Account Based Marketing Trends

Table of contents

Chapter 1: Time to gain growth by unifying sales and marketing

Chapter 2: Making an organisational shift in driving marketing

Chapter 3: Bring your ABM strategy to life

Chapter 4: It’s time to abandon traditional methods

Chapter 1: Time to gain growth by unifying sales and marketing

Explore the magic of account-based marketing to get you ahead in B2B

B2C marketers excel by addressing the end user’s needs and crafting compelling brand experiences, leading to a loyal customer base and yearly growth. In the B2B realm, the scenario shifts. Here, multiple decision-makers, extended buying cycles, and varying purchase intentions complicate direct marketing efforts. Despite these challenges, the key to advancing in B2B lies in aligning sales and marketing more closely. This alignment is crucial, and it’s where account-based marketing (ABM) shines. By adopting ABM, organizations unlock a new level of precision in targeting, fostering sales success and amplifying brand growth.

First things first, so what exactly is account-based marketing?

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a focused approach in which marketing and sales teams collaborate to tailor their efforts and resources towards engaging a specific set of target accounts.

Unlike traditional marketing strategies that cast a wide net hoping to catch as many leads as possible, ABM hones in on high-value accounts with personalized campaigns designed to resonate deeply with the unique needs, challenges, and opportunities of each account.

This strategic alignment ensures that marketing efforts are more relevant, impactful, and likely to convert, leading to stronger relationships and higher ROI.

ABM not only streamlines resources but also aligns sales and marketing goals, creating a unified front that significantly boosts the chances of success in today’s competitive business landscape.

Exemplifying the opportunity of ABM

Imagine a company traditionally marketing its manufacturing software with broad email blasts to an industry list, hoping to attract leads. They see modest engagement but struggle to convert interest into sales, often finding their messages lost among countless others in a prospect’s inbox.

Switching to ABM, identifies and starts to target a construction company poised for digital transformation. They research its specific challenges and tailor content just for them, like custom videos demonstrating how their software can streamline BigBuild’s project management.

Suddenly, they’re not just another sender in the inbox; they’re a solutions provider speaking directly to a companies’ needs, leading to a deeper engagement and a fruitful partnership.

The benefits of using account-based marketing

Account-based marketing (ABM) streamlines B2B marketing efforts by targeting and nurturing high-value accounts with personalized strategies. Its key advantage lies in effectively aligning sales and marketing to focus on prospects with the highest conversion potential, enhancing ROI and customer experiences through customized engagement. Leveraging data-driven insights for strategic decision-making, ABM ensures a focused approach that not only accelerates sales but also builds lasting business relationships, offering a clear competitive edge in today’s market.

Enhanced return on investment (ROI) and efficiency

ABM’s targeted approach leads to higher ROI by focusing resources on pre-identified, high-value accounts. This precision in targeting minimizes waste and ensures marketing dollars are spent on leads most likely to convert, streamlining the sales process and shortening sales cycles.

Aligned sales and marketing efforts

ABM fosters a collaborative environment between sales and marketing teams, ensuring both are working towards the same goals with aligned strategies. This unity improves effectiveness, from lead generation to closing deals, enhancing overall company performance.

Personalised customer experiences

By tailoring content and campaigns to the specific needs and challenges of target accounts, ABM improves engagement and customer satisfaction. This personalized approach strengthens relationships, increases loyalty, and sets the groundwork for long-term partnerships.

Data-driven decision making

Leveraging data analytics, ABM provides deep insights into target accounts, allowing for more informed and strategic decisions. This use of data enhances the ability to create relevant, impactful content that addresses the specific interests and pain points of each account.

Competitive advantage through focused marketing

Concentrating efforts on fewer, carefully selected accounts enables businesses to craft highly customized strategies that resonate deeply with target audiences. This not only boosts engagement but also provides a competitive edge by differentiating your brand in the market through a more thoughtful, tailored approach.

1 Difficulty penetrating key accounts

Struggling to make inroads into high-value accounts due to generic marketing approaches.

