6 Tips For a Successful Account Based Marketing Strategy

How To Deliver An Effective Account Based Marketing Strategy

1) Discover and define your high-value accounts

High-value accounts are not necessarily the largest businesses, they are the accounts that are the most likely to lead to the high-value deals in the shortest amount of time. They could be accounts where you already have a footprint, where you might be able to speed-up the sale cycle and get a quick win. They could be accounts in an industry where you can show strength, with experience and previous success. Those with a need that is particularly in tune with your solution. A CRM review could help you identify trends in account size, location, industry or even type of problematics.

2) Map accounts and identify key players

It is recommended to start with just a few accounts so that you can review and optimise the process before scaling up to a wider audience. Even at this early stage in the funnel, it is important to understand how the account is structured, how decisions are made, who the influencers are, who the decision makers are, and most importantly what concerns they will personally have, given their role in the buying process.

3) Define content and personalised messaging

Personalisation is not about inserting a “Dear John” at the top of an irrelevant message; it is about providing valuable content that addresses the specific business challenges of the recipient. Before implementing personalisation, you need to understand your prospect’s specific pain points and how to show that you can address them. Then you can adapt the type and tone of messaging that will resonate with their persona.

4) Define the optimal channel mix

Modern buying processes are complex and scattered across channels. Prospect will research, browse, and read long before they actively engage. It is possible to utilise those early-stage interactions by personalising the experience and making it as consistent as possible with the desired messaging. Think about how this should be implemented on inbound channels like Web, outbound channels like Email or SMS, and during events (whether physical or digital).

5) Execute targeted and coordinated campaigns

Whether you are targeting just a few accounts or scaling-up the strategy, delivering ABM requires a strong Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing automation tool. It is the only way to design and run coordinated cross-channel campaigns in a cost-effective manner. Being able to orchestrate the communications across channels from a single platform is key in being effective.

6) Measure, Test & Optimise

Finally, do not be afraid to course-correct. Campaigns should be analysed and you should constantly be open to learning from those insights. As you act on them, accuracy will increase, and results improve. Be patient, chances are you won’t get it 100% right the first time. Using predictive technology and modelling can help during the optimisation process.

“Marketing is no longer a one-way street—you cannot simply shove promotions to your prospects. You need to engage in an active dialogue and ABM lets you do that with unparalleled precision.”(Shari Johnston, SVP of Marketing, Radius)

For ABM to work, sales and marketing needs to be coordinated. Having a single marketing automation platform to scale engagement across all channels is a key part in achieving this alignment. This is the context in which we use Marketo Engage. It allows the marketing team to track and manage target accounts, whilst also account behavioural insights. Marketo provides native capabilities across ad targeting, web personalisation, email and even events, whilst providing ROI measurement tools. The breadth of capabilities is particularly useful for ABM.

Whether you need assistance with implementing Marketo Engage or you’d like technical and strategic advice on ABM, please reach out and we’ll be happy to discuss your requirements.