Account Based Marketing (ABM) is not a new marketing discipline. On paper, it sounds like a simple proposition to find and locate the various stakeholders or buying committees within an organization, to communicate with them when a need is identified, buying intent established, and to nurture the account to the point that they are ready to become a customer.
Usually considered a strategy for enterprise marketing and sales teams, if done well, ABM can offer companies the ability to engage with customers earlier, identify the buying committees within target accounts, and deliver relevant content to the right stakeholders at the right time. It combines the various marketing and sales tactics that would have traditionally been siloed by industry, product/service or channel
WHAT IS NEEDED FOR A SUCCESSFUL ABM STRATEGY?
While the dream of ABM is like performing a symphony by Mozart, using a highly trained orchestra directed by a world-class conductor, the reality is often very different- using an amateur orchestra without a conductor using a score with a lot of notes missing.
In many cases, companies think that just because they have a target account list, or they have an online platform that manages data about their accounts they are “doing” ABM.
Online tools and platforms on their own will not be sufficient to deliver a successful ABM campaign. To do it right, ABM requires an all-in approach with a joined-up sales and marketing operation with clear stakeholders and a shared go-to-market strategy, which is not as easy as it sounds.
Data
The data you need must be analyzed. Questions that need to be discussed include:
- Who are our ideal customer profiles?
- What buyer personas at these companies do we want to reach?
- What does our target account list look like?
Once agreed, decisions on how to build out this data set or use third-party tools and services are required. In a post GDPR world, it is always wise to verify and conduct due diligence on where the data comes from, if using a third-party.
Alignment between sales and marketing
Account plans are complex and require a shared strategy to align sales and marketing. Cross functional sales and marketing teams should be harmonized around the target accounts.
When implementing an ABM strategy, it is crucial to categorize your tactics by channel and clearly define your objectives. This will help you determine the level of personalization and targeting needed for each tactic.
For example, if you want to create tailored content for a specific persona, you would need a 1:1 tactic with highly personalized and relevant content delivered to that person. On the other hand, if you are organizing a webinar or event for your target account list (TAL), it would be a 1:Many tactic and may not require the same level of personalization as a 1:1 scenario.
By segmenting your tactics, you can effectively allocate your resources and time based on the desired outcome for each account. This will help you prioritize and tailor your efforts to maximize engagement and conversion rates.
Ultimately, ABM is about building strong relationships with target accounts by providing relevant and valuable experiences that address their unique challenges and needs. By strategically categorizing your tactics and objectives, you can create a more effective and efficient ABM strategy that drives long-term growth and customer loyalty.
Content
Once the right personas have been identified, relevant and timely content needs to be either created, repurposed, or recycled to ensure your company’s value proposition is front of mind of the persona you are trying to influence.
Sending complex IT ‘speeds and feeds’ about a technical product or service to the entire buying committee is not an effective strategy. Tools like ChatGPT will not replace the human intelligence needed to personalize messaging that is personalized to the interest of each potential stakeholder.
Harmonized automation technology
Like the symphony orchestra analogy, companies must look to orchestrate and automate content to deliver via the many channels available.
Lastly, ensure technologies that are enlisted or considered to be purchased to automate some or all of the processes to support your ABM strategy are harmonized with the aligned organizational structure.
Ultimately engaging in ABM is about getting better ROI from your highly orchestrated sales and marketing organization to amplify the sweet music of closed won business.
WHAT VALUE SHOULD YOU EXPECT FROM ABM?
Reach
Once you have your first party and third-party data segments prepared and stack ranked in Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) order look to grow your brand and product awareness with influencers and decision makers within your ICPs.
Relationship
To grow your brand and product/solution awareness it is recommended to develop a two-way communication strategy with prospect clients to build trust in brand and solutions. Just sending out non-personalized content is not going to get the results you want.
It takes time to build that trust and although there are several commentators that say that traditional salespeople will increasingly not be part of the buying process, there will still be the need for human and human intelligence to influence prospective buyers. This may be why many companies are merging their demand teams into the sales functions over the past few months.