ABM solution

Tailored strategies that resonate with specific pain points and needs of each key account, increasing engagement and conversion opportunities.

2 Low conversion rates

Struggling to make inroads into high-value accounts due to generic marketing approaches.

ABM solution

Focused engagement with pre-identified, high-value prospects likely to convert, optimizing marketing spend and effort.

3 Misalignment between sales and marketing

Sales teams are not leveraging marketing leads effectively, causing potential deals to fall through.

ABM solution

Collaborative planning and execution of account strategies ensure both teams are aligned on targets, messaging, and goals, enhancing lead quality and sales success.

4 Ineffective content strategy

Content fails to engage the intended audience, leading to low impact and poor lead generation.

ABM solution

Custom content crafted to address the unique challenges, industry trends, and interests of targeted accounts, boosting relevance and engagement.

5 Challenges in demonstrating ROI on marketing efforts

Difficulty in attributing marketing activities to revenue outcomes, questioning the value of marketing investments.

ABM solution

Strategic focus on selected accounts allows for clear tracking of engagement, pipeline influence, and direct contribution to revenue, showcasing clear ROI.

Types and examples of account-based marketing

01 One-to-One (strategic ABM)

Focuses on 5-10 high-value companies with tailor-made content. It’s about deep relationships.

Example: A cloud services provider could create a personalised video pitch for a key prospective client, showcasing how their cloud solution can specifically address that client’s unique digital transformation goals and pain points, demonstrating a deep understanding of their business and industry.

2 One-to-Few (ABM Lite)

Engages clusters of 50-100 accounts with shared traits using semi-personalised messaging.

Example A tech company targeting mid-sized retailers sends out a tailored email series. Each email showcases a different aspect of how their inventory management software solves common retail challenges, directly aligning with the specific needs of each retailer cluster.

3 One-to-Many (Programmatic ABM)

Aims at 100-1,000+ companies for lead generation with less personalisation.

Example A software company could launch a LinkedIn ad series targeting a wide range of companies in the logistics sector. The ads highlight the software’s ability to automate and streamline shipping processes, aiming to attract attention across a broad audience with a shared interest in logistics innovation.

The need to scale has led to the emergence of three types of ABM

Strategies can mix, starting with one-to-one to secure key accounts, then expanding with one-to-few methods, or vice versa, scaling down from one-to-many to more personalised tactics.

Chapter 2: Making an organisational shift in driving marketing

Get ready to explore and adopt account-based marketing

Implementing account-based marketing (ABM) is about more than introducing a new strategy; it necessitates a foundational shift in organisational approach. This change requires a unified alignment of sales and marketing teams, focusing on targeted, high-value accounts rather than broad-based targeting.

Starting with ABM can be adapted to fit any size organisation, from the smallest teams to the largest corporations. With a well-defined strategy, your organisation can prepare to excel in ABM, ensuring that marketing and sales efforts are seamlessly integrated and focused on delivering personalized engagement to drive growth.

Taking steps into account-based marketing begins with a shift in mindset.

Focus on who would be interested in your products

Although it seems like a minor difference, the key is that people involved in ABM are going to now stick to only match customers to product offerings, it’s becomes more on the focus of customers that we could drive a better sale. This shift immediately brings a clear need to the table: the alignment of sales and marketing.

Focus on who you should sell to

Account-based marketing will bring about a change int he minds of marketers and sales; to abandon conventional ways and mindsets, making way for new ideas and strategies with one ambition: getting a better view on ideal customer profiles (sales) and the way to target them optimally to convert them (marketing).

Out with the old

The old mindset of marketing: broad-target marketing

Traditionally, the aim was to attract as many leads as possible, using broad messages for a wide audience. Success was measured by lead quantity, assuming that more leads would naturally lead to more sales, regardless of their quality or specific needs.

Focus: Casting a wide net to capture as many leads as possible.

Goal: Maximize reach and lead volume.

Strategy: Generic messaging aimed at a broad audience.

Measurement: Success measured by quantity of leads and website traffic.

