Want to make your ABM strategy more successful? Make use of video

ABM is also known as account-based marketing. (ABM) is a highly-targeted strategy for B2B marketing that focuses on the most important accounts, not market segments.

ABM in the past was companies deciding on a limited list of target prospective customers and dedicating a significant portion of their customer and marketing success resources to closing contracts. However, the tactics used were often scraping of data, high-cost and expensive events that were geared towards small groups, as well as direct sales calls. They weren't always successful.

Today, ABM is a more allied Sales-plus-Marketing approach to attracting clients. This is an important distinction as companies are moving away from the perception which claimed that B2B Sales and Marketing usually were in a conflict.

When executed correctly, ABM helps both Marketing and Sales teams align on key target customers and win new business.

This guide unpacks what ABM is and the best way to leverage video in the account-based marketing campaign, including customized outreach, ABM videos, and many more.

What you'll learn

1.    What is account-based marketing?
2.    The ABCs of ABM The fundamental elements of a successful ABM strategy
3.    What not to do in your account-based marketing strategy
4.    How to customize ABM programs for top-of-the-line customers
5.    Closing concepts

What exactly is an account-based approach to marketing?

In short, account-based advertising (ABM) refers to a method that allows an organization to tailor its marketing strategies to reach specific customers rather than taking an overall strategy.

In order to succeed with ABM, it's essential to gain a thorough understanding of your ideal customers. This way, you can create targeted ads that are more likely to resonate with the decision-makers at your target accounts.

"How is account-based marketing different from conventional marketing?" you might ask?

In traditional methods of marketing, the focus is typically on generating the most leads feasible. In ABM, the focus is on quality over the quantity. It means that instead of trying to reach all the people you can You're focusing on key decision makers with specific accounts who are that are more likely to be converted.

It's also important to note it is important to remember that ABM is a collaboration work. In order to be successful in ABM, Sales and Marketing must be in sync with their goals and actions.

This is vital in order to make sure that all employees are working toward the same goal: creating leads of high quality that turn into clients.

A day in the diary of account-based marketing

In a daily basis, here's what account-based marketers accomplish:

• They design and create specific customers' profiling.
• Then, they create personalized campaigns and content specifically to these specific audiences as well as companies.
• Working in conjunction together with Sales, ABM teams publish and market these promotional materials across various channels (depending on the accounts they are targeting).
• Finally, they monitor the results, analyze, and improve campaign results to iterate on and refine and improve their ABM strategy as time passes.

So...why do you think it is important to prioritise account-based marketing?

There are many reasons why ABM should be a priority for your organization.

In the first place, by tailoring your marketing efforts specifically for every account, you will be able to make custom content and experiences that are more more likely to resonate with your audience. In turn, you'll be able to establish deeper connections with the accounts you want to target and close more sales and boost the likelihood of retention.

With ABM it is possible to focus your attention on accounts that have a higher likelihood of conversion, meaning a higher ROI for your company.

The second reason is that ABM aligns Sales and Marketing. When using traditional methods for marketing There is a disconnect between what Sales desires and the way that Marketing does. But with ABM and ABM, both departments aim toward closing deals for particular accounts.

In addition, the buyers of today -- B2B and B2C--are more informed and sophisticated than they have ever been. They aren't going to react effectively to general messages or campaigns that are universally applicable. With ABM it is possible to tailor the message and strategy specifically to individuals or businesses. This personalized approach is much more likely to appeal to the current buyers, and will result in close transactions.

Lastly, ABM is trackable, possibly more so than conventional marketing and advertising. Since ABM concentrates on quality over quantities, you are able to evaluate the results of your efforts and determine whether or not they're paying off. This level of transparency is critical to gaining buy-in from leadership, refining your approach, and winning increasing numbers of customers in the process.

ABM's ABCs ABM: Core elements of an effective ABM strategy

With ABM You treat every account as an individual market.

For a sustainable growth of your company You need a secure account-based marketing (ABM) approach. These are the essential aspects to be aware of in the event that you are considering implementing an ABM strategy for your business.

1. Segmentation

The first step of developing an ABM strategy is identifying the accounts you want to segment. In order to do this, it is necessary to know the perfect customer's persona (ICP).

Your ICP must include the demographic data (e.g. Job title, company size, the location) and psychographic information (e.g. Pain points, motivations, buying influences).

For obtaining this information, you can conduct initial research by conducting surveys or conversations with past and present customers. You can supplement your persona by conducting secondary research using reliable information sources, such as industry trade magazines.

When you've got a good understanding of your ideal customer/company profile, you can start manually developing a list of target accounts. Additionally, you can make use of market intelligence tools to build a list of companies that match your criteria.

