Ignoring Marketing is like opening a business and never telling anyone. Although any type of marketing e.g. digital marketing, e-commerce marketing, content marketing, or Email marketing e.t.c. could yield some results. Any business owner wants to get the most ROI from their marketing strategy and maximize their leads and customer conversion rates.
Over the past year, account-based marketing has been a trailblazer in B2B marketing. A report published by Terminus showed 94.2% of respondents had an active ABM program, up from 77% in 2019. It is about time you considered trying ABM. Here are the account-based marketing basics you need to know to get started.
What is Account-Based Marketing?
Account-based marketing is a B2B marketing strategy that focuses your resources on high-quality, targeted accounts in the market. This type of marketing uses personalized campaigns that engage each account and base the message on specific accounts with specific needs and attributes.
Unlike most marketing strategies where the sales and marketing teams work independently, ABM takes a more holistic marketing approach. It’s not just about generating leads. One of the core aspects of ABM is up-selling and cross-selling to existing customer accounts. The objective of this strategy is to get the most value from your largest accounts.
How Does ABM Work?
ABM takes a different approach compared to traditional marketing methods like content marketing. Instead of making a generalized opinion about the perfect customer and not knowing the customer’s name, ABM identifies the customer. Using this approach, the business can make better-targeted ads and messages that produce a higher interaction rate with the ads.
Through these interactions, the marketing and sales team can identify customers showing purchase intent and can now personalize the conversation to the needs of these customers and close the deal.
Types of Account-Based Marketing
There are several types of ABM strategies you can employ. Each is determined by the size of the business and the accounts you’re targeting. Finding the right type of ABM strategy to use is one of the most critical account-based marketing basics.
One-to-one
At this level, your business is working with between 5-10 companies. Under this approach, you deliver personalized content and the messaging is direct to the target account. This type of ABM heavily relies on your relationship with those accounts. It is most effective to use the one-to-one kind of ABM when going after highly lucrative accounts.
One-to-few
Using this method, you target accounts with similar characteristics. You can place them into groups of 3-5, each with up to 100 accounts. This approach scales up the messaging to reach out to larger groups as opposed to crafting a message for each company.
One-to-many
This type of ABM approach doesn’t have a fixed limit but works best in the region of 100-1000 accounts. This method is more about generating leads instead of personalization and building relationships.
What Are the Benefits of ABM?
Account-based marketing is becoming increasingly popular because of the immense benefits it offers. It is an efficient and effective marketing method that appeals to both small and large accounts. Some of the benefits of using ABM over other marketing methods include:
Personalized marketing approach
ABM emphasizes the use of personalized messages for target accounts. The marketing and sales teams take what they know about the customer and tailor their marketing content to meet the customer’s specific needs. This personal approach yields better results and has a higher ROI.
Aligns sales and marketing
In most marketing methods, the sales and marketing teams work autonomously. The result is a high quantity but poor-quality leads. Similar to using an effective sales pipeline to get quality leads, ABM teams work together to acquire quality leads that have a high conversion rate. But first, ABM concentrates the efforts of both teams to identify target accounts, create customized campaigns and messaging. This approach also helps move the individual accounts through the pipeline, which shortens the timeline between first interaction and first purchase.
Shorter sales cycles
Using account-based marketing, leads are not transferred from one team to the other, which can slow the sales process. The prospects in ABM are identified and nurtured simultaneously, which shortens the sales cycle and eliminates frustration.
Fewer wasted resources
ABM focuses time and resources on a small pool of accounts with the highest probability of making a purchase. Typically, ABM delivers a 40% decrease in customer acquisition costs and a higher ROI.
How to Implement Account-Based Marketing Basics
Understanding the basics and building a strong foundation is critical if you’re considering migrating to an account-based marketing strategy. Some of the steps you can follow to get you started include:
Identify high-value target accounts
As with other marketing methods, you need to identify targets or leads. With ABM, you need to understand the behaviors and responses of the ideal target accounts. It might take more time, but it ensures you get quality leads that will convert easily.
Conduct research on those accounts
Keep in mind that one of the ABM fundamentals is personalization. You need to understand the needs and attributes of your customers. Research the accounts to learn more about them and where they are in their customer journey.
Customized marketing campaigns
Once your research is done, and you have collected substantial information on the target accounts, you can use this knowledge to craft customized marketing campaigns that appeal to the target accounts.
Run the marketing campaigns
Launch the campaign towards the target account. If you have followed the above steps properly, your campaign should receive plenty of interaction.
Measure the success of the campaign
Like all other marketing campaigns, you’re not going to get everything right the first time. You will need to analyze the statistics, fine-tune your strategy, and identify what works best for you and your customers.
Is There a Difference Between Account-Based Marketing and In-Bound Marketing?
These two marketing methods are slightly different. In-bound marketing provides your audience with content when they want it, while ABM allows you to sell to your highest-value customers. With ABM, you can choose not to work with companies with less value, while in-bound marketing can help you attract those you want to work with.
Although these are different marketing methods, you can use them in tandem. In-bound marketing will help you attract potential leads, and following the proper account-based marketing basics will ensure you offer those leads exceptional customer support.
Closing Thoughts
ABM is a team effort. It focuses on the quality of your leads or target accounts. However, effective as it may be, it might not be the best fit for every business. But if you have the right team in place, you should give it a try.