Approach: One-size-fits-all, prioritizing scale over specificity.

And in with the new

The new mindset of marketing: account-based marketing

With ABM, the focus shifts to engaging a select group of high-value accounts with personalized marketing. Success is gauged by the quality of interactions, the relevance of the engagement to each account, and the tangible impact on revenue, emphasizing strategic relationships over volume.

Focus: Targeting specific, high-value accounts as markets of one.

Goal: Deepen engagement and conversion rates with key accounts.

Strategy: Tailored messaging that addresses the unique challenges and needs of each target account.

Measurement: Success measured by account engagement, deal size, and impact on revenue.

Approach: Customized, focusing on depth and relevance to foster meaningful connections.

Out with the old

Old mindset: volume-based selling

The traditional sales approach prioritizes quantity, with a high volume of calls and meetings seen as the path to success. The belief is that with enough outreach, a percentage will convert, using a one-size-fits-all pitch to try to appeal to all.

Focus: Reaching out to as many prospects as possible.

Goal: Increase the number of sales calls and presentations.

Strategy: Standard pitches used across all interactions.

Measurement: Success measured by call numbers and meeting counts.

Approach: Aggressive pursuit of leads, regardless of their readiness or fit.

And in with the new

New mindset for sales: account-based selling

In the shift to account-based selling, the emphasis is on quality and relevance, targeting fewer, but more strategic accounts with personalized interactions. This method values deep relationships and a thorough understanding of each account’s unique challenges, measuring success by the depth of account engagement and the long-term value of each customer relationship.

Focus: Building relationships with a select list of high-value accounts.

Goal: Deepen relationships and understanding of key accounts’ needs.

Strategy: Customized engagement based on detailed account research.

Measurement: Success measured by account penetration, deal size, and customer lifetime value.

Approach: Strategic and consultative, emphasizing quality interactions over quantity.

Creating a dedicated ABM team helps ensure the best results

Creating a dedicated team for account-based marketing (ABM) is an essential first step toward ensuring the success of your ABM strategy. This focused group of individuals brings together expertise from both sales and marketing, working as a unified force with a clear understanding of target accounts and tailored engagement strategies.

By combining their skills and insights, the dedicated ABM team can craft highly personalised campaigns that resonate deeply with high-value prospects. This alignment not only enhances the effectiveness of your ABM efforts but also sets a solid foundation for building meaningful, long-term relationships with key accounts, driving growth and fostering a competitive edge in your market.

It’s all about letting the T.E.A.M work

A simple yet effective method to bring strategy into clear tactics is using the TEAM-framework. Such a framework helps uncovering and generating tacticts to activate your account-based marketing efforts. With multiple roles at the table, you bring a great mix of both sales and marketing. The corner stone of what account-based marketing is all about.

So how does TEAM work?

(T)ARGET

Identify and prioritize high-value accounts that align with your business objectives.

Example

Using data analytics, a software company identifies 20 enterprise-level companies in the healthcare sector that are most likely to benefit from their product due to recent regulatory changes.

(E)NGAGE

Develop personalised engagement strategies tailored to the specific needs and interests of each target account. Define 1:1, 1:few or 1:many strategy depending on the desired group size.

Example

For a top-tier target account, the marketing team creates a customized webinar series featuring key opinion leaders discussing challenges and trends in healthcare IT security, directly addressing the account’s current initiatives.

(A)CTIVATE

Implement the engagement strategies through coordinated campaigns across multiple channels, ensuring consistent and relevant interactions.

Example

The software company launches a multi-channel campaign for the targeted healthcare companies, combining personalised emails with the webinar invitation, targeted social media ads highlighting key software benefits, and direct mail sending informative white papers on IT security compliance.

(M)EASURE

Evaluate the effectiveness of ABM campaigns by analyzing performance metrics and KPIs, adjusting strategies as needed.

Example

After the campaign, the team measures engagement levels through webinar attendance rates, email open rates, and conversion rates from the social media ads. They also track sales meetings secured and pipeline growth attributed to the campaign, using this data to refine future ABM efforts.

