For B2B marketers, finding leads is the hustle and bustle in daily life. They always keep exploring new ways to generate quality leads. Therefore, marketers sort through stacks of leads in order to find high-quality ones among them. The job doesn’t end here as now marketers have to work on intriguing the prospects enough so they feel attracted towards the product/services offered. It will eventually convince them to buy the product.
The B2B marketers are quite busy, but it doesn’t have to agonize with time. This is where an Account-based marketing strategy comes into play, a grand plan of action for marketing that is highly worthy of in-depth discussion.
Let’s start with a global valuation of the account-based marketing market size. In 2023, it was estimated to be USD 0.82 billion and it is expected to grow to USD 1.45 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 12.10% during the forecast period.
Table of Contents
What is Account-Based Marketing?
Account-based marketing is a strategic approach of business marketing that pays attention to specific accounts with personalized campaigns. At the same time, targeting each performance provides a personal touch to the marketing messages based on the particular needs of the account and specific attributes aligned with the account.
Account-based marketing has a more holistic view of marketing beyond lead generation. Nurturing the existing prospects by encouraging cross-selling and upselling is one of the key parameters to get the most out of the largest accounts.
Present-day marketing is focused on captivating a large number of prospects, and then gradually locating the ideal prospects to move them through a funnel. Account-based marketing strategy works inversely-i.e., it starts with specific enterprise accounts and then works backward by marketing content aligned with the needs of the prospects.
This program has been functional for quite some time, and almost 40% of the average marketing team was dedicated to focusing on Account-Based Marketing (ABM).
Who are the ideal prospects in most cases of Account-Based Marketing?
The strategies of account-based marketing may vary from one organization to another, process is similar for almost every organization.
- Account based marketing is a result-oriented marketing strategy, but to get the most out of it, the sales and marketing teams need to work alongside each other.
- Account based marketing is beneficial for enterprise-level prospects as it involves considerable time and effort.
- The marketing automation process is considerably leveraged in email follow-ups and lead generation.
- Lastly, the strategies help foster a long-lasting relationship with the decision-makers.
What is the difference between Marketing and lead generation?
| Account Based Marketing | Lead Generation |
| Higher leads | Greater number of leads |
| Better alignment between sales and marketing teams | Shorter sales cycle |
| More personalized content | Less expensive |
What are the Striking Benefits that Businesses Can Avail of When They Use Account Based Marketing?
Almost 92% of B2B companies agreed that an Account-based marketing strategy is essential for marketing efforts. Below are some staggering facts about account-based marketing that answer the question: “Why are a significant number of B2B companies focusing on “Account-based marketing”?
- According to B2B marketers ABM delivers 87% of higher ROI, according to 87% of marketers.
- For organizations implementing Account-based Marketing, the sales cycle is usually shorter than 90 days. Short sales cycles are more impactful on the interested prospect. It also increases the revenue as they can reach out to more prospects in a shorter time.
- In Account-Based Marketing strategy, the prospect’s trust is gained by showing the ability to understand the depth of their pain points and aspirations.
- Account-Based Marketing focuses on quality rather than quantity. Therefore, the sales representative gets better-sized deals and higher average contract value.
- Last but not the least, investing in Account-based marketing ensures building trust, thus increasing the retention percentage of existing clients. Additionally, it also provides a boost to the sales procedure.
How does one devise a highly profitable Account Based Marketing strategy?
In the corporate setup, there are multiple strategies related to Account Based Marketing that reap results. We have gathered here a list of strategies which are vastly used by most organizations who have started incorporating ABM.
1. Offers should be prospect-specific
Often, there are a limited number of accounts to aim at when a typical Account-based marketing strategy is implemented. It’s designed in a particular format so that campaigns can lead to higher conversion rates.
Most prospects are urged to check out personalized reports as they consider it a highly valued prized possession. While following the Account-based marketing strategy, customized content marketing effort is a must; over and above that, specific offers should be implemented for particular accounts for optimal productivity of the campaigns.
2. Develop offers designed to get meetings
Stats suggest that 99.9% of B2B marketers fabricate designs to generate leads from white papers, webinars, and infographics. Leads generated through intriguing content become those prospects who agree on a meeting.
In the meeting, the sales representative must curate an appealing pitch with the back-end data collected from the marketing and analytics team. To give an example, it’s a social analytics enterprise- it can put up a presentation of in-depth research reports analysing its competitor’s social media efforts compared to theirs. To make a case in point, the sales representative, given the niche of their organization, can book a meeting with their prospects on technology assessment or security audit designs.
3. Retargeting to stand out from others is a must
Retargeting is an excellent manner of frequently targeting specific account, as the workforce continues to engage many people online. Few retargeting innovations came into existence with the onset of the Account-based marketing strategy, as they are directly applicable to account-based marketing programs.
