Industry voice: Brewing success - flipping the funnel with Account-Based Marketing
Back in 1993, a book titled ‘The One-to-One Future' was published. It theorised that customers were seeking a more personalised experience when making purchases, rather than being on the wrong end of a blanket marketing approach.
It may not seem particularly revolutionary now, but this was a time when marketing was all about numbers and less about relevance to its audience.
The book essentially discussed what has become known as account-based marketing (ABM), an approach that is now seen in various aspects of life. Whether it's subscription services like Netflix providing recommendations based on past selections, or Amazon displaying the kind of product you have historically taken an interest in, ABM is everywhere.
With it now being used by 94% of B2B marketers , let's take a deeper dive into exactly what ABM is and how it can be a powerful tool for your business.
What is ABM?
The Pareto Principle states that 80% of a company's revenue comes from 20% of its customers, highlighting the value of focusing on your most profitable clients. This is exactly what ABM is all about - organisations taking a highly personalised, data-driven approach. Collaboration between marketing and sales teams is enhanced, ensuring precise targeting of key accounts with the most impactful messages.
Essentially, organisations ‘flip the funnel' of traditional marketing and engage the accounts that you most want to grow and retain. When you consider that only 0.75% of leads generated through traditional marketing processes result in revenue , a more prioritised and organised method is most definitely beneficial. It's time to stop casting those nets wide and time to start homing in on your high-propensity accounts with precision and purpose.
There are three recognised methodologies to ABM.
One-to-many
A more traditional approach that aims to drive brand awareness among your total addressable market (TAM), whilst still having that all important personal touch. Although this approach spreads your message broadly, it often comes at the cost of lower profit margins.
One-to-few
This is somewhat of a compromise when it comes to ABM. It targets clusters of accounts that have similarities, providing the opportunity to deliver a more personalised approach whilst providing greater scalability and less investment than one-to-many.
One-to-one
This method swims against the tide when it comes to the sea of forgettable content that is now out there. Unwanted emails, text messages, etc, should be a thing of the past. One-to-one ABM stands ready to help in this respect.
Think of it as letting your high-value customers know that you remain the best solution to their problems. Furthermore, you are reminding them of how in tune you are with their unique requirements and pain points.
It is a bit like when you walk into a coffee shop and the barista is already aware of what you would like to drink. A connection has been established and the barista is pressing home this advantage, making you feel valued and understood.
So, if you want to make buyers feel special, this hyper-personalised approach is for you. While it is resource-intensive in terms of both time and investment, it produces an extremely high ROI. 85% of marketers have reported that using one-to-one marketing benefited them in retaining and expanding their existing customer relationships . But it doesn't just happen overnight, the key is in planning and following the right steps.
ResourceiT's five tips for ABM success?
1. Select the best accounts
Who are you most likely to sell to? What existing accounts are the most active? Are customers portraying behaviours that make them likely to buy from you? Asking yourselves these questions will help you create your ideal customer profile (ICP).
2. Know your market
You need to delve deep into your customers business. It isn't just about knowing their industry or company size. Understand their tech stack, get to know them personally, understand where they are on their buying journey.
3. Engage the right way
Once you have executed tips one and two, it is time to create compelling content for the right people. Make sure you personalise it in terms of account, persona and timing.
4. Collaborate with sales
Continually providing sales teams with context and insights will allow them to know when, how and why to engage with customers. The days of leads ‘thrown over the wall' should be firmly in the past.
5. Track insights
By tracking principal factors, you can unlock the potential of opening a new pool of prospects. Look at new accounts and personas that have engaged to open doors that you didn't even know existed.
To learn more about ABM, you can download our ultimate guide to ABM - ‘ABM - Unlock the true potential of your business' here.
This article is sponsored by ResourceiT