Another great year for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) as the businesses are dedicating more of their budgets and resources to use it in order to achieve better ROI and achieve their KPIs.
But before investing in ABM it is very important to understand what really goes into building a successful, revenue-driving ABM strategy.
That is why I will be sharing the most common mistakes and how to avoid them —starting with mistakes we’ve made and seen, technology preferences, usage and what is needed, innovative campaigns we’ve run, and detailed “how to’s” on each stage of the strategy.
So let’s dive in:
#1: Working in silos
A lot of B2B marketers approach ABM solely as a marketing endeavor, but in reality, it takes collaboration, teamwork, and 100% buy-in from multiple teams at the organization. You’ll need to sit down with the Sales team and take a deep data analysis at your current customer base in order to identify target accounts, agree upon a set of metrics and determine what success looks like for both teams.
In order to use all of the benefits of this kind of marketing, you will need to implement all the steps of your funnel and make sure everything resonates with the prospects and your targeted accounts.
#2: Focusing exclusively on digital programs
Even though the digitals platforms have proven to be the most effective you mustn’t neglect the other part of this strategy. The most skilled marketers say “Data is King” and they are absolutely right.
Online advertising, webinars, and content are only one part of the job. Along the way you have to identify which cities have high volumes of target accounts, you can determine which regions require the most marketing investment and focus.
#3: Measuring what’s easy
In order to decide which campaigns and flows work the best, you must measure a lot more things than only the impressions, CPMs, and CTR which provide insight into how our campaigns are performing, but don’t really help us determine the impact we’re having on the broader organization, and more importantly, revenue.
To be successful with ABM, you’ll need to grade your marketing performance on metrics that are tied closely to revenue:
• Target Account Activity
• Lift
• Opportunities
• Pipeline
• Closed Revenue
• Available to Close
• Win/Loss Rates
• ACV
• Funnel Velocity
• Retention and Upsell
#4: Creating content for the sake of content
Most B2B marketers think that they need to create new content for each one of their target accounts but the idea is to actually leverage the content you already have.
You probably already have some relevant white paper, case study, or eBook. You just need to tweak the copy that introduces the piece, craft a more compelling call-to-action or add relevant imagery to the landing page.
For example, you can take the latest eBook your content team just produced and tailor it to serve the healthcare industry. By adding healthcare terminology, highlighting your current healthcare customers, and swapping out graphics for relevant industry imagery, you can transition the piece to fit the needs of your healthcare website visitors.
#5: Running one-off advertising campaigns
In the B2C world, you can run purchase oriented campaigns for a short period of time and reach the target goal sooner (especially for a low ticket, impulse buy products), but the B2B buyers require more engagements which should be shown for an extended period of time and always in front of the decision-maker at your targeted account.
ABM can be very different from company to company, but successful strategies all share that common foundation. By avoiding these mistakes, you’ll be setting yourself up for success.