activities

Account-Based Marketing

Account-based marketing is an approach that includes a wide range of marketing and sales ideas, focusing efforts on a carefully selected list of target clients. Rather than being a separate component of sales or marketing, account-based marketing is a framework that integrates with all marketing and sales efforts.

Let’s discuss your project

It is a one-to-one or one-to-few approach to B2B marketing. It engages key stakeholders and conducts personalized campaigns across all digital marketing channels. It is one of the most effective ways to attract clients.

It is not a technology

It is not independent or isolated

It is not something ne

It is a framework and foundation for implementation

There are many ways to implement a marketing strategy within account-based marketing (ABM). The key is identifying your target clients, conducting a thorough analysis of them, and creating unique offers based on this analysis that address the challenges, problems, and opportunities of decision-makers within these accounts.

Why does my company need to use ABM?

Most people answer this question by saying that XX% of companies use ABM and XX% of salespeople say it is effective. Great! Here is our answer: Not every company needs account-based marketing. If your annual recurring revenue (ARR) is less than 50.000 USD, then ABM is unnecessary. If your ARR is higher, the effectiveness may look like this: On average, with a one-to-few strategy over a period of eight to eighteen months, the number of A and B leads ranges from 25 to 35%. This means that, out of 100 companies, 25–35 are ready to discuss sales and deliveries. Of those, three to seven will become clients.

Do you need to attract large clients?

Preparatory stage

Define the overall interaction strategy (one-to-one, one-to-few, or one-to-many), key efficiency metrics, and campaign success metrics.
Define the mechanics of interaction between employees and between the marketing and sales departments within the company.

Ideal Customer Profile – companies, not individuals. Define priority accounts and the key people within them.
Account scoring involves determining the value of a client to the business.
Collect information on clients from external and internal sources, and analyze each account to identify connections within the organization. Determine likely decision-makers and find those who will support your efforts inside the client.
Thoroughly analyzing each account reveals how buyers are connected within the organization and identifies likely decision-makers and champions of your efforts.

Define the assets with which the client will interact.
Determining channels of engagement and communication.
Map the path from the first touch to the target interaction. Create a funnel.

Identify the client’s pain points.
Personalizing content and creative assets, such as books, podcasts, webcasts, technical documents, webinars, and ad copy. Adjusting to the client’s needs as they move through the funnel.

Developing a communication strategy.
Programming interaction channels, such as email marketing, content marketing, programmatic advertising, search advertising, social media advertising, and social selling.

Programming attributes and metrics.
Automating interactions and interpreting the collected data.

Activity Execution

Interactions with Champions (those who will support your efforts inside the target company). These include personalized emails, one-on-one phone calls, delivery of personalized content, and content hubs tailored to individual needs.

Content usage analytics will be key to subsequent interactions, so all actions of target contacts must be measured and analyzed.
Hypothesis testing will occur in the context of “the specific problem of a decision-maker as part of a broader company problem — the proposed solution.”

Activities will be adjusted as a result of hypothesis testing, and the decision-making chain within the target client will be understood.
Visualize the dependency tree of decision-makers within the target client and create a value matrix (problem–opportunities–solution) for each decision-maker.
Create unique “decisive” offers and targeted interactions (e.g., emails, meetings, presentations, breakfasts, and dinners) between salespeople and decision-makers to reach a positive decision together.

Campaign duration ranges from three to 12 months.
After converting a target client into an active one, form an overall interaction strategy.

Target company profile

Contact diagram of the target company.

Metrics for Account-Based Marketing

Points to Pay Special Attention to

The cornerstone of ABM effectiveness is alignment between marketing and sales. If your company has friction and disagreements between these departments, it is better to limit yourself to general lead generation activities for now. In addition to the sales department, you should also involve business development specialists.

Qualifications of Target Companies

Account data includes more than just first name, last name, job title, and department. You should also consider interests (professional and personal), education, marital status, number of children, and age. Social media activity is also important. Company data includes industry, location, IT infrastructure and software used (regardless of department), investment history, expansions and reductions, and key company news. Media mentions. Staff hierarchy. IP address data and mapping IP addresses to known companies and departments. The purchasing process within the company. The history of all interactions with sales.

Competitive landscape: Whom do your competitors sell to? Understanding who is currently on the market with products and offers similar to yours can help identify opportunities regarding target companies.

Targeted Advertising for Target Accounts

During negotiations, decision-makers receive information and approval from colleagues, many of whom the sales department may never contact and who may not even know they exist. In this case, targeted advertising to all potential deal participants can be helpful. Launch such advertising even before the sales process begins by actively using segmentation, cookies from the websites of target accounts, and the IP addresses of target companies.

Hyper-targeting under one-to-few and one-to-many strategies

In this case, hyper-targeting does more harm than good. Here, especially if predictions during preparation were inaccurate, the risk of wasting time and financial resources increases significantly. Rather than delivering personalized communications, use ads and stories that address the most common buying situations (“entry points”) for both large and small buyers. To develop three to five effective ads, conduct thorough market research. If your budget is limited, interview your sales teams to identify common issues in their accounts.