If the presentations at recent B2B Sales and Marketing events are anything to go by, account-based marketing would seem to be the latest trend in online marketing strategies.
Account-based marketing is set to have as much impact on online marketing in 2020 as content marketing did 5 years ago. ABM is proving to be really effective because it is founded on key marketing pillars: personalisation, focus on high-value customers and strong organisational alignment.
Incorporating account-based marketing tactics will boost the traditional lead generation tactics in your marketing strategy because resources are focused on qualified, targeted accounts which will increase your conversion rate and promote long-term revenue growth.
Here are some trends in account-based marketing that will give you insight into tactics that you can use in your marketing strategy in order to stay ahead of the pack.
Increasing adoption of ABM
Whilst there has been a large growth in the number of B2B marketers who use account-based marketing as part of their strategy there are still under 50% of businesses doing so which means that by becoming one of those who do use account-based marketing you will already be one step ahead.
ABM is even being used to send targeted information to people within a singular buying group. Often B2B purchasing decisions are not left up to one person but involve a range of people with different viewpoints. ABM allows you to address individuals within a larger group.
Aligning marketing and sales
The biggest challenge in account-based marketing is aligning marketing and sales functions. This problem is not unique to ABM but account-based marketing can actually help address it effectively. If your ABM strategy is carefully planned the detailed procedure around account selection, outreach procedures and nurturing phases reduce friction between the marketing and sales functions because the success is measured on overall results.
Once your marketing and salespeople are aligned and a successful ABM program implemented, there will be no stopping them. The benefits of account-based marketing will be crystal clear and your improved bottom-line will attest to it.
B2B marketers who implement ABM tactics in their marketing strategies will be the change agents in addressing the age-old competition between marketing and sales. Marketing becomes a service provider to sales and empowers them to be able to assist customers to solve their problems.
Here is a 3-step framework that you can use to actualise the alignment between sales and marketing.
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Listen and gather information. This involves listening to your customers and engaging with them.
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Find the sweet-spot by analysing your data and coming up with a mutually beneficial strategy that has everyone’s buy-in.
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Effective execution. Make it easy for your sale team to have all the resources and collateral they need to meet the needs of potential customers.
Allowing sales to drive account selection
Traditionally marketing has driven prospects to sales for them to nurture and close deals. Account-based marketing requires more input directly from sales. This obviously makes a lot of sense as they are the people who know which accounts are easier to work with and convert better.
Sales and marketing working together with marketing identifying the top potential customers and sales qualifying their results allow you to focus marketing efforts on accounts that are the most promising and which will yield the best results.
Incorporating B2B Influencers
Not many marketers are taking advantage of the power of incorporating B2B influencers in their ABM strategies. The impact of influencer advocate-related content on your account-based marketing efforts can be huge. Collaborating with experts who are trusted by the prospects you want to engage with will authenticate your brand and boost sales as a result. We all know that people trust experts and peers more than they do brands so if you have some niche influencers helping you reach your market and endorsing your brand converting a prospect to a customer using account-based marketing will be a synch.
With businesses being bombarded by electronic messages ABM tactics need to be unique and engaging enough to attract their attention. Advances in technology and analytics have made it easier for B2B marketers to harness the power of account-based marketing to direct specialised messages and offers to pre-qualified prospective customers. This has a huge impact on sales and your bottom-line.
Account-based marketing has evolved into an effective mainstream B2B lead generation strategy. If you follow the ABM trends and employ some of these tactics in your online marketing strategy and individual campaigns you will see how much more effective your efforts are when you treat each prospective account as a market in itself. ABM is direct marketing on steroids and is essential if you are looking to unlock opportunities which have a very definite impact on your sales and your profits.
