What Is Account Based Marketing?

Account based marketing (ABM) is a strategic approach to B2B marketing that focuses on identifying, engaging, and converting a specific set of high-value accounts. Unlike traditional lead-based marketing, which casts a wide net to attract as many leads as possible, ABM takes a targeted and personalized approach to engaging key decision-makers within a select group of accounts.

ABM aims to treat each account as a market of one, tailoring marketing and sales efforts to each account's specific needs, challenges, and preferences. By aligning marketing and sales teams around a standard set of target accounts, organizations can deliver a more consistent, relevant, and personalized experience throughout the buyer's journey.

Types Of Account Based Marketing

There are several different types of ABM, each with its own focus and level of personalization:

  1. Strategic ABM: This approach focuses on a small number of high-value accounts, typically less than 10, and involves highly customized and personalized engagement. Marketing and sales teams work closely to develop account-specific strategies and deliver tailored content, messaging, and experiences.
  2. ABM Lite: Also known as "programmatic ABM," this approach targets a larger number of accounts, typically between 10-100, with a moderate level of personalization. While not as customized as strategic ABM, ABM Lite still involves tailoring content and messaging to specific accounts and decision-makers.
  3. Programmatic ABM: This approach leverages technology and data to target many accounts, often in the hundreds or thousands, with a lighter level of personalization. Programmatic ABM relies on automation and scalability to deliver targeted advertising, content, and experiences to broader accounts.

Regardless of the type of ABM, the key is to focus on quality over quantity, targeting the right accounts with the right message at the right time.

The Role Of An Account Based Marketing Platform

An account-based marketing platform (ABM platform) is software that helps organizations plan, execute, and measure their ABM campaigns. These platforms provide a centralized hub for managing target account lists, creating personalized content, orchestrating multi-channel campaigns, and tracking engagement and performance metrics.

Key Features Of An ABM Platform Include:

  • Account selection and prioritization: Tools for identifying and prioritizing high-value accounts based on firmographic, behavioral, and intent data.
  • Account insights and intelligence: Dashboards and reports provide a comprehensive view of each account, including key stakeholders, engagement history, and buying signals.
  • Content personalization: Capabilities for creating and distributing personalized content, such as website pages, emails, and ads, based on account-specific data and preferences.
  • Multi-channel orchestration: Workflows and automation for coordinating and executing ABM campaigns across multiple channels, such as email, social media, direct mail, and events.
  • Performance measurement: Metrics and analytics for tracking the impact of ABM efforts on account engagement, pipeline velocity, and revenue growth.

An account based marketing platform can help organizations streamline their ABM operations, improve collaboration between marketing and sales teams, and deliver a more seamless and personalized account experience.

Personalization Techniques For ABM

Personalization is at the core of effective ABM. Organizations can build stronger relationships, drive deeper engagement, and ultimately close more deals by tailoring content, messaging, and experiences to each account's specific needs and preferences.

Here are some advanced techniques for personalizing ABM efforts:

Leveraging Data For Personalization

To deliver highly personalized experiences, organizations need to leverage a wide range of data sources, including:

  • Firmographic data: Information about an account's industry, size, location, and other attributes.
  • Behavioral data: Insights into an account's engagement with your brand, such as website visits, content downloads, and event attendance.
  • Intent data: Signals that indicate an account's interest or intent to purchase, such as search behavior, content consumption, and social media activity.
  • Technographic data: Information about an account's technology stack, including hardware, software, and cloud services.

By combining these data sources, organizations can comprehensively understand each account and tailor their ABM efforts accordingly.

Creating Targeted Content

Personalized content is a critical component of ABM. Organizations can demonstrate their expertise, build trust, and drive engagement by creating content that speaks directly to each account's needs, challenges, and priorities.

Some examples of targeted ABM content include:

  • Personalized web pages: Custom landing pages that address each account's interests and pain points.
  • Account-specific whitepapers and eBooks: In-depth content that provides valuable insights and solutions tailored to each account's industry, role, or stage in the buying journey.
  • Customized sales decks and proposals: Presentations and documents highlighting your solution's unique value proposition and ROI for each account.
  • Personalized videos: Short, engaging videos that showcase your product or service in the context of each account's specific needs and use cases.

By investing in targeted content creation, organizations can differentiate themselves from competitors and demonstrate their commitment to each account's success.

Personalized Outreach And Engagement

In addition to creating personalized content, organizations must also deliver that content through personalized outreach and engagement channels. Some effective tactics include:

  • Personalized emails: Customized email campaigns address each account's interests, challenges, and buying stage.
  • 1:1 social media engagement: Direct outreach to key decision-makers within each account through social media channels like LinkedIn and Twitter.
  • Customized direct mail: Physical mailers and gifts tailored to each account's preferences are delivered at key moments in the buying journey.
  • Personalized events and experiences: Exclusive, invitation-only events that provide valuable networking and learning opportunities for key accounts.

