Your Three-Step Approach to Account-Based Marketing Success
Marketers
have long believed that consumers and business buyers' paths to purchase are
inherently different.
B2C vs. B2B
Consumers, the thinking goes, want to forge personal connections with brands through
a series of connection points, typically consulting with friends and family for
second (or third) opinions. Their path to purchase looks less like a straight
line and more like a circular pattern of touchpoints.
B2B buyers, as the
term implies, are all business, the thinking goes. Rather than let emotion
drive their purchases, they're more swayed by the facts, putting major stock in
research and specifications. As opposed to gathering opinions from friends and
family, they follow a formal procurement process, which involves
cross-departmental communication and collaboration.
Thanks to
the digital revolution, however, the distinctions between the two groups are
beginning to blur. We're witnessing the consumerization of the business buyer,
who's no longer satisfied with one-size-fits-all content offerings. B2B
customers desire a new level of personalization.
For
marketers, that means a clear shift in strategy.
Enter
account-based marketing (ABM), which narrows your marketing funnel and allows
you to specifically target high-value accounts' prospects in a way that appeals
to the consumer within them.
Three Steps for Implementing a Successful
Account-Based Effort
ABM is not a new strategy, but more and more B2B marketers are
embracing it, in part because they're dissatisfied with their current lead
generation programs. According to a report on B2B lead generation, only
16% of marketers indicated their current efforts were extremely effective; and
although generating high-quality leads is the No. 1 priority for 68% of B2B
marketers, nearly 60% also said it was their greatest challenge.
ABM helps bridge that challenge because it delivers highly
specific messaging directly to high-value targets, helping brands build
stronger client relationships that convert to sales. Case in point: 97% of marketers report
that ABM provides better return on investment than other marketing strategies.
All that
to say, it makes sense that ABM has gotten a lot of attention over the past
year, but it's critical that you don't get tangled up in the hype. Simply
deciding to implement an account-based effort doesn't guarantee results.
Success relies on a careful approach.
Here's
how to drive results with ABM.
1. Close the knowledge gap
A study by SiriusDecisions discovered that just over 90% of
marketers see the value in ABM, yet only 20% have successfully established a
full ABM program.
That gap
exists as the result of a lack of knowledge. For starters, ABM is not an
exclusively inbound or outbound marketing strategy; rather, ABM should
capitalize on both. The targeting aspect resembles an outbound strategy: It
helps you put your messaging in front of the exact right customers. However, it
should not do so disruptively, which is where you incorporate inbound-marketing
practices.
The overwhelming majority of
organizations use content marketing to spark engagement. In a crowded space,
your messaging has to provide business buyers with a valuable takeaway. So your
ABM strategy should include personalized, high-quality content.
The
combination of inbound and outbound efforts means that you end up delivering
effective, appealing messaging to your high-priority prospects and clients.
2. Unite the fronts
A
prevailing myth states that ABM is solely within the purview of the marketing
department. But when you consider that ABM is used to generate more targeted
prospects, it becomes clear that your sales department should have a large
stake in the effort. Salespeople, after all, will have the essential knowledge
about which accounts to target and what issues or solutions are important to
them—information that's critical to building a sound ABM strategy.
Plus, syncing up with Sales pays dividends: Organizations
with well-aligned sales and marketing
teams enjoy customer retention rates that are 36% higher, and
their sales win rates are nearly 40% higher.
Before
you begin planning your first campaign, assemble a core group of people from
both Sales and Marketing. Together, you should establish your plan of attack.
Your overarching goal is to make profitable connections with high-value
clients, but it's important for you to dig deeper into what that means.
What
metrics would indicate the success of your program? A certain engagement rate
or a target return on investment? Knowing that will help you determine which
channels and methods you use to contact targets, as well as the type of content
you put in front of them.
Also,
consider which channels have usually driven the most revenue for your company,
and evaluate your audience, perhaps in terms of market verticals, buyer
personas, and deal sizes.
3. Arm yourself with tech, prioritize targets,
and roll out
With your unique situation and approach in mind, it's time
to evaluate ABM tech tools. They
are a necessary component of your plan because they streamline your strategy
and allow you to implement it at scale. The technology connects you with
prospects through digital channels, and it can be customized to an individual
lead or account. Become familiar with your options, and evaluate each
software's features against your goals to pick the right one.
Next, with all the rest of the pieces in place, you're finally
ready to identify the specific accounts
to engage. Always come back to your goals and buyer
personas; otherwise, your ABM efforts will fall short. After all, the whole
point is to get the right message in front of the right prospects. You can use
predictive technologies and data tools to cross-check your database and
determine exactly who fits into your ideal buyer persona.
Then, it's time to select
your channels (whether email campaigns, webinars, or
search engine ads), create and deploy content, and start sales outreach and
follow-up. Your ABM strategy should set the stage for more valuable, engaging
sales calls.
As a
final step, it's critical to evaluate your efforts and optimize where needed.
Return to the key performance indicators you set with your sales team allies,
and measure your performance against them.
It's fair
to say that the hype behind ABM is justified, but don't hop on the bandwagon
just because you feel you need to. B2B marketers consistently attain better
results when they use ABM, but it requires understanding how and where it can
add value.
So
approach it with the right team and a thoughtful strategy, and you'll obtain
the returns you want.
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