Account-Based Marketing is one of the decade’s growing trends, bringing a fusing innovation into previous methods of marketing and selling. Being the most suitable for B2B organizations, this strategy is composed of focused traits that target each prospect based on a selected high value. Resources are prepared individually for each qualified account, using the best of personalization.
In this article, let’s cover everything you need to gather in order to set up a functional ABM campaign, taking your business one level higher.
If you haven’t familiarized yourself with ABM yet, first read our previous article ‘’Account-Based Marketing? What Every B2B Needs to Know’’.
You will find clear definitions, methods, and whether or not this strategy is a fit for your business model.
If you are ready to layout with a plan, great! Let’s dive right into it.
The Right Team
In order to launch this business concept, a team of dedicated individuals must be foregathered. While their roles may differ, the goals remain ultimately equal: merging marketing and sales into high value and low volume targeting. Here’s what you will need:
SDR / Sales Development Representatives – Dedicated to outbound prospecting only and measured by their capacity to move leads through the sales funnel.
MDR / Marketing Development Representatives – Focused on following up on all marketing-related requirements.
Sales Operations – Responsible for maximizing productivity in your marketing team.
Campaign Marketers – Multitouch focused, responsible for creating full coverage campaigns.
Content Creators – Developers of all marketing material, including writing, videos, and graphic designs.
Customer Success Managers – Responsible for guaranteeing all tools are available and utilized successfully, cultivating better customer relationships and thereby increasing professional continuance.
This team is your foundation and drive. They will be fully responsible to keep your ABM campaign running and returning, so choose wisely who you will be working with. Once a team is in place, it’s time to define how you will measure success.
Set Clear Goals
Every successful project requires a goal definition. What can be expected from this campaign?
Is your goal to launch a product? Expand into new markets? Would you ideally target new businesses or rather focus on already present customers? Ask yourself where exactly you are headed and why. Analyze and think critically about each milestone in the project. Arrange team meetings and discuss every addressable point.
Create a Target List
The goal in Account-Based Marketing is to find specific and highly suitable target accounts, utilizing personalized communication in order to create interest. The question is, how can you choose the targets who will be confronted with your proposal?
Define your ICP, or Ideal Customer Profile
To create your ICP (ideal customer profile), take a closer look at your previous campaigns and current consumer status. Is there a particular user profile that not only utilizes your product, but completely admires it? Is there a particular someone that appears to value what you have to offer in a stronger way?
If the answer is yes, continue by scheduling an interview with this person, as he/she/they will help you discover who your ICP is and how you can benefit from these personality traits.
If you cannot think of an already existing person, simply use your imagination to come up with one or more suitable personas. Imagine their age, job titles, income, family status, personal interests and general way of life.
Remember, to understand your customer’s needs, you must first understand his/her lifestyle. The goal is to discover what their buying procedure is, the reason behind it, how it occurred, and how they are currently enjoying your product. We are reverse engineering this information for clever selling tactics.
Once the data has been gathered, pinpoint common facts between each ICP. What do these characters have in common? Amidst the differences, there will always be a common pattern. Find it and continue strategizing.
Note: Not every product will have multiple ICP’s; it is possible your offer only targets one ideal profile.
By the end of this brainstorming session, you should be able to compose a broader template, including:
- Your ideally targeted industry
- Location
- Company size
- Decision maker traits
- Budget
- Buying processes
- Pain points
- Business goals
- Used social channels
Personalized Material
Once the target list has been strategically curated, it’s time to invest in personalized content. Consider what your ideal decision-maker wants to hear, see, or read. What would truly create interest, curiosity? Be as personal and professional as you can be; a clever mix that sounds trusting and unavoidably beneficial.
Address any pain points of your targeted accounts. Are they searching for lower costs, time sparing, or a need for sales expansion? Be what they are looking for. Direct this information into an appropriate medium, such as blog posts, reports, videos, guides, case studies, or another form of educative communication. Present them with a solution.
The appropriate medium selection will likely vary between buyers, so have a talk with your sales team in order to settle for the most effective way. While some might react more positively to a video, others might prefer a case study or blog post.
Consider that decision-makers in higher positions may not have enough time to consume extensive amounts of personalized content, so you might wish to divide the information into multiple shorter sections instead. You may send them out in chapters.
Milestones & Track Keeping
Account-Based Marketing requires hard work, consistency, and detail, therefore calling great attention to strategic track keeping. Measuring success can only be done through this form of analysis, so make sure to apply this with your team.
Throughout your running campaign, here are some metrics you may begin tracking:
Top funnel analysis – Targeted accounts
- Social media engagement rates – Are any of your targeted accounts interacting with your social media content? If so, in which measures?
- Quantity of contacts – How many prospects are you sending content to.
- Website traffic number – Analyse how many of your website visitors are accounts you have targeted.
Evaluate this top-funnel information and consider what can be improved for more success rates.
Mid funnel analysis
- Engagement time frame between a contact and your content – How long are your contacts spending on your material? Is it valuable and engaging enough?
- Traffic on a particular website page – Look deeper into your website traffic and analyze which pages are performing best. This will show you what is the most successful content you have created and allow you to expand on this idea.
- Voluntarily collected contact information – When did the target take initiative to provide you with his/her data? Did you have to ask for it every time, or have they voluntarily showed an interest? Have they completed any forms? If so, which ones and why?
Bottom funnel analysis
- Scheduled meetings – How many prospects have decided to schedule a meeting with your sales team?
- Closed deal rates – When interested prospects receive the pitch, how many are actually turning into paying customers?
- Estimated deal volumes – How much profit are you making? What is the value this ABM campaign is bringing to your business?
Utilize this data to your strategic advantage and look for ways to optimize your approach.
How are your ROI’s and revenue generation? Once sales have been completed, you will also need to address any referrals, churn rates, and upsells. Keeping detailed track will sustain the pathway to successful campaign results.
To learn all about growth hacking, refer to: Growth Hacking, What It Is and How to Use It in Your Business – 4 Steps
by Julia Arguello Busch – Ninja Partners
