing approach and goes beyond lead generation. To maximize the value of your largest accounts, you must market to them to upsell and cross-sell.
Benefits of Account-Based Marketing
B2B companies aiming at larger accounts are increasingly turning to account-based marketing. Account-based marketing is a great option for companies trying to sell into large accounts with long sales cycles and large deal sizes.
The personalized Marketing Approach
Marketers create targeted messaging instead of using a generic approach. They take what they know about the customer and tailor their creative assets to their customers’ specific needs.
Deliver Consistent Customer Experiences
Your ABM strategy must be memorable if you want to create a long-term feeling of delight among your accounts. Every account should feel like they are your market of one. Good customer Experiences can achieve this by providing consistent customer experiences.
Alignment of Sales and Marketing
ABM requires a lot of alignment between Marketing and Sales. Ensure that all team members know where an account is on the buyer’s journey. Then, you can deliver timely and personalized communication, campaigns and product information to them.
Account-based marketing encourages sales organizations and marketing teams to collaborate. They identify target accounts and create customized campaigns for them. Then, they work together to align accounts and move them through the pipeline before and after the lead conversion.
Sales Cycles are Shorter
Account-based marketing reduces the time it takes to nurture prospects simultaneously.
Multiple stakeholders are involved in major purchase decisions. The sales process is often slowed down because it begins at a lower level of the organization and progresses slowly to the primary decision-maker.
The sales cycle can look very different depending on the industry and resources.
Commonly it will be Like:
Research → Prospect → Connect → Present → Close → Nurture
Account-based marketing streamlines the entire cycle. By focusing your efforts only on high-value accounts, you can save time and money.
So, Your ABM sales cycle can look Like this:
Target Prospect → Present → Close → Nurture
ABM helps you to streamline your sales cycle and keep it efficient. ABM eliminates the need to try different approaches to qualify leads and prospect them.
Instead of trying new tactics, ABM makes sure that the accounts you target are right for your business. Your marketing and sales alignment, as well as consistent and personalized customer service, will all help to streamline the sales cycle.
Resources Utilization
The accounts most likely to close sales are the ones that receive the most time and resources. This allows for the freeing up resources that might otherwise have been wasted.
More ROI
Account-based marketing provides the highest ROI among all B2B marketing strategies. It is precise and quantifiable. Account-based marketing is rated higher than other marketing approaches by 85% of those who measure ROI.
Type of Account-Based Marketing:
Account-based marketing begins with segmentation. Next, identify the most effective channels to reach their audience using email, website, Podcast, Video, Webinar and Event. Each company will use its unique mix of tactics in their strategy.
Here are some account-based marketing programs that B2B marketers can create.
Direct mail
This is Different from Email Marketing. Its Target Specific Account type and Direct. Direct mail is a popular way to reach prospects in a company, especially in an age when everyone is overwhelmed with email.
Direct mail marketing can have a higher return on investment because it is more targeted. This means that direct mail marketing can deliver higher results.
Paid Advertising
PPC and paid social media advertising are common ways to reach out to targeted accounts on the internet. You can target specific companies or personas through social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. With technology like IP targeting and Retargeting, you can tailor your display campaigns to target a few target accounts instead of focusing on large numbers.
Events and Webinars
Sales teams have always found that in-person events are one of the best ways to convince decision-makers. ABM can be used to organize events. You can tailor webinar events for specific companies and create unique webinar content with your target audience.
Web Personalization
ABM campaigns for the web do not end with driving traffic via personalized SEM or inbound marketing campaigns. Website personalization technology provides a customized, targeted experience for prospects once they have reached the website. This is in contrast to the generic experience.
How do you Implement Account-Based Marketing?
Here’s a step-by-step guide for setting up account-based advertising.
Step 1: Strategy and Execution Planning
ABM can be a great way to gain maximum results. It would be best if you had strategy and execution planning. Both are equally important, and here are some points to get you started:
- Target Business Overview
- Selling and Buying Points
- Goals and Strategy
- Sales Opportunities, Targets, and Risks
- What is your Action Plan?
- Contact Customer Point
- Analyze Customer Competitors
Step 2: Your ABM team
Sales and marketing leaders should work together to develop your ABM team. They will need to identify at least one marketer and one representative who is completely focused on the accounts they work with.
