Account Based Marketing is Essential to Business Success

What’s your business goal for 2021? Is it to grow your sales? Reduce advertising spend? Or maybe it’s to improve customer retention? If you have these concerns, you can overcome them by using account-based marketing (ABM).

With an ABM campaign, you can target your best customers (and prospects) to increase your revenue potential. But it takes the right strategy to get here. The goal is to identify and connect with people who are already interested in your product or service.

When done correctly, ABM allows businesses to target their ideal customers at scale.

Interested in learning how to make ABM work for you?

Then continue reading to learn why account-based marketing is vital for businesses today.

Why Should Organizations Adopt Account-Based Marketing?

Is it worth adding ABM to your marketing efforts? Only if you have a strategy built around it. Here’s a look at the top benefits of using account-based marketing.

Increase Conversion Rates

By identifying your most valuable leads, you’re able to focus on them, instead of wasting time chasing low-quality (or worse, unqualified) leads.

By targeting your ideal customers, you improve the odds of them converting.

Reduces Advertising Costs

Another reason organizations should invest in ABM is because it reduces costs associated with traditional forms of advertising. Instead of spending money on ads across all channels, ABM focuses only on reaching out to high-value accounts and leads.

For example, let’s say you run a small design agency. You want to advertise your services, but don’t want to do so on every social channel. With ABM, you can narrow down the best platforms for reaching your target audience.

At least this way, you prevent wasting dollars on non-producing channels. You can also create an inbound marketing funnel to drive more leads your way. For instance, you write a blog post, promote it on social media, traffic comes to your site, and then they sign up to your newsletter.

Improves Customer Retention & Loyalty

Retaining existing customers—it’s the goal every business should invest heavily into. Sure, attracting new ones is still good, but your primary focus should be on retention. It’s cheaper to keep customers than to acquire new ones.

And it’s a lot easier too. That’s because your ABM campaign built a relationship with your accounts, which improves their loyalty to your brand. But how exactly do you achieve this?

By tailoring messages specifically to individual users (or segments). This keeps your current customers engaged and feeling valued.

Through personalized B2B marketing campaigns, you’re building a connection and a loyal customer fan base.

Improves ROI on Campaigns

Account-based selling typically costs much less than traditional forms of advertising. And they also generate higher conversion rates. That’s because the campaigns are highly targeted and ultra-personalized for a particular audience.

And it’s not just a one-time meet (like with ads). ABM captures leads already interested in your products and then you nurture them through an ongoing email campaign. So when compared to other types of digital marketing strategies, ABM delivers better results.

Saves Time

Thanks to marketing automation, marketers can spend more time on productive activities. No more manually creating emails or posting content to multiple sites—ABM allows you to automate these processes.

Once you set things up correctly, you won’t have to worry about monitoring the process. Just check your dashboard to view the data.

Generates High-Value Leads

Building an effective ABM strategy requires pinpointing exactly who your best customers are. And then replicating the success by targeting leads similar to them. This ensures your campaigns generate high-quality leads that are most likely to convert.

This also improves personalization for target accounts. Instead of sending generic offers to everyone who visits your website, ABM tailors messages to specific accounts. It makes sure you don’t miss anyone and ensures you get maximum return on your investments.

Build Long-Lasting Relationships with Customers

ABM gives B2B companies an opportunity to build long-term relationships with their best customers. This means you increase the lifetime value of your best customers, since they’re more likely to stick around and make repeat purchases.

Unite Sales Teams and Marketing Teams

Marketing teams often work independently of the sales team, which is an ineffective way to operate a business. Both departments have the same goals, so it makes sense for the two to collaborate.

By integrating both departments together, you can create a unified strategy across all touchpoints. That way, you can make decisions collectively and avoid wasting resources.

Account-Based Marketing Stats

Is account-based marketing as effective as some make it out to be? See for yourself. Here’s a look at some of the recent stats gathered from a Terminus “State of ABM 2020” report:

• COVID accelerated ABM: In just one year, the rate of non-adopters of ABM dropped from 23% to 5.8%.
• More than half of marketers are in the experiment or early stage of ABM
• Increasing revenue (82%) and accelerating the sales pipeline (58%) are more important to marketers than generating leads (42%)
• 61% of ABM marketers say retention and expansion are primary goals this year
• The longer the ABM program the better—studies show mature ABM campaigns are the most resilient
• 78% of resources were dedicated to ABM in 2020 (for mature campaigns), which lead to nearly 80% in opportunities generated, and 73% of all revenue attributed to ABM

So what have you learned? ABM campaigns are growing faster than ever because they’re effective. This means higher competition for the loyalty of your customer base. So don’t fall behind—make this the year you launch your own ABM approach.

Account-based marketing and personalization

The most effective way to reach customers is through personalized, relevant content (the reason they signed up in the first place). Account-Based Marketing identifies which leads are ready for a sale or have already expressed interest in buying from you.

It also allows you to reach out to these prospects with targeted messages at the right time.

How does it work? The key is finding the unique characteristics about each customer and then tailoring your campaigns around them.

For example, let’s say you sell insurance products online. If someone signs up for your free trial but never completes the purchase, he may not represent a good fit for your business. However, if he buys something else within 30 days, he could become a valuable contact. So you’d follow up via email or phone call.

