Marketers spend a significant amount of their time generating leads. Unfortunately, not all leads translate to revenue or translate to customers.
Imagine living in a world where you can sell products directly to the best prospects with high intent of buying. You won’t be wasting your time on people who never wanted to purchase your product in the first place.
That’s an efficient strategy..
What is Account-based Marketing?
Account-based marketing, or ABM, is a strategic way where you can create personalized experiences for business accounts. It lets you filter low-quality leads, allowing you to focus on the leads that matter.
ABM provides more relevant content customized to potential leads’ needs. This approach is like customized suits versus buying off the rack. When you serve up highly relevant content, response rates improve.
If you are the VP of Operations and all you care about is improved efficiency like OEE (overall equipment efficiency), relevant content demonstrating how others improved their efficiency will resonate. Whereas a VP of Finance may care more about the ROI (return on investment) content.
Doing so enables you to develop a highly personalized customer journey where you can address the specific pain points of your customers. As a result, you’ll get better conversion rates for your efforts.
After knowing what type of buyer personas or accounts generate more revenue for your business, you can start with lead generation with the same ABM techniques.
Here are some of the ways that you can integrate lead generation into your ABM strategy and ways how you can do it:
1. Develop an ABM calendar
Account-based marketing requires plenty of strategic outreach. With every interaction, you should be adding value. Please make sure that you create an ABM calendar and create content that will compel your audience to share their information.
Having an ABM calendar ensures that you’ll provide contacts with exciting and valuable information with every new touchpoint.
2. Create offers and Lead Magnets that are Specific to your Prospect
With ABM, you can personalize content, offers, and lead magnets for your prospects. How the personalization goes and the amount of time it takes will depend on how far you’ll be willing to go.
For instance, a digital marketing company will show a prospective customer a personalized SEO audit. A social media agency will conduct a social media effectiveness audit. If you want to connect with receptive buyers right when they’re willing to make a purchase, tapping into an excellent ABM Platform UK is essential.
3. Secure Organizational ABM Alignment
One of the most vital account-based marketing strategies is straightforward. It should secure the organizational ABM alignment. Therefore, you need to ensure all internal stakeholders are on board with different factors linked to your account-based marketing strategy.
It makes it easier for you to come up with consistent experiences for accounts. It also ensures that your strategy is efficient and streamlined.
4. Build Your ABM Team
In the same way, marketing and sales leaders should work hand in hand in building your team. There should be a minimum of one marketer and one sales rep that will focus on the accounts that you’re working with.
These people will develop content for accounts, manage, and close business deals with every account’s buying committee. Generally, you still need to limit the size of your team to not more than one marketer and ten sales representatives.
5. Identify and Pick your Ideal Set of Target Accounts
Pick ideal, high-value target accounts in which you want to invest your time and resources.
Here are some ways that you can do this:
- Set alerts for ideal customer profiles on LinkedIn
- Develop a workflow filtering incoming qualified leads based on specific criteria and tagging them as ideal customers in your CRM.
6. Consistent Engagement
Your target customers will always be on a journey. One day they’d like to do business with you; one day, they won’t. That’s why you need to keep your ABM strategy engaging.
Think of your audience’s biggest challenges, their pain points, and how you can eliminate them. After they’re warm enough, you can then pitch them with your lead magnet to collect information.
7. Use automation tools
Finally, you need to take advantage of the different software and programs programmed to automate as many processes as possible.
Here are some of the technologies that can help you implement ABM strategies:
- Automation tools for social media: Helps you manage social media pages, engage, publish content, interact with clients, and measure different metrics.
- CRM automation tools: Lets your score, organizes leads, track communication with clients, and give insights on client behavior.
Final Thoughts
- Marketing and sales alignment is required for an ABM approach to be successful.
- Account qualification is required – your ICP or ideal customer profile must be clear to focus on the right audience.
- ABM makes sense for more considerable opportunities – they often have complex buying committees. Who needs to be communicated with – how do you manage the complex environment?
- Understand personas – who is the person on the receiving end of your message. How are they more likely to respond to their challenges, and how does your solution support them?
- Agreement on the sales process – what content you’ll provide, industry-specific examples/testimonials will be of value, etc.
- Well-defined roles and responsibilities. Who does what on the team, and how are handoffs handled? A straightforward, crisp process is required for success.
Account-based marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By applying these tactics, you and your team can drive leads and grow your business’ revenues.
This guest post on The Marketing Sage Blog is from Gia Keasler who writes about marketing issues including stories on attracting investors for startups and brand strategy.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