Once you've done your research Now it's time to divide your accounts into distinct types of people. This will allow you to refine your message and ensure that you're targeting the correct individuals within your account. As an example, you could have a persona for decision-makers as well as one that targets influencers and one for end users.

2. Individualized messaging and outreach

Once you've identified the target persons and accounts The next step is to create a custom message and content to each one. Remember, with ABM it's a matter of treating every account as an individual market therefore it's crucial to tailor your content accordingly.

If you decide to utilize the same generic messaging and content for all your target accounts, you won't get what you're looking for. It is essential to design custom messages specific to each of the accounts in your list. This can be a challenge and heavy lift between teams, however it's worth the effort because personal messages have significantly better responses than generic ones.

It's also important to be sure to align your go-to-market (GTM) strategy to that of your ABM strategy. It's about personalizing your messages as well as using the right mixture of channels that will reach your buyers where they're already spending their time online. Like, for instance, LinkedIn would be a great channel to target if you're targeting senior executives in large companies.

Personalized messages help you build contacts with the people you are targeting. Today, people do business with the people they know, like, and trust. By sending personalized messages on relevant channels, it is possible to develop relationships with your target accounts and make them more inclined to do business with your company when they're ready to buy something.

3. Alignment between marketing and sales

Another crucial aspect of an effective ABM strategy is building teams that are cross-functional. This means creating teams with individuals from multiple departments within the company, for example Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success. A study conducted by Bombora found that businesses, on average, are home to five teams focused on ABM.

These teams aim to align every employee within your company around their common goal, which is to win the interest of the target accounts.

4. Customer lifecycle marketing

One crucial, yet often neglected element of a winning ABM strategy is the lifecycle of the customer marketing. This involves fostering the relationships you have with your key contacts in your targeted accounts. This can be done by a variety of ways including sending customized emails, offering the person a phone call on their birthday, or handing the recipient a list of useful resources. Whatever you do, make sure that you're adding value while remaining top-of-mind.

Most likely, you'll require at least one individual at an account that you want to sell your product or service to only one person in an account that you want to sell it to. You'll most likely require the involvement of several stakeholders from different organizations to help move a deal forward. This is why creating targeted content that can be utilized at different points of the buyer's journey as well as throughout the customer lifecycle is important.

With a mixture of top-of-the-funnel (TOFU), middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU), and bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) material that you can access, you'll have the ability to reach out to prospects at every step of the sales process as well as after purchase.

5. ABM software

The most crucial aspects of any ABM plan is having the appropriate software. ABM software can help B2B marketers manage and automate their account-based marketing processes. Some of the most well-known platforms are HubSpot Sales, Terminus, Pardot Marketo, and Marketo.

ABM software can help you monitor and evaluate engagement with your customers as a vital metric of any ABM software (as we'll be discussing in the following). You can adjust your ABM plan based on how your customers are responding to your brand and how. This leads to improved account engagement with time. This could result in more completed deals and increased revenue.

ABM software also helps in automating repetitive tasks, in order to let you concentrate on strategically ABM strategies. Automation also helps in executing targeted campaigns with greater efficiency in ensuring that the right contacts receive the right messages at the appropriate date and time. This makes your ABM program more efficient and affordable over time.

In the end, ABM software can help increase your return on investment (ROI). You can ultimately drive more revenue for your business by increasing the engagement of your customers and campaign effectiveness. This means that the ABM program will be able to generate a higher ROI, which can be beneficial to the bottom line.

6. Evaluation of performance

Not least of all, you need to measure your results. Like any other marketing initiative, it's essential to monitor the success of your ABM campaigns. For this to be done effectively be aware of and track the information that will tell you the way each step in your campaign performed with each person in each account.

You can get a good assessment of whether you ABM strategy is working for your business through monitoring key indicators such as:

• Traffic to websites from specific accounts
• The conversion rate from MQL to SQL
• The number of meetings that are set by Sales
• New opportunities have been created
• Size of deal
• Customer lifetime value (CLV)

What you are not to do in your account-based marketing strategy

We've covered the essential components of a successful ABM strategy. We'll now go over the most common ABM mistakes to avoid once you get started.

Do not use spooky, unprofessional ABM tactics

It's spammy ABM strategies like purchasing data for cold calls and cold emails are a surefire way to be unsuccessful in account-based advertising. If your cold outreach isn't tailored or has no value (e.g. by providing useful material or inviting invitations for events) is it unlikely that customers will be able to respond or schedule meetings.

The research shows that cold outreach may work...if properly executed. If you decide to implement cold outreach as part the ABM strategy, make sure you encourage your team to follow best guidelines:

• Name themselves. 79% of unidentified calls go unanswered
• Use "we" statements--Successful cold calls include 65% more "we" statements
• Customize your content for each individual recipient. 57 percent from C-level purchasers prefer to be contacted by phone

Do notrely to a great deal on scraped data

Account-based marketers require data to create their ideal client or company profiles. But relying on purchased or scraped information can cause a lack of knowledge ICPs. Furthermore, it may lead to your team contacting potential customers without their permission, which is bad for branding and may result in prospects unsubscribing or mark your messages as spam.

