A is for ABM #Part 1

What is ABM and how does it make your B2B strategy a success story?

Welcome to the world of account-based marketing, or ABM for short. Now, acronyms are as common in marketing world as those bland stock phrases we all detest to use. But unlike “there’s no silver bullet” and “circling back to my previous point”, this particular acronym stands for a specific strategy that can really make significant changes to your business – helping you become more relevant and make better connections with potential clients.

Traditionally, B2B marketing tactics have been built around this premise –that by casting your net as wide as possible over a large group of prospective customers, you’re sure to snag someone. But as we all know, more doesn’t equal the merrier. Old-school tactics are very good at flooding people’s inboxes with irrelevant messages. They’re also good at catching prospects at the wrong time, or being sent to completely the wrong person in the business. This scattergun approach just doesn’t work, particularly in the world of B2B, where your prospect universe is a little more restricted. At best you’ll miss those important contacts, at worst, you’ll just turn them off.

What exactly is account-based marketing (ABM)?

To use an analogy, the traditional B2B approach is a bit like Tinder – you’re not really getting to know someone properly before you swipe right are you? You’re going for quantity over quality.

ABM is the equivalent of an elite dating app – one of those ones that require you to fill in a whole lot more about yourself, other than the fact you’ve got a GSOH and like “socialising”. ABM finds out what your favourite breed of dog is, whether you’re a chips and gravy or a cheesy chips kind of person, and whether you like to hike up Scottish mountains for fun.

In a nutshell, with ABM you get the right connections, by zoning in on high value accounts and the relevant contacts within them. You can then make your messages super personal and develop content around their specific needs and challenges. So much so, that they won’t be able to help thinking of you when the time comes for them to seek a [insert your chosen industry here] partner. The fact that ABM also helps you talk to the business’ key decision-maker also means they will be able to act on this thought, should you hit things off.

Get account-based marketing right, and your business is on track for better acquisition, relationship-building, and business growth (or a long and fulfilled relationship where you can both enjoy your love of cockapoos, chips and gravy and misty Scottish mountains).

How does ABM work?

Remember with ABM, we’re going for quality of lead over quantity of leads, so that traditional sales funnel needs a bit of a revamp. While a typical inbound B2B marketing campaign includes relevant and intriguing content that would resonate with the largest possible group of potential customers, an ABM campaign selectively targets a few high-value accounts (and their key decision-makers) with personalised content and messaging.

Maybe you want to send them a suite of emails with details about specific event you’re running, maybe you want to invite them onto a podcast you’re developing. The beauty of this approach is that you can narrow and sharpen your approach by marketing straight to key decision-makers with content they’re actually interested in. Once you’re there, and you have their attention, you can start to build a strong, ongoing business relationship with them.

What are the benefits to ABM?

You can get your Sales & Marketing teams on the same page
Yes, those departments are notoriously difficult to unify. But in the ABM universe, they are ones that need to be collaborating and communicating right from the word go. As you’re looking to get the best leads, not the most leads, the two teams have to agree on goals and KPIs, as well as what tools and processes they need to use to achieve them.

Aligning your Sales & Marketing teams and ensuring they talk to each other will help them focus on the same goals. It also means that everything they send to potential clients – communications, interactions, content – are consistent for the accounts you work with. With a unified Sales & Marketing team, you’ll be making consistent data-driven decisions through the whole the sales cycle.

The accounts that matter to your business will find you relevant
The foundation of account-based marketing is to make things personal for each account (and person) you invest your time, energy and resources in. In turn, you’ll be making yourself as relevant as possible to your high-value accounts. That’s because your content and interactions are tailored to show them how your specific products, services, and other offerings are what they need to solve their challenges.

ABM allows you to angle your business in a way that makes it the most relevant and ideal choice for your target accounts.

It measures your return on investment (ROI)
ABM is a precise and accurate strategy – it’s finetuned to hit the bullseye. With the initial groundwork done to customise content and messaging, your ABM campaigns will have fewer opt-outs and higher response rates, plus you can easily measure your ROI.

Once you’ve nailed that down, you can focus your energies into nurturing and delighting those accounts long-term. And if your ROI proves the ABM tactics you used have worked, you can use that data to set your sights on similar accounts in the future.

It streamlines your sales cycle
By pruning unqualified prospects from the sales process, and focusing your energies on the ones that matter, you’ll speed everything up. Your marketing and sales teams can focus on the accounts that are most likely to convert and help them to convert quickly with all that lovely tailored content.

See how we can make your ABM campaigns AWESOME
ABM is our bag, and we know exactly how to devise a campaign that will speak to the right contacts at the right time – and get you the results you need to succeed.