The concept of account-based marketing—where B2B businesses treat each key account that helps sustain their healthy growth and continuing operations as its own individual market—makes great sense on paper. Effective ABM creates a virtuous cycle where sales teams consistently nurture reliable sources of recurring revenue while creating content they can use to attract new customers, customers are rewarded for their loyalty and all parties benefit from ongoing, data-driven and highly personalized outreach.
However, as the members of Forbes Agency Council know, executing a successful ABM strategy is sometimes easier said than done. Below, 12 members share the most essential aspects of successful ABM and tried-and-true best practices to empower marketing teams.
Members pictured from left to right.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Clear Goals, Key Performance Indicators And Communication
Clear goals, KPIs and communication are three pillars of effective ABM efforts. Utilizing new marketing approaches and techniques ensures the content is personalized and dynamic. Offer omnichannel marketing at the right time to the right target audience. Gather insights, evaluate them and make sure your sales and marketing teams are aligned. - Nataliya Andreychuk, Viseven
2. Data-Driven Insights
Make sure you use data-driven insights to select your targets, not anecdotal information from the sales team. Critical to ABM success is having real-time intent, analytics and past conversion data. - Christine Slocumb, Clarity Quest Marketing
3. Consistent Communication
All ABM should be looked at as a team effort. There are many best practices for success, but truly executing on them, reading the data to make them more efficient and continuing to build upon improved efforts requires communication. Whether this is done through weekly, biweekly or monthly strategy meetings to dive into data, results, ideas, pivots and so on, consistently communicating is the best practice to ensure success. - Tony Pec, Y Not You Media
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4. Key Stakeholders
Account-based marketing should be data-driven to help you easily identify your target accounts. Your ABM efforts should include specifying key stakeholders and creating a personalized customer journey that aligns marketing and sales. - Dejan Popovic, PopArt Studio
5. Case Studies
I’ve seen case studies be extremely effective in account-based marketing. A case study allows the prospect to imagine their relationship with you, see the results and get to know your company all in one go. If there’s one best practice, it’s providing relevant case studies in your ABM. - Bryanne DeGoede, BLND Public Relations
6. ‘Continuous Alignment’ Between Sales And Marketing
It’s well-known that a major step in ABM is building alignment between sales and marketing, but as a best practice, we recommend “continuous alignment.” As time goes by, it is very easy, and common, to lose sight of which accounts to target, which specific messages and content pieces to use for which accounts and constant measurement of the agreed-upon KPIs. This requires continuous orchestration and transparency. - Maria Orozova, MODintelechy
7. Constantly Refreshed Differentiators
To keep account-based marketing effective, agencies must constantly challenge a brand’s differentiators with fresh eyes. Reaching new audiences and levels of success on an ongoing basis means stepping back and reexamining the market, target customers and gaps the brand can fill in the marketplace. Never rest on what worked in the recent past. Hit refresh—often. - Bernard May, National Positions
8. Dynamic Web Content
Loading dynamic content onto your landing pages and website can help you deliver on the personalized nature of account-based marketing. Continue to nurture leads with personalized offers, dedicated account reps and dynamic Web content that matches the experience they’ve received thus far from your brand. - Mary Ann O’Brien, OBI Creative
9. Coordination
A key-account ABM approach likely involves multiple touch points. It is crucial that the marketer coordinates the messages—including what, when and where. It can be a flurry of different messages from different people or a coordinated effort that ladders up to a single value proposition. Not everyone has to say the same thing, but rather, each should ensure they ladder up to a key differentiator. - Mark Skroch, BCV Social
10. The Right Channels
To make sure your ABM efforts are effective, it is important to align marketing and sales goals. Choose the right channels for each marketing campaign so that you can target customers with specific interests based on the information gathered from data analytics, which will lead you toward better results while also increasing conversions. - Kamaljit Singh, AMZ One Step
11. Two Kinds Of Goals
One of the best ways to leverage ABM is to have two different kinds of goals. The set of KPIs that you are trying to reach are one kind of goal. Another kind would be cultural—goals that can help you improve the ways you are communicating with your base. - Jon James, Ignited Results
12. Ideal Customer Profiles
The best ABM practice is to use ideal customer profiles. An ICP is a list of characteristics from which you can determine who will benefit most from your offers. ICPs make it possible to understand how to solve the problems of potential customers, both now and in the future. - Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO
