In this article, we'll explore innovative account-based marketing ideas and strategies that can propel your business to new heights.
In the world of B2B marketing, traditional approaches often fall short of addressing the unique challenges faced by businesses.
Many companies are now turning to account-based marketing (ABM), a strategic approach that has gained prominence in recent years for its ability to target high-value accounts, generate quality leads, and drive revenue growth.
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Summary |
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ABM is introduced as a strategic approach to address unique B2B challenges. |
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Discusses essential prerequisites for a successful ABM program, including ICPs and CRM setup. |
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Highlights the role of ABM software in addressing B2B challenges, with a focus on intent data, programmatic paid media, and CRM integration. |
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Describes how marketing provides intelligence to identify high-intent accounts. |
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Explains the concept of marketing providing "air cover" for sales prospecting. |
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Discusses the value of intent-based advertising in ABM, targeting in-market accounts and competitors. |
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Explores the use of personalized landing pages, email automation, and live chat for personalized experiences. |
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Presents a real-world case study of ABM success, focusing on GCPay's results. |
ABM is not merely a buzzword; it's a powerful method that enables businesses to address specific challenges and achieve targeted results. These challenges include:
Before delving into innovative ABM ideas and strategies, there are prerequisites to consider for a successful ABM program:
ABM software plays a pivotal role in executing a successful account-based marketing strategy. Here's how it can address some of the challenges mentioned above:
In the world of ABM, understanding your target audience's intent is akin to holding the Holy Grail. It's the key that unlocks the doors to successful campaigns, ensuring that you're investing your resources where they matter most.
But how exactly does intent data work, and how can you use it effectively?
Imagine this scenario: you're a B2B company looking to land new accounts in a highly competitive market.
Traditional marketing might involve casting a wide net, hoping to catch the attention of potential clients. However, ABM takes a different approach, one that is highly targeted and data-driven.
To start, you import your list of target accounts into an ABM tool that can measure account intent based on the web content behavior of employees based on topics and keywords you have identified. These are the accounts you've identified as high-value prospects.
With this list in hand, you're ready to launch paid media campaigns (and sales outreach programs) designed specifically for these accounts. Instead of trying to appeal to a broad audience, you're speaking directly to the accounts that are in-market.
But here's where intent data becomes invaluable. It helps you identify which accounts are actively searching for solutions in your industry.
This is not a guessing game; it's data-driven precision. ABM tools measure if employees from an account are viewing specific topics that you specify (like PPC keywords) at an above-normal rate.
This data reveals crucial insights into the readiness of these accounts to explore and potentially invest in your solutions.
Account insights and analytics are another important feature of ABM, letting you know which anonymous visitors are from which target account and which known account contacts are engaging with your ads, content or website.
Are certain accounts repeatedly downloading your whitepapers or requesting product demos?
Are they spending a significant amount of time on your website, exploring your offerings? These are strong indicators of engagement.
Both intent data and account insights should serve dual purposes. They inform your marketing strategies, guiding you to concentrate your efforts on accounts that are most likely to convert.
Moreover, these insights should also be made available to your sales teams.
By providing your sales teams with a prioritized list of high-intent accounts and account engagement data, you enable them to tailor their outreach efforts effectively and focus on prospects who are actively seeking solutions.
ABM software should offer programmatic paid media capabilities and the ability to sync audiences across various paid media channels.
This feature empowers you to execute multi-channel marketing campaigns that resonate with different buying roles within target accounts.
By leveraging programmatic paid media, you can target accounts that you specify and not what other paid media platforms suggest and you can create audiences based on intent, engagement, and CRM data, helping you focus your efforts.
Why blow your budget and waste time on accounts that are not in-market for your solution?
Integration between your CRM system, such as HubSpot, and ABM software is critical for a seamless alignment between sales and marketing.
It ensures that the account lists managed in your CRM are continually updated within the ABM platform. This synchronization allows both sales and marketing teams to work from the same account lists, eliminating inconsistencies and streamlining efforts.
Now that we've covered the essential prerequisites and the power of ABM software, let's explore how ABM enhances the alignment between sales, marketing, and accounts.
Successful ABM hinges on the alignment of sales and marketing teams, creating a united front with a shared goal: closing more deals.
In the world of ABM, marketing and sales are not separate entities with their own agendas. Instead, they work in harmony, each playing a crucial role in the journey from prospect to customer.
Marketing provides sales with intelligence to identify high-intent accounts through account scoring.
This strategic approach ensures that marketing sets the stage and prepares the audience while sales deliver the hook, reeling in the interested parties.
By having the same KPIs, account intent and engagement data, and metric reports within your CRM, both teams are aligned in tracking progress and focusing their efforts on the same objectives.
In the realm of ABM, not every account contact fills out a form or engages with your marketing campaigns. Sales teams understand this reality and are often eager to make direct outreach efforts.
