Creating Content That Improves CX: A Q&A with Lionbridge & Aprimo

Today’s brands face numerous challenges. They need to create a customized, excellent experience for each and every customer worldwide. To do that, they need to create high-quality, on-target content. They need to create that content quickly, effectively, and for audiences who speak multiple languages. How can brands overcome some of these challenges? In this Q&A, we’re teaming up with our friends from Aprimo to dive into that topic. Arnie Koh is the Senior Director of Global Offerings at Lionbridge. He works closely with the company’s channel partners to help them achieve their global objectives.

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Virtual DBS

Virtual DBS provides digital and database marketing resources, delivered through a cloud-based data center. Our services are deployed to boost the response performance of our clients’ targeted online and offline marketing campaigns less expensively and faster than traditional service providers. Complimentary proof-of-concept customer profile reports are included with our initial consultation and these can usually be completed in under a week.

OTHER ARTICLES
Account Based Data

In Focus: B2B Decision-Makers’ Rising Interest in AI and ML

Article | June 29, 2023

Recently, Contentgine, a content-based marketing agency, released its latest ‘Top 5’ research ranking for popular artificial intelligence (AI) related content consumed by B2B decision-makers. The content assets, mostly e-books, that made it to the list focus on predictive analytics, cloud-based machine learning (ML) technologies, deep data analytics, and more. But why are B2B decision-makers so curious about AI and ML? They want to use AI and ML-based solutions effectively to streamline their business processes and improve their marketing strategies. Digital transformation, heightened consumer expectations, and changing buyer dynamics govern the way B2B decision-makers utilize their resources. Let us look at what is making them seek AI and ML-related content on such a high scale: AI Simplifies Decision-Making A survey conducted by SurveyMonkey concluded that 6 out of 10 B2B decision-makers experience decision paralysis—difficulty in choosing an option from a few viable ones—more often than expected. Furthermore, reaching a consensus becomes cumbersome if too many stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process. In such sticky situations, AI algorithms come to the rescue. They leverage heterogeneous data from social media, reports, website activity and more, to offer insights on management and resource allocation, assist in troubleshooting problems and aid strategic development. They alleviate issues that insufficient data and a lack of proper tools to measure metrics pose. They present a clear picture in front of the decision-makers to enable them to make an informed decision. Assists in Lead Generation Forget archaic, standard prospecting tools. You can effortlessly conduct lead generation research using various complex parameters with AI-powered tools. You can also analyze customer behavior, create dynamic, intuitive, secure and valuable lead lists. Sifting through massive lead generation data to discover the client profiles that match your ICP gets easier. On the other hand, ML helps with demand prediction, churn prediction, local optimization, and sentiment analysis, so you can offer an excellent customer experience to your leads. AI lead generation tools such as Conversica, Drift, and LeadCrunch can have conversations with your leads, collect their email addresses, and qualify them even before handing them off to the sales teams. AI-powered lead scoring can help you identify intent signals that your marketing teams might have missed. Optimizes Content Strategy Let’s face it. You don’t want to sell Eskimo ice. Irrelevant content sabotages your chances of creating a lasting relationship with your prospects. Your content should align with your customer’s needs and pain points. Thanks to machine learning, deep content personalization is possible. ML can analyze content assets on your website and send the relevant ones to a prospect at the right time based on their position in the buyer’s journey. AI and ML Are Changing the Game for B2B Businesses According to an O’Reilly survey commissioned by MemSQL, 71% of executives said that ML and AI are game-changers for their business. B2B decision-makers are investing their resources in exploring the advantages of AI and ML in-depth. They are keen to implement AI systems and ML-based solutions to eliminate human errors, continuously analyze vast amounts of raw data, and harness structured solutions to problems they face in executing their business processes. VMWare Uses Acrolinx to Streamline Content Program AI-enabled content solution Acrolinx offered VMWare real-time dashboards on the results of its content activity. The qualitative report helped VMWare focus its resources on making its content better so that it could get more conversions. Closing Thoughts “AI will increasingly determine which firms win and which firms lose.” - Phil Clement, former CMO of Aon. “AI will increasingly determine which firms win and which firms lose.” - Phil Clement, former CMO of Aon. AI and ML can significantly impact business operations and marketing campaigns in the B2B domain. To have a competitive edge in the market, understanding their importance and figuring out where and how to use their power will no longer be a choice but a necessity.

