Account-based marketing, or ABM, fondly called among the business circle, has been the cornerstone of every successful marketing campaign. Everybody claims to have cracked the code regarding best account-based marketing strategies, yet the secret formula of a successful account-based marketing campaign remains to be unearthed.
According to a recent survey, almost 60% of B2B organizations admitted to using account-based marketing strategies as an integral part of their marketing campaigns, with nearly 27% agreeing to adopt ABM sooner than later. With such broad consensus on the efficacy of account-based marketing, it’s surprising that many marketers still do not understand how to execute successful ABM programs.
Now, there is no denying that the challenges these modern B2B marketers face also vary based on the nature of their business, the target audience, etc. And hence there is no one-size-fits-all formula for creating successful ABM campaigns. However, certain aspects that, when appropriately done, could help you yield desired results from your ABM campaigns. So, we will lay it out for you. Here are five key drivers of successful account-based marketing that when taken care of, can deliver tremendous results for your account-based marketing campaigns.
Table of Contents
5 Successful Account Based Marketing Strategies
1. Select The Right Type of Account-Based Marketing
Account-based marketing programs can be broadly categorized into 3-types depending upon the account type you intend to pursue. These three types basically are –
- One-to-One Account-Based Marketing: It targets primarily on individual accounts that you have identified as the accounts with maximum potential. These are the accounts for whom you allocate your maximum marketing budget.
- One-to-Few Account-Based Marketing: It targets to select few accounts hailing from a specific sector or a specific industry depending upon your business need.
- One-to-Many Account-Based Marketing: It targets the accounts that normally are low in value, but can be engaged and grown with proper messaging.
In order to identify or select the best ABM campaigns for your business, you can take into consideration elements such as deal size, lifetime customer value, length of sales cycle Etc. However, it’s strongly recommended to test the account-based marketing strategies on a few accounts to begin with to check its effectiveness.
2. Build A Sales and Marketing Bridge
It might seem unusual, but the building block of any successful ABM campaign is the alignment between the sales and marketing teams. In any corporate setup, there is bound to be conflicts between the two approaches, sales, and marketing. At least when it comes to managing the strategic communication with the accounts. This is why it is essential to segment your targeted accounts granularly based on the desired outcome from each account. You can do it manually or can take the help of a marketing automation solution.
Once the accounts have been segregated based on the need and desired outcome, you can now focus your time and efforts on building messaging and marketing strategy that resonates with the sales activities and is in accordance with the region, the nature of the business, etc. To reap maximum benefits from your ABM programs, the marketing team needs to brainstorm with the sales team and run them through your ideas revolving around the account-based marketing program.
It will be even better if you can educate your sales leaders on the outcomes, benefits, and nitty-gritty of ABM. It not only will help them take more interest in your campaigns but will also grow the buy-ins and follow-throughs on generated leads from your ABM campaigns.
3. Define Your ICP’s (Ideal Customer Profiles)
It always helps to know your audience, whether you are into B2C marketing or building a B2B ABM program. Knowing your audience or customers increase your chances of moving them down the conversion funnel. While in B2C marketing, you create a model of an ideal customer, for B2B ABM marketing campaigns, you build perfect customer profiles for the target accounts and the key decision-makers within each of those accounts.
You can build your ICPs by leveraging the data you have collated for your prospects from your sales leaders through brand advocates, social footprints, and market research in general. You can even use AI and predictive intelligence to gather insights into your prospects’ buying patterns or future online actions. All these data points will help you narrow down your ABM programs to precisely target all your prospects to get the desired outcomes. It is worth mentioning that you must keep these data points updated at all times.
4. Create Account-Based Content
No two accounts are similar. There is no reason why you should use the same content to target different accounts. Personalized messaging and content are critical to ABM campaigns. Through your content, you must address the key pain points that will be unique to every account, and so should be your solution along with the messaging.
Make no mistake, creating personalized messages and content to target each account individually will be tough. It will require a deep understating of the pain points of each of your accounts and the exact solutions to each of those pain points. You also will have to deliver the solution in a language that your audience is familiar with and must ensure that your communication throughout the campaign remains in accordance with that. Once easy way to understand what works well with your audience is through social media intelligence.
Another way to effectively create account-based content is to make offers specific to your accounts. Whether you are an individual or a business, it always feels special to be treated special and get a personalized message, as opposed to the generic email.
5. Make Re-targeting ‘A Must-Have’
While account-based marketing strategies predominantly focus on personalization and targeting prospects with custom messaging, it is worth mentioning that re-targeting is equally as effective as an ABM strategy as anything else. Re-targeting ads give you an opportunity to showcase or advertise your products/services in front of the bounced-back traffic.
The advantage of re-targeting as part of your account-based marketing strategy is that you will redirect your resources and efforts towards prospects who have already shown interest in your brand. Just by mere presence, you significantly boost your conversion chances when re-targeting correctly.
Concluding Words
Irrespective of the amount of literature available advocating the efficacy of account-based marketing programs, it is no magic. Thus, it would be best if you did not put all your inbound marketing hopes on it. Yes, it can be effective when planned and executed close to perfection, but it still is no magic. So, if you are starting in the world of account-based marketing, you must seek a guiding hand or a partner that can help you design and execute ABM campaigns suited to your business needs.
If you think you are ready to launch your first ABM campaign but are looking for a partner, we will be happy to help you get started. Just write to: [email protected], and we will set you on a course to fruitful ABM campaigns.
