Your Guide to account-based marketing in 2023
ABM, or account-based marketing, will remain significant in 2023. It will help deliver personalized marketing to customers.
ABM is a marketing and sales strategy combining the expertise of both teams to create a targeted experience for a selected group of clients.
According to a report by Hubspot, 67 percent leverage account-based advertising while researching accounts. According to ‘The State of Marketing Trends Report for 2022’, marketers use ‘identifying target contact’ as a top ABM tactic.
This account-based model has many advantages for your business. It provides a high return on investment and allows for easy tracking. More on that later. Let’s first look at ABM.
What is Account-Based Marketing?
What is account-based marketing defined as? It’s a targeted sales approach that targets the best-fitting accounts, those who have shown interest or high-revenue potential prospects.
A good ABM strategy will have a mix of prospects that complements the lead-based approach.
Account-based marketing delivers the right message to the right person at the right moment through campaigns tailored to each account. Content and messaging must be relevant and highly personalized.
According to Dave Chaffey, there are three types of ABM that you should consider: strategic ABM (also known as ABM Lite), programmatic ABM, and ABM Lite.
You can see in the image below that your investment and ROI increase when you focus on one-to-1 accounts instead of a programmatic, many-account approach that uses automated.
ABM pyramid
As an example, let’s say that an HR Manager at a target firm downloaded an ebook about “How to Manage Remote Teams.” A salesperson can contact a target individual using an ABM strategy by offering details of a blog relevant to the company or consultation for free on training.
Your company’s goals will determine who you target. If your business is launching a new vertical, such as Healthcare, you should create a list of potential customers and companies.
What are the advantages of account-based Marketing?
Account-based marketing has many advantages for your business. Here are some of the most important ones.
High ROI
ABM can be used to achieve precise results in any business. According to a new study, 76% of marketers experienced higher ROI using account-based marketing than other marketing strategies.
Why? The goal is to generate and nurture quality leads. The leads are then cultivated personalized, providing value to the customer. This makes them more likely for them to convert.
Personalization and optimization enhanced
ABM involves personalizing messages and communications to specific accounts to make campaigns more effective with the audience.
Content relevant to the consumer’s business, tastes, and needs and their stage in the buyer journey will be more engaging. There are various content types, so find what works best for your business.
Accelerate the sales cycle
Often, multiple stakeholders are involved in the sales cycle. This is especially true at the end.
ABM is a way to have a business advocate who has not only forged ties with your salesperson but also received relevant and personalized information that can be used in closing the sale.
It will allow your business to speed up the sales process, which would likely be delayed if you used a non-tailored traditional approach.
Relationships are important
ABM allows you to develop relationships with prospects that can continue even after the sale. This will allow your company to create stronger connections with customers and brand ambassadors who will promote your brand both within and externally.
ABM is an excellent way to build meaningful customer relationships and increase sales. This will help you understand your customers’ future needs and increase retention.
Alignment of sales and marketing
Account-Based Marketing is the best way to align sales and marketing. This is easier said than accomplished.
This is primarily because, when a marketer implements an ABM program, their approach to accounts is very similar to that of sales. They focus on how to target, reel in and generate revenue.
This allows for a more focused use of resources
As a highly targeted marketing tool, ABM allows marketers to concentrate their resources efficiently and run campaigns specifically optimized for targeted accounts.
ABM campaigns will be successful if you focus on the right resources, including internal talent, technology, social platforms, analytics, and content creation.
Tracking and measuring goals that are easy to track
ABM analytics are very accurate and precise.
When analyzing the effectiveness of a campaign, it’s much easier to conclude since you can look at a small set of targeted accounts rather than a vast set of metrics covering your entire database.
Account-Based Marketing: How to Implement It
Let’s look at the elements that make up a successful account-based strategy.
Identify target
Knowing who you’re targeting is essential before launching an ABM campaign. Buyer personas can help you create them.
With the help of technology, it’s possible to prioritize high-value clients based on their revenue potential and other factors like market influence and purchasing potential.
Understanding your target
After identifying your target audience, you will need to learn more about them.
Research the company. You can do this by researching the company. Next, look at the key decision-makers and influencers.
You can use personas to segment your accounts once you have the basic information about them. This will allow you to reach out to multiple stakeholders.
Personalize and define your content
A successful ABM campaign will use valuable content to focus on the most critical business challenges that your target faces regularly.
Personalize your content so that it is trustworthy, informative, and authoritative.
Offer Solutions
Understanding people’s problems, regardless of their role or industry, is essential.
After taking the time and effort to understand your target’s challenges, create content such as whitepapers (find out How to Start a Blog) and eBooks to provide valuable insights and drive engagement.
Measure & Mold
It’s essential to track all marketing activities relating to your target accounts once your account-based strategy has been fully implemented.
It would be best if you took the time to research which channels and content produce the best results. Then, you can adapt your campaign to achieve the best possible results.