Taking a one-to-many marketing approach has its perks, but it also comes at the cost of being time-consuming and, ultimately, less effective than account-based marketing.
Could account-based marketing be the solution to all your marketing woes? Looking forward to 2022, all signs point to Yes.
What is account-based marketing (ABM)? It’s a marketing strategy that involved targeting business accounts (as unites of one) as opposed to taking the typical one-to-many approach. With this strategy, you identify the accounts that present the highest value, target decision-makers at these businesses, and then craft campaigns that are targeted to their needs.
If you’re struggling to align your sales and marketing teams, or simply think you could be seeing better results from your campaigns, it may be time to take an account-based marketing approach.
Why Account-Based Marketing Matters
It’s easy to get stuck in traditional ways of doing things, even if you’re not seeing the results you deserve. Many businesses aim to cast a wide net with their campaigns but have few conversions to show for them.
That’s why forward-thinking businesses have been adopting an ABM approach in order to launch highly personalized, better results-generating campaigns. Here’s why account-based marketing matters going into 2022:
1. ABM is Highly Personalized
Account-based marketing specifically targets the decision-makers within a single organization. So, your campaigns are personalized in order to resonate with their unique needs.
When you market to a wider audience, it can be difficult to target the individual and make them feel as though your campaign speaks specifically to them. With ABM, you can take a more personalized approach, increasing your conversions.
2. ABM Shortens the Sales Cycle
Sometimes the B2B leads your marketing team generates for your sales team simply won’t result in a sale. This happens far less often with ABM because you know you are targeting organizations that have people who are interested in hearing from you.
This means your sales team spends less time weeding through poor-quality leads and instead spends more time selling. This shortens the time between the first follow-up to the closed deal.
3. ABM Generates a More Obvious ROI
According to ITSMA, over 80% of marketers describe account-based marketing as delivering higher returns than any other marketing strategy. And with one of the biggest marketing challenges being attribution, it’s much easier to pinpoint where the sale came from if you are targeting buyers you already have a relationship with.
4. ABM is More Time-Efficient
With ABM, you spend less time targeting prospects that present no obvious business value. That means your sales team won’t spend precious resourcing low-quality prospects. Instead, they’ll be able to focus on those that are most likely to close.
Account-Based Marketing Strategies for 2022
If you’re ready to adopt an account-based marketing approach, you’ll need to be equipped with the right strategies. Here, we’ve outlined 9 ABM tips to help you master your marketing in 2022 (and beyond)!
1. Identify Your Target Accounts
To get started, first, you must identify your target audience. In the case of ABM, you are targeting organizations, not people, so you’ll need to identify the characteristics of the organizations rather than create customer personas.
Collaborate with your team to identify your target accounts. You should consider data from both your sales and marketing departments in order to identify characteristics like:
- Industry
- Location
- Company size
- Revenue
- Chance of repeat purchase
- Expected profit margin
This information will help you determine your strongest accounts and how you can best target them in your marketing campaigns.
2. Determine Your Campaign Goals
Establish your campaign goals based on what you want to accomplish with your marketing campaigns.
Do you want repeat customers? To hit a certain quota? To generate new leads from your existing accounts? Be clear about what your goals are and why.
Doing so will inform your marketing campaigns, which will be crafted to generate the results you are trying to achieve through targeted ad copy, calls-to-action, and email marketing. You can work with a lead generation partner like Acceligize, who provides such Account Based Marketing & Account Based Lead Generation Services.
3. Choose Your Channels
Based on the characteristics of your target accounts, you’ll be able to determine which channels to use in promoting your campaigns. Consider where your audience spends the most time and how their organization interacts with content.
Here are some examples of campaigns you can launch to reach your target audience:
- Facebook Ads
- Media Sites
- Google Ads
- Direct Mail
- Phone
You can partner up with a B2B lead generation vendor like Acceligize which offers multiple channel options with a multi-channel marketing strategy.
4. Run an ABM Pilot Campaign
If you’re new to ABM or simply want to do a trial run of your campaign, consider launching a pilot campaign. This is where you launch your campaign but at a smaller scale in order to test the results and adjust accordingly.
Some businesses do that by only reaching out to a handful of decision-makers at a particular organization. Or, they may reach out to a look-alike organization (similar company characteristics, lower states) to see how their campaigns with that audience.
If the campaign does well or poorly, these insights can be applied to the “official” launch.
5. Launch Retargeting Campaigns
One of the best ways to drive conversions on your ABM campaigns is to use retargeting. This involves marketing to organizations or decision-makers you have already interacted with before, or with organizations that might have visited your website for the first time.
Since the organization has interacted with your business before, they’ll be familiar with your brand and more likely to buy compared to a cold audience.
6. Personalize Your Landing Pages
It’s not enough to simply set targeting parameters on your campaigns – you’ll need to craft compelling content that convinces your audience to buy. This is where it might be handy to hire a professional copywriter.
A copywriter will be able to research your audience’s pain points and work this into the copy on your ads, social media posts, and landing pages. They’ll write click-worthy calls-to-action that inspire your audience to take action and sign up to work with you.
Having personalized content is essential because it can be the difference between a lead ending up on your landing page and going elsewhere, or a lead converting by scheduling a call with your sales team.
7. Align Your Sales and Marketing Teams
Your sales and marketing teams must be aligned so that no viable leads fall through the cracks. While your marketing team generates leads, your sales team should be prepared to effectively close them.
This comes down to communication. Your marketing team should relay what the source of the leads was and what type of content they interacted with. With this information, your sales team will know what offer(s) your leads are interested in and can follow up accordingly.
On the flip side, your sales team can give your marketing team feedback on the quality of the leads and how they have been converting. This insight can then be applied to future campaigns.
8. Strengthen Your Relationships with Existing Clients
What has made your existing accounts convert in the past? What offers were they interested in? What channels did you use to market to them?
Look at past marketing and sales data to identify trends that could be applied to your new marketing campaigns. Understand your audience’s purchasing habits and identify where there might be opportunities for repeat business.
Not only might you be able to squeeze repeat business out of your existing clients, but they might refer you to other contacts in their network. By strengthening your relationship with your existing accounts, you help build trust and set the stage for future sales.
9. Measure Your Results
Since you established your goals from the beginning, you’ll have a ruler for measuring the results from your marketing campaigns. Did you hit all your benchmarks? Is there room for improvement? What would you do differently next time?
Like any other marketing strategy, ABM is not stagnant. You should always be adjusting your approach to better serve your audience and generate a higher ROI for your own business. Having the data at your fingertips will help you fine-tune your campaigns and become even more effective over time.
Do you have all the tools you need to launch a successful ABM campaign? Try Acceligize to reach your global target accounts at the buying stage you want and through the channel you wish.