They will publish and create content for accounts and manage business deals with each account’s buying committee. As a general rule, limit your team to ten sales reps or one marketer.
You should identify other key internal players, such as customer success representatives, who are important to your ABM strategy.
Step 3: Identify high-value accounts
These are key accounts that can contribute the most revenue to your company.
Personalizing content to accounts will be key to attracting quality accounts. This will increase brand awareness and ensure that your audience is well-informed.
- Create landing pages that are tailored to account needs and questions.
- Social media accounts should be engaged.
- Invite Your Prospects to an Event, Webinar or Podcast.
- Direct messages can be sent via social media or direct mail via email, post, or email. This is where I recommend Linkedin Inmails or Email Marketing.
- You can publish content, such as blog articles, across relevant channels for each account.
Step 4: Do your research about these accounts
Choose the right set of high-value target accounts that you are willing to put your resources and time into. You can get a clear picture of their customer pain points and customer needs and where they stand in their customer journey.
These are some tips that you can use:
- You can create filters criteria based on, e.g. Create filters Criteria based on, e.g. company size, industry, etc. Find the ideal customer type.
- This Filter is better on Linkedin SalesNavigator. Save Relevant Profile. Save them to linkedin and update qualified leads based on specific criteria.
- To find similar matchmaking companies, use past client data on Linkedin.
- The Filter can be applied to Headcount, Geographical location, Related Technology company, etc.
- Email analytics can be used to find accounts engaging with you and Haven’t been covered till now.
- ABM requires more attention. We recommend that you deal with fewer accounts.
Step 5: Your Customized and streamlined marketing campaigns
Use the information from the research phase to help you develop creative assets that resonate with your target account.
Your business will be able to provide consistent customer experiences and ensure that your strategy is efficient and streamlined.
- ABM: Create a dedicated team
- Marketing Budget for ABM
- Resources you will need.
- ABM Goals and Key Performance Indicators
Step 6: ABM Content Marketing Plan
Content is the king, and Account-based marketing is also available. It is, therefore, crucial to ensure that you have a content marketing plan.
- You can create personalized content or modify existing content to make it more relevant for each account.
- What content is required to engage and attract members of the account buying committee?
- What channels can we use to share content?
- You can customize your budget and allocated resources.
Step 7: Run your customized marketing campaigns
Send your campaigns to the account you wish to target. You can target various factors, such as job title, location, skill or skill, with social ads and ad campaigns.
Step 8: Analyze and measure your ABM Strategy
To see the performance of your campaigns, analyze the data.
How to Get Account Based Marketing Success in Digital Marketing.
These KPIs will give you insight into your performance.
- Conversion Rate before and after ABM
- Engagement
- Revenues Increase
- Time from deal-to-close
- Closest percent of deals
Step 9: Build strong relationships with prospects
Once you have attracted high-value clients, it is time to build strong relationships with them. This is something that your team will likely focus on for a long time.
These bonds can take months or even years to form. This tactic is tied to delighting your accounts. You never stop delighting your audience. Learn how to delight your audience with Content Marketing.
- Here are some tips to help you get ahead
- Provide education around Your Services.
- Make case studies, whitepapers, and guide ebooks.
- You can interact with them.
- Keep meetings organized and on time.
- Email sequencing can improve communication, keep consistency, and be professional.
Marketing Tools that are Helpful in ABM Marketing:
ABM automation allows you to target key customers and seamlessly move them through your sales process.
Automation is a key component of account-based marketing software. Automation, such as Drip Campaign, is key to streamlining ABM efforts.
- Sales Navigator: Tools to Identify Potential Customers and Accounts Like Salesnavigator
- Email Tools: Sometimes, you may need email tools to approach your audience.
- Analytics: To understand the effectiveness of your approach, you will need to have access to the relevant data.
- Other Tools: Email Marketing Suits, CMS, Landing Page, Etc.
LinkedIn Account-Based Marketing
LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers a feature to use LinkedIn’s over 14,000,000 company pages for your ABM efforts.
As I discussed above, LinkedIn can help you create a more personalized experience for your target accounts through genuine relationship-building with your buying committee.
LinkedIn can be an alternative to third-party data. It allows you to connect with potential contacts and find them using LinkedIn.
Growth is Possible with Account-Based Marketing.
Account-based marketing does not have to be complicated. It’s easy to find valuable accounts faster, decrease friction, and grow more. Simple.
