Win over your dream customer with Account-based marketing
In inbound marketing, we are used to sending to a large audience to end up with a small audience with the most potential. The approach here is broad and has a clear goal: to get as many leads as possible at the top of the funnel and hope that there is also a lot left at the bottom.
Account-based marketing (ABM) works completely differently. You make a list of 'dream customers' and set up highly targeted campaigns for them, in cooperation with sales. In most of these campaigns, you use personalized messaging and gifts to turn your dream customer into a real one!
Why do you need ABM?
It can be refreshing to use a different approach compared to typical marketing activities, but how does it really benefit you? Here is the sweet and short answer: by being the answer to your lead generation problem! Especially within B2B marketing, generating high-quality leads is a major challenge. ABM could save you here. 97% of marketers from Alterra Group stated that ABM has a higher ROI than other marketing activities. Because of the personal approach of ABM, you deliver customization to the decision-making unit (DMU). This increases the likelihood that your messages come across the way you intend them to. Moreover, ITSMA, the world’s leading growth consultancy firm and pioneer of ABM, indicates that almost 85% of marketers who measure ROI indicate that ABM delivers a higher return than any other approach.
How do you deploy ABM?
In the next four steps, we will explain you the basics of Account-based marketing. The first step, of course, is to establish and identify the accounts you want to reach, in step two you expand this list, then you engage the accounts, and finally, you execute!
1. Do: Create your hit list and ICP
Account-based marketing requires a certain understanding of your target audience. It is important that you know who you want to reach. First, you create a list of dream customers, including companies that have been leads in the past but have not converted. After that, you start creating your customer's Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
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2. Do: Find the decision-makers
You expand this 'hit list' from step 1 with companies similar to the ones you already wrote down, and which also meet the character traits of your ICP. Next, you find the relevant decision-makers in this list. It is important to discover the following things about the group to arrive at the decision-makers We have conducted a list of questions you should ask yourself in order to find those decision-makers. :
By the way, there are also platforms that help you identify interesting website visitors and send you automatic email alerts. Lead Forensics and Leadfeeder are two examples that can help you out here!
3. Do: Create your campaigns
After your research, it is time to engage the decision-makers with your brand by deploying campaigns that are highly targeted at all stages of the customer journey. Deploy specific, personalized content on your website, emails, social media channels, ads, etc. We definitely advise you to create this content in collaboration with sales. They definitely know how to sell (that’s why they are on sales 😉) and this makes you able to create a customer journey that is as frictionless as possible. Lastly, choose the channels you’ll share this content on that match the presence of your target group.
4. Do: Execute your strategy
Once all the steps are completed, it's time to execute your strategy. Build relationships with your 'accounts', measure your results, and optimize! Make sure that:
After you executed your strategy, it is time to take follow-up steps that prepare the account for a partnership with you (like running a demo). Good luck getting in that dream lead!