What is Account Based Marketing?

Account-based marketing is an approach to B2B marketing where marketing and sales teams work collaboratively to target specific accounts and convert them into customers.

By targeting specific accounts, marketing and sales teams can invest more of their resources into those accounts that are more valuable to them. This helps marketers to close deals on high-value accounts and maximize their performance.

ABM marketing has become more common-place thanks to new developments with marketing technology. New marketing and automation tools now help make it easier to offer a personalized service that improves engagement and offers more value to potential customers.

Problems Solved by ABM Marketing

A broad marketing approach is not a beneficial way to target customers because it can decrease your ROI when compared with an ABM approach which can build ROI, increase efforts and offer in-depth metrics.

Account-Based Marketing solves problems such as:

Unclear ROI

ABM marketing helps to prioritize ROI. Prioritizing ROI helps businesses to get more visibility on how successful their campaigns are.

Wasting Time And Money

When using a broad marketing approach, time and money can be spent on lower-value accounts that could have been allocated to higher-value accounts. Account based marketing focuses on higher-value accounts, meaning the amount of time and money wasted is reduced.

Losing Audience Engagement

A broad marketing approach can make it difficult to maintain engagement levels with prospects and customers. A lack of engagement can result in decreased revenue and customer retention. An account based marketing approach works on each account in a more personalised way which can improve engagement levels.

Tracking The Wrong Metrics/Goals

With account-based marketing, you are tracking a smaller set of specific accounts across email, ads, web and events. The results of your campaigns are easier to analyse because of the precision measurements on target accounts. This means that you will collect more detailed data that offers unique insights.

Misaligned Marketing And Sales Teams

Account-based marketing is one of the best ways to get your sales and marketing teams synchronised. ABM is a similar process to sales which allows both teams to approach targeting accounts with the same mindset.

Long Sales Cycles

Big purchases require multiple stakeholders which can slow down the sales cycle because it usually starts lower down in the organisation. Account-based marketing tackles long sales cycles by simultaneously nurturing all target accounts so that when it’s time to take action it’s in front of the decision maker and the right level.

Examples of ABM Marketing

Account-based marketing personalises segments on channels that are the most relevant to the target accounts. Each account has attributes and these will decide how you approach creating meaningful segments for that account.

Here are some real-life examples of how B2B marketers can create account based marketing solutions:

Events

Account-based marketing approach to events includes everything from personalised invitations to key prospects from target accounts to personalised follow up post events. You can really get creative and personalise VIP dinners, gifts, schwag, presentations etc.

Webinars

Webinars can be organized around particular accounts, making it fully customised.   Webinars and follow up can be bespoke for target accounts with fresh content being created specifically for the target audience.

Email Campaigns

Email campaigns will often involve marketing to large databases of prospects, making it challenging to personalise your communication. Account based marketing is about creating unique email communication for each account based on their individual needs.

Paid Advertising

You can easily use social platforms to target specific accounts rather than casting a wide net. PPC and paid social media ads are a popular way of reaching out to prospects online. When you implement technology like IP targeting and retargeting you can tailor your approach to a smaller selection of ideal customers.

Web Personalisation

Account-based marketing focuses on creating bespoke account focused experiences for target accounts over a generic website experience. Website personalisation technology supports this process following successful personalised SEM and inbound marketing campaigns.

Direct Mail

Email is a very popular marketing choice and whilst it remains an effective choice, direct mail can be targeted and add more value because the opportunity for revenue is higher.

Planning Your Account-Based Marketing

ABM marketing can improve your organization’s bottom line significantly. The starting line of a successful ABM program is a collection of high-value accounts that have been filtered accordingly. Once you have the outline of targets, your sales and marketing teams can work together to create personalised campaigns.

Discover & Define

Establish which accounts are high value for your business. Make use of the firmographic data and business intelligence to identify and prioritise them. The potential for revenue is a key factor as well as their influence on the market, whether they will make repeat purchases, and their potential for profit margins that are higher than standard.

Account Mapping

Map out some of the key characteristics of your target accounts. This includes information like decision-makers and the process of decision-making.

Content & Personalisation

Account-based marketing allows you to create content that is more focused. Define how your content can be personalized toward your target accounts and how the content will address their unique pain points.

Identify Channels

Define which channels will be the most effective; web, mobile, or email. Take into account limitations like opt-in rules and other restrictions that could affect how you can reach your audience.

Execute Campaigns

Put your ABM marketing campaigns into action, using the latest technology to ensure every component of your ABM marketing campaign is fully integrated and coordinated with the overall goal.

Measure & Optimise

Once your account-based marketing campaign is up and running, continue to monitor performance. Measuring results will not only deliver scope for optimisation but will also signpost areas for learning and improvement.