In addition to identifying potential buyers, ABM tracks where your best leads come from. For instance, leads from Facebook ads may convert immediately. While those from search convert at a much lower rate. So with this intel, you can decide to focus your efforts on social media advertising rather than SEO.

Here are some examples of how to personalize ABM campaigns:

1. Targeting Leads Based On Their Interests

You can find what interests your audience by using data gathering tools like Google Analytics and social listening platforms. Once you identify common topics, build custom landing pages for different types of users.

2. Sending Personalized Messages To Your Audience

Now that you have customized landing pages, you can build automated emails that include links back to your site. Include a signup form or popup to gather emails from interested prospects. The goal is to keep visitors engaged until they complete a transaction.

Another option is to use direct mail. This is still a valid method for getting the attention of prospects. For example, you can send a personalized gift using a Sending Platform like Sendoso.

3. Using Data From Social Media Platforms Like Twitter And Instagram

If you’re active on social networks such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube, you can collect information about who visits your website and engages with your brand. This allows you to send tailored messages to people who share similar interests.

4. Creating Custom Landing Pages With Dynamic Content

Dynamic content refers to web pages that change depending on the visitor’s behavior. These pages show specific offers and promotions (but only when appropriate). They also provide better engagement because it’s tailoring the customer experience based on their search patterns.

5. Integrating Email Campaigns Into Other Sales Funnels

It’s possible (and recommended) to build an omnichannel ABM campaign. This is when you develop segmented marketing messages for different marketing channels. By doing this, you’re maintaining consistent visibility among key accounts. Channel options include your website, social media, ads, mobile apps, and even SMS messages. By integrating all of these channels into one cohesive strategy, you increase conversions across multiple touchpoints.

6. Optimizing Website Design & Functionality

ABM requires a well-thought-out design process. A great first step is to create ideal customer profiles for your best individual accounts, particularly the key decision makers. Then, make sure your website reflects this personality. Finally, optimize your site functionality so that it works seamlessly for both desktop and mobile devices.

5 Problems ABM Can Help You Solve

PPC ads. Blog posts. Podcasting. Social media marketing. These are all the methods B2B marketers are using to resolve the problems they face each day. Some of these channels help, but require solid marketing strategies to get the best results.

This is what makes ABM an attractive solution to digital marketing professionals. Let’s take a look at five issues account-based marketing tactics solve today.

1. Poor Customer Service

Customer service plays a huge role in customer satisfaction. When someone has a problem with your product or services, how do you respond? Do you offer quick fixes? Or maybe you ignore complaints altogether? Either way, poor customer service will turn potential buyers away from your products and services.

Fortunately, ABM tools can gather intel from customer support tickets, which are filled with insights your teams can use. You’ll know the most common questions and problems, and how to resolve them. Or you can be proactive and develop help guides customers can use when these problems arise.

2. High Cost per Acquisition

When we talk about CPA, we’re referring to the cost an advertiser pays to acquire a new client. For example, let’s say you pay $100 to advertise on Facebook. After one month, you receive 10 clicks, each one costing you $1. Now, you need to spend another $10 to get all 10 contacts converted into actual sales. That adds up quickly!

But there are ways to reduce this expense.

First, only invest money in ads that work. Don’t just throw money at an idea because you think it might help. Test campaigns that show results before investing too much cash.

Secondly, consider segmentation. By creating different audiences, you can tailor your ad content to reach the exact type of individual you’re looking for.

Finally, look for opportunities to lower your acquisition costs. Maybe partner with other organizations to share resources. Or perhaps create a joint venture agreement with a company that already knows its market well. These strategies allow both parties to benefit while reducing overall expenses.

3. Identifying Potential Customers

The biggest challenge in traditional lead generation methods is finding qualified prospects. Account-based marketing allows you to identify high-quality contacts based on criteria, such as demographics, location, buying history, etc.

Then you can nurture these leads until they become ready to purchase. It also gives you access to data like email addresses, phone numbers, social media profiles, and even purchasing histories.

With this information, you can better determine whether a contact is interested in your products or services. If they fit your profile, then you have a good chance of converting them into a sale.

4. Generating More Qualified Leads

When you use ABM, you’ll have access to a larger pool of prospective customers. You won’t need to screen each prospect manually since most platforms automate the entire qualification process.

By using ABM platforms, marketers will know exactly which leads are worth pursuing. In addition, you’ll get insight into where potential buyers come from and what makes them tick.

5. Delivering Personalized Experiences with ABM

ABM campaigns deliver personalized experiences across multiple channels. This includes emails, text messages, push notifications, webinars, live chat sessions, and more. Plus, you don’t need any special software or training to implement ABM. All you need is a CRM system and some basic knowledge of marketing automation tools.

Amplify Your Marketing and Sales Funnel with ABM

ABM strategies work. This is why more marketers are adopting them, and why businesses continue using them long-term. If you’re looking to drive better leads and more sales for your company, then it’s a strategy worth adopting.

The next step is planning the methods, channels, and tools you’ll use to make it work for you. Need a little inspiration?

Then watch the on-demand event “Out of the Box: ABX Strategies for Marketing, Sales, and CX” to learn more.