We suggest creating your ICPs by conducting primary research, such as surveys or customer interviews. If you need, supplement your personas with secondary research from trusted sources like the trade journals of industry or other tools like Sparktoro.

Do not ignore that you are responsible for ROI

The process of calculating the ROI on your ABM investment should be straightforward particularly if you concentrate on these metrics and use an ABM software that can help.

Although certain ABM techniques (like the events) can be more nebulous regarding ROI calculations, there's no excuse for using these strategies if there's no proof they'll move the needle or close transactions.

Don't make the mistake of hosting expensive, large event or spending money on swag for "brand recognition" without understanding the relationship between these expenditures to your key objectives and KPIs.

Don't avoid bad-fit accounts

Even if an account doesn't seem to be a good fit for your business or product does not mean that you have to ignore it completely. Even if an account doesn't produce a sale There could be additional advantages, like exposure or insights from interactions with these accounts.

The trick is to not focus on short-term results and instead focus at the longer-term game of ABM.

How can you tailor ABM campaigns for your top-tier clients

While ABM can be very effective however, you must remember that every account is not all created equally. The top clients - those who have the highest potential for revenue for your business--deserve special attention.

In deciding on the best accounts, be sure to concentrate your efforts to select top-quality accounts that offer the best potential for growth.

The top clients of your business are used to getting the best of the best, so your website and your services must reflect that standard. It doesn't mean you'll need to break the bank, but it is making the effort to produce high-quality, engaging content that will capture the attention of your audience and produce outcomes.

Here are a few ways to customize your ABM ads to your most prestigious clients. (Hint That they contain video!)

Account-based marketing videos

Marketing videos that are based on accounts tell your brand's story in a relatable and engaging manner, which is more than written marketing campaign. Videos are a great method to show your service or product as it is and provide prospective customers an understanding of the benefits and features.

What do these look like in practice? When you're first trying to establish a new account, it can be helpful to introduce your team through a video. It gives decision makers at the company a chance to make the name, and start building a relationship with the team.

The video you create doesn't have to be extravagant. A brief tour of your workplace and some introductions by each team member is enough. Be sure to make it clear professional and professional. Also, it should highlight how your team is the best possible choice to manage the account.

Personalized screen recordings of the screen

Enhance engagement as well as sales by creating personalized screen recordings. Instead of creating a generic customer-centric recording, take the time to create a custom demo using the ICP's needs and company information with your company's information in the back of your head.

The ability to watch a customized recording is an easy way to delight your prospect. By increasing the end user's interaction, you establish confidence and improve the chances of them moving further through the funnel.

Video campaigns via email

Make use of account-based marketing videos for your nurture emails. Instead of sending a generic "Look at what we could do for your needs!" message, try personalizing your emails with an engaging video that is specific to the person receiving the message.

Videos that focus on the pain aspects of your company and explain the specifics of the way your product or service solves issues for customers are likely to resonate more deeply.

This will help you distinguish yourself from your competitors and show that you're willing to go the extra mile to deliver value. Videos that are high-quality and delivered through email could move potential customers farther down the sales funnel and help them book meetings with your sales staff.

Virtual events

These days, buyers deal with individuals who they like, know and believe in. A way to foster camaraderie and trust among your customers is through curated virtual events. An example of this is the virtual VIP workshops or experience for executives.

Don't create cookie-cutter services for your best clients. Instead, take the time to to know their specific wants and needs so you can develop tailored virtual events that offer relevant solutions and networking connections.

By putting in the extra effort upfront and putting forth the effort, you'll establish yourself as a trustworthy company that's committed to helping their business succeed over the long haul.

Programs to reduce the amount of chaff

ABM does not stop once you make the sale. Considering that your ICPs will be your "perfect" customer and you want to keep them engaged, it's best to communicate with them even after the purchasing.

Encourage Customer Success to touch contact with the target customers regularly, either bi-annually or quarterly to make sure that their experience was positive. Open feedback loops to gain valuable input and understand how the customers use the software. You can even request they take part in group testing for beta versions of the latest features, or in consulting roles for your product team.

Making your customers important customers will reduce churn and increase retention and the LTV of your customers.

Closing concepts

A successful account-based marketing approach requires careful planning and execution across multiple dimensions and teams.

By taking the time to understand your ideal buyer and creating customized campaigns, as well as personalized video content, you can develop deeper connections and close more deals.

And since ABM can be tracked it is possible to measure the impact of your marketing efforts and connect new customers to the custom-designed, innovative marketing efforts.