Making Account Based Marketing Successful In Today’s Business Climate
ABM has become popular in recent times, but it can confuse many companies. Designing successful one-to-one and one-to-few ABM campaigns depends on a few factors. Here, Jason Ball, founder, Considered Content, discusses a few steps to make your next ABM campaign successful.
Faced with an uncertain business environment and the looming possibility of an economic downturn, many companies are looking to maximize their cut-through with hard-to-reach, risk-averse buyers.
Our latest research shows that over half of B2B buyers are taking longer to make purchase decisions. They are faced with greater difficulty than ever in getting internal stakeholders to agree. And 55% are considering a larger number of vendors when making a purchase decision.
This is magnified when we talk about large sales involving significant budgets. Often, these will be for something with the potential to transform how a business does business. The risk is significant even if the rewards are even more so.
From a vendor’s standpoint, we are often focusing on the 20% (or less) of the 80:20 rule buyers. These are prospects who stand to have an outsized impact on revenue and profit. These are also likely to be the most challenging sales we will ever make — few will be in-market at any one time, and most will have an existing incumbent vendor. However, these opportunities also stand to radically affect the fortunes of our own businesses both in the near term and by helping build our own brands as the choice of the serious player.
See More: Time To Add Account-Based Podcasting To Your ABM Strategy
Marketing to these kinds of customers is different from focusing on the broader market. They warrant a more personalized, more informed, more highly resourced approach. And this is why account-based marketing (ABM) has become so popular in recent times. Some 98% of marketers currently use or plan to implement ABM, according to Demand Gen Report’s 2021 ABM survey. Some 63% said they currently use ABM initiatives, and 35% plan to, most within the next year.
But, while ABM’s popularity is not in question, what it looks like in reality often causes confusion. What most of us would call “true ABM” typically involves a one-to-one approach: targeting a single account. In the real world, this is likely to involve reaching out to multiple decision makers in that company, as there may be several, even dozens, involved in B2B purchasing.
This one-to-one approach is generally only appropriate for large six-figure+ enterprise sales. Only at this level can we realistically justify the cost and effort involved. It requires deep research into what that customer is focused on, crafting a specific value proposition, and creating content specifically for them, normally focusing on where that value proposition overlaps with their needs.
Sometimes ABM refers to one-to-few: targeting a few accounts at a time, which can work well at a sector level. Here, the research typically involves uncovering the most important challenges facing the industry. The resulting content is designed to demonstrate an understanding of those pain points and show that we have a tangible way to help.
The confusion comes when companies use ABM for one-to-many targeting. Martech and LinkedIn would have us believe that ABM can involve hundreds of accounts that have engaged with our content in the past. They will claim their marketing technology can be used to access intent data and to target and retarget specific accounts that are in-market. This is where we see lots of chatter about the difficulties of personalization at scale. But the only thing it really shares with true ABM is an upfront effort to decide who to target. ABM is micro, not macro. Issues of scale need not come into it.
Designing successful one-to-one and one-to-few ABM campaigns hinges on a number of key factors. Close alignment between sales and marketing for one, but also a willingness to invest in truly knowing your target audience. Can you discover a target customer’s real pain points (not just the ones you wish they had)? Can you create a compelling overlap between their challenges and your company’s value proposition? And can you create the specific content that brings this all to life in a distinctive and memorable way?
If not, move along.
Seven Steps To Making Your Next ABM Campaign a Success
1. Get your targeting right
Work with sales and other internal stakeholders to decide who you will focus on and weigh whether they are worth the effort.
2. Do your research
Work to discover their pain points. What are they currently focusing on (in your area)? Who are the individuals involved in buying decisions? Depending on the type of purchase, this could be anyone from an administrator to the CEO.
3. Craft your value proposition
What do you have to say, and, importantly, why should they care? What do you bring to the table? Where does your value proposition overlap with their needs?
4. Create high-value, personalized content
Any content you produce should focus on them, not you. The brutal reality is that they don’t care about you. They only care about what you can do for them.
5. When planning content, bear in mind that more buyers want to self-serve information before contacting vendors: two-thirds (66%) of B2B buyers, according to a 2022 survey by Considered Content. In fact, over half (53%) of buyers prefer to buy without any interaction with sales.
Demand Gen Report’s survey found that 40% of vendors may be on the right track with serving independent buyers, planning to create a centralized content hub targeted and personalized to specific accounts.
5. Decide what you want them to do next
What is your call to action? Is it motivating? “Attend a workshop to explore this problem you are having” is likely more motivating than “let us show you our product demo.”
6. Ensure you have the right distribution and follow up
You need to be able to get in front of the right people using an integrated mix of methods, and you need to have your best SDRs fully briefed and on standby to follow up, probably multiple times. That is why good communication between sales and marketing is so important.
If you are using one-to-one ABM, also look to see whether you can use your research to create some one-to-few pieces of content to use in the wider market. This avoids the “all eggs, one basket” issue. Often, the pain points your research uncovers will be sector-wide problems too, so it makes sense to repurpose your content from both an effectiveness and financial perspective.
7. Consider your measure of success
Demand Gen Report’s survey also reveals that 63% of ABM campaigns measure the number of qualified leads, compared to only 37% that measure pipeline velocity. Too often, qualified leads fail to be sufficiently qualified. Actions speak louder than words — you need to see opportunity stage movement, not simply downloads.
See More: Account Mapping: The Right Way To Achieve ABM Success
These kinds of sales take time, often 12 months+. The gulf between recognizing the business has a problem and beginning to look for a solution can be very wide. So it is important to appeal to the 95% or so of prospects that are not in-market right now. Do not simply discount them because they are not hovering over the contract with their best pen. Play the long game. Keep demonstrating expertise, value, and commitment. That way, you stand to be one of the three-or-so brands they will think of when they face a challenge you can help with.
Ultimately, if you can get it right, ABM can profoundly impact success. According to Demand Gen Report’s research, three-quarters of marketers say these campaigns either meet or exceed organizational expectations.
What strategies do you have in place to make your ABM campaign successful? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