However, instead of waiting for leads, marketing can provide air cover for sales prospecting.
This means running brand awareness campaigns targeted at accounts that both marketing and sales want to close, “warming” up accounts which sales do direct outreach with or supporting sales work opportunities that have been generated.
When sales make that crucial call, the buying committee is already aware of your brand, what you do, and the value you offer.
In the world of ABM, intent is a valuable currency. It's the key to reaching accounts that are actively in the market for your products or services.
Intent-based advertising is a cornerstone of ABM, and here's how it can be harnessed effectively:
Intent-based advertising allows you to allocate your marketing budget efficiently by focusing your efforts and resources on accounts that are actively seeking solutions.
Instead of adopting the traditional marketing approach of creating marketing you hope your target account will see, ABM enables you to target only those accounts you want to reach and allows you to layer this targeting with intent data segmentation.
To put this into practice, you import your list of target accounts into your ABM tool, which measures account intent based on their behavior.
Accounts with a high intent score are your high-value prospects. With this intelligence, you can launch paid media campaigns tailored specifically for accounts already in-market rather than waste time and money on accounts unlikely to need your solution at this time.
Another strategic advantage of intent-based advertising is the ability to target existing customer accounts that may not be fully engaged with your offerings.
ABM empowers you to expand into departments or segments within these accounts, effectively maximizing your customer lifetime value.
Moreover, you can identify accounts that are actively researching your competitors' brands. This is a goldmine for account management teams looking to prevent churn of existing customers and is valuable when trying to close new accounts by showing your competitive difference compared to other brands.
Now that you know which accounts are displaying intent, it's time to capitalize on this knowledge. Imagine sending tailored messages, content, and experiences to these accounts, addressing their specific pain points and needs.
One of the most effective ABM tactics, especially when dealing with a select group of target accounts, is creating personalized landing pages.
Picture this scenario: your prospect clicks on an ad and arrives at a landing page designed exclusively for their company. It's akin to rolling out the red carpet and saying, "We've been expecting you."
These personalized landing pages can be manually crafted for each account, or if you're dealing with a larger scale, there are tools and strategies to help automate the process.
This hyper-personalisation not only grabs your prospect's attention but also significantly increases the chances of conversion. It's about making your potential clients feel special and understood.
Email remains a powerful communication tool in ABM. By automating your email campaigns and personalizing content for different roles within the buyer committee, you can engage with your target accounts effectively.
This level of personalization sets you apart from competitors who are still employing generic marketing strategies.
Moreover, consider implementing live chat on your website that's bespoke for your target accounts and routes all conversations to the salesperson with whom they may have already been speaking.
This real-time interaction can further enhance the personalized experience and provide immediate assistance to potential clients.
To illustrate the tangible impact of ABM in action, let's delve into a real-world case study that exemplifies ABM success:
GCPay, a leading provider of cloud-based payment management solutions for the construction industry, partnered with Huble to overcome unique challenges through ABM.
GCPay faced unique challenges. Historically, the construction sector had been slow to adopt digital solutions, and GCPay had to contend with strong competition from well-established SaaS giants. Their ABM-specific challenges were:
Huble devised a comprehensive ABM strategy to address GCPay's unique challenges.
The cornerstone of the strategy was the ABM campaign. Huble developed an ABM campaign that involved building ICP account audiences.
They leveraged Rollworks intent data to create paid media audiences, providing invaluable sales intelligence. This approach ensured that their marketing efforts were laser-focused on the accounts most likely to convert.
Implemented from March to June 2022, the ABM campaign generated 1,760 sessions from target accounts, with 53.85% of them being new visitors.
This campaign led to a 19% increase in deals for target accounts generated and a significant 46% increase in closed deals compared to non-ABM-generated deals.
GCPay's partnership with Huble in executing ABM strategies yielded impressive results, with a significant increase in deals for target accounts and a remarkable 46% boost in closed deals compared to non-ABM-generated deals.
The success of GCPay's ABM campaign demonstrates the immense potential of account-based marketing in reaching high-value accounts and driving substantial revenue growth.
Additionally, Huble helped address several other challenges GCPay faced. Read the full GCPay case study to learn more.
As demonstrated by the GCPay case study, account-based marketing is a potent strategy for reaching high-value accounts and generating substantial revenue growth.
At Huble, we specialize in helping companies like yours develop and execute ABM strategies that deliver tangible results.
Our marketing consultancy services encompass every aspect of ABM, from identifying ideal customer profiles and account selection to creating personalized content, optimizing paid media, and nurturing leads effectively.
We believe that marketing and sales should work in harmony, and our tailored strategies reflect this collaborative approach. If you're looking to unlock the full potential of ABM, reach in-market accounts, and drive revenue growth, Huble is your trusted partner.
Speak with our team to discover how we can tailor ABM ideas and strategies to your unique needs.