ABM Is a Must-Have Part of the 21st Century Marketing Mix
If you have been keeping up with the latest digital marketing trends, then account-based marketing (ABM) has likely been on your radar. While you may want to give it a whirl, actually putting your ABM program into action may seem easier said than done. So, let’s get down to the basics to help you navigate this new, uncharted territory.
- ABM is hyper-targeted: In a world of information overload, it’s more critical than ever to be focused on capturing the interest of your most important target audiences with personalized messages and content that will resonate as they move through the buyer’s journey.
- It’s efficient for greater results: Because ABM is extremely targeted, it is by nature a more efficient and effective way to get results for your business than other types of top-of-the-funnel marketing approaches. Focus your investments on reaching your most valuable target audiences, instead of the entire universe. According to ITSMA – the leading source of ABM insight and support for B2B marketers – most of the marketers (85%) who use ABM say it has a higher return than other marketing approaches, with almost half of them reporting significantly higher return-on-investment (ROI).
- It ensures alignment between your marketing and sales teams: With ABM, your sales and marketing teams must agree to target specific accounts, collaborate closely to understand their needs, and then come up with the right campaigns and messages to get them and keep them interested in your brand and offerings. MarketingProfs reports that companies with aligned marketing and sales departments, on average, generate 208% more revenue.
How to Kickstart Your ABM Program
As true with anything in life, success starts with action. If your company doesn’t have a large marketing team or unlimited budget, you can still generate meaningful results with a solid ABM plan. Here are a few steps to getting started.
Step 1 – Get organizational buy-in and align on the goals: Make sure your C-suite, your sales, marketing, and customer success teams are all on board with investing in an ABM program and agree with the desired outcomes. ABM requires close collaboration between your executive, sales, marketing and client success teams, so they all need to be on board and involved.
Step 2 – Identify the accounts and/or segments you should target: Developing personalized marketing campaigns requires a significant investment, so make sure you’re targeting the right audiences and segments. Begin by asking yourself or your team:
- What accounts or segments have the largest growth potential?
- Are there any existing accounts that might be at risk and needing personalized attention?
- How many accounts or segments can you realistically target, based on needs, priorities and budget?
Step 3 – Map your messages and content to your target audiences: Now you can dive into understanding what your target accounts or segments care about as it relates to how you communicate the value of your offerings. Start by researching their pain points and challenges, and how you can help solve these problems.
Step 4 – Build-out your content and campaigns: What are the tactics you need in your ABM toolkit? Perhaps it’s a custom e-book, microsite, or a sales presentation? If you don’t have the resources to create personalized materials for every ABM target, look at your existing assets and figure out ways to use it as your foundation.
Step 5 – Get clarity on your metrics: To measure the impact and value of ABM, you need to identify clear metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure your success. Since ABM is highly targeted, measuring results are simpler to define than with other types of marketing efforts. At the end of the day, if ABM resulted in converting a target account to a new opportunity or expanding a high-growth account, you know it’s working.
Ready to put ABM to work for your business? Connect with us to learn how ResultRocket can help succeed here!
