BACK TO BASICS FOR B2B LEAD GENERATION

Buyer Intent Data

Article | August 23, 2022

We all know that account-based marketing means targeting the best customer accounts, creating personalized marketing campaigns, and getting to the conversion stage. Though these steps may sound easy, it takes a lot of brainstorming to implement them to convert the accounts that matter the most. To know more about these steps, you can read six hard-hitting lessons for the ABM strategy. This article will talk about the best and correct ways to implement ABM plans with examples. But first, let us briefly inform you about ABM and how it works. Brief Introduction to ABM Account-based marketing is a marketing strategy implemented by B2B marketers to concentrate on their exclusive clients. First, the sales and marketing team collaborates to collect the maximum data about specific clients. Then these clients are targeted with personalized marketing campaigns on various platforms. Thus, account-based marketing allows you to utilize your workforce and resources efficiently. It also helps to market your products to a handful of customers who have a 90% chance of conversion. Now, let us see the correct ways to implement ABM for various B2B industries. Ways to Implement ABM Plans with Examples We have specifically chosen the four best ways to implement ABM in B2B marketing strategy. These are the core strategies that have worked for B2B and are sure to work for you too. But first, look at these wise words from Maliha Aqeel, Director of Global Communications at Fix Network World. 'One of the most common mistakes companies make is implementing a brand strategy that isn’t aligned to the organization’s overall business goal.' So before implementing any marketing plan, ensure that your brand strategy, marketing campaigns, and everything else aligns with the overall business goals. Identify Exclusive Accounts It is the root of your ABM strategy. Your fruits of labor will be decided by the correct places you plant these roots. So basically, when you are filtering your clients/customers for ABM, here are the key factors to be kept in mind; Choose the correct industry. Know the size of the organization. Identify the needs, challenges, and pain points of the organization. Know the timelines and hierarchy of their decision-making process. The answers to these questions will help you to recognize the target accounts precisely. Example: Vidyard is a video platform that helps businesses transform communications and drive more revenue through the strategic use of online video. It collaborated with SmartBug Media to change the video experience for users worldwide. Thus, they can target the correct customers on Hubspot. In addition, they help customers to make videos an integrated part of their marketing campaigns and other processes. Craft Tailored Content Every filtered account for ABM will have unique needs, demands, challenges, and pain points. Thus, you have to craft content to address the customers directly. They should instantly recognize that you understand them and have built solutions exclusively for their challenges. You should also be ready with different content for different stages of the buying journey. And remember to design content for customers even after they convert. It helps you to be ready for the retention stage. Like Mark Emond, Founder and President at Demand Spring quotes; “Content is at the heart of great marketing today. It needs to educate, inspire, and convert. It must be tied to the unique rational and emotional needs of each target persona.” Example: Intridea executed an excellent content strategy to target the advertising giant Ogilvy. First, they rented a billboard right across Ogilvy’s Manhattan office. The billboard said, “Ogle this, Ogilvy.” Intridea also placed its logo and company URL at the bottom of the quirky line. This exclusive content got them an appointment with Ogilvy’s CEO! Use Marketing Automation Tools There are various personalization tools available to assist you in ABM. These tools provide centralized data collection and data analysis. They also coordinate your marketing campaigns across all platforms. Example: Growsteak is a Vietnamese company that provides advertising and digital marketing solutions. However, it faced several challenges like lead generation and competitor analysis. Thus, they incorporated Hubspot’s Partner Program. It not only helped them overcome their challenges but also generated 5,166% more leads overall. Measure the KPIs You need to measure the metrics once you implement ABM. It is one of the essential factors of a successful ABM strategy. However, these metrics are different from traditional marketing. Thus, you need to keep a hawk’s eye on them. Some of the KPIs to consider are; Is the current coverage of key clients sufficient and, is it growing? Are there known or anonymous visits to your site? Have they increased? Is the incoming traffic getting converted? How much is the depth of engagement? Has the strategy made it easy to get appointments of the target accounts? Wrapping Up The success of account-based marketing depends on research and personalization. The more effort you put in to know your clients, the closer you get to convert them. Thus, make use of the abundant data and accurately target your potential customers! Frequently Asked Questions Is ABM more successful than traditional marketing? Yes. Compared to traditional marketing methods, ABM has proved to create wonders and save a lot on time, resources and workforce. It has also guaranteed a better success and conversion rate for the sales and marketing teams. How important is personalization in marketing? Personalization plays a prominent role in ABM. A trust factor builts if you can address the challenges and pain points of the client with personalized solutions. Also, personalization ensures a higher rate of getting appointments and conversions of the targeted accounts. Can SMBs also implement ABM? Of course. SMBs have a higher chance of growing if they plan their marketing strategy along with ABM. It will allow them to understand the market and their customers from the very beginning. And once they have converted the customers, retention will be an easy task. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How do small business owners use technology to improve their business?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Small businesses can use technology in multiple different ways. For instance, they can use technology to connect with their customers, communicate with their employees, sell their products or services, better coordinate between the employees, simplify manual work, and many more." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How much do small businesses spend on technology?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Small businesses should acknowledge a few technologies in their business operations. Below are the mentioned requisites: Cloud computing Mobile applications HR software Drones Emails Data Security" } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the latest business technologies?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The latest and trendy technologies that are in widespread use in the business world are mentioned below: Internet of things (IoT) Virtual & augmented reality Artificial intelligence Mobile technology Blockchain 3d printing Robotics & automation Drones" } }] }

