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Wouldn’t you love to get inside the minds of the decision-makers of companies who need the products and services you offer? Hint: It doesn’t take a Vulcan mind-meld. With account-based marketing, the future is here.
What Is Account-Based Marketing?
What account-based marketing (ABM) does for B2B businesses is to uncover companies whose challenges are exactly what your business can help them overcome. Then, you target specific decision-makers within that company with messages you tailor to their unique needs. (1)
As marketing legend David Ogilvy put it, you “don’t count the people that you reach” but rather “reach the people who count.” (2)
How Does Account-Based Marketing Work?
For example, suppose you manufacture drones with cameras. Your research turns up a major real estate agency that outsources its aerial photography to a third party. You know the outrageous prices that the third-party photography company charges and that buying one of yours would save them money.
With account-based marketing, you can send targeted messages to the CEO and bean-counters that show how much money they could save with a single investment in one of your drones. Target their legal department with informative articles about the latest drone regulations and how to operate them without skirting the law. Top agents will drool over the incredible views your camera provides for their clients.
Thanks to marketing automation, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge technology, you can set up automated email campaigns and personalized messages that pop up on social media, and as they browse the Internet. When they do show some interest, such as subscribing to your blog or newsletter, make sure that they have the opportunity to download an informative e-book or white paper that helps them solve a challenge that they’ve struggled to overcome.
By the time your sales team makes its first overture, this agency is already primed to buy. Even better, your research from your messaging analytics will have turned up those issues in which these prospects show greater interest, as well as some of their questions or objections. With that information in hand, the sales team can tailor its presentation to overcome objections and uncover value for the prospect.
How Can Account-Based Marketing Benefit My Business?
That’s only one example. Account-based marketing can help you trim your marketing budget while concentrating your efforts on only those who can afford your service, are in the region you serve, and those who need what you sell.
Your sales team, too, won’t need to set as many meetings. With your marketing campaign clearing the way, prospects are more likely to buy on the first or second meeting. Here’s why:
Statistics show that as many as seventeen different people (3) within a company must approve a purchase. The more hoops your sales team must jump through, studies show, the less likely the prospect is to buy.
Account-based marketing clears all those hoops out of the way before your sales team even picks up the phone to set a meeting. With messages tailored to the needs of each one of those decision-makers, prospects who truly have an interest in your products and services will have taken an action to demonstrate that interest, such as providing their email address in exchange for an e-book or white paper.
Won’t Our Blog and Social Media Posts Do the Same Thing?
If your company already has a blogging presence, great! Well-crafted blog content that you tailor to your target customers’ needs helps you build authority in your field and trust in those decision-makers who read your blog posts.
But it’s not enough. According to research, decision-makers must view approximately three to five pieces of content before they contact your sales team. In most larger B2B companies, that’s not enough since more than one decision-maker has to sign off on most purchases.
While it’s true that you can target boosted social media posts to likely customers, they don’t have the laser focus that true personalization offers. With account-based marketing, you’ll supplement your content marketing with messages personalized to every one of the decision-makers.
Account-Based Marketing: A Proven Revenue-Builder for B2B Companies
Even more importantly, account-based marketing turns your once-rival sales and marketing teams into a cohesive force that can get your products and services into the hands of those who need them faster than ever before. Perhaps that’s why account-based marketing brings in the highest ROI of all marketing strategies available today. (4)
To take advantage of this effective marketing method, you need to find a partner with expertise in this relatively new strategy. If you are a B2B company that wants to discover how it can help your business meet its goals, get in touch with our ABM team to learn more.
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