Account-based marketing, also known as ABM, seemed to be nothing more than a buzzword for the longest time. In recent years, B2B and B2C marketers have started to see the real results that it has to offer. With the right techniques and application, account-based marketing has the potential to rapidly grow businesses and increase overall profit for a company. The biggest benefit of ABM is the ability to target and engage with your ideal customers. By laser focusing on the right customers, ABM allows B2B and B2C marketers to expedite the marketing process as opposed to wasting their valuable resources and time. In fact, the business experts at Forbes have cited ABM as the latest development of hope for B2B marketers who have hit a plateau. To properly implement ABM into your marketing plan, you need to have patience and persistence.

Understanding ABM

Before you can utilize ABM to grow your business you have to understand what it is. To put it into simple terms, ABM is marketing aimed at certain accounts or potential accounts. Rather you want to grow an existing account or target a new potential account, ABM is the way to go. Work with your sales team to determine which existing accounts hold the most potential room for growth, as well as what types of new accounts you should be targeting your efforts to.

Creating ABM Content

Good ABM content is all about personalization. You should spend time investigating the companies you’re marketing to. Utilize the information you gather to learn what they are looking for and how to present that relevant information in a way that appeals to them. When it comes to finding an appealing way to present information, it can be especially helpful to have an idea of which employees will be involved in the decision-making process. With a little time spent on LinkedIn or reviewing existing client files, you can get an inside look at what will appeal to the company and employees. For instance, some businesses will interact and respond better to content on Facebook, while others spend their time on LinkedIn. Personalized marketing needs a personalized presentation on the platforms that the company actually uses to ensure it’s being seen by those that matter in the company.

Keep it Interesting and Clear

The world of marketing has become oversaturated, especially online. Be sure to review the details of each marketing campaign a targeted business or audience will see before launching your new ABM campaign. If your generalized sales emails conflict with the ABM emails or posts, you have to eliminate one of the two. Client confusion due to contradictions or content that’s too similar to what they’ve seen from your company before will lead to poor conversion rates and a failed ABM campaign.

Learn from Your Mistakes

Every good marketing campaign needs to be evaluated to determine how successful the efforts were. Your first ABM campaign may not yield the results you had in mind, but you should use those stats to improve on your next campaign. Determine the success of your ABM campaign by comparing the conversion and revenue from ABM marketing versus your traditional marketing efforts. Ideally, your personalized ABM campaigns will show signs of a much higher ROI than other marketing tactics. Using top-rates ABM software platforms such as ZoomInfo, Engagio, and Marketo helps, too. Even if you don’t see immediate increases in sales from your ABM, an increase in B2B interaction on various platforms should be seen as a step in the right direction. It may be a frustrating process at first but ABM has been proven to work by many companies. After all, why else would this new form of marketing be gaining traction so quickly?

Remember, your focus in ABM should focus on an improved relationship and trust with a client or potential client. The theory behind most ABM campaigns is that once a relationship is formed, the sales will naturally follow.