Account-based marketing, also known as ABM, is a trending topic in marketing. It has been studied to produce much better results than other marketing initiatives. A study from Altera concluded that ABM had a higher ROI than other marketing activities for 97% of the participating businesses.
ABM consists of determining a list of your most desired customers and then creating personalized marketing content for each of the accounts. This way marketers can have highly targeted value propositions and anticipated objection handling embedded in their marketing content. This article explores the difference between ABM and traditional marketing, benefits and challenges of ABM, how to create content for an ABM campaign, and how to measure the success of an ABM campaign. A few examples of companies using ABM are also discussed.
Account-based marketing is a strategic approach to B2B marketing that focuses on specific target accounts, rather than trying to reach a broad audience. This approach is often used by B2B companies that sell complex products or services to other businesses, as it allows them to create a more personalized and targeted marketing experience for their potential customers.
The key difference between ABM and traditional B2B marketing is that ABM is focused on building relationships with individual accounts, rather than trying to reach a large number of potential customers through a more generic marketing campaign. This means that the marketing messages and tactics used in an ABM campaign are tailored to the specific needs and challenges of the target accounts, rather than being focused on a general audience.
Overall, account-based marketing is a strategic approach to B2B marketing that involves focusing on specific target accounts and creating personalized marketing campaigns that are tailored to their needs and challenges. This approach can help businesses to create more engaging and effective marketing campaigns, and ultimately drive better results and generate more sales.
One of the key advantages of ABM is that it allows businesses to create a more personalized and engaging experience for their potential customers. By focusing on individual accounts and tailoring marketing messages to their specific needs and challenges, businesses can create campaigns that are more likely to resonate with their target audience. This can help to increase engagement and build trust with potential customers, which can ultimately lead to more sales and revenue for the business.
Another advantage of ABM is that it allows businesses to be more strategic in their marketing efforts. By focusing on a specific set of target accounts, businesses can allocate their marketing resources more effectively, which can help to drive better results and generate a higher return on investment.
By focusing on a specific set of target accounts, businesses can allocate their marketing resources more effectively, which can help to drive better results and generate a higher return on investment. Additionally, by building relationships with individual accounts, businesses can gain a better understanding of their needs and challenges, which can help to inform future marketing efforts and make them more effective.
Overall, the benefits of account-based marketing include improved targetting, increased efficiency, better alignment with sales, and an enhanced customer experience. By adopting an account-based approach to marketing, businesses can create more personalized and effective campaigns that drive better results and generate more sales.
While account-based marketing can be an effective approach to B2B marketing, there are also challenges that businesses need to be aware of. Some of the key challenges of account-based marketing include:
It can be time-consuming: Developing personalized marketing campaigns for individual accounts can be a time-consuming process, as it requires businesses to gather detailed information about the specific needs and challenges of their target accounts. This can be a challenge for businesses with limited marketing resources or tight deadlines.
It requires a high level of collaboration: Account-based marketing is a collaborative approach that requires close alignment between the marketing and sales teams. This can be challenging for businesses that have not previously adopted an account-based approach, and may require significant changes to existing processes and systems.
It can be difficult to measure the results: Because ABM is focused on building relationships with individual accounts, it can be difficult to measure the results of an account-based marketing campaign using traditional metrics such as website traffic or email opens. This can make it challenging for businesses to determine the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions about their marketing efforts.
It may not be suitable for all industries: Account-based marketing is primarily used in B2B industries, where products or services are typically sold to other businesses. This approach may not be as effective for businesses that sell directly to consumers, or for industries where the buying process is more straightforward.
Overall, the challenges of account-based marketing include the time and resources required to develop personalized campaigns, the need for collaboration between marketing and sales teams, difficulties in measuring the results, and the potential for limited applicability in certain industries.
There is a growing body of research on the effectiveness of ABM as an approach to B2B marketing. Many studies have shown that ABM can drive significant improvements in marketing and sales performance, including increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and better alignment between marketing and sales.