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Buyer Intent Data

Account-Based Marketing: How to Scale your Business in Digital-Only Marketplace

Article | September 11, 2023

There’s a new business world evolving—a digital-only marketplace driven by the recent global pandemic. It impacted every company, forced them to change the way they operate, market, and sell. Proven best marketing practices, such as Account-Based Marketing (ABM), are commonplace for B2B marketers. That said, the new reality and new normal is forcing companies to rethink how they can optimize their strategy to be more accurate and direct with a one-to-many engagement model. As COVID-19 continues to be spreading, B2b marketers (you) should take advantage of the downtime to assess and scale your business in the evolving digital-only marketplace. This is because once you exit from this crisis, businesses would be ordinary. So, one of the most effective ways to keep your marketing strategy dynamic is to look for fresh ideas, tactical approaches, get creative with adding personalization, and include some empathy in messages to help customers during this period of uncertainty. With account-based marketing, set a relatively new concept of marketing strategies to scale your business. Understanding this, you can better deliver the right solution to your targeted and potential customers. As you are defining and refining your ABM marketing strategy, how can you help customers more with solutions precisely? It’s time to explore new ways to communicate and engage more and more accounts. Get Creative with Your ABM Strategy ABM may not be a new concept in the B2B space. Still, there’s always an opportunity to freshen up your strategy and get creative with different aspects. The most influential and budding trend of being creative is personalization. Yes! Personalization will let you focus on your target audience and achieve brand recognition and higher conversions. Identify a List of Ideal Target Audience As ABM is about tailoring campaigns to specific accounts, the first thing you need to do is to identify a list of important accounts for your campaign. The easiest way to begin is by asking your sales team to pick accounts from the existing customer data. Finding companies matching your ideal target customer helps narrow down your focus for a longer period. Once you have a list of companies, use the same social media strategies to search their profile pages and find similar companies. But, sometimes, there might be some companies on social media that do not match your ideal customer profile. In such cases, you can research for each of the “similar” accounts you find. Want to know how to proceed? Read further. Research Each Account Unlike research for personas, ABM is not about targeting an individual. Instead, it requires proper account-based research! So, what information you need to get initially and collect to start your research? It’s recommended to start with the following: Market-wise: Includes industry, company size, and competitors Company-wise: Marketing share, revenue, and past revenue records Client/Audience wise: Buying power, designation, influencers, and management In most cases, this information will be visible on the company website, press releases, social media pages, or annual reports. One of the most critical aspects of the research phase is identifying and getting access to key decision-makers. The more you identify them, the more successful will be your ABM campaign. It is because, today, the number of people involved in decision-making is growing. According to Gartner, in a typical firm with 100-500 employees, approximately 7-8 people stay engaged in the buying decisions. But you need to convince. How? Good content plays a crucial role here. Content? How? Read the next point to understand. Use Dynamic Content Creating dynamic content is a great way to have personalized communications with your target accounts. Whether emails, newsletters, subscriptions, websites, blogs, and videos, among others, are the best ways to initiate personalization in your marketing strategy when doing ABM. Demand Gen Report’s survey found that 95% of B2B buyers choose a solution provider through content. This helps them navigate each stage of the buying process. Here are ABM’s most effective content-based marketing tactics: Personalized content: 78% Emails: 68% Social media: 57% Targeted display ads: 50% Search engines: 50% Mobile ad: 48% To understand how dynamic content plays a key role, hop to the next level. Generate Relevant Content What kind of content engages B2B buyers? It is relevant and informational content because such contents are more attractive, which interests a buyer is to engage with you. Also, in terms of the most effective ABM strategies, personalized content ranks number one! So, how you make relevant content? The standard approach in ABM for B2B marketers is to create tailored content for a specific industry. But you can also customize content for particular accounts. It is an excellent practice to review the existing content before you customize content for any specific account. It will give you more ideas and insights. For example, blog posts, case studies, white papers, and e-books are the most considered relevant content for your ideal target account. Then, categorize by stage in the sales