B2B marketing is extremely challenging even in the best market conditions. It is a smaller sized market in terms of number of potential prospects, for one. For another, the leads are highly skilled and specialised persons, who know exactly what they need and are less likely to respond to emotional marketing messages.
And since B2B marketing is difficult even in ideal market conditions, it is even harder with a global economic crisis looming above everyone. To overcome this issue, marketers need to consider smart ways to target the right leads. One of the solutions is called account based marketing.
What Is Account Based Marketing?
To understand this concept, we will use the allegory of a fisherman. The fisherman can opt to throw a net and catch lots of small and useless fish. Or he can start using a fishing rod with a specific bait to catch large fish.
Account based marketing is the fishing rod with bait. Instead of focusing of a large mass of potential leads, marketers identify a small number of high profile leads and focus on them. They create specific marketing strategies, highly personalised for the specific line of business and corporate culture of the lead business and its buyers.
This marketing strategy means that marketing and sales teams must align their efforts. Content and offers must be fine tuned and synchronised in a manner that ensures an effective lead nurturing process.
These being said, why should your B2B business adopt account based marketing?
1. It Has a High ROI
If you are looking for ways to increase the efficiency of your marketing efforts, account based marketing is the right choice for you. Here is how it works:
- The sales and marketing teams collaborate on a single goal, for a single target, and this reduces costs for both departments;
- A well defined account based marketing campaign drives sales, because it makes the right offer to the right company at the right moment;
- The research period for adequate leads is shorter – thus measurable results appear faster compared to other marketing strategy.
2. It Encourages Collaboration between Sales and Marketing Departments
Despite the fact that, theoretically, they have the same goals, sales teams and marketing teams are traditionally pitted one against the other. Each of them wants to take the cherry atop the cake – the performance bonus, the recognition for reeling in the biggest fish.
In account based marketing, these rivalries must be put aside. Instead, the teams take the cue one from another. As the marketing team creates tailored content for the lead, the sales team works on an offer that complements the content.
3. ABM Leads to a Better Understanding of the Client
With all the efforts focused on specific companies, you will understand the most detailed aspects about:
- What its core values are
- What its pain points are
- What its development plans are.
This will help you make sure that you are always one step ahead in the marketing game. You can anticipate the client’s need for products and services and come up with the perfectly tailored offer for them.
4. Enhanced Tracking of Marketing Expenses
One of the pain points in marketing these days is knowing your exact sources of revenue. With all the analytics tools you have, it is still impossible to track every sale with 100% accuracy.
In account based marketing, you have a clear image of the lead’s journey, from the first approach to the moment when they sign the contract. This will help you refine your marketing strategies and find smart ways to shorten the prospect’s journey until the first sale.
5. A More Personalised Approach to All Marketing Strategies
Account based marketing helps marketers refine their personalised approach in every aspect of communicating with leads: email marketing, social media marketing, Facebook™ and LinkedIn ads.
This is one of the most useful skills for B2B marketing, a segment where leads are harder to cultivate and persuade. One of the key reasons for this is the long past history of indiscriminate marketing approaches which failed to add a human touch to the corporate language.