For example, a study published in the Journal of Marketing found that businesses that implement ABM strategies see a higher return on investment (ROI) and better alignment between marketing and sales compared to businesses that use traditional marketing approaches. Another study by the Aberdeen Group found that businesses that use ABM strategies see a higher average deal size and a higher rate of customer retention compared to businesses that do not use ABM.
Overall, the research suggests that ABM can be an effective approach to B2B marketing, and that businesses that implement ABM strategies can drive significant improvements in their marketing and sales performance.
There are many different ways that businesses can use ABM to reach their target accounts. Some examples of ABM include:
Creating personalized marketing content: This can include creating tailored emails, landing pages, or social media posts that are specifically designed for a target account. For example, a B2B software company might create a personalized email campaign that highlights the specific features and benefits of their product that are most relevant to a target account's industry or business needs. With modern technology, businesses can also personalize their website to target accounts when the companies visit the site organically.
Hosting personalized events or webinars: Another way that businesses can use ABM is by hosting personalized events or webinars that are designed specifically for a target account. For example, a B2B marketing agency might host a webinar that provides tips and best practices for increasing engagement with target accounts, and invite a select group of target accounts to attend.
Offering personalized demos or consultations: Businesses can also use ABM to offer personalized demos or consultations to target accounts. For example, a B2B cloud computing company might offer a personalized demo of their product to a target account, tailored to their specific business needs and challenges.
Overall, there are many different ways that businesses can use ABM to reach their target accounts and create a more personalized marketing experience. By implementing these strategies, businesses can increase engagement with their target accounts and drive better results from their marketing efforts.
There are several best practices that businesses can follow to effectively implement ABM and achieve the best results. Some of the key best practices for ABM include:
Identify and prioritize target accounts: The first step in implementing ABM is to identify and prioritize target accounts. This can involve creating a list of potential accounts based on criteria such as industry, size, or location, and then prioritizing those accounts based on factors such as potential revenue or strategic fit.
Develop personalized marketing messages: Once target accounts have been identified, businesses can develop personalized marketing messages that are tailored to the specific needs and challenges of those accounts. This can involve creating content such as emails, landing pages, or social media posts that are designed to engage and resonate with the target audience.
Collaborate with the sales team: Account-based marketing is a collaborative approach that requires close alignment between the marketing and sales teams. It is important for businesses to ensure that the marketing and sales teams are working together effectively, and that the sales team has the information and support they need to engage with target accounts.
Measure and track results: To determine the effectiveness of an ABM campaign, businesses should track and measure key metrics such as engagement, pipeline impact, and customer lifetime value. This can help businesses to understand the impact of their ABM efforts and make data-driven decisions about their marketing strategy.
Overall, the best practices for implementing ABM include identifying and prioritizing target accounts, developing personalized marketing messages, collaborating with the sales team, and measuring and tracking results. By following these best practices, businesses can effectively implement ABM and drive better results from their marketing efforts.
When implementing ABM, there are several common pitfalls that businesses need to avoid in order to achieve the best results. These pitfalls are the opposite of the best practices outlined above. Some of the key pitfalls to avoid when implementing ABM include:
Not identifying and prioritizing target accounts: One of the key mistakes that businesses can make when implementing ABM is failing to identify and prioritize target accounts. Without a clear understanding of which accounts to focus on, businesses may end up wasting time and resources on marketing efforts that are not aligned with their goals.
Not creating personalized marketing messages: Another common pitfall is failing to create personalized marketing messages that are tailored to the specific needs and challenges of target accounts. Generic or unengaging marketing messages are unlikely to resonate with target accounts, and can result in low levels of engagement and poor results.
Not collaborating with the sales team: As mentioned earlier, ABM is a collaborative approach that requires close alignment between the marketing and sales teams. If the marketing and sales teams are not working together effectively, the ABM campaign is likely to be less successful.
Not measuring and tracking results: Finally, businesses that fail to measure and track the results of their ABM campaigns may have difficulty determining the effectiveness of their efforts and making data-driven decisions about their marketing strategy. By tracking key metrics such as engagement, pipeline impact, and customer lifetime value, businesses can gain a better understanding of the impact of their ABM efforts and make more informed decisions.
