4 Initial Steps to Implement an Account-Based Marketing Strategy
If you are into B2B marketing, you have probably heard about account-based marketing. We gathered 4 initial steps for you to start working on your own strategy.
ABM is an effective B2B strategy to maximize your marketing efforts. The focus is on targeting accounts that matter the most to your organization’s goals with personalized messages. According to Altera Group, 97% of their respondents reported that ABM strategies had higher ROI than other marketing campaigns.
If you are interested in implementing ABM as a marketing strategy for your company, here are 4 first steps you should take!
Define your strategic accounts
One key component to account-based marketing is that you focus on highly targeted messages with individuals inside an organization. Those individuals are looking for solutions for said organizations. Here is where you should cater your content to the organization’s needs.
Your first step to implement ABM should be to determine the organization you want to work with. Those that could bring the largest recurring revenue to your organization. You would want to go after your Ideal Customer Account (I just made that up, but makes total sense).
Consider their industry, company size, upsell opportunities, location, profit margin, etc. Every detail that makes them the best fit for the solution your organization provides.
Research, research, research
Once you have a clear vision of the organizations you want to work with, you need to dig deeper and learn more about them. Investigate how decisions are made, who are the people you should talk to, the decision-makers, and who influences them. Then you can start strategizing about how to influence those influencers.
Personalization
Once you know who you should talk to, it’s time to create content that speaks directly to them. You need to understand their pain points and appeal to how you can solve them.
The beauty of ABM is that the communication should be personalized to these organizations.
Find the best channel for your campaigns
One part of the job is done, but you need to share your personalized content through the right channels. You need to understand how the stakeholders of each company spend their time. Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Instagram?
Depending on the industry, you may find they spend more time on certain social media channels. LinkedIn, for example, is usually a great place to start for B2B marketing campaigns. And they also have great resources to run your account-based campaigns!
With all preparations done, you are ready to actually run, measure and optimize your campaigns!
Be mindful and don’t run ABM campaigns the same way you would run a branding campaign, for example. We are talking to very targeted organizations and we don’t want to bombard them with messages even on their smart fridge.
Take it step-by-step and be patient. Find a balance of catching their attention without turning them off.
Want more help with account-based marketing strategies? We are happy to help.