Your Guide To Account Based Marketing (Top Tips)
Our top tips on account based marketing (ABM)
ABM applies a data-driven approach to marketing by delivering strategic content to specific targeted audiences that are seeking and consuming customised content. It's a holistic approach that perfectly aligns the sales and marketing process by building valuable relationships with a targeted set of accounts. It’s efficient, it’s cost effective and it uses data to give you the best results.
Makes sense, right? Read our top tips below for considering an ABM strategy:
1. Define your business goals and objectives.
Firstly, determine what you’re looking to get out of your ABM campaign and what the end goal is. ABM is a long-term game so it’s worth identifying the end goal first and then planning the steps to get there.
2. Research and refine your target customer profiles.
Build an accurate account list, whether it’s someone you’ve previously done business with or prospective customer groups that are a good fit for your business. Prioritise high-value accounts based on revenues and market influence. The more you know about your ideal audience, the more targeted the content can be.
3. Strengthen relationships with your existing customers.
Use your past marketing and sales data to identify trends and purchasing habits. This will help to determine opportunities for repeat business.
4. Create a customer journey map.
This is key and a trend that is currently gaining more traction. Draft a customer journey map based on every single touchpoint and time they interact with your business. This will help to determine which channels you want to use for targeting comms.
5. Choose your channels of communications.
Leverage channels where your target accounts are actively engaging with core messaging, whether it’s social, email, direct messaging or other online/offline channels.
6. Create compelling content.
Focus on the needs of your customer and drill down on the content, whether it’s videos, guides, blogs or a newsletter campaign, ABM is all about personalised content. By doing this, it will maximise the chances of winning over key accounts. Really, you want to create content that inspires action.
7. Offer solutions.
When you're interacting with your target accounts, understanding their industry specific challenges is vital. That way you can offer targeted solutions in your content, providing helpful insights to ultimately drive increased engagement.
8. It’s all about personalisation.
Take your time to personalise and really speak to your prospects – it’s worth carrying this approach throughout the entire customer journey.
9. It’s a long-term game.
It takes time to build trust and influence with your target accounts. Don't expect to close a deal overnight. Be patient, consistent, and helpful, and you'll eventually see results.
10. Measure and analyse.
Track, measure and optimise. Find out what’s working to continually improve your campaign, making necessary adjustments where required. Use sales, revenue and customer engagement to monitor progress.
11. Join forces with your sales team.
ABM is not just a marketing initiative but a cross-functional alignment that requires the involvement of sales. Sales and marketing need to work together to create a unified message and experience for your target accounts.
By following these best practices, you can build trust and influence with your target accounts, increasing your chances of success with ABM.
Ready to take your business to the next level? Let us energise your ABM plan. Get in touch with our team today.