With more B2B marketers embracing account-based marketing (ABM) as part of their overall marketing strategy, it is no wonder you also want to jump on the ABM bandwagon.
Setting forward generating leads aimed at driving long-term revenue growth, ABM can be the most advantageous marketing strategy, resulting in impressive ROI.
What is account-based marketing?
As the name suggests, this strategy targets specific accounts to apply its marketing resources. This not only allows the sales and marketing departments to work in tandem, but also to generate personalized content through account-specific messaging. An ABM marketing agency allows sales to analyze and tailor messages and programs for the targeted accounts. The result is a boost in revenues, quicker than traditional methods.
Account-specific marketing allows you to find the most likely audiences to help expand your business rather than casting a wide net with fewer prospective customers.
Types of Account-Based Marketing
Based on the scopes and goals of the campaign, ABM is usually of three types:
- One-to-One ABM. In this type of ABM, your ideal customer is a large company with revenue potential. They will be the basis for your marketing strategy that will focus on a single account.
- One-to-Few ABM. In contrast to the previous strategy, here multiple small companies are targeted instead of a large one.
- One-to-Many ABM. A less commonly used strategy as targeting multiple accounts leads to a decrease in ROI.
Why would you want to practice ABM?
The reason behind the effectiveness of the ABM strategy is that it allows the marketing and sales teams to focus their resources on accounts with the greatest potential for revenues. Furthermore, by skipping the blanket approach to rope in multiple companies, ABM gives time to develop a personalized approach to increase the likelihood of response from buyers.
Who does ABM benefit and how?
Opinions vary on how effective ABM is for B2B companies whether the target is one large-key account or multiple accounts in a specific industry.
Account-based sales have been effective for many years, but with the involvement of marketing, personalized outreach has allowed sales to reach tremendous heights.
We will get into more detail about the benefits later in the article.
How to align sales and marketing around an ABM strategy
The secret to the success behind ABM’s strategy is the cooperation between the sales and marketing teams. Otherwise, you risk losing buyers over uncoordinated marketing and sales efforts.
To achieve the desired results, the marketers and sales reps must communicate and sync their efforts to find the ideal accounts and find ways to engage them.
A stepwise approach to handle smaller goals to achieve bigger targets is ideal. Here are some ideas:
- Pinpointing more decision-makers within each account
- Securing more appointments at senior-level
- Accelerating the sales cycle
- Encouraging higher customer loyalty
- Boost in closing large deals
- Boosting revenues within existing accounts
- Improving digital marketing efforts
Efficient Use of Resources
The problem with mass marketing strategy lies in its approach to lead audiences to become customers at the bottom of the funnel. The marketing team generates messages which are usually one-size-fits-all, whereas the sales team avoids contacting unqualified leads to save time.
On the contrary, ABM requires a combined effort between both teams. This not only improves efficiency but also allows developers to the strategy. As sales share their knowledge of customers, marketing delivers higher-quality leads by engaging in personalized messaging through social media and the likes. This results in more customers moving down the funnel.
Increased ROI
Traditional marketers may be skeptical of the several hours of client research and market analysis for a few clients. This large investment of time and money raises the question, is it worth it?
To answer the question, an ITMSA survey revealed that a staggering 84% of successful businesses using ABM can attest to the greater ROI, it is no wonder that closing rates for bigger ratios are better and faster than before.
Moreover, ABM campaigns see companies enjoy a 208% increase in revenues through marketing compared to companies that don’t.
The ROI or return of investment is the metric of measurement for success and the rates mentioned attest to the strategies.
The money invested is used to gain trust which in turn generates revenue. Personalized content and one-on-one interactions help build relations with target accounts, so they are more likely to sign bigger deals with you instead of small agreements.
Well-Optimized Funnel
The marketing department is responsible for the top of the sales funnel whereas the sales reps take charge of the bottom.
The job of both departments is to work together to feed the funnel with multiple leads and to convert prospective buyers into customers through ABM. By addressing the personalized needs of highly qualified leads, the company can successfully acquire buyers.
Shorter Customer Lifecycles
In B2B, the decision-makers are usually a board of stakeholders familiar with the information before they agree with the sale. This works as an advantage for ABM as it targets the whole account.
Therefore, the whole account as well as the board has been exposed to your content. This significantly cuts down the time needed for decision-making as the customers are targeted with the right message in each stage.
Accurate Conversions Measurements
You should be capable of analyzing your strategy by comparing the performance of different marketing channels. Only then you can improvise your strategy by reorganizing resources and optimizing your spending.
The target-specific aspect of ABM allows to keep track of conversions more easily and identify lucrative aspects that can be utilized to fine-tune the strategies.
Improved Engagement
Content creation is a difficult task especially if you plan to engage a broad range of audiences. However, with ABM, your client pool is smaller, and you are aware of their needs.
This allows more time to work on personalized, high-quality content that will engage your customers. Happier customers equal more revenue.
Happier Customer
ABM is entirely customer-based. Herein, lies the success of this strategy. The whole process is tailored individually for the customer, their requirements, and business specifics.
This long-term investment doesn’t end with getting a customer. Re-selling, up-selling, and cross-selling are vital to staying in contact with your clients.
This will assure them that their needs will be consistently met by your company turning them into permanent clients as well as helping expand your business.
Happier Employees
Though employees are often the last concern of business strategies, you will benefit from it in the long term.
Recognition of their work from customers can significantly boost employee morale. In addition, the employees become aware of their impact on other businesses, giving them a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
The resulting job satisfaction manifests as determination and loyalty as evidenced by their boost in performance. This encourages them to engage with customers more meaningfully. The effect may be indirect and not immediately evident. However, the long-term implications are dramatic.
Conclusion
An efficient marketing strategy, ABM can significantly impact ROI as well as build a network of highly profitable clients.
Nonetheless, no strategy is guaranteed a 100% success rate. However, to reap the benefits, do comprehensive preliminary research. You need to focus on high-end lucrative accounts that fit your client profile. Now, you have the recipe for a successful long-term partnership and a new customer at the bottom of the funnel.