funnel. Whether they fall under the top of the funnel (includes blogs, articles, videos, and infographics), middle of the funnel (includes eBooks, case studies, white papers, and video tutorials), and bottom of the funnel (includes free blogs, blog samples, quotes, etc.). This way, you know accurately the type of content (a relevant one) that needs to be sent to a buyer based on the funnel stage. However, if you have no content that rings with your ideal customer, interview existing customers that match their profile to understand their top business challenges. This becomes extremely powerful and results in attracting more and more potential customers in the future. In this context, only 42% of marketers communicate with their customers as part of their content research phase. Without interviewing existing customers, the content created might not be relevant. Thus, it becomes one primary reason buyers don’t engage with brands. Use Personalized Content Today, content personalization is playing a pivotal role in the new digital marketing landscape. It is working on customizing the content-based interests of audiences and their challenges. It can help you target your specific market segments more accurately and enable more chances of conversion. Personalization of content aims to ultimately understand how the businesses will benefit from your products and services. To increase the size of your marketing net through ABM strategy, it is vital to be sure that your target accounts resonate with your content across the following touch-points: Use personalized content on social media platforms to gain maximum outreach Utilize advanced programmatic ads to communicate directly to your target accounts Develop landing pages precisely to one target account or multiple accounts that have similar needs within a similar industry Tell your Story to Connect If you want to stand out from the crowd, your ABM strategy must be unique instead of being cut and dry. Storytelling is a perfect opportunity to be creative in showcasing your business (brand). Such an approach gives a broad perspective to your audiences. Hence, they learn more about your brand, the solutions you provide, and the benefits they might gain from the collaboration. Storytelling in your content-based ABM strategy can take on many forms, such as: Combine product videos with case-studies related to the target account’s needs. In case-studies, use relevant success stories during targeting. Allow them to see themselves as the business in the case study. Highlight the past customer experience to the target account. Share your company culture and milestones. These points attribute holistically to create proper storytelling— one of the most critical aspects of content-based ABM strategy for marketing. Personalize Your Website Creating a dynamically personalized and highly relevant website is extremely important to target accounts. Based on their behavior, location, profile, and other attributes, a website provides a different experience to your targeted accounts. Imagine browsing a website and seeing your industry on its homepage—wouldn’t you be intrigued to browse further? This is how a part of personalization works. So, personalize your website by tailoring content, gathering events, webinars, discussion forums, and collaboration with your industry leaders. These attributes help personalization become more powerful, as you gain the ability to catch target account’s interest the moment they click on your website. To create a personalized website, remember these points: Diversify your content through blog posts, infographics, video or slide presentations, etc. Your website’s structural flow should accommodate a straightforward user experience. Easy navigation of the website to encourage leads Perform testing on keywords, pricing info, placement of CTAs, layout, images, landing pages, and contact forms. Boost the quality of your content for accuracy, coherence, and tone. Distribute Content to the Right Person The foremost goal of ABM strategy to scale your business is to reach the right person at the right account. It is necessary so that you can engage, nurture, and build a strong connection. What’s the most effective way to create content to reach the right person? It’s an Email. Emails still work efficiently than any other content form when it comes to campaigns. The content for it needs to be highly relevant to contact a single account or a group of accounts that match your ideal customer’s profile. E-mail is not just limited to marketers. Sales representatives can use email too! 92% of businesses pay attention to emails even if it’s sent from a company that they have never done business with. They read an email that contains ideas that might be relevant to their business. Also, 78% of decision-makers have taken appointments or attended an event inspired by cold emails. So, do not be mistaken with email marketing dead just yet! To understand it more, know-how a direct mail can be effective: 80% of mail gets attention and opened. 