The last several months have seen the emergence of account-based marketing or ABM among B2B marketers. However, despite many reservations, ABM isn’t a new or unproven idea. It is a new way of combining a set of previously known fundamentals to help B2B marketers reach the right prospects.
Still wondering what ABM really is? ITSMA defines account-based marketing as:
“A structured approach to developing and implementing highly customized sales and marketing campaigns for single accounts, prospects, or partnerships. By treating each client as a market of one, you can broaden and deepen your relationships with individuals at key accounts as well as increase awareness and demand for your services and solutions. This ultimately leads to more strategic sales and greater revenue generation.”
If you knew that “less than 1 percent of leads turn into revenue-generating customers,” you might be more inclined to give ABM a chance. ABM is not just a simple marketing strategy, it is also a tool that helps to integrate and align a wide-range of marketing and sales efforts within companies. Companies who adopt ABM strategies are more successful and competitive long-term than those who don’t.
To stay ahead of the curve, you need to understand the fundamentals of ABM. Here are 5 of them:
#1. ABM treats all accounts as a market of one.
ABM marketing looks at single accounts from beginning to end across all channels in order to tailor a targeted campaign that is effective to each.
#2. ABM is personalized to individual decision makers.
ABM looks at the profiles of all key decision makers within an organization and focuses on providing customer value to each.
#3. ABM is personalized to customer needs.
ABM marketers personalize messages to specific personas at specific companies, tightening the net to gain only the people they want.
#4. ABM forces marketing alignment.
Product marketers, field marketers, public relations teams, and marketing departments must all align their efforts to make ABM marketing work.
#5. ABM forces sales and marketing alignment.
ABM marketers must work to ensure sales teams ask the right questions by transforming disconnected audience behaviors into reliable account-based insights.
ABM marketing forces marketers to focus on the quality of leads, not just the quantity. If you were to implement an ABM strategy, it wouldn’t just be one particular tool in play. It would be a symphony of all your marketing efforts concentrated in the right direction.
If you want to know more about the benefits of account-based marketing, click the link below for more information.