Taking the first steps to streamline sales and marketing with account-based marketing:

Joint goal setting

Start by establishing common goals for both sales and marketing around ABM objectives. Define clear, measurable targets that both teams are committed to achieving, such as specific account penetration rates or revenue milestones.

Shared ABM Team Formation

Create a cross-functional ABM team with members from both sales and marketing. This team should have a balanced representation to ensure both perspectives are included in strategy development and execution.

Unified account selection process

Collaboratively identify and agree on target accounts for the ABM strategy. Use data and insights from both sales and marketing to select accounts that promise the highest potential for growth and engagement. Define the type or mix of ABM what would work best for reaching your goals - from 1:1 to 1:many.

Integrated communication channels

Implement shared platforms or tools for seamless communication and information sharing between sales and marketing. Regular updates, meetings, and reports should be standardized to keep both teams aligned on progress and insights.

Co-created content and messaging

Work together to develop personalised content and messaging strategies tailored to the selected accounts. Sales insights into account needs and pain points can guide marketing in creating highly relevant and impactful materials.

Sharpening your account selection

Welcome your ‘ideal customer profile’

Deciding which accounts to target is pivotal in account-based marketing (ABM). A collaborative effort between sales and marketing is essential to define the ideal customer profile, pinpointing accounts that offer the most value. Here are five concise criteria to guide your account selection process:

Value Alignment

Focus on accounts with goals that align with your solutions for stronger partnerships.

Revenue Potential

Consider both immediate and long-term revenue opportunities from upselling and cross-selling.

Growth Prospects

Look for accounts showing signs of growth, indicating potential for mutual expansion.

Market Influence

Target influential accounts whose endorsement can elevate your brand.

Competitive Edge

Seek out accounts where your unique offerings give you an advantage over competitors.

Chapter 3: Bring your ABM strategy to life

It’s time to make it personal and drive value in every step you take

In the competitive B2B landscape, personalisation has transitioned from a luxury to a critical necessity, with 93% of B2B companies reporting a revenue increase from personalised content from 2020 onwards. This shift underscores the importance of tailored communication, considered by 79% of B2B marketers as essential for engaging potential buyers.

Enter hyper-personalisation, a strategy that leverages intent data and machine learning to customize interactions at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Unlike basic personalisation that might focus on names and simple behaviour tracking, hyper-personalisation delves into the specific needs and goals of individuals within target companies.

For B2B marketers aiming to deepen engagement and drive significant outcomes, integrating hyper-personalization into account-based marketing (ABM) strategies is not just beneficial—it’s imperative to stand out in a saturated market.

Value comes from understanding your ideal customer profiles

A simple yet effective method to bring strategy into clear tactics is using the TEAM-framework. Such a framework helps uncovering and generating tacticts to activate your account-based marketing efforts. With multiple roles at the table, you bring a great mix of both sales and marketing. The corner stone of what account-based marketing is all about.

Marketing ensure to deliver content that matters and drive value

In the heart of any successful account-based marketing (ABM) strategy lies the creation of value-driven content. This is content crafted not just to attract attention but to offer real, actionable insights and solutions to the challenges faced by each target account. Developing such content requires a deep understanding of what ‘value’ truly means to your key accounts, which can vary widely across industries, company sizes, and even within different departments of the same company.

Delivering value through content

Once you’ve identified these needs, the next step is to tailor your content strategy to address them directly. This might include:

Case studies

Showcasing how your product or service has solved similar challenges for others, providing a relatable and credible testament to its value.

Whitepapers and eBooks

Offering in-depth analysis on industry challenges or opportunities, positioning your brand as a knowledgeable authority.

Webinars and workshops

Creating interactive platforms for live engagement, offering practical advice, and demonstrating your solutions in action.

Blogs and articles

Addressing topical issues, trends, and solutions, keeping your target accounts informed and engaged.