56% of buyers initiate contact with the help of direct mail. 59% of buyers enjoy receiving direct mail from brands they like. The average ROI for mail campaigns is between 18-20%. Therefore, with mails, you can target a particular account and tailor the content particularly for them. Also, you can tailor the content to include personal details such as company logo, names, and job titles. Because this helps clients remember your company details than of others on top of their minds. Explore Experimental Marketing Experiential marketing in ABM strategy can combine real-world and virtual touch-points to promote higher campaign engagement. Refining your ABM campaigns around the tenants of experiential marketing can increase the likelihood of a conversion and strengthen your brand loyalty with target accounts. To do experiential marketing in your ABM strategy program, keep the focus on the following tactics: Create new content messaging to connect to the new focused target audience. Create a client value proposition on an account-by-account, including content marketing tricks. Focusing on an emotional connection between the target account and your brand to give solutions is essential Apply your content marketing strategies to a digital and real-world customer experience framework. Include all of your standard digital marketing channels, in-person events, and one-on-one meetings Lastly, Re-think Everything While the COVID-19 pandemic has left a wake of loss and misfortune in the B2B business world, the new digital-only reality will accelerate digital transformation across every B2B enterprise. More importantly, this will catalyze to resolve puzzling technology, skills, and organizational challenges that have prevented marketing teams from fully delivering a rich customer experience through their ABM programs. So, you should re-think everything at this time, including your tech stack, to increase the number of marketing technology. Leveraging a one-size-fits-all approach to ABM does not work, especially in a COVID-19 affected world. Now, more than ever, you need to include and demonstrate empathy and engage target accounts with the right content and message in your ABM strategy. By this, marketing organizations can quickly understand which accounts are in a buy-cycle and contribute to the virility of your campaigns within your accounts to expand coverage and conversion results. Frequently Asked Questions How effective is ABM? ABM helps companies to align their sales and marketing functions with increasing revenue. 60% of them using ABM have increased revenue by 10% in a year. Also, other companies have seen a 30% and more increase in business revenue. Therefore, by implementing account-based marketing, B2B marketers will have a technology stack that can scale their new business. How does personalization help ABM strategy to scale? If you have included personalization, here are ways that help your ABM strategy to scale: Create a strategic design, including creating empathy maps for each target audience segment or customer personas. Create proprietary datasets according to patterns of customer profiles, get insight, and include personalization messages, content on social media platforms, blogs, websites, and more. Use Tech integrations such as voice recognition and augmented reality, which is mobile-friendly, to reduce the cost of managing millions of data points. Automate process: Campaign creation, content creation through emails, and more. How to prepare ABM strategies? Follow these steps to prepare ABM strategies: Build the sales bridge to establish alignment between sales and marketing leadership. Define your segments. Align marketing and sales processes. Empower sales and marketing, including technology stacks like artificial intelligence, machine learning, chatbots, VR, and AR. Host consistent planning sessions with territory-level managers. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How effective is ABM?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "ABM helps companies to align their sales and marketing functions with increasing revenue. 60% of them using ABM have increased revenue by 10% in a year. Also, other companies have seen a 30% and more increase in business revenue. Therefore, by implementing account-based marketing, B2B marketers will have a technology stack that can scale their new business." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How does personalization help ABM strategy to scale?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "If you have included personalization, here are ways that help your ABM strategy to scale: Create a strategic design, including creating empathy maps for each target audience segment or customer personas. Create proprietary datasets according to patterns of customer profiles, get insight, and include personalization messages, content on social media platforms, blogs, websites, and more. Use Tech integrations such as voice recognition and augmented reality, which is mobile-friendly, to reduce the cost of managing millions of data points. Automate process: Campaign creation, content creation through emails, and more." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How to prepare ABM strategies?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Follow these steps to prepare ABM strategies: Build the sales bridge to establish alignment between sales and marketing leadership. Define your segments. Align marketing and sales processes. Empower sales and marketing, including technology stacks like artificial intelligence, machine learning, chatbots, VR, and AR. Host consistent planning sessions with territory-level managers." } }] }

