In today’s technology-driven age, where digital marketing and advertising are pushed forward by technology and automation makes communication increasingly impersonal, account-based marketing could be the key to setting your business apart from the rest.
Account-based marketing (ABM), is a personalised marketing approach that allows you to increase your chances of engaging with and converting high-value accounts. It is perfect for B2B marketing, as it can help you to reach executives and other high-ranking team members who are your target audience or ideal customer profiles.
ABM marketing can help you to create a marketing funnel, and then drive the highest-value accounts through the sales process. In a study by SiriusDecisions, 91% of companies using ABM were able to increase their average deal size, with 25% of respondents stating the increase being over 50% or larger! (superoffice.com)
An account-based marketing strategy also helps you cultivate long-term relationships with these accounts, which could benefit your business in the long run and help it grow and prosper.
As with all marketing campaigns, if you’re planning on starting an ABM strategy, then you must create a process.
Creating an account-based marketing process can be daunting, especially if you’re new to this marketing approach.
Steps for implementing an account-based marketing campaign
Build A List Of Leads And Organise It By Role
One of the first steps in any marketing campaign is to identify targets. ABM is a highly-targeted approach to marketing, and as such, it requires more detailed lead generation.
While in other marketing campaigns, you might not need much information about your target account, or simply a persona, for an account-based marketing process, you need to know who your target accounts are and their roles.
The more information you have on each of your target accounts, the better you can target them and create personalised content that tantalises them and encourages them to connect with your company and, eventually, buy from you.
As such, when you’re generating leads for your ABM campaign, you must find out as much information as possible, including the role of each individual.
With knowledge of their role in your target organisation, you can find the key decision-makers and provide them with bespoke offers and content that will entice them and help them to solve the issues they face in their role.
Create Bespoke Offers For Your ABM Campaign
The beauty of account-based marketing is that it allows marketing teams to create personalised content that can help potential clients to deal with the pain-points they experience.
As well as making bespoke content, it would help if you tried making personalised offers that are designed to benefit specific high-value accounts.
Using unique offers, such as a free consultation or a resource that could benefit them, you could encourage them to engage with you.
Unique offers will also show that your company is committed to providing personalised service. Automated, irrelevant content can annoy your target accounts, and might lead to a negative association with your brand.
Therefore, by creating bespoke offers that help to deal with your prospect’s specific pain-points and issues, you can endear your company to them and improve your chances of earning their business.
These offers could be the springboard to an initial sale, which could eventually lead to a long-term relationship if you continue to use ABM practices and create personalised content that enriches your client experience.
Personalise Their Website Experience
This article should show you that personalisation is the key to successful account-based marketing. That personalisation applies not only to the content you produce for your account-based marketing but also to the experience they have when using your company’s website.
Company websites can seem impersonal, but by creating a unique experience for your high-value target accounts, you’ll set your business apart and increase the chances of success in your ABM process. Remember that your website is the most important of all the channels you could use.
One of the most effective ways to achieve a personalised website experience for your targets is to create a landing page that is designed to show them unique information or provide them with a resource, such as a whitepaper or a tool, that meets their specific requirements.
There are also tools you can use to further personalise your target account’s experience using your firm’s website. For example, you could ensure that they only see targeted adverts, or even add personal details such as their name to the site, if you feel that they would respond well to this technique.
By personalising your target’s website experience, you’ll show that your business is deeply committed to supporting the client and giving them the bespoke service that they expect. This approach can set your company apart from others, which is essential in today’s competitive corporate landscape.
Use Direct Mail To Reach Discerning Leads
Direct mail, or physical correspondence which is sent to target accounts by post, might seem old-fashioned, especially in this digital age where email marketing and social media seem to reign supreme.
However, you can still use direct mail in your account-based marketing; in fact, direct mail can help boost your ABM success.
Measure your return on investment & Share Your Results
Since ABM campaigns are highly targeted, it’s relatively easy to measure the ROI for each account and to analyse which tactics worked for what kind of accounts. You can then work on those successful accounts to expand the relationship and increase your Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Make sure to share these results and learnings with other departments so that your next campaign is easier and faster to implement. Now that you know what works best for you, try to target similar accounts in your next campaign to ensure a greater success rate with the judicial use of your resources.