With regular communication and a dialled-down hard sell, it is a good way to identify customer pain points and potential needs that in the future can be potentially nurtured into a future sale.
Revenue
By adopting organizational alignment and the above considerations, companies can start thinking about generating credible opportunities rather than ‘leads’ that will if done correctly will produce a higher percentage of closed won sales and measurable return on sales and marketing investment.
HOW CAN OPPORTUNITY FINDER HELP IN OPTIMIZING YOUR ABM STRATEGY?
Enrich
For successful ABM it all starts with Data. Companies often struggle with siloed, inconsistent, and incomplete data. Our Decision Science and Data science teams can help find those missing notes on the score, verify existing data using our Lead Verifyer service and fill in the white space in spreadsheets of missing information to enrich data sets. We can also blend and optimize its own first party with third-party data, intent data, firmographic data and technographic data to create unique audience segments and stack ranked ideal customer profiles (ICPs) without having to wait for a prospect to interact with a website1 or click on an asset.
Find
If there is a lot of data that is old and potentially inaccurate, companies can utilize Anteriad’s Contact Finder service to discover the influencers and decision makers at ICP TALs.
Contact Finder aims to reduce the time involved in trawling through platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and other similar resources so our clients can target the right people at the right time with the right message on multiple platforms.
This service is supported by Anteriad data researchers who complete contact records manually using different sources & platforms and gain GDPR consent.
Ignite
By utilizing social, programmatic, and digital engagement, Anteriad’s clients can ensure that every single decision maker in its ideal audience segments is aware of its brand, products, and services or thought leadership on certain key topics, even if they’re not yet in market.
Anteriad’s segmentation tools enable the ability to target programmatically by job function for the most cost-effective use of our client’s display advertising budget.
Engage
Increasingly, our clients do not have the time or resources to nurture-up top of the funnel opportunities and prefer to concentrate on opportunities that are more sales ready and closer to closing. By implementing the BDR time-based model, clients can supplement existing BDR and sales teams with highly trained Anteriad agents using a cost per time-based model.
Benefits of using this model for ABM are as follows:
- More in-depth campaigns
- Native language support up to 26 languages
- Deeper conversations with DMs on the Target Account list
- Identify key DMs and organization structure
- Understand challenges faced, build trust
- Align prospect’s needs with client’s capabilities
- Call to action – Warm Handover set up with client Sales Rep when timing is right
Anteriad's Warm Handover is a three-way video call between a BDR, a client’s sales rep and the prospective customer. The BDR is responsible for identifying and qualifying the lead, securing and scheduling the meeting, and ensuring that the sales rep has all the information they need to help close the deal. Conversion rates can improve by up to 300 percent compared with traditional BANT2 content syndication.
Close
Taking the time-based model to the next level, Anteriad also offers its clients’ Sales Development Resources SDRs as-a-service that handle the entire sales cycle generating closed sales and revenue. They can use the clients’ email address, hold regular pipeline calls and be responsible for an agreed sales target.
- More cost effective than hiring full time employees.
- Complete sales cycle.
- Has additional AM and PM support at no extra charge.
- SDR handles PO, payments and all details required for contract.
- SDR incentivized for bigger value, higher volume sales.
- Deeper nurture through the whole funnel.
- Fixed fee includes additional sales support and resources – Sales Managers, Project Managers.
- Commission structure creates strategic partnership – Client’s success is also our success.
Conclusion
ABM is an effective approach to engaging potential customers at the right time and with the right content. However, it requires an all-in approach that integrates marketing and sales operations with clear stakeholder alignment and a shared go-to-market strategy. Despite the challenges, ABM promises to provide companies with the ability to engage with customers earlier, identify buying committees within target accounts, and deliver relevant content.
Opportunity Finder can help companies optimize their ABM strategy by enriching first and third-party data, harmonizing automation technology, and providing guidance on segmenting tactics, creating personalized content, and building strong relationships with target accounts. Ultimately, ABM is about building long-term relationships with potential customers that drive growth, customer loyalty, and measurable returns on sales and marketing investment.