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Buyer Intent Data

The Strategy of Direct Mail in ABM

Article | August 23, 2022

When a package arrives at your doorstep, you get excited as a child, no matter what age you are! Some people express their excitement, while some are really good at hiding it. But inquisitiveness and curiosity are natural feelings. Imagine building up these feelings in the mind of the decision-makers of businesses that you are targeting. So, yes, you will stand out in the crowd and, they will notice the gesture, no matter how small or big it is! Coming back to the point, we are talking about the strategy of direct mails in account-based marketing. This strategy has proved to be a success for many organizations practicing ABM. So what exactly is direct mail in ABM and, are there any successful ways or ideal examples to follow? Let us see in detail. What Is Direct Mail in ABM? We are aware that account-based marketing is a strategy that involves targeting, personalization and conversions. But what happens when we make tangibility a part of the above process? Well, the results are impressive. An Infotrends report stated that the e-mail response rate increased from 7.5% to 9.5% with a multi-channel ABM strategy. But, the biggest challenges of ABM are delivering a personalized customer experience, choosing the target accounts, and deciding on the correct content. Thus, direct mail can help you deal with the challenge of delivering a personalized customer experience. A direct mail strategy delivers personalized objects, messages, and more to the targeted organization’s decision-makers. The best part about direct mail is that you can get as creative as you want. Plus, it ensures that the top team notices your efforts. “Direct mail is the new black in B2B. There is nothing more personalized than a handwritten note with a personalized direct mail that is fully customized for your prospect or customer.” - Sangram Vajre, CMO of Terminus. Let us have a look at the best ways to incorporate direct mail in your ABM strategy. Ideas to Implement Direct Mail in ABM Remember, no matter what personalized goodies you plan to send to the concerned people, ensure that: You have a bold, clear, and obvious call to action. Your message is short, simple, and direct. Your strategy should be less is more. You have added the extra personal touch in your mail. Once you have devised the direct mail strategy, here are some things that you need to keep in mind before implementation. Determine the Stage in the Buyer’s Journey Before sending direct mail to your target account, know where they stand in their buyer’s journey. Let us consider these three stages. Awareness Stage If your buyer is in the awareness stage, you need to target all the organization’s decision-makers. Sending them goodies that get them together might be a good idea. For example: Send a box with a personalized message about your company to one and send the key to another. Or you could gift puzzles pieces to each one that needs them to come together to decode the message. Demo Stage Congrats! If you reached the demo stage with the target account. Now, if you’re finding it difficult to set an appointment with them, use direct mail to get their attention. For example: Send them a box with a clock ticking and a surprise to be opened at some given time. As if a demo can be scheduled at that time and claim the gift! 2.1.3 Final Stage You have closed the deal and are all ready to start the dealings. But some small things seemed to be stuck from the buyer’s end. This is where your research will prove handy. You need the search for a particular likeness about the decision-maker and lure them. It will help you get their attention and close all the pending work. For example: Send them a password-protected gadget and, they can access that only after the deal is complete. 2.2 Know the Decision-makers It is an essential aspect in determining the direct mail that you need to send. You should be well aware of the receiver's likes, dislikes, hobbies, and personal traits. Thus, use social media and everything possible from the sales team to create the best effect. Determine the Factors for Conversion Lastly, when the package opens, it should immediately connect to the individual. Thus, when you design or assemble the package, ensure that it connects immediately. Moreover, it should address the pain points and challenges and align with the company’s goals. Thus, determine the factors that directly affect them and, you will provide the best solutions. For example: If you are a hiring agency, give them a complete puzzle with just one piece missing. And a couple of options for the missing piece. Once they fit the right piece in, your puzzle says, “Having trouble finding the right person, we will help your hire!” And ensure that you send a personalized note to every individual along with the common goal of the message. Benefits of B2B Direct Mail Marketing No doubt, personalization will elevate your direct mail strategy, thus promising enhanced customer involvement. But there are other prominent benefits of B2B direct mail marketing. Lets us have a glance at them. Higher account engagement Less wastage of resources Higher win rate Shorter sales cycles Create strong connections The improved success rate of ABM strategy Ideal Examples of Direct Mail in ABM Some organizations have nailed it correctly when it comes to direct mail marketing. Here are a few examples. The Perry Process (Image Courtesy: Pinterest) The Perry Process is a renowned company that deals with used machinery and equipment for 80 years and continues to do. Thus, it wanted manufacturing companies to sell their unwanted and excess equipment in return for cash. So keeping this message in mind, they included fake money inserts with a flyer that said, ‘Don’t throw away your money.’ Hence, it succeeded in sending across its message most realistically! Schott Solar Schott Solar is a company that produces solar panels. Their solar panels came with a 20-year warranty. (Image Courtesy: D&AD) To amplify the selling, they included a 20-year warranty calendar along with the solar panel. The calendar stuck out 60 centimeters from the wall, thus delivering the desired message! Wrapping It Up So no matter what business you deal with, innovation and creativity are the way to easy conversions! Thus understand your customers and give them what they want in a quirky style. Frequently Asked Questions What is direct mail in account-based marketing? Direct mail is a tangible ABM strategy wherein products are mailed directly to customers. These products are personalized and have a direct marketing message. Examples of such products are postcards, catalogs, personal goods, coupons, samples, and more. What impact does direct mail create on the receiver? A study by scientists reveals that if a person receives a physical product, it leaves a deeper footprint on the brain. Thus, a direct mail strategy is sure to get you noticed by your customer. And the best part is that the more creative and personalized you get, the better impact it creates! Can a simple postcard count as a direct mail strategy? Of course, it can. If it sends a clear message of your marketing campaign, is personalized, and instigates the customer to take action, it is a successful direct mail strategy. Always remember, the size or price of the direct mail does not matter, but the impact it creates does! { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What is direct mail in account-based marketing?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Direct mail is a tangible ABM strategy wherein products are mailed directly to customers. These products are personalized and have a direct marketing message. Examples of such products are postcards, catalogs, personal goods, coupons, samples, and more." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What impact does direct mail create on the receiver?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "A study by scientists reveals that if a person receives a physical product, it leaves a deeper footprint on the brain. Thus, a direct mail strategy is sure to get you noticed by your customer. And the best part is that the more creative and personalized you get, the better impact it creates!" } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "Can a simple postcard count as a direct mail strategy?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Of course, it can. If it sends a clear message of your marketing campaign, is personalized, and instigates the customer to take action, it is a successful direct mail strategy. Always remember, the size or price of the direct mail does not matter, but the impact it creates does!" } }] }

