Your B2B Account-Based Marketing Guide for 2022

ABM offers precise, focused lead generation and long-term customer relationships because of its relevance as a highly personalised strategy. 

The ABM approach has been around for a few years. It has now gained momentum and a reputation as a marketing technology that simplifies the business process with automation tools, a broad range of data collection, and personalization.

It seems like each day, ABM solutions have more excellent features available.

What is a B2B account-based marketing strategy?

ABM is declared as the method that 'flips the funnel' because it treats customers as a market. As opposed to inbound and other traditional lead generation strategies that target a more expansive demographic.

Also known as key-account targeting, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a strategic marketing approach that treats an optimal account (a particular individual, a specific company, a vertical, or even a group ) as a market of one.

It is a strategy intended to appeal to high-income prospects at a particular level. ABM targets particular company accounts and builds relationships with the best-fit prospects within them.

What is a B2B Marketing Strategy?

B2B marketing is the promotion of a company's products or services to other companies. It includes popular strategies such as social media marketing, PPC advertising, email marketing, website optimization, and SEO.

Whether it's sales software, IT services, cloud storage, copier paper, or anything else, B2B marketing is how a company generates interest and demand for its product.

What is an Account-Based Marketing Platform?

Most businesses use a platform like AI bees to enable teams to manage everything from a single location to avoid distractions. 

Account-Based Marketing entails several steps and AI bees is one such tool that divides the ABM principle into three phases.

Every phase brings you one step closer to a deal with your ideal customer, from identifying and validating the contact information of key people with an account to determining how to prospect with them to penetrate and begin engaging.

AI Nectar

We use proprietary, patented AI and machine learning algorithms to identify businesses that can potentially be your best clients. We then engage those clients with your content to generate quality leads for you.

AI Memory

Using top lookalike companies, we enhance your account and use it to target prospects that are similar to your best clients. Our AI solution would identify lookalike companies and find opportunities to promote your solution or services.

AI Harvest

Harvesting the companies generated by our AI engines allows us to pinpoint specific personas who need your solutions and services. We target each specific persona's pain points and consider what triggers them to avail of your solutions and services.

Why is ABM Important for Business?

No company can exist without a robust and healthy relationship with its customers. This is why companies are always looking for innovative ways to interact and engage with their target audience to create not just transactions but lasting relationships.

According to the most recent ABM Report:

Today, consumers are more sophisticated; they are interested in what products and services are out there and how they can benefit them.

Consumers want to learn how your product or service can change their lives, make things easier for them, and provide them with a competitive edge.

1. ABM provides personalized customer experience thru relevant sales conversations.

About 85% of marketers said that ABM significantly benefited them in retaining and expanding their existing client relationships.

A B2B account-based marketing provides a path for a more successful sales conversation. How? Because of its precise lead targeting.

Knowing precisely who your prospects allow you to create personalized outreach. And by automating your processes, you can make it possible to nurture leads quickly and surely.

Speaking from the buyer's perspective: everyone is touched by personalized messages. Undoubtedly, personalization is the name of the game these days—and ABM is the best tool for that.

2. ABM provides marketing and sales alignment.

82% of B2B marketers said ABM significantly improves sales and marketing alignment 

Lamentably, the situation in most organizations is that sales and marketing teams do not get along well. Despite them being two departments that serve the same company's needs, differing views and miscommunications lead to conflict.

And disputes between the sales and marketing teams can derail the company's efforts to achieve growth and success. In the grand scheme of things, disputes will result in missed leads and lost opportunities.

ABM will sync up the efforts of both sales and marketing teams by following an agreed-upon strategy, making them fully understand their specific roles in nurturing a prospect into becoming a buyer.

ABM encourages marketing and sales teams to work together in creating account plans. Cross-team collaboration allows for better and more open communication.

 With both teams working in unity, you can ensure that your ABM activities support one another.

3. Efficient use of time and resources by targeting the right people.

Marketers understand the fruitlessness of throwing marketing efforts at the wrong audience. And sales representatives know the futility of not speaking with a quality lead.