Overall, businesses can avoid common pitfalls when implementing ABM by identifying and prioritizing target accounts, creating personalized marketing messages, collaborating with the sales team, and measuring and tracking results. By avoiding these pitfalls, businesses can ensure that their ABM efforts are effective and aligned with their goals.
There are many businesses that have successfully implemented account-based marketing (ABM) and achieved great results. Some examples of businesses that have successfully implemented ABM include:
SiriusDecisions is a leading research and advisory firm that helps businesses improve their marketing and sales performance. The company implemented ABM as part of a broader marketing transformation initiative, and achieved a 300% increase in pipeline value and a 50% increase in deal size within the first six months.
PFL is a B2B marketing technology company that helps businesses automate and optimize their marketing efforts. The company implemented ABM as part of a major rebranding effort, and saw a 10x increase in qualified leads and a 40% increase in pipeline value within the first six months.
Marketo is a leading provider of marketing automation software and solutions. The company implemented ABM as part of a broader effort to align marketing and sales efforts, and saw a 50% increase in pipeline velocity and a 30% increase in deal size within the first six months.
Overall, these case studies show that businesses in a variety of industries and sectors can successfully implement ABM and drive significant improvements in their marketing and sales performance. By learning from these examples, businesses can develop strategies for implementing ABM and achieving similar results.
ABM is a strategic approach to B2B marketing that is most often used by businesses that sell complex, high-value products or services. Because ABM involves tailoring marketing efforts to specific, high-value accounts, it is typically best suited for businesses that have a limited number of target accounts and can dedicate the resources necessary to develop personalized campaigns for each one. In many cases, ABM is used by businesses that are looking to drive more efficient, targeted, and effective engagement with their key accounts, and that are looking for a more personalized approach to B2B marketing.
ABM can be challenging for businesses to scale as it involves expanding and refining the personalized marketing efforts that are at the heart of the ABM approach. The challenges outlined previously make ABM difficult to scale, but as businesses grow and their ABM efforts become more successful, they may need to develop strategies for scaling their efforts in order to maintain and improve their results.
As businesses identify and prioritize target accounts, they can continually expand their list of target accounts to include new prospects. This can help to ensure that ABM efforts are focused on the accounts that are most likely to generate revenue and drive business growth.
To support the creation of personalized marketing messages for a larger number of target accounts, businesses can develop reusable marketing assets that can be customized for individual accounts. For example, businesses might create a set of templates for emails or landing pages that can be easily tailored to the specific needs of different target accounts.
As ABM efforts grow, businesses can leverage marketing automation technology to support the creation, execution, and tracking of personalized marketing campaigns. This can help to streamline the process of creating and delivering marketing messages to target accounts, and enable businesses to scale their ABM efforts more effectively.
Finally, businesses can engage with key stakeholders within target accounts to build relationships and drive engagement with the ABM campaign. This can include activities such as hosting events or webinars specifically for target accounts, or providing personalized demos or consultations to help target accounts understand the value of the business's products or services.
By adopting these strategies, businesses can effectively scale their ABM efforts and continue to drive successful results from their marketing efforts.
For a more comprehensive list, check out this post on ABM tools.
There are many different technology tools and platforms that businesses can use to support their account-based marketing (ABM) efforts.
Marketing automation platforms enable businesses to create, execute, and track personalized marketing campaigns at scale. These platforms typically include features such as email marketing, landing page creation, and analytics, which can be used to support ABM efforts.
CRM systems are used to manage customer data and interactions, and can be an important tool for ABM. By integrating a CRM system with a marketing automation platform, businesses can create a single view of target accounts and track the entire customer journey from initial engagement to final conversion.
Advertising platforms such as Google Ads or LinkedIn Ads can be used to target specific accounts with personalized ads. By using advertising platforms, businesses can reach target accounts with tailored messages and offers, and track the effectiveness of their ads in real-time.