The impact of value-driven content

The power of value-driven content in an ABM strategy cannot be overstated. By demonstrating an understanding of and empathy for your target accounts’ challenges, and offering tangible solutions, your content does more than capture attention—it builds trust.

Trust is the foundation upon which lasting business relationships are built, making it easier for sales teams to engage in meaningful conversations with prospects. Furthermore, when your content consistently delivers value, it elevates your brand’s status to that of a thought leader in your industry. Thought leadership not only attracts more engagement but can also open doors to new opportunities and partnerships.

An easy roadmap to create your ideal customer journey

Identify key accounts

Start by selecting high-value accounts that are a strategic fit for your offering. These are typically accounts that stand to benefit the most from your products or services and have the potential for long-term partnerships.

Research and gather data

For each target account, research to gather as much information as possible about the company’s structure, key decision-makers, current solutions, challenges, and goals. Use this data to understand their unique business context.

Map the buying process

Outline the typical buying process for your key accounts. This includes the initial realization of a need or problem, the search for solutions, evaluation of options, the decision to purchase, and post-purchase experiences. Consider the roles of different stakeholders at each stage.

Identify touchpoints

Pinpoint specific touchpoints where your accounts interact with your brand, content, or sales team during their buying journey. This can include website visits, social media interactions, emails, sales calls, and product demos.

Tailor content and interactions

For each stage of the buying process and at every touchpoint, design personalized content and interactions that address the specific needs and questions of your target accounts. This can involve creating customized case studies, industry reports, targeted email campaigns, and direct outreach from sales reps.

Anticipate needs and obstacles

Use insights from your customer journey map to anticipate future needs, questions, or challenges your accounts might face. Prepare resources and strategies to address these proactively, positioning your brand as a helpful partner rather than just a vendor.

An ABM customer journey works best with omnichannel coverage. With input from our sales team who know our customers from in-person experience consider the following elements for coverage:

• LinkedIn
• Email invitations to industry events (in-person, or virtual)
• Ad presence (online and trade print)
• Website and landing page personalization
• Email
• On-demand content relevant to the customer
• Direct mail
• Trade events (presence, and in-person meetings)
• Webinars (featuring an industry celebrity)

A first guide to help you define your ideal customer profile(s):

1 Review existing customers

Start by analyzing your current customer base. Identify which customers have been the most successful and satisfied with your product or service. Look for common characteristics among them.

2 Identify common traits

Based on your review, list out common traits these customers share. This can include industry, company size, location, and the challenges they face that your product or service helps to solve.

3 Conduct market research

Expand your understanding by conducting market research. This can involve analysing industry reports, conducting surveys, or interviewing potential customers to gather insights about their needs and challenges.

4 Define problems your product solves

Clearly articulate the problems your product or service solves. This helps in understanding which types of businesses or roles would benefit most from your offerings.

5 Segment by needs and challenges

Group your potential customers based on similar needs and challenges that your product or service addresses. This segmentation can help in further refining your ICPs.

6 Detail each profile

For each identified segment, create a detailed profile that includes demographic information, business needs, challenges, goals, and how your product or service provides a solution.

7 Validate your profiles

Test your defined ICPs against real-world prospects and existing customers to ensure they accurately represent your target market. Adjust based on feedback and performance data.

Pay more attention to your customer journey

In the realm of B2B marketing, especially within account-based marketing (ABM), grasping the nuances of the customer journey is crucial. ABM thrives on precision—targeting specific high-value accounts with tailored strategies. To execute this with finesse, marketers must have a deep understanding of each account’s unique path from recognising a need to making a purchase decision.

So, why is it crucial in account-based marketing?

Enhanced personalisation

Understanding the customer journey in a B2B context allows for the creation of content and interactions specifically designed to address the unique needs and pain points of each account, ensuring relevance at every touchpoint.

Strategic timing

Knowing where a target account is in their buying journey enables marketers to time their outreach and engagement efforts perfectly, delivering the right message at the right moment.

