Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
4 steps to get started with Account Based Marketing You’ve heard the term: Account Based Marketing, or ABM. And you get the general idea. Instead of investing resources here, there and everywhere, you focus on investing in opportunities bound to reap the highest ROI. Marketing becomes far more targeted and aligned with sales. TRADITIONAL MARKETING Key accounts tend to offer the highest sales potential, which is why we should invest more sales resources in these accounts. Yet marketing budgets are often spread equally over the whole customer base, resulting in low ROI. 80% OF POTENTIAL REVENUE ACCOUNT BASED MARKETING With ABM you can make the most of your sales and marketing budgets by focusing them more on your key accounts. ABM is gaining ground with many companies, especially IT companies and businesses with complex products and long sales cycles. The reality is that most B2B companies realize 80% of revenues from just 20% of their customers. Marketing to these key accounts is known as Account Based Marketing. If you’re thinking it’s time to get started, here are four steps to set you on the right path: 1. Begin by identifying your top accounts The majority of B2B marketers fail to produce reliable lists of their top accounts. Doing so is vital. The key to getting a high ROI from AMB is understanding targeted accounts. - First and foremost, establish the business value of your accounts - Identify where the largest sales potential lies - Establish where each account is in the buying journey - If they’re current accounts, understand which products they have or have not purchased Work together with sales and finance to create a list of high-profit target customers and document the information you need. Your initial investment in this process will enable you to make smarter investments, delivering the relevant content to the right people at the right time and generate sales. 2. Create valuable content Your ABM program will feature ads to draw target customers to content published on your website. In this age of self-serve customers, your website needs to offer a much heavier dose of useful content relative to its sales pages. You need a content marketing plan that becomes a roadmap to consistently producing valuable content in the form of blog posts, eBooks, video, research studies, infographics and more. As you create a content marketing plan, consider the following: - An ideal way to discover your customers’ information needs is to inter- view them. Also, ask your best sales people to create a list of questions they’re often asked - Audit your existing content. It’s possible you have useful content in various forms that aren’t published on your website. Even content on your website could become more valuable and relevant to current needs with some updates - Create customer case studies when possible, and include industry specific references in your content - Communicate big ideas to establish industry expertise and become perceived as a thought-leader 3. Use a targeted distribution platform - Vendemore offers an ad distribution service where top accounts are targeted based on their IP address. Learn more about how to place ads on large media networks to be seen by the employees on your target list - Target via social media. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook advertising programs offer highly targeted advertising programs - Align marketing activities such as events and email campaigns with your ABM plan 4. Measure your marketing efforts With ABM tactics, website visits will come from people within the companies you’re targeting. Your challenge is to measure and assess user behavior. - Record ad impressions by account - Use Google Analytics to gauge traffic and record engagement metrics from top accounts - Set up systems with your CRM and marketing automation enabling you to measure win rates - Establish revenue per account measures - Consult with analytics professionals to develop a useful formula to measure sales and marketing costs per account Informed by the type of analytics outline here, you’ll work with your sales managers to create smart follow-up strategies to nurture and/or close deals. ABM takes time Be fair and understand ABM takes time to gain traction. If your sales process usually takes over six months or more, resist evaluating results after just a month or two. Gather metrics on a monthly basis, but give it at least six months before you draw any conclusions. Many organizations benefit from easing into ABM by starting with a small select number of accounts. Because your content is such an important variable, you’ll refine your programs perpetually based on the results produced. You may test different messages, media, and other tactics. Want more insights into increasing marketing ROI with account based marketing? Visit our Account Based Marketing Hub for more inspiration and best practices.