Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a business marketing strategy that focuses spend and resources on a few target accounts, factoring them as markets in their own right.

ABM flips the script on the traditional marketing funnel. Instead of beginning with a broad scope then converging on a target company that fits your criteria, ABM starts with targeted companies and engages them with personalised messages to create long-lasting relationships. 

ABM is not designed to be “better” than an inbound marketing strategy, rather to work in conjunction, to develop and strengthen data leads. Whilst they remain separate strategies, their end goal remains the same. This comparison, however, would need a large separate discussion.

What are the benefits?

An ABM strategy has several benefits:

• It’s a personalised approach, meaning the information gathered can be used in total on a target account, tailoring the campaign to its needs and characteristics.
• Sales and marketing teams are encouraged to work together, more than usual, to tailor the campaigns to the approach.
• It’s a shorter sales cycle, because the right people are targeted through multiple different avenues, within a target organisation.
• There’s a higher ROI and is an easier to measure metric, because only a select few accounts are needed to be monitored.
• More money can be spent on individual accounts, whilst significantly reducing the amount of money wasted on non-essential ones.
• The leads are usually of a better quality, meaning less time is wasted by the sales team.
• Relationships can be fortified with existing clients, targeting them to up-sell or cross-sell, and increasing customer retention. 

Who should consider ABM?

Generally speaking, ABM is a great tactic for B2B organisations, that focus on high-value key accounts and want to target multiple buyers and stakeholders (i.e. specific job titles or functions within those accounts). ABM should also be considered if expensive or unique goods are being sold to a small segment of the market. 

The ABM approach is a win-win-win for marketing, sales and customers, in that it provides:

• Better results for marketing,
• Better leads for sales and,
• A better customer experience for the final users (as they appreciate the tailored approach).  

The Role of Data

As mentioned, the strength of ABM is in a tailored message, based on the target accounts’ characteristics and needs. To achieve this, the following components must be known:

• Who are those target accounts (Fit Data).
• Within those accounts, who are the contacts worth approaching via different tactics (meaning, who are the decision-makers for that particular product or service). What’s their email address, LinkedIn profile, phone number, etc.
• Which companies are in-market for a particular product or solution (Intent Data). Those accounts don’t necessarily need to be the only ones focussed on, they can be targeted within the Ideal Customer Profile group. If so, the message has to be different if they are in-market or not.
• What activity has occurred involving the target accounts over the past few months. Have new technologies been implemented, new people appointed in the leadership team, new branches about to open, etc.
• It’s important to know if a contact has already visited your website or not, as that can determine how you will introduce yourselves.

Do you feel ABM is the right approach for your organisation? Or do you want to know how you can gain access to this data? Let’s talk.

Credits:

https://www.optimizely.com/

https://au.marketo.com/

https://www.forbes.com/

https://blog.hubspot.com/

https://business.linkedin.com/

https://www.growthmanifesto.com/

https://www.drift.com/

https://www.wordstream.com/