Why Account-based Marketing is important?

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a specialized type of marketing that focuses on identifying and targeting decision makers at specific companies rather than the broader target audiences used in traditional marketing.

87% of B2B marketers said that the ROI of their ABM marketing outperforms their other marketing investments. 

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well, account-based marketing has become an integral part of a B2B marketing strategy, and it is an opportunity you need to tap into at the earliest.

Let’s dig deeper into ABM’s meaning and why it is the best strategy for B2B marketers.

What Is Account-Based Marketing?

Marketo defines account-based marketing as “an alternative B2B approach that focuses on sales and marketing efforts on a clearly defined set of target accounts of high-value and creates personalized campaigns designed to resonate with each account.”

ABM marketing goes beyond mere lead generation with a highly personalized approach and precise attention to detail. It is a holistic approach that allows you to align marketing and sales teams’ endeavors with leading to business growth, delight customers, and enhance efficiency.

The best part about account-based marketing is that you can quickly weed out less-valuable clients right at the beginning.  You also align your marketing and sales teams to manage key accounts and increase their lifetime value. 

Source: Marketingprofs

But, before we get to the crux of the ABM and learn about its advantages, let us examine its relationship with another essential strategy – inbound marketing. This will help you understand and differentiate the two concepts.

Account-Based Marketing and Inbound Marketing

Arguably one of the most robust business partnerships, account-based marketing and inbound marketing can create waves for your business. 

But what’s the connection between the two? 

Read on to find out how you can use inbound and account-based marketing strategies to complement your business goals!

An account-based marketing strategy is a highly-targeted way of capturing valuable business clients. On the other hand, inbound marketing is more of a foundational concept. It is a primary marketing strategy that aims at attracting and delighting customers through customized campaigns, content, and search engine optimization.

Inbound marketing strategy doesn’t get aggressive or involve approaching customers like you would with outbound techniques. Instead, it is more about organically providing customers with the necessary information and driving traffic to your website. 

Source: Wheroware

However, it is worth noting that inbound marketing serves as a foundation pillar for account-based marketing. It enables your sales team to focus on high-value customer accounts. Here is how inbound marketing and account-based marketing complement each other and lead to better results:

• Account-based advertising takes things one step further by enabling you to convert your target audience via personalized messaging. 
• Having a robust inbound marketing strategy helps organizations enhance resource allocation to target high-value accounts through account-based marketing.
• Utilizing a combination of inbound marketing tactics and focused account-based management can empower companies to attract a broader audience base and capture market opportunities that any other strategies may have missed.
• Harnessing the power of both inbound and outbound marketing strategies helps create personalized all-in-one content and substantially impacts customer engagement.

Why is Account-Based Marketing The Need Of The Hour?

A successful ABM program can help you shorten your B2B sales cycle and meet the business objectives faster. Don’t believe me? Here are some data points (statistics) of ABM marketing. 

• It can increase revenue by as much as 208%.
• The average value increase of annual contracts from ABM can be as high as 170%.
• 85% of marketers say account-based marketing tactics helped them retain and expand their existing client relationships.
• 60% of companies report at least a 10% increase in revenue from year one of their account-based marketing plan.

Compelling figures, right?

There are many benefits that your organization can accrue by adopting account-based marketing. Here is a list of positive results you can get by implementing account-based marketing best practices.

Source: B2Bmarketing

1- Measures Return On Investment

Account-based marketing is precise, targeted, and measurable. It makes it easy for you to measure your return on investment for all the accounts your sales and marketing teams have worked on. This is necessary as it confirms that your account-based marketing strategy focuses on ideal accounts that are the right fit for your business. 

With ABM marketing, organizations witness an increase in deal size and ultimate business revenues. In addition, 86% of marketers report improved win rates with account-based marketing due to its structured approach. With increased return on investment, you know that your account-based marketing tactics are working, and you can plan effectively for the future.

2- Keeps Marketing And Sales In Alignment

Account-based marketing strategy enables you to design more purposeful marketing campaigns aligned with your sales efforts, eventually leading to a seamless transition where account-based marketing also becomes account-based sales, streamlining the customer journey for enhanced results. Increased transparency and cross-team collaboration ensure that both sales and marketing teams concentrate on the same long-term goals. In addition, it ensures that both functional domains stick to the pre-decided budget and understand the role of various internal organizational stakeholders.

Another great benefit of a sales-marketing alignment is that your organization can provide consistent content, interactions, and communication pitches for all high-value accounts. Furthermore, it encourages team members to collaborate and work together on managing target accounts, crafting specialized content, and delivering a consistent customer experience.

3- Delivers Enhanced Customer Experiences

Customer experience is a top business priority. 

Do you feel you are doing enough to keep your customers happy?

Research has shown that organizations focusing on customer experience can drive 4-8% more revenues than others. ABM marketing can help organizations nurture long-term customer relationships with a personalized marketing approach.

The primary aspect of an account-based marketing strategy is that the aim is not finding more leads but finding high-quality leads. This makes it possible for your employees to develop long-term relationships with customers by focusing on the three R’s:

• Reputation: Build internal credibility and create a strong reputation in the market.
• Relationships: Develop relationships with clients through innovation and insights into their preferences.
• Revenues: Accelerate growth and profitability by increasing the size of deals and win rates.

4- Helps Develop Tailor-Made Content For Customer Interaction

If you are not working on churning out personalized content, the chances are high that you are losing out on precious customers. Account-based marketing can solve all your content worries!

Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenues. – Andrew Davis, Author

With account-based marketing, you can tailor-make content for your high-value customers to inform them about your products, services, pricing, and offerings. You can easily provide customized campaigns for targeted accounts and deliver relevant information through blogs, business papers, videos, and social media.

The power of personalization is real!

The numbers speak for themselves. Personalized emails deliver six times higher transaction rates. Besides, 80% of consumers trust a brand that publishes content that’s relevant to them.

Therefore, organizations need to adopt ABM marketing to provide every stakeholder of a target account with a high level of personalization. It helps develop mutual trust, retain precious high-value clients, and increase sales conversions.

5- Fewer Wasted Resources

Is your organization tight on its marketing and sales budgeting?

If yes, you need to take steps not to waste resources such as employee time, effort, and money!

ABM marketing is a holistic tool ideal from a budgetary perspective for B2B organizations. It empowers your sales and marketing teams to integrate efforts to work harmoniously on capturing high-value accounts.

As we know, there is a high degree of risk involved with marketing campaigns. An account-based marketing strategy minimizes risks and reduces unnecessary waste by optimal utilization of resources.

Not only that, but by having a robust account-based management strategy in place, you can enjoy shorter sales cycles and ultimately generate a higher return on investment.

The Final Word

If you are a B2B marketer, implementing account-based marketing is a no-brainer!

Don’t get stumped! Account-based marketing is not rocket science. In fact, there are numerous specialized account-based marketing software solutions that can help you streamline processes and get started.

Account-based marketing is the best way to future-proof your B2B organization and gain a strong competitive advantage. It can help you compete with rivals and surge ahead by developing a credible reputation and expanding your customer base.

Enough said time to act! 

If you are a B2B organization, there is nothing beyond account-based marketing to help you transform your business processes and increase your bottom line! Go right ahead, implement account-based marketing strategies and witness the magic!