What is ABM?
Let’s say you are looking for a new relationship. Do you broadcast that to the world and hope that someone – that perfect match – finds you out of millions of other people? That your unique gifts, personality, hopes, and qualities will shine through – to that one perfect person – just by chance? That they will just appear out of thin air because you want them to? Exactly.
There’s a better way. Just as your unique business proposition may be the perfect match for any number of clients – they aren’t necessarily going to know you are the right fit until you do some work. You need to target these very specific prospects with the right message at exactly the right time.
Think of Account Based Marketing (ABM) as dating. You know what type of match you are looking for and need to figure out the best way to find that person, talk to them, get to know them, and begin what is hopefully a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.
ABM is an approach to B2B marketing where marketing and sales teams work together to target specific accounts and make them customers.
Instead of a one-size-fits-most strategy, ABM allows you to treat individual companies as their own market, whether they are an existing customer or a prospect. It allows for greater personalization and targeting.
Just like dating. Person to Person, or P2P.
So how to go about it? Let’s start with strategy.
How do I implement ABM?
Have a set strategy & approach for each account to ensure you are heading in the right direction and to guide your team members for overall success:
1) Define your target.
Although you are looking for a new business client, remember that you are targeting one person or a small team of people within an entire business organization. Developing Personas is a helpful approach.
Define:
What role are you targeting (C-level? Manager?)
What demographic are you targeting (Education level? Salary? Age?)
What are some key identifiers (Decision Maker? Job Functions?)
2) Learn about your accounts.
Your accounts need to know you understand their business inside and out. Become the expert in their business. The more information you have, the better equipped you are to approach them.
Research:
What is the company structure?
Who are the decision makers?
What are the influential publications, websites, blogs related to the business?
3) Create specific content.
Any content you develop should be tailored toward a specific account and the persona within that account. Again, a one size fits most approach won’t work here. The format depends entirely on defining your target and learning about your accounts.
Create:
Print, website, email, blogs – or a combination of these
Look/feel – define the right marketing mood to fit your target
Paid or unpaid placement – develop your budget and how to best leverage it
4) Pick the right channels.
Just like dating – you need to pick the right way to meet your match. Based on your research, how/what channels will you use to reach your targets? Whether you introduce paid content or simply add to an existing social media conversation, the channel you choose will depend on where your prospect is.
Locate:
Where are your targets engaged?
What blogs, social media, print media do they read?
Which conferences, industry groups, professional associations are they involved in?
5) Deliver your message.
Once you have laid the foundation, you can start to build your relationship. It is critical to involve both sales and marketing in this effort so that you can coordinate targeted messaging and run the campaigns with a systematic approach for accurate measurement.
Implement:
A way to track campaign targets, engagement, and results
Effective communication between sales and marketing
Follow up protocols
6) Measure the results.
So, how did you do? The details are in the data. Measuring your campaign success can help you refine the process with what works and what doesn’t. How you use data will determine your next steps. Talking to new wins about what approach worked for them can help you secure similar business.
Measure:
Which content/channels yield the best results
The effectiveness of your message to different personas
Cost/benefit analysis
Unlike dating, ABM doesn’t need to be complicated. With the right strategy and message, you can deliver highly targeted campaigns to meet the needs of your potential clients and win more business.
At RenderTribe, our RenderLab process helps you identify the unique pieces that fit in your overall marketing strategy and align your plan with overall business objectives. We help build the foundation for measurement, expertise, and the tactical execution needed to support the plan.
Let us help you grow your bottom line. Contact us today.