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Core ABM

5 Must-ask Questions about ABM Strategy Implementation

Article | December 18, 2021

ABM in Marketing Account-based marketing (ABM) is diametrically opposite of traditional marketing. Instead of targeting all kinds of customers with generic content, it targets only the most lucrative accounts using personalized content. This concentrated targeting results in more conversions, longer business associations, expansion, and account retention. In an interview with Media 7, Clive Armitage, CEO of Agent3, said, “If you are not utilizing the power of data, technology and content then you are failing to be a modern marketer.” ABM leverages firmographic data (basic info), technographic data (data about the kind of technology the lead uses), intent data (lead behavior), and engagement data (data gained through form filling, and event attendance) to target accounts and segment them based on priority. A 2020 benchmark study by the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) found that 76% of companies reported a higher ROI with ABM than other marketing types. How Does ABM Contribute to Revenue Growth? ABM drives higher ROI and measurable sales using marketing campaigns created by both sales and marketing teams. A successful ABM strategy has components like these: Targeting the right accounts and managing them Cross-channel engagement Measuring and dynamically optimizing the ABM programs using specialized dashboards to map targets, programs, and revenue metrics created by an account-based marketing software ABM helps scale business revenue in the following ways: Shows a Clear ROI Businesses prefer precise results from their marketing strategies. ABM prioritizes ROI. It gives the highest ROI compared to any other B2B marketing strategy because it targets the highest-value accounts that meet defined criteria through custom campaigns addressing their needs and pain points. Helps with Resource Allocation ABM focuses only on high-value accounts. Consequently, companies can allocate their resources better and save time and money. Engages the Audience Personalized content means targeted accounts see only the content they can relate to so there is increased engagement and interaction. Can Be Tracked Every Step of the Way ABM metrics can be tracked every step of the way, so there is a clear idea of what is working and what isn’t. Important metrics include ROI, engagement, awareness, target account reach, and influence. Aligns Sales and Marketing Teams ABM aligns sales and marketing teams by helping them find common ground for their goals and objectives. 5 Must-ask Questions about ABM Strategy Implementation Account-based marketing questions about ABM technology and strategy arise when businesses transition from traditional lead generation techniques to ABM. The following five must-ask questions about account-based marketing can be the keys to transitioning to ABM: How to Create an ABM Strategy That Works? To create an ABM strategy that works, follow these steps: Define your target accounts. Identify the key decision-makers of your target accounts. Personalize your content to cater to your target accounts. Choose appropriate channels to approach your target accounts. Formulate campaigns to engage the target accounts. Measure the success of your campaign using correct metrics. What Things Should You Consider Before Allocating a Budget for ABM? It is pretty challenging to find the correct answer to this question. The cost of tools, channels, and individual items keeps varying. Money spent on-field events, content creation to cater to target accounts, ads, trade shows, research, and intent data collection factors into budgeting. To make budgeting easier, consider bifurcating the expenses into categories like technology (CRM, marketing automation systems, and data management platforms), human resources (data analysts, social media associates, and content strategists), events (one-on-one meets, trade shows, and webinars), media campaigns and direct mail. How to Decide on the Size of the Target Accounts? The size of your target accounts depends on your business goals (acquisition, retention, expansion), team size, and initiatives on an organizational level. Tiering accounts into three categories using data, technology, and thorough research has worked out for several businesses. Tier 1: These are the accounts that fit your ideal customer profile (ICP) bill perfectly and have high strategic value. Tier 2: These accounts have an excellent ICP but lower lifetime value. Tier 3: These accounts meet only some criteria of ICP. Pursue these accounts but don’t go overboard to get their business. What Metrics Should Be Used to Map ABM Success? The biggest advantage of an ABM strategy is that its success can be measured. To measure this success, you need to focus on important KPIs like: Engagement: This includes email metrics, social metrics, consumption rates, and offline activity metrics. Awareness: This KPI measures how aware your target accounts are of your brand, how credible they think it is and how they respond to it. Influence: Measure how your ABM campaign contributes to the lead conversion rate, and increase the frequency and volume of your lead interactions. Target Account Reach: With the help of ABM tools, this KPI measures the percentage of the target account’s engaged decision-makers. ROI: Mapping ROI is essential for assessing the success of an ABM strategy. ABM gives better ROI as compared to other marketing strategies. Other metrics to consider are value, customer retention, and sales metrics. Who Should Be on the ABM Team? To begin with, your ABM team should have leadership that knows ABM and its implementation. Key decision-makers from the marketing, sales, and operations departments should be on this leadership team. It should work on setting goals, overseeing the implementation of the ABM strategy, and mapping its success. How DocuSign Used ABM to Increase Their Customer Engagement and Sales Pipeline by 22% “We have more awareness and educational content that’s reaching our non-engaged accounts. And we will dedicate a lower level of spend to that program so that we are prioritizing our spend on our more engaged accounts.” - Perri Gardner, Director of ABM, DocuSign. By using ABM to target high-value accounts and categorizing their spending based on the value of those accounts, DocuSign increased their customer engagement and sales pipeline by 22%. Conclusion Transitioning from a traditional marketing strategy to account-based marketing is vital to drive ROI, engagement, brand awareness, and influence. Correctly implementing an ABM strategy contributes to revenue growth through quicker lead conversions, proper allocation of resources, and a targeted approach. FAQ What is the first step in implementing an ABM strategy? The first step of implementing the ABM strategy is to define the accounts you want to target. Is ABM better than a traditional lead-based marketing strategy? Yes. As of 2021, 70% of marketers are using ABM and are seeing a remarkable increase in their ROI. What does an ABM strategy depend on? An ABM strategy depends on high-quality intent data. Content personalization, account segmentation, and lead nurturing cannot be achieved without it.

