Account based marketing is the new trend in B2B marketing. Primarily it consists of concentrating on a set of high-value target accounts and treating them as “1 markets” through highly integrated sales and marketing programs. But, how is it different from traditional outbound prospecting?
Account-based marketing or ABM, in short, is a strategic approach that coordinates the personalized marketing and sales efforts. Its objective is to open up avenues and deepen the relationship with specific accounts or clients. The account-based marketing focuses on the specific needs of specific accounts and displays tactics more appropriate and efficient to provide added value marketing.
It is not something new, but recently, favored by the vast help of databases and powerful technologies, it has regained popularity among B2B sales and marketing professionals. According to the world’s leading B2B research and consulting firm, Sirius Decisions, 92% of US companies already recognized the value of account-based marketing in 2015.
Introduction to Account Based Marketing (ABM)
If we were to summarize the main idea of the Account Based Marketing (or ABM), it could be something like a B2B strategy which is quite fashionable today. We remember that B2B marketing is the one whose target audience are other companies and not consumers.
Well, Account Based Marketing focuses on certain accounts, usually the ones that are most exciting to report to a company. From that moment the campaigns are customized in a particular way, to achieve a different communication with each possible client.
There is no doubt that this form of marketing between companies has become fashionable. A few months ago Marketo launched a particular solution for this type of business relationships: it is called Marketo Account Based Marketing. Why is it so fashionable? One reason might be that, according to some companies that are already using it, they get much better results than with any other marketing strategy. In fact, in a recent survey, 92% of marketers surveyed said that this is an essential strategy in today’s B2B world. Moreover, speaking of money, it seems that the return on investment or ROI is much higher when doing things well in this field.
However, some questions arise:
- What are the benefits of using Account Based Marketing?
- In what scenarios is its use preferable?
How to do account-based marketing?
As we have seen, account-based marketing is about implementing marketing tactics, but on a sales scale. To do this, we will choose a group of companies that we consider potential customers and apply marketing tactics to try to get their attention and capture business.
Knowing how to launch a good account-based marketing plan will help our company generate more revenue, retain customers, generate more leads and align marketing strategy with sales, according to a survey by #FlipMyFunnel Account Based Marketing Survey Report. However, the biggest obstacle that marketers refer to when setting up an account-based marketing plan is the availability of an accurate and up-to-date database, since it will be precisely on the quality of that data that the success of the whole strategy is sustained.
For this reason, the main concern before starting any action in this sense should be to clean the available database. After that, the key lies in the segmentation that takes place. We must segment into small groups, making a thoughtful decision on the objectives we want to achieve. Without strict segmentation, we will not be doing account-based marketing, just marketing forever. This type of segmentation should be based on data that help us to catalog the accounts, such as the type of industry or sector of the company, size of the company, the company’s income, etc.
The third step that we have to take is to achieve an alignment between marketing and commercial teams. This coordination is essential when making the most appropriate decisions. After that, in a fourth phase, it will be necessary to carry out a thorough market research and the accounts of our interest, with the objective of knowing in what field we move and what are the specific needs of potential customers.
It goes without saying that, in all this process, technology is a key factor, not only in term of obtaining, processing and segmenting data but also in sending individualized communications or IP of a particular company and addressed to all those members of the organization with decision-making capacity, to give some example.
However, does Account Based Marketing have benefits?
The Benefits of Account Based Marketing
We have already commented on some of the benefits of sideways. Let us delve deeper into this topic, listing the key benefits highlighted by experts.
The major advantage is that the return on investment or ROI is improved. This seems logical if we consider that a personalized product is offered. By bringing together the talent of many professionals in a company, it is more likely to find the spring that will get the advertising company to agree to hire our products or services.
One thing that is achieved with the Account Based Marketing is that they focus the efforts towards the accounts that allow a greater sales potential. It is not a matter of generating an ABM strategy for any company, but for those that we have high chances of entering to work with. Or, if we are already collaborating with them, we have the option to increase the business importantly. This allows us to prioritize the resources and efforts of a company, concentrating on initiatives that are worthwhile.
Sometimes we campaign for which the results cannot be accurately known. This is not the case with Account Based Marketing, which allows for very clear tracking and metrics. As we are concentrating on a few companies, we can know for sure what the results are.
Another significant benefit is that sales and marketing coordination allows businesses to improve their bottom line. The philosophy behind the Account Based Marketing allows the alignment of sales more efficiently and simply.
Surely it will be possible to find many other benefits, as some companies that are already using this strategy are discovering new positive aspects on the go.
Conclusion: Account Based Marketing and the Future
We have seen that Account Based Marketing is a combination of strategy and technology that serves to reach other companies with which we want to collaborate. That is why some people think that it is the basis of modern and efficient B2B marketing.
For a right motivation must be implemented vertically, starting with the direction of the company, because it implies a change of approach and important work. The close collaboration between Marketing and Sales means greater involvement and effort, but the benefits are considerable.
If we were to summarize the Account Based Marketing in four steps would be the following:
- Focus on the most interesting accounts for our business.
- Customize accounts with highly personalized messages and well thought out for every possible client.
- Communicate through all available channels our message to all the contacts involved.
- Analyze the impact of our actions and try to improve the results of future operations.
Time will tell if Account Based Marketing is the new promise of B2B marketing. It seems like a fascinating move for the assumptions we have analyzed. Moreover, it is worth it.
Saqib Ilyas is an inquisitive blogger and loves to spread his knowledge. Saqib has years of experience in digital marketing & sales. He is currently associated with eworldtrade, the finest online B2B Portal offering reliable business connections globally. Follow him on, Twitter and Instagram at @silyasofficial.