A B2B account-based marketing allows you to avoid these situations. Because it targets the right audience and weeds out irrelevant people and organizations, it improves the quality of the prospects that enter your funnel.

True, creating a high-value prospect profile can be laborious for both teams, but it would mean that your outreach is highly personalized and only goes out to the prospects who welcome it.

Undoubtedly, the number of these accounts will be smaller, but they will be better qualified and primed to buy.

4. Broader Engagement Across Channels.

A survey by Demandbase showed that 83% of marketers say ABM increases engagement with target accounts. Do you have an account-based approach to customer marketing, retention, or expansion?

Once you have identified your priority audience and high targets, it is now time to create a campaign that will work precisely for them.

It should cover any marketing content, conversion messages, advertisements, and most importantly, the communication channels and platforms.

And with B2B account-based marketing, it is advisable to use multiple channels. This way, you meet with your prospects at every opportunity. You don't lose a prospect in the funnel, and sales and marketing team members can take them up at any stage of the buyer's journey.

5. ABM measures and drives ROI.

Indeed, last but not the most negligible minor factor (and probably the most important), Account-Based Marketing allows an organization to measure an ROI correctly and increase the ROI!

Because of the ABM's precise nature, measuring which accounts were more successful than others is not complicated.

ABM allows your sales and marketing teams to arrive at data-driven decisions using detailed information for their strategy. It improves your future campaigns because you can gather data on the industry, location, and job titles from your targeted strategy. 

Because Account-Based Marketing focuses its resources on high-value researched targets backed up by reliable data, the return is higher than traditional strategies.

ABM is more effective because it creates a closed-loop where data from past campaigns informs future decisions.

So, it is vital to set up goals on your website and other digital presence so you can track how many prospects landed on your page or how many people downloaded your article after clicking through from one of your social media posts.

What are ABM Tools?

Because software is one of the essential account-based marketing tools, this is where most people begin. Account-based marketing companies such as HubSpot, Engagio, Demandbase, Terminus, and Marketo coexist with AI bees. 

Considering each is slightly different from the others, you may want to sign up for a free trial before selecting one. Due to the company's size, many people know that account-based marketing HubSpot exists.

Marketo is less well-known than HubSpot, but it is also a strong contender. Two or more products will integrate with some cases, resulting in hybrids such as Demandbase HubSpot. Terminus also works with HubSpot. Other integration options exist as well. 

Many people ask, "What is Drift Chat?" go on to investigate the possibility of utilizing it as a component of a Drift ABM strategy to have an account-based marketing CRM chat or upgrade to Premium Drift.

There are also numerous educational resources. HubSpot Academy ABM is a great way to learn company-specific terms like HubSpot buying roles.

Finally, you'll discover that some businesses will manage your ABM campaigns on your behalf. A B2B account-based marketing agency provides all the necessary account-based marketing services, so you won't have to learn how to deal with the complexities of software or other aspects.

Account-based marketing examples

1. GumGum

In their pursuit of T-Mobile as a client, GumGum established the gold standard for personalized ABM marketing. 

T-Mobile CEO John Legere is active on social media, which allowed GumGum to get a sense of his personality and interests. They discovered that he was a huge Batman fan.

GumGum commissioned and published a comic book starring Legere as the Batman-inspired superhero T-Man, who saves his city from poor cell phone service with the help of his sidekick, Gums. 

T-man benefited from Gums' image-recognition marketing technology, allowing it to spread the word about T-Mobile more effectively.

Is it a little too obvious? 

Sure, but it's also professionally drawn and colored, it's a quick and enjoyable read, and John Legere adored it — and gave it a thumbs up.

2. Snowflake

Snowflake's data warehouse company runs 500 simultaneous account-based marketing campaigns, each tailored to a specific target customer. Snowflake has six dedicated marketers working closely with their sales team to pull this off. 

You might think that all of this personalized content is only available to prospects. Instead, Snowflake publishes it on the internet. This establishes credibility by demonstrating their dedication to taking the long view and getting to know their customers inside and out.

