Improving Account Based Marketing with Technology

The biggest challenge in marketing has always been reaching the right people with the rightcampaigns. Inbound marketing tools make it easier to feed your funnel with leads, but many businesses still struggle with converting leads into sales. Account based marketing takes the opposite approach and focuses on generating high-quality targeted leads. 

What is Account Based Marketing?

Account based marketing (ABM) takes the concept of target marketing and personalization to the extreme. Marketing materials are tailored specifically to each lead, rather than broadcasted to a specific audience segment.

ABM eliminates low-quality leads from the equation, which leads to a higher ROI than inbound marketing. A study by ITSMA found that 85 percent of marketers who use account based marketing say it has the highest ROI out of any other strategy in their marketing mix. What marketer wouldn’t like those results?

Picture your traditional marketing funnel. The top of the funnel is the widest part and driven by the law of averages. The more leads a campaign attracts, the more conversions there will be. Account based marketing flips the traditional marketing funnel. Instead of picking qualified leads to target after using the middle stages of your funnel to disqualify leads, you identify the targeted leads first. Then, you focus all of your marketing efforts on building relationships with these leads. And thanks to MarTech this process is becoming easier.

How Technology is Making Account Based Marketing Easier

Predictive Analytics

Successful account based marketing comes down to the accuracy of your ideal customer profile. Predictive analytics tools allow you to build ideal customer profiles using your current customer data. Since account based marketing is typically a B2B strategy, these tools focus on firmographics and technographics.

You can use predictive analytics software to analyze information in your CRM or customer database. Instead of manually trying to identify patterns, predictive analytics can quickly identify the key characteristics in firmographics and technographics of your current customers. These can be used as parameters to find high-quality leads for your account based marketing funnel.

Identifying Decision Makers

Understanding how a company uses technology allows you to figure out the best distribution channels for your marketing materials. The average corporation has 17 decision-makers involved with purchasing enterprise solutions, and account based marketing focuses on understanding how each decision maker fits into organizational decisions. You’re more likely to close a sale if you’re pitching the right person.

Make it Personal

Personalization is the core focus of account based marketing. The last thing you want to do with a first contact is send a canned message void of any personalization. We all know where those messages end up anyways—the trash folder. Account based marketing makes use of CRM software to keep track of important details learned through conversations with decision-makers. It gives all sales and marketing employees a master cheat sheet to work from during their relationship-building efforts.

This data is especially important for email marketing campaigns. ABM email marketing stakes are much higher than they are in inbound marketing. There is no place for lazy, generic emails that offer no specific value. While writing a successful ABM email may sound daunting, the right data simplifies the process. You’ll be writing amazing emails in no time.

ABM in Action

Many B2B companies are using webinars as a marketing tool—and why not, they’re an effective way to generate leads and find new customers. An inbound email marketing strategy would use email capture forms on various pieces of content to capture leads, and then send a follow-up email asking them to sign up for the webinar. An ABM strategy would focus on the data from past webinar attendees. Companies then can target people most likely to not only view the webinar but take action towards becoming a customer.

Account based marketing used to be a daunting process for marketers, but thanks to advanced email targeting, predictive analytics, CRM software, and other marketing technologies, B2B companies of all sizes are realizing its power. What are you waiting for?

This article was first published on The Marketing Scope.