ABM has been the blue eyed wonder kid of the marketing world. But it’s far from a new concept. It’s just that now in a result and ROI driven world, it’s gaining continual momentum along with it’s ever increasing popularity. According to a SiriusDecisions study, 92% of companies recognize the value in ABM, even citing it as “extremely important” or “very important” to their overall marketing efforts.
To be really honest, the approach of ABM is very simple. It centers around efficiency and effectiveness. The amount of time spent by marketers in targeting and engaging low-value accounts and audiences is drastically reduced, thereby naturally increasing efficiency and focus on highly specific & verified target accounts. In one of their research reports, Brafton, states that even though around 20% of sales and marketing professionals have infused a dedicated ABM approach, about 60% of B2B marketers are expected to migrate to an AMB model in the coming times. ABM isn’t a one-night wonder. It takes time. Like we say, all good things take time. Similarly, Account Based Marketing has a methodical and targeted approach, and will take time to develop appreciable ROI. But the beauty lies in sustainable marketing programs triggered by ABM within the B2B landscape.
If you identify yourself as a B2B marketer and are looking for solutions and solid information to make you believe in the ABM approach, then you are in the right place. But first, let’s look at the reasons why you need to start taking ABM seriously.
Everyday Challenges in the life of a B2B Marketer before ABM
- Leads are lost in the crowd
Without a targeted approach, every website enquiry that you generate, every landing page click makes you feel like you’ve gotten a lead. Don’t blame yourself. Most of us have been in this situation before. In a recent survey, Demandbase states that 82% of B2B website visitors are actually not potential customers.
- Sales Vs. Marketing
In a traditional demand generation structure, sales and marketing work as separate teams in achieving the same goal. Where it almost seems like marketing passes leads to sales with limited conviction just to get the job done.
- Generic Content
With a traditional lead generation approach, there is a serious lack of sales and marketing intelligence in making sure that the content experience for each lead has some level of personalization. Marketo states that almost 60% of website visitors lose interest without any interaction after a single page.
- Quality Leads are hard to come by
When it comes to getting quality leads, a traditional way of marketing seldom delivers. Quantity rules the roost rather than quality, considering that sales always looks at more leads (naturally since the current leads do not convert).
Persona Based Marketing = Account Based Marketing
With an ABM approach, we are looking at the alignment of the complete sales journey, and just not one or two pain points here and there. Let’s take a look at how ABM can help you change the way you look at demand generation.
- Focused Outreach : The immediate advantage of an ABM strategy is the focused approach that seeps in your demand generation activities. Instead of wasting time and resources in accounts that absolutely don’t fit in your sales strategy, you focus your energy on targeted and proven accounts.
- Alignment of Sales and Marketing : It’s about time that your Sales and Marketing teams realize that they are in the same team. The immediate effect of adopting an ABM approach is that you notice a beautiful collaboration in efforts towards the same goal. We need to understand that both sales and marketing need to work in sync to create a seamless funnel experience for high value accounts.
- Personalized Experience : Everyone loves a customized and personalized experience, especially your B2B customer base. Personalization is an integral part of Account Based Marketing. With an ABM approach, the first trickle down effect of personalization is increased customer engagement. Instead of generic messaging, it would make sense to provide exact solutions that the prospect is looking for. What your prospective decision makers are looking for is relevant messaging and at the right time.
- Hyper-targeted Automation : Leveraging the power of predictive analysis and targeted automation, marketing efforts are streamlined. For eg., understanding how potential accounts are arriving to your landing pages, what content they are consuming, etc. can give you critical insight on the consumer buying journey. Functionalities like tagging and segmentation of accounts, automating account specific workflows, tailor made content deliveries at the right time and many other functionalities only ensure the success of an ABM effort.
Gone are the days when the marketing mantra for success revolved around the notion of maximum reach. In today’s world of breakneck competition and advancements, following an age-old tradition doesn’t augur well for any business. Embracing the above mentioned ABM strategies will tremendously improve your B2B demand generation efforts. The ultimate goal of ABM is to create a focused connection between your brand and your ideal target accounts.