3. Intridea

Intridea's web designers and developers wanted to work with advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather, so they rented a billboard across the street from their Manhattan offices. 

The billboard said, "Ogle this, Ogilvy," in plain white text on a bright red background, with Intridea's logo and a URL below. Intridea's gamble paid off. Ogilvy's CEO called to set up a meeting.

3. Take Advantage of Account-Based Marketing Tactics

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a marketing method that targets specific accounts and utilizes personalized campaigns to win them over.

It's a much more targeted approach than traditional marketing, which typically takes a "shotgun" approach, attempting to reach as many people as possible.

With ABM, you customize your campaigns for the accounts you're targeting, and you use data analytics to determine which tactics will work best for each account.

Every business has a unique target audience, so a channel that works for one may not work for another. Knowing the most popular marketing channels that your target audience uses is essential for your business.

If you understand what your top competitors do well, you'll better understand how they gain customers.

4. Leverage Social Media

Real estate agents have sold homes based on YouTube house tours. Connections have been made with C-level executives who are active on LinkedIn. People have gotten job offers based on their ability to brand themselves on Instagram, and the list goes on.

When effectively used, social media is an excellent tool for connecting with your target audience. This could be to inform them of new offerings, end-of-year discounts, product updates, or wish them a Happy New Year. Social media allows you to communicate with many people for free.

5. Personalized Email Marketing 

Email marketing has become such a popular marketing channel. Thus, competing for attention has become more complex. However, by utilizing creativity and targeting the appropriate audience, you can stand out from the crowd and ensure that your target market sees your content.

Email marketing is more effective when it is personalized. Prospects open emails with personalized subject lines 26% more often.

Businesses that use segmented lists to increase relevancy for their recipients have seen a 760 percent increase in revenue from email marketing.

Customizing your email messaging for specific recipients is easier when you know who is receiving it, their role in their company, and where they are in the buyer's journey. That is all the information you have.

What to do:

• Segment Your List. Your contacts should be segmented based on previous campaigns you've run. For example, if you have a list of contacts who have only purchased Y product or service, you will be able to serve them content relevant to a real experience they've had with you.
  

• Set Automation. A significant added value to email marketing is that it allows you to trigger messages based on time, user action, and clicked links on your website.
  

• In-person or Virtual Events. The growth of the remote workforce has paved the way for in-person and virtual events. While attending events, there are a few different ways to market to existing accounts effectively.
  

• Give away free/discounted tickets. Offer them a ticket or a discount code to use before their next purchase to entice them to attend an event. You can continue demonstrating your value-add and building trust once you arrive at the event.
  

• Giveaways. Typically, some funds are set aside in a marketing budget for giveaways. People enjoy cool swag such as coffee mugs and cutting-edge technology like Bluetooth headphones. Although serious customers will not attend your event solely for the sake of the giveaway, it does provide an additional incentive for them to do so.
  

• Strategically use retargeting. The retargeting feature is one of the most significant advantages of PPC marketing. A sale often requires six to eight touchpoints in B2B marketing. All of the account-based marketing tactics on this list should help you achieve your first few touchpoints, but you may need some additional reminders to stay in your target contacts' minds until they're ready to buy.
  

• Retargeting may be effective. You can also personalize the ads based on what they did on your website, ensuring that your messaging is relevant to their interests and where they are in the buyer's journey.
  

• Create highly valuable custom content. Free content is a dime a dozen on the internet, but content created specifically for one business—not just for people with a specific job title in an industry, but for a particular business—is uncommon. And it can be an excellent way to distinguish your company from other companies competing for your prospective customer's attention. Retargeting can help. 

The Final Note

Account-Based Marketing is something special. ABM can use the right tools and technologies to address many critical issues that B2B marketers encounter when connecting with potential customers—from personalizing to sales and marketing alignment. 

Here's hoping this guide has helped you understand what ABM is, why it works so well, and how to implement these strategies in your business and drive it to success!

This kind of marketing is "THE" big deal, so if you're still not sure how ready you are and if you need help implementing these strategies, our team of experts will be happy to assist you.