Account-based Marketing (ABM) is a marketing tactic that combines the skills of both marketing and sales professionals to target specific accounts that require personalized marketing strategies.
To help these accounts hit their goals, ABM marketers use tailored strategies to locate their target prospects, engage with them, and close high-ticket deals.
However, creating and implementing an ABM strategy that brings results is challenging. In this article, I’ll tell you if you are doing ABM right and, if not, how you should do it!
So, let’s get started!
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐁2𝐁 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐀𝐁𝐌?
Here’s how most B2B organizations are doing enterprise ABM these days:
- Make a list of target accounts that fits their Firmographic and ICP
- Upload the list to LinkedIn or ABM software
- Run “air cover” ads to warm up accounts
- Send accounts that engaged with the ad to SDRs and ask AE to prioritize these accounts
- SDRs add decision-makers from these accounts to the outreach sequence and bombard them with cold emails and InMail
Most of the marketers I know at least are doing this in general. Even I did this when I used to run pilot ABM campaigns.
But I got some good playbooks from Fullfunnel.io to scale B2B ABM effectively!
How should you do ABM instead?
Here’s how you should do ABM instead:
𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐧:
- Set your goals
- Set Cadence with the Sales, Content, and ABM team
- Identify the metrics
- ICP includes qualification criteria
- Accounts
- Challenges and ways to handle them
- Segment value prop and positioning
- Target vertical
𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐈𝐂𝐏 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 3 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬
All accounts were not created equal and require different marketing & prospecting approaches.
𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤
You don’t need to purchase expensive software right from the bat. All you need is the following:
- Account enrichment platform (e.g., Clearbit)
- Intent data (e.g. Leadfeeder or Happierleads CRM)
- Platform for personalized content hubs (e.g. Paperflite)
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧
1 marketer - 1 SDR - 1 Region - 1 Vertical - 50 Accounts Max
𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠n
Check intent data sources and CRM to identify accounts that are already aware of your company.
Check:
- Product/demo page visitors
- Webinar/events attendees
- Companies that engage with your content on social media
𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞
It’s crucial to define who will be in charge of what, define a list of tasks, and block them in the calendar, so your campaign won’t fail because of a lack of commitment.
𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠
- List building
- Account enrichment & research
- A warm-up that includes personal interaction, not “air cover”
- Activation (100% personalized emails with relevant content hubs)
- Follow-ups & nurturing
𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝
Everybody should be aligned with metrics and know how to evaluate the campaign's efficiency. Include engagement metrics, account activation progress, and pipeline metrics.
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐬
ABM is not a one-time campaign. Track intent data regularly and add new accounts to your program.
Build killer ABM strategies with TripleDart!
Don’t let your ABM initiatives die beforehand, do it properly from the beginning!
Still, struggling to develop a personalized ABM campaign? Book a call with us, and let us handle the rest!