Account Based Analytics

Article | August 3, 2022

Over the last couple years, there has been a paradigm shift in the way customers engage with brands. The effect of this shift has also trickled down to the B2B domain. The marketing strategies that drove sales and revenue pre-COVID no longer work. In response, brands are focusing on revolutionizing their marketing strategies by implementing ABM to optimize their processes and drive a higher ROI. Today, 67% of brands leverage account-based marketing. Account-based marketing (ABM) is the answer to B2B marketers’ struggles as they navigate through the volatile business situation that the pandemic has created. It uses content personalization, focused targeting of high-value accounts, and aligns the marketing strategy with business goals. Through multiple platforms, brand awareness, and optimized processes, ABM gives a higher ROI than any other marketing strategy. In an interview with Media 7, Mark Emond, Founder and President of Demand Spring, talked about B2B marketing strategies, content, and technology stacks. “In today’s long B2B buying journey, buyers are in control and they are interacting across multiple channels. The key is to use data and technology to serve up highly targeted content across channels, tuned to the stage of the buyer’s journey a prospect is in, and what their behavior shows they are most apt to engage in.” The following five emerging trends in account-based marketing have defined ABM in 2021 and may influence the way it evolves in 2022: Data Integration Manually researching target account data requires resources and time. To overcome this challenge, businesses use integrated marketing automation and CRM to collect firmographic data (company size and location), technographic data (target company’s technological choices), behavioral and intent data, predictive analytics, and more to optimize their ABM campaigns. Marketing automation and CRM keep track of this integration so that brands can segment their prospects effectively. With the help of this integration, they can also find accounts similar to their target accounts. Breaking down internal info silos for cross-departmental collaboration promotes using the valuable customer intelligence that departments have. For example, the product management department can share the customization preferences of the clients they work with. This information can help marketers offer clients just what they want. Data integration helps steer ABM campaigns in the right direction. New Tools A wide array of tools to simplify and optimize account-based marketing are available on the market. These tools are used for CRM and marketing automation, intent monitoring, campaign execution, orchestration, measuring and reporting the performance of the ABM campaign, and content syndication. These tools are a part of the martech stack that brands use to find key accounts closest to their ideal customer profile (ICP). They facilitate better resource allocation so that personnel can spend more time on personalized interactions with the target accounts. B2B businesses prefer using marketing automation platforms that they can customize to fit their needs, like sending email marketing (behavior based email), CRM and sales automation, campaign tracking, account-based digital marketing, and analyzing the performance of their ABM campaign, instead of creating a martech stack from scratch. They choose software that can have numerous integrations, products, and services to better adapt to changing circumstances. Omnichannel Presence Omnichannel presence is one of the most influential emerging trends in account-based marketing. Brands need to be present and relevant in the lives of their customers. They do this by using different channels for communication and engagement so that their relationship is deep and meaningful, focusing on understanding their problems and offering effective solutions. A 2019 study by Gartner found that B2B buyers only spent 17% of their time meeting with potential suppliers. In the current pandemic situation, in-person events and meetings are replaced by AI-powered chat bots, behavior-based emails, personalized website content, and account-based digital advertising so that customers receive a steady flow of information from businesses across different channels. Marketing automation streamlines this omnichannel communication in ABM. However, it can also complicate things for buyers because of the barrage of information they receive. The Gartner study found that 77% of B2B customers found their purchase journey difficult. Striking a careful balance is