Play to Win with Account Based Marketing: Insert Name Here

There is a reason we like chocolates on our pillow and turn down service, a welcome banner with our name beaming across it or carefully curated gifts. We like servers who introduce themselves and make a dining experience feel special and doctors willing to spend an hour listening to us. Whatever the good or service we are consuming, we all know what a good vs. bad experience looks like.

The reality of the current market and explosion of social media as a marketing tool has made us all professional consumers whether we are aware of it or not. The key takeaway here is that personalization wins–every time. Accessing a way to get eye-level with clients builds relationships, strengthens connection, and closes gaps in awareness and communication.

Anticipating a client's needs can be a tall order, but if we start with a personal touch, we can access that inherent human need to feel special. Account based marketing (ABM) is this tool.

Let’s get personal.

What is an ABM Strategy + Why Does ABM work?

The classic model of inbound marketing can be likened to casting a wide net in a deep sea and hoping some fish bite. You may snag a wide variety but how many are toss backs? How much is, well, mostly garbage? The problem? Fish don't bite nets.

Account based marketing on the other hand is your hook line and sinker.

Account Based Marketing is all about making the client (Account) the center of attention, the ultimate focus, and personalizing your messages because that is what they deserve. The best stories are the ones that are curated and customized for the audience that is listening. ABM is the perfect subject and predicate” - Brian Sena, Founder at EverWonder.

Benefits of ABM

Something that makes ABM truly unique as an approach to marketing is its measurability. There is a direct correlation between ABM and increased ROI for your target accounts. It is tangible and precise. It has gravitas. We are all results-driven and with ABM the proof is in the pudding.

Retention rate can soar. ABM creates and emboldens connections with clients and keeps them coming back. Businesses like Stitch Fix and Wantable built their platform around ABM. Subscription services inherently make us feel special, they are reliable and a shiny new box dependably delivered monthly gives us that Christmas morning feel month after month. It is the card with our name on it and the tissue paper we pull back revealing a carefully curated wardrobe created "just for us."

This aligns sales and marketing teams and their strategies. It is a unified approach that streamlines business and the sales process. Do it well and customers continue to hit “subscribe”.

ABM also helps allocate resources to key accounts with higher likelihood to close, this reduces waste while driving business. Customers who have positive curated experiences return, and perhaps more importantly they refer. Coupon codes and “Refer a friend” campaigns are wildly successful for this reason. They retain current customers who wish to cash in on their reward and encourage them to convert their friends and family. It drives further personalization by putting a name to new leads who come in already with a connection.

Is ABM Right for You?

Curious if account based marketing is right for you and your team? Ask yourself a few questions:

• Are you B2B?
• Do you thrive on lasting client relationships?
• Do you have longer sales cycles or larger deal sizes versus quantity?
• Does your company or service solve a business or lifestyle problem?
• Are you looking for a marketing approach that has proven successful and will help the trajectory of your business and future relationships soar?
  
  

ABM: A Step by Step Guide

Step 1: Identify your high-value target accounts

Who are your high-value customers? Who has the greatest possibility for large revenue returns? Who are the decision makers and key stakeholders? Create a target audience and target account list to get started.

Step 2: Conduct research on those accounts

Conduct market analysis. Your ABM campaign is only as successful as the intel you gather to ensure you are betting on the best horse. Identify the needs of your consumers. Have you used account based marketing tactics in the past? What worked? Where have competitors gotten it wrong so that you can get it right.

Step 3: Develop customized marketing campaigns

Account based marketing really sings when you weaponize your research. Create personal content, and use ccount based marketing tools and personalized messaging that you know will resonate with your high value accounts.

Step 4: Run your customized marketing campaigns

Plant the seeds and watch them grow. Whether it is through direct mail, webinars, email campaigns, web personalization or the myriad of other ways to implement personalized campaigns and your newly generated account based marketing strategy.

Step 5: Measure your customized marketing campaigns

Analyze the data, check out that ROI, how are you performing. Assess, tailor, pivot if necessary. Consider implementing customer success teams who are tasked with watering this newly planted garden.

Targeted Account

An on-point account based marketing campaign is effectively rolling out the red carpet for your prized target accounts. Getting personal gives your marketing efforts the most bang for their buck. Strengthen your existing customer accounts and build lasting partnerships. Level up with personalized content that works for you and your clients. Send personalized emails, shout out your clients in your latest blog post. Hosting virtual events or webinars is also a great addition to an account based marketing campaign.

Utilizing a CMS like Hubspot that allows for real-time customization to boost automated content for target leads. ABM software also helps make implementing new marketing strategies seem less overwhelming.

With account based marketing we are talking about streamline and efficiency. Marketing and sales teams align and unify while your high value customers and accounts become their own market. As your quality becomes consistent your accounts will return with loyalty. ABM reduces friction and allows you and your team to do what you do best.

Suits fit best when they are tailored, so do marketing strategies.