Building trust and credibility

By aligning your marketing efforts with the specific stages of the customer journey, you demonstrate a deep understanding of the target account’s challenges and objectives, thereby building trust and establishing your brand as a valuable partner.

Optimising resources

With insights into the customer journey, ABM efforts can be more efficiently allocated, focusing time and resources on activities that are most likely to move the needle with high-value accounts.

A fictional example

In the world of B2B, DataSolve, a data analytics software provider for healthcare, uses ABM to zero in on HealthCorp, a prime prospect needing a new analytics platform. They dissect HealthCorp’s buying process, pinpointing decision-makers, their data challenges, and goals for better data use.

With this insight, DataSolve crafts targeted outreach: they share case studies showing their impact on patient care and invite HealthCorp to a webinar addressing their specific integration hurdles.

The Outcome

This strategic approach not only puts DataSolve ahead in HealthCorp’s selection process but also quickens their decision-making, leading to a sale and solidifying a trust-based relationship.

Essentially, by deeply understanding and aligning with HealthCorp’s journey, DataSolve demonstrates how ABM’s personalised and timely strategies can effectively turn high-value prospects into loyal customers.

Cross-channel consistency

Let’s take a hypothetical John Smith, who is a VP of Sales at ABC Company. He receives a relevant ad on LinkedIn. It addresses him as a VP of Sales and provides benefits that are pertinent for his position. He is not quite sure yet. John then sees an ad from the same company on Facebook showing a case study. He proceeds to the website and reads the case study.

John then interacts with a few more pieces of marketing communications and starts considering the company. He has not submitted any forms, but suddenly he receives a friendly message from a business development manager — and agrees to talk.

And that’s not the end. He continues receiving timely and relevant communication from both sales and marketing teams until he converts and beyond.

Hyper-personalized digital marketing helps to make the message relevant, and the right software allows you to keep it consistent across platforms.

Using tools can help you boost your account-based marketing performance

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, the convenience of AI and digital tools in account-based marketing (ABM) cannot be overstated. These tools streamline the ABM process, making it easier for marketers to identify, engage, and convert high-value accounts with precision and efficiency.

By centralising data, automating targeted campaigns, and providing actionable insights, these tools not only save valuable time but also enhance the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Leveraging such technologies allows businesses to focus on crafting compelling, personalised experiences for their target accounts, ultimately leading to stronger relationships and improved ROI.

The right mix of ABM tools becomes an indispensable asset, enabling marketers to navigate the complexities of B2B sales with greater ease and success.

Using tools can help you boost your account-based marketing performance

1 ABM platforms

Centralise contact details, campaign activities, and interactions, providing a unified dashboard for ABM efforts.

2 Programmatic ABM advertising

Use AI-driven platforms to display ads directly to decision-makers in targeted accounts, leveraging both first-party and third-party data for precision targeting.

3 Data enrichment and intent tools

Enhance account profiles with detailed insights and identify accounts showing active interest in related products or services, optimising personalisation and timing.

Chapter 4: It’s time to abandon traditional methods

With account-based marketing you are optimising the way to increase growth

The steps to take in your account-based marketing journey

With your dedicated ABM team that involves a small group of marketing and sales professionals, focus on the following steps.

1 Account selection

With sales in mind, identify the customers that you would be better to sell to. Ideal Customer Profiles help you build different accounts that you will reach through marketing initiatives.

2A Account insights

Get to know everything about them. From focussed inquirities (in 1:1 ABM scenarios) to behaviour online. Data can help you get insights of your ICP’s.

2B Lead driven insights

The more tailored your ICP will become, it will become important to understand their ideal buying behaviour or persona.

3 Personalise your messages

Use your insights and transform them creatively into personalised messages. Remember, the more people you’ll address, the harder it will become to personalise.

4 Create a consistent outreach

Based the targets you’ll reach out possibly using multiple channels. The trick is to give a consistent message accross all touch points.

5 Measure process and reiterate

Based on (pre)defined KPI’s see how targets are reacting. With smaller outreachers it becomes easier to measure success. Put A/B tests in place to help define what’s the best outreach.