Traditional retargeting, where marketers chase every single account to engage with social media, newsletters, and blogs, isn’t effective in generating sales team leads. At the same time, Account-based marketing retargeting enables the focus of the retargeting advertisements on company decision-makers rather than gatekeepers. It is possible only because, with Account-based marketing, you create a single company account with the details of every employee in the organization. You can only target the critical indicators for companies and specific job titles.
4. Individual accounts should have personalized experience
In the 21st-century marketing landscape, personalization in itself is highly crucial. The personalized market is gaining momentum in the B2B industry as prospects get customized solutions for their concerns. One size doesn’t fit all, and working on creating lasting solutions is a practical business approach. Around 56% of marketers regard account based marketing success as personalized content.
One of the personalization tactics that can be implemented to highlight the best of account-based marketing is developing personalized landing pages for a particular organization or an individual. Secondly, a personalized email copy can be sent to prospective clients, emphasizing their present pain point, exactly what they dream of achieving, and how your assistance can help the particular client accomplish their goals. Advertisements that speak to your prospect and showcase the intent of the option are also acceptable tactics for an Account-based marketing strategy.
5. Build Email list to target account
B2B marketers cannot throw darts in the dark; they need a finite action plan to bring infinite results. Firstly, they need to know who to contact and where to start. Account-based marketing is about quality rather than quantity, investing in a well-curated and highly segmented dataset.
Previously, lead generation organizations weren’t able to provide a myriad number of filters that could help in determining whether a lead was highly convertible or not. Presently, with the advancement of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and predictive analysis one can provide customization with datasets as the prospect desires. In these scenarios, the cost per lead can be a bit high, but as Account-based marketing promises higher conversion, it is worth paying. Invest in a worthy B2B email list, and do adequate research before investing.
6. Campaigns for C-level should be One-on-One
C-level to C-level outreach is a constructive tactic in Account-based marketing. The campaign can start with an email and then transition to a call with a sales representative that can later be converted to a meeting. Organizations should take responsibility for cultivating relationships with specific buyer personas at their target account.
In one-to-one meeting, the outreach should be genuine and personal, and while scheduling a business meeting, one should be descriptive in defining the reason “why the executives should connect.” The entire organization should come together to pull out a campaign. Usually, in most scenarios, an inside sales person calls the executive admin to block the calendar for your meeting.
Once you have targeted the C-level executives of the prospect enterprise, then the marketing and sales reps can move on to connect with the VP from the organization. The purpose is to check suitable prospect employees with reasonable enterprise employees.
7. Work on sales territories to convert more
In the olden days, the sales territory was often allotted based on equality and fairness, but isn’t it better to assign sales territory based on the likelihood of closing a sales deal?
Social proximity is a strategy related to territory planning, where an enterprise shares certain accounts with the sales representative based on the quality and quantity of their social connections.
When marketing and product strategy align with the sale territories, then you can ensure that the product having right solution reaches the right prospects at the right time. This team alignment also helps in avoiding under-served, overlapping, and over-saturated areas that can hurt the sales team’s profitability and productivity.
8. Use social intelligence to understand what matters to prospects
In Account-based marketing, please pay attention to what your prospects are posting on their social media accounts. This information lends a helping hand to start an exciting conversation with the possibilities, and at the same time, build a trusted relationship with them.
The advent of social media has led to senior administrators and companies sharing unprecedented strategic insights, personal opinions, and the nitty-gritty about company meetings. At the same time, the internet has loads of information, and which data to trust and which to dismiss is a hard call to make.
Here are a few tips that will imply social intelligence in the best possible way to get results. Don’t just follow your prospects on the social media platforms that they use; engage with them. If you have relevant pieces of information, share them with your options. In-mail is also a feature of LinkedIn both work excellently to establish contact with prospects. As you are taking part in social media engagement, continuous optimization of your accounts is vital for this strategy.
Conclusion:
Functional Account-based marketing strategy empowers marketers to target complex and large prospect accounts effectively. It also brings together the sales and marketing team, driving result-oriented campaigns on an optimal level that is usually not achievable through other marketing strategies. After all, taking up ABM strategies opens up multiple opportunities for new and upcoming ventures.
However, if you’re unsure of the best tactic to invest your resources in, outsourcing the marketing work can also be the road map to achieving your venture goals. Sometimes, a third-person perspective is what you need in order to come up with new and fresh ideas. When you outsource work, a team of growth experts will contact you for more personalized advice. Personalized marketing comes with its own share of challenges. Therefore, make your outsourcing decision on time; research the marketing firm before committing to their services.