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Spotlight

Virtual DBS

Virtual DBS provides digital and database marketing resources, delivered through a cloud-based data center. Our services are deployed to boost the response performance of our clients’ targeted online and offline marketing campaigns less expensively and faster than traditional service providers. Complimentary proof-of-concept customer profile reports are included with our initial consultation and these can usually be completed in under a week.

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Lionbridge Augments Artificial Intelligence Offering Through Acquisition of Gengo and Gengo.ai

Lionbridge | January 16, 2019

Today, Lionbridge, one of the world’s most trusted global communications platforms, announced its acquisition of Gengo, a Tokyo-based, leading edge technology company providing crowdsourcing, machine learning and localization services to global customers. Lionbridge has a 20-year history of leveraging its 500,000 linguistic experts to help the world’s largest companies expand their businesses on the global stage by providing machine learning data to make their platforms and products smarter and create content for a variety of industries. The acquisition of Gengo will strengthen Lionbridge’s position in the machine learning and content relevance markets. This purchase includes Gengo.ai, the company’s platform that provides AI training-data services delivered by a fast and efficient crowdsourced network of highly specialized contributors. “Gengo is a key acquisition for us that immediately complements our core strategic initiatives,” said John Fennelly, Lionbridge CEO. “It will accelerate our ability to penetrate new markets in the artificial intelligence space; it bolsters our human capital pool by bringing an extremely talented team assembled by Matthew Romaine into our company; and Gengo’s advanced technology platform will become a key part of our localization delivery system. In addition to those very tangible benefits, we’ll add to our already formidable capabilities in Asia, and this will give us a deeper set of technology tools to increase our market share in the local games and life sciences markets.”

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Lionbridge Wins Employee Engagement Award from The Conference Board

Lionbridge | July 10, 2019

Lionbridge, the world's most trusted global communications platform, is pleased to announce that it has won the Technology division award for Employee Engagement in the Conference Board's Excellence in Marketing & Communications Awards Program. This prestigious program honors organizations for their innovative use of communications technologies. Last year, Lionbridge developed a new intranet known as The Bridge to help its more than 6,000 employees around the world live out its mission to break barriers and build bridges. The Bridge has supported the change management and transformation of Lionbridge by reenergizing and reengaging the global "Pride." It has created a direct feedback loop between senior management and a global workforce and improved communication and collaboration across departments and countries. "Each year, we highlight how organizations across different industries have achieved their goals through their integration of innovative technologies into their communications and marketing strategies," said Jen McClure, Principal Distinguished Fellow at The Conference Board's Marketing & Communications Center, and Chair of the Center's awards program. "We are very pleased to honor and showcase the pioneering work of Lionbridge as part of this year's awards program."