Social media management tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer can be used to manage and track the performance of ABM campaigns on social media platforms. These tools can help businesses to create and schedule personalized posts, monitor and respond to comments and messages from target accounts, and track the engagement and reach of their social media content.
Overall, there are many different technology tools and platforms that businesses can use to support their ABM efforts. By leveraging these tools, businesses can create and execute personalized marketing campaigns at scale, and track the results of their efforts to drive better results from their marketing efforts.
The list of the most desired customers can be based on your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), which includes some set of segmentation criteria that best predicts successful sales or obtain other strategic objectives.
At Markettailor, we could build our ABM campaign based on criteria such as industry (Software and Information Services), revenue range ($10-100M), and whether the customer has a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform such as Hubspot in use.
After segmenting customers based on ICP and getting their company names from any company data platform, for example, LinkedIn, Vainu, ZoomInfo, Cognism, or Leadiro, you research each customer and how you might best serve their needs.
You can create personalized content from knowledge such as:
On your website, you can create personalized content based on this insight and show use cases and references that relate to a peer company of the same size and industry. You can also point the customer straight to relevant integrations you provide so that the customer doesn't have to go through sales, customer support, or your whole site to find that out.
You can create 1-to-1 personalized experiences when a target account in your ABM campaign lands directly on your website.
For effective ABM campaigns, you need to engage the accounts in a personalized way across different channels such as email, website, and chat. To save time creating personalized pages for each target account, use a visual editor that allows marketers to create personalizations without developers.
For chat and email, you can use platforms such as Drift, Intercom, or Hubspot. They are able to show conversational marketing to the right visitor and send a targeted email to the right customer.
It's important to measure the effectiveness of any marketing campaign to understand whether you should keep doing it or not. For ABM, you can track individual conversion events on your site in the short term or you can go a step further and measure how many of the target accounts end up in your CRM in the long term.
If you know how many work hours it took you to create your ABM campaign and the average account contract value (ACV), you can estimate the ROI of your marketing efforts.
Measuring the success of an account-based marketing campaign can be challenging, as traditional metrics such as website traffic or email opens may not be applicable in an ABM context. However, there are a few key metrics that businesses can use to measure the success of an ABM campaign, which include:
Engagement: One of the primary goals of ABM is to increase engagement with target accounts, so measuring the level of engagement with marketing messages and content can be an effective way to assess the success of an ABM campaign. This can include metrics such as the number of clicks on an email, the amount of time spent on a landing page, or the number of social media interactions.
Pipeline impact: Another key metric for measuring the success of an ABM campaign is the impact on the sales pipeline. This can include metrics such as the number of leads generated, the conversion rate of those leads, and the value of deals closed as a result of the ABM campaign.
Customer lifetime value: In addition to the immediate impact on the sales pipeline, businesses can also measure the long-term value of an ABM campaign by calculating the customer lifetime value of target accounts. This can help to determine the overall effectiveness of the ABM campaign in terms of generating revenue and long-term customer relationships.
Overall, businesses can measure the success of an ABM campaign by tracking metrics such as engagement, pipeline impact, and customer lifetime value. By focusing on these metrics, businesses can gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of their ABM campaigns and make data-driven decisions about their marketing efforts.
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategic approach to B2B marketing that involves focusing marketing efforts on a specific set of target accounts, rather than trying to reach a large number of potential customers.
The key difference between ABM and traditional B2B marketing is that ABM is focused on building relationships with individual accounts, rather than trying to reach a general audience. This allows businesses to create a more personalized and tailored marketing experience for their potential customers, which can help to increase engagement and drive better results.
Some of the key benefits of ABM include improved targeting, increased efficiency, better alignment with sales, and an enhanced customer experience.
However, there are also challenges to ABM, including the time and resources required to develop personalized campaigns, the need for collaboration between marketing and sales teams, and difficulties in measuring the results.
To measure the success of an ABM campaign, businesses can track metrics such as engagement, pipeline impact, and customer lifetime value.
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