The power of Account Based Marketing?
Simply put, Account Based Marketing (ABM) is the application of targeted marketing strategies, focused on pre-selected accounts.
The main goal of ABM is building and maintaining relationships with key accounts. To identify and successfully convert these valuable accounts, close collaboration between marketing and sales is essential.
Unlock the potential of ABM
ABM can be a valuable strategy for your company if the following points apply:
- • Difficulty converting leads into customers
- • Improvement of customer retention and reduction of turnover
- • Opportunities for upselling or cross-selling to existing customers
Is your organization ready for ABM?
–Buy-in:
Marketing and sales leaders can be brought on board for executing the ABM program.
– Budget:
A portion of the marketing budget can be allocated to the target accounts.
– Measurement:
Your marketing analytics and conversion tracking are properly set up to measure and track the impact of account-based statistics.
7 steps for ABM success:
For a successful implementation of the Account Based Marketing strategy, several steps must be followed. Below is a brief explanation.
1. Collaboration between sales and marketing
While marketing and sales are two different departments, collaboration between the departments is crucial for the success of ABM. It increases the effectiveness of sales.
2. Set your objectives
There are four main techniques you can apply to achieve your goals. Of course, which technique is best to apply depends on the objective.
– Generating demand:This technique can be used for generating awareness among cold and new customers. It is important to create awareness among new customers by sharing valuable information.
– Account nurturing:Account nurturing can be used to increase the conversion of the sales pipeline. This is done by addressing key stakeholders of companies through, for example, webinars, client cases and product demos. This type of content leads to increasing engagement and conversion of leads.
– Accelerating the pipeline:Reach a larger network of stakeholders during the sales process by offering reports and comparing services. This reduces the sales cycle. This leads to a higher conversion ratio.
– Account penetration:Expand the service offering within an account by utilizing new opportunities.
3. Select and segment your target accounts
When you want to map your target accounts, it’s important to understand the available data well. A successful ABM strategy is based on high-quality data. We distinguish three types of data sources:
First-party data: this is the data you have collected yourself
Second-party data:the data from a publisher or platform
Third-party data: data that has been merged from multiple sources
4. Identify the buying team
In complex purchasing decisions, the involved team is larger. On average, 6.8 people are involved in the purchasing process. To sell successfully, it’s important to build relationships with all stakeholders, including decision-makers, influencers, implementers, and end-users. Think beyond just the decision-makers and influencers.
5. Determine the right scale
When applying ABM, there is no universal formula that works for everything. ABM varies from personal conversations with key accounts to reaching hundreds of less valuable accounts. When determining the scale, keep in mind that you can use different approaches for different levels.
6. Adapt your content to your target audience
Each member of the buying team is exposed to an average of four to five pieces of information, which don’t all tell the same story. Therefore, it’s essential to offer each member of the buying team the right content at the right time.
Apply the 40/60 rule, where 40% of your content is focused on sales and 60% is focused on providing information. This ensures a balanced approach.
7. Measure the results and impact
Measuring results is the most interesting aspect of the ABM process. Throughout the entire ABM process, statistics can be measured in different ways.
Some examples of this are:
– Company Engagement Report:
This report provides a complete overview of your target accounts’ engagement regarding LinkedIn marketing activities and website visits.
– Campaign Demographics:
This measures the reach, engagement and conversions based on your target audience’s professional characteristics.
Want to learn more about successfully implementing ABM for your organization? Contact us at 010 – 600 2 600 or email us through the form below.