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Lionbridge Again Named One of America's Best Employers by Forbes

Lionbridge | April 17, 2019

Lionbridge Technologies is proud to announce it has again been named one of America's Best Employers by Forbes, which also recognized Lionbridge as a Best Employer for Women in 2018. The 2019 list recognizes organizations across a variety of industries that employ more than 1,000 people in the U.S. Working with Statista, Forbes deployed an independent survey to a representative sample of the US workforce and reached more than 50,000 employees overall. The rankings were mainly assessed based on the likelihood that an employee would recommend their employer to friends and family versus recommend a different employer. Other questions included inquiries about company culture, career development, gender equality, and compensation. "Our foundational priorities are our people and customers," said John Fennelly, CEO of Lionbridge. "We're very proud of the progress we've made in creating an environment that allows our talent to expand their skillsets and interests. This has also helped us accelerate our innovation efforts." Ann Lazarus-Barnes, Lionbridge's Chief People Officer, said the award is a testament to the company's dedication to its employees. "Our community's strength is an immeasurably important part of our success and we are always on the lookout for the best and brightest to join us," she said.

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Lionbridge Augments Artificial Intelligence Offering Through Acquisition of Gengo and Gengo.ai

Lionbridge | January 16, 2019

Today, Lionbridge, one of the world’s most trusted global communications platforms, announced its acquisition of Gengo, a Tokyo-based, leading edge technology company providing crowdsourcing, machine learning and localization services to global customers. Lionbridge has a 20-year history of leveraging its 500,000 linguistic experts to help the world’s largest companies expand their businesses on the global stage by providing machine learning data to make their platforms and products smarter and create content for a variety of industries. The acquisition of Gengo will strengthen Lionbridge’s position in the machine learning and content relevance markets. This purchase includes Gengo.ai, the company’s platform that provides AI training-data services delivered by a fast and efficient crowdsourced network of highly specialized contributors. “Gengo is a key acquisition for us that immediately complements our core strategic initiatives,” said John Fennelly, Lionbridge CEO. “It will accelerate our ability to penetrate new markets in the artificial intelligence space; it bolsters our human capital pool by bringing an extremely talented team assembled by Matthew Romaine into our company; and Gengo’s advanced technology platform will become a key part of our localization delivery system. In addition to those very tangible benefits, we’ll add to our already formidable capabilities in Asia, and this will give us a deeper set of technology tools to increase our market share in the local games and life sciences markets.”

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Lionbridge Wins Employee Engagement Award from The Conference Board

Lionbridge | July 10, 2019

Lionbridge, the world's most trusted global communications platform, is pleased to announce that it has won the Technology division award for Employee Engagement in the Conference Board's Excellence in Marketing & Communications Awards Program. This prestigious program honors organizations for their innovative use of communications technologies. Last year, Lionbridge developed a new intranet known as The Bridge to help its more than 6,000 employees around the world live out its mission to break barriers and build bridges. The Bridge has supported the change management and transformation of Lionbridge by reenergizing and reengaging the global "Pride." It has created a direct feedback loop between senior management and a global workforce and improved communication and collaboration across departments and countries. "Each year, we highlight how organizations across different industries have achieved their goals through their integration of innovative technologies into their communications and marketing strategies," said Jen McClure, Principal Distinguished Fellow at The Conference Board's Marketing & Communications Center, and Chair of the Center's awards program. "We are very pleased to honor and showcase the pioneering work of Lionbridge as part of this year's awards program."

Read More

Lionbridge Again Named One of America's Best Employers by Forbes

Lionbridge | April 17, 2019

Lionbridge Technologies is proud to announce it has again been named one of America's Best Employers by Forbes, which also recognized Lionbridge as a Best Employer for Women in 2018. The 2019 list recognizes organizations across a variety of industries that employ more than 1,000 people in the U.S. Working with Statista, Forbes deployed an independent survey to a representative sample of the US workforce and reached more than 50,000 employees overall. The rankings were mainly assessed based on the likelihood that an employee would recommend their employer to friends and family versus recommend a different employer. Other questions included inquiries about company culture, career development, gender equality, and compensation. "Our foundational priorities are our people and customers," said John Fennelly, CEO of Lionbridge. "We're very proud of the progress we've made in creating an environment that allows our talent to expand their skillsets and interests. This has also helped us accelerate our innovation efforts." Ann Lazarus-Barnes, Lionbridge's Chief People Officer, said the award is a testament to the company's dedication to its employees. "Our community's strength is an immeasurably important part of our success and we are always on the lookout for the best and brightest to join us," she said.

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