B2B marketing has historically been focused on throwing a broad net to gain as many leads as possible. With the rise in popularity of account-based marketing, this strategy has recently been questioned. ABM operates by developing custom ‘value’ that draws a smaller number of high-priority leads. The idea revolves around the “quality over quantity” concept.
According to a recent benchmark study conducted by ITSMA, 87% of account-based marketers believe that ABM programs outperform other marketing investments. To gain benefits of this powerful marketing tool, you need first to understand “what is an ABM?”
What is Account-Based Marketing?
Account-based marketing is a targeted approach to B2B marketing in which marketing and sales teams collaborate to identify and convert best-fit accounts into customers and clients.
Marketers are regularly competing for the attention of potential buyers in this era of knowledge abundance. As a result, businesses looking to maximize their return on investment should concentrate on high-value accounts, taking aspects like distribution and advertisement penetration and logos into account.
To achieve their objectives, marketing departments must use tactics that combine sales and marketing skills to find, interact, and close deals with the most important high-value accounts.
Now that you know “What is an ABM”, see how it can help small businesses fulfill their marketing objectives.
Advantages of ABM for Small Businesses
Small businesses can’t afford to spread their resources through a wide range of marketing strategies and a large pool of prospects in the hopes of generating enough potential leads to turn a profit.
Traditional lead-based marketing is much less reliable for small businesses than account-based marketing. That’s because all they have to do now is find a few key, high-potential target companies and devote all of their attention and marketing talent to turn these opportunities into clients.
What Should Small Businesses Concentrate On When Implementing ABM?
Identifying and Maintaining the Right Accounts: Account-based marketing (ABM) allows you to use technology to target and handle accounts that are worth your time and can have the best return on investment. Instead of handling and syncing accounts and lists through several apps, you can centralize user targeting and management. The types of accounts you target will vary depending on your company. High yield, product fit, fast wins, strategic value, competitors, and territory are good places to start.
Engaging Across Channels: Rather than managing each marketing channel separately, design and run organized and customized campaigns across them from a single platform. This necessitates an account-based marketing approach that connects and channels and lays the groundwork for you to deliver targeted, cross-channel promotions to your target accounts.
Measuring and Improving Programs: To show progress and develop over time, the ABM approach must be measurable. To do this, you’ll need to find a solution that allows you to build account dashboards that look at individual accounts, services, and targets, as well as revenue-based account analytics—all in one comprehensive platform.
We hope that this account-based marketing guide has given you a deeper understanding of using ABM in your small business. When it comes to ABM, it’s all about delivering highly customized content to high-value accounts.