necessary while integrating new channels into your strategy. Customized Content According to a 2020 ABM Benchmark Survey Report, 42% of respondents are personalising their content to increase account engagement and build long-term relationships. Businesses are creating tailored content for specific industries, roles, titles, challenges, and needs. Their content strategy is based on mapping content to suit a specific buyer persona. They engage the buyer at every stage. As one of the most important emerging trends in account-based marketing, customized content is making a huge difference in lead generation, conversion, and retargeting accounts. The latest tools allow B2B marketers to personalize content based on target accounts’ interests and preferences. Selecting an appropriate content format, topics of interest, and the response to the use of respected industry influencers are mapped to create hyper-personalized content to better connect with prospects, especially decision-makers. Using marketing automation can modernize this process and deliver extraordinary results in terms of conversions and lead nurturing. Account Metrics Assessing the performance of an ABM campaign is of paramount importance if marketers want to meet their ROI expectations. To keep up with the emerging trends in marketing and analyze campaign performance, B2B marketers are focusing on account-centric metrics. Generated revenue and the number of accounts gained and retained are mapped using metric tools. Marketers also focus on KPIs like win rate, pipeline velocity, pipeline contribution, and account engagement score to measure the success of their ABM campaigns. As account-based marketing is evolving, it is crucial to map campaign performance so any weaknesses can be taken care of and the campaign can be optimized for better results. Connecting siloed data sets across the entire content strategy becomes easy because of these ABM-specific metrics. These metrics gather valuable information that impacts purchase decisions as prospects move through the sales and marketing cycle. How Snapchat’s Bitmoji Brings Traffic to Its Discover Page Snapchat’s Bitmoji app was launched in 2016 so that users could create their own personalized cartoon avatars. Every user’s Bitmoji appears on the Discover page, where advertisements and brand content are also displayed. This way, traffic comes to the Discover page for Bitmoji but ends up being exposed to brand content and advertisements. This is a great illustration of how personalized content can drive traffic. Conclusion B2B marketers are keeping up with the changing and emerging trends in account-based marketing to get the most out of their campaigns. In 2022, ABM is expected to flourish and optimize the demand generation and conversion process. FAQ What is the future of ABM? ABM is expected to become robust with the use of technology like marketing automation to enhance the customer experience. Why should businesses use account-based marketing? Account-based marketing motivates marketing and sales teams to work together, identify target accounts, craft campaigns, and align individual accounts through the pipeline.

Core ABM

Article | June 20, 2023

B2B markets are more competitive than ever. They’re crowded, commoditized, noisy, and everybody is trying to knock on the same doors. So how do you break through the cacophony? The key is to not wait and reach out to your accounts with everyone else but to reach them when they are still early in the buyer’s journey. And that’s where leveraging intent data comes in. With intent data, you can see who is showing interest in your company or your competitors before they respond to your marketing efforts through form fills for content downloads or event RSVPs. You can create orchestrated plays as soon as they are in-market when they are searching. So you can deliver fresh ideas based on knowledge and understanding of an account’s industry and unique business issues before everyone else.

Article | April 13, 2020

Intent is an indicator that an account is interested in a certain topic, based on the content consumption of people within an organization. I know that sounds a bit abstract, so let’s look at how it actually works. Let’s say that Gio is looking at some content on marketing attribution. Gio is a Marketing Operations Specialist at Whale Enterprises, and he’s considering buying some new software. Gio’s research is creating intent data that can be tracked by intent providers, who can then let marketing attribution providers know that Whale Enterprises is showing intent to buy a marketing attribution solution.