Organizations can create a seamless and memorable ABM experience that drives results by combining personalized content with targeted outreach and engagement.

Multi-Channel Engagement In ABM

Effective ABM requires engaging accounts across multiple channels and touchpoints. By orchestrating a coordinated, multi-channel approach, organizations can ensure that their message is consistently reinforced and that accounts are engaged at every stage of the buying journey.

Some key channels for ABM engagement include:

Email Marketing

Email is a foundational channel for ABM, allowing organizations to deliver targeted, personalized content directly to key decision-makers within each account. Effective ABM email campaigns should be tailored to each account's needs, challenges, and buying stage and provide valuable insights and resources that drive engagement and action.

Social Media

Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter provide powerful opportunities for ABM engagement. By leveraging social listening and analytics tools, organizations can identify key decision-makers within each account, monitor their activity and interests, and engage them with personalized content and outreach.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a critical component of ABM, allowing organizations to demonstrate their expertise and value proposition to key accounts. Effective ABM content should be tailored to each account's needs and challenges and provide actionable insights and solutions that drive engagement and trust.

Direct Mail And Gifting

Direct mail and gifting can be powerful tactics for ABM, allowing organizations to deliver personalized, tangible experiences to key accounts. Effective ABM direct mail and gifting campaigns should be creative, memorable, and tailored to each account's interests and preferences.

Events And Experiences

Events and experiences provide valuable opportunities for ABM engagement, allowing organizations to connect with key accounts in person and build deeper relationships. Effective ABM events should be exclusive, personalized, and focused on providing value and insight to attendees.

By leveraging a multi-channel approach to ABM engagement, organizations can create a cohesive and impactful experience that drives results and builds long-term relationships with key accounts.

Sales And Marketing Alignment In ABM

One of the key benefits of ABM is that it aligns marketing and sales teams around a common set of goals and strategies. Marketing and sales can create a more seamless and effective buyer's journey by working together to identify, engage, and convert key accounts.

Some best practices for sales and marketing alignment in ABM include:

Shared Account Lists And Insights

Marketing and sales teams should collaborate to create a shared list of target accounts based on a standard set of criteria and priorities. They should also share account-level insights and data, such as engagement history, buying signals, and stakeholder information, to ensure a consistent and informed approach to ABM.

Joint Planning And Execution

Marketing and sales should work together to plan and execute ABM campaigns, from developing targeted content and messaging to orchestrating multi-channel engagement and outreach. By collaborating closely throughout the ABM process, marketing and sales can ensure a cohesive and impactful account experience.

Consistent Messaging And Branding

To create a seamless ABM experience, marketing and sales teams must align on messaging and branding. This means using consistent language, value propositions, and visual elements across all touchpoints and interactions with key accounts.

Regular Communication And Feedback

Effective ABM requires ongoing communication and feedback between marketing and sales teams. This can include regular status updates, performance reviews, and strategy sessions to ensure that ABM efforts are aligned and optimized for success.

Organizations can unlock ABM's full potential and drive significant business growth by fostering a culture of collaboration and alignment between marketing and sales.

Measuring The Success Of ABM

To optimize and scale ABM efforts, organizations must be able to measure and track the success of their campaigns. This requires a clear set of metrics and KPIs that align with business goals and objectives.

Some key metrics for measuring ABM success include:

Engagement Metrics

  • Account coverage: The percentage of target accounts reached and engaged through ABM efforts.
  • Engagement depth: The level and quality of engagement with key accounts, such as time spent on the website, content downloads, and event attendance.
  • Engagement velocity: The speed and frequency of engagement with key accounts, such as the number of touchpoints and interactions over time.

Pipeline Metrics

  • Pipeline velocity: The speed at which target accounts move through the sales pipeline, from initial engagement to closed-won deals.
  • Pipeline value: The total value of opportunities and deals generated from ABM efforts.
  • Pipeline conversion rate: The percentage of engaged accounts that convert into qualified opportunities and closed-won deals.

Revenue Metrics

  • Revenue per account: The average revenue generated from each target account through ABM efforts.
  • Return on investment (ROI) is the total revenue generated from ABM campaigns compared to their total cost.
  • Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the total revenue generated from a target account over the lifetime of the relationship.

By tracking and measuring these metrics, organizations can gain valuable insights into the performance of their ABM campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimize and scale their efforts over time.

Conclusion

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a powerful strategy for B2B organizations looking to build strong relationships with key accounts and drive significant business growth. By leveraging advanced techniques in personalization and engagement, organizations can create a seamless and impactful ABM experience that sets them apart from competitors.

To succeed with ABM, organizations must adopt a customer-centric mindset, align marketing and sales teams around a common set of goals and strategies, and leverage the right technology tools to support their efforts. This includes investing in an account-based marketing platform that enables data-driven targeting, personalized content creation, multi-channel orchestration, and performance measurement.

By implementing these best practices and continually optimizing their ABM efforts based on data and feedback, organizations can unlock the full potential of this powerful strategy and drive long-term business success.