Buyer Intent Data
Article | September 11, 2023
When it comes to ABM vs. demand generation, most businesses struggle to find the right balance. Swinging too far one way or the other can completely derail your performance — and your organization's trust.
Here are some things you can do to get the best of both ABM and demand generation:
Check If You Are Too Heavy on Demand
If you are someone who focuses more on demand, then you should:
Gather insights from data, intelligence, and signals to develop a strong ICP. A strong ICP will help you target the individuals that make up the buying committee.
Keep your TAL (target account list) short and base it on buying intent.
Build an ABM program that encompasses teams, channels, and activities to gauge output and refine the use case.
Engage the double funnel to understand where you should draw the line between ABM and demand generation.
Are You Too Focused on ABM?
For the account-based marketer in you, it must be very hard to think beyond your target accounts. To balance this out, you should:
Get more information on the channels and tactics that your buyers respond to.
Draft messaging that creates urgency around your target account’s pain points.
Test your content on a large audience to see which gets the most engagement.
Use these insights to find the right balance between your demand generation strategy and ABM.
Beat the Odds When Implementing Strategies
Issues like no alignment between your sales and marketing teams and a superior insisting on implementing 100% ABM may arise. To address such issues, you should:
Expertly measure your data so all your responses are data-driven.
Chase directional improvements instead of trying to perfect your strategies right away.
Define a single metric for success, so your teams work towards achieving the same goal.
Keep your efforts balanced when implementing demand gen and ABM strategies.
Conclusion
If you do not strike a delicate balance between your ABM and your demand generation plan, your SDR teams will get overwhelmed and may not reach the level of efficiency you desire. Remember, your demand generation program should supplement your ABM efforts and not drive them.
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Account Based Analytics
Article | August 3, 2022
ABM is Agent3’s heartland. It’s what we do best. And if you’re a regular reader of our website, you’ll be in no doubt about how strongly we feel about our commitment to ‘true’ ABM, ie, an approach that treats key accounts as markets of one.
Why? Because it works: according to ITSMA, almost 85% of marketers measuring ROI say that ABM outperforms other marketing investments and research by Alterra Group backs this statistic, revealing ABM had higher ROI than other marketing activities.
So when marketers come to us asking for pilot ABM programs on, say, 8-10 accounts it’s little wonder that the results we achieve soon means they’re asking us to ramp up that ABM activity to 50-100 accounts as interest in ABM within their organization is suddenly piqued.
And therein lies the challenge for many.
To scale a ‘true’ ABM program effectively without compromising on the key fundamentals it encompasses involves the alignment of many moveable parts: technology and resourcing are fundamental considerations, but then there’s also the decision about which accounts to include and why, and establishing clear objectives for the program.
It’s not straightforward, but if this is a challenge you’re grappling with currently, be reassured by the multiple survey results available online that you’re certainly not alone.
And it’s for this reason we chose to discuss the topic at last week’s B2B Marketing Ignite USA event with a panel of esteemed marketers: Carrie Feord – Global Head of ABM Industry Clusters, Servicenow, Giovanni Di Natale, senior manager, enterprise and ABM Marketing, Pure Storage and Vera Tatro, strategic account-based marketing, AMER, Splunk. It was great to sit down with these ABM leaders to explore some of these challenges and provide some perspective on how best to successfully navigate them.
In the session, we covered:
1) How people define ABM at scale and where the line is drawn in terms of defining the difference between 1:few/1:many ‘ABM’ and good account-centric demand generation from Product, Solutions and Industry Marketing teams. We also discussed whether certain compromises need to be made as you pursue scale.
2) How to enable teams in the field to scale with ABM: the panel shared successes they have had as well as highlighting ‘banana skins’ teams need to avoid in terms of developing ABM resources/playbooks/templates/toolkits which can then be activated by a growing team of ABMers and Field Marketers. We also discussed ways to embed a ‘build once, use again’ mindset while still being true to the ideals of ABM.
3) Clarification of roles within ABM organisations across marketing when it comes to scaling and succeeding within ABM – the panel discussed what skillsets and roles they see as being important as organizations shift from being small-scale ABM pilots to broader programs.
As you can probably imagine, it was a lively session and audience feedback would suggest we hit upon some very real challenges, so it was great to hear first-hand from the panel about their own experiences, successes and learnings.
If you missed it, I highly recommend carving 30 minutes out of your day to watch, and if you have any feedback or comments, we’d love to hear!
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Buyer Intent Data
Article | August 23, 2022
These days the challenges that the marketing and the sales team face are tremendous. The pressure to meet targets, deadlines, achieve revenue, and at the same time keep the clients satisfied is not an easy task. And to add to the woes, there is massive competition in the industry.
But there is one way to overcome all the obstacles and achieve targets while keeping clients happy and satisfied. This strategy is ABM- Account-Based Marketing. ABM campaigns have been a trendsetter in the B2B marketing field for a long time. As it ensures successful marketing, businesses are turning towards this thriving approach.
What Exactly Is Account-Based Marketing?
Account-based marketing is identifying the target, high-value customers and selling your product/service to them. This ABM approach allows you to concentrate on exclusive clients and guarantees the best ROI.
What Is B2B Account-Based Marketing?
B2B account-based marketing is targeting an organization with specific and personalized marketing campaigns. When you target the decision-makers of an organization, you need to tread with caution. When you design a marketing strategy for them, personalize it, and deliver everything to increase their brand value.
Thus, ABM is a marketing strategy wherein the sales and the marketing team have to put their heads together to deliver an impeccable buying experience for the best and valuable clients.
Tactics to Implement a Successful Account-Based Marketing
According to the Pardot site survey, 89% of businesses reported higher ROI in ABM than traditional marketing methods.
If you develop an account-based marketing plan, here are some tips to follow:
Collaborate working of the marketing and sales team to identify high-value clients and gather maximum data about them.
Use social media to gather data and create a personalized approach for the clients.
Try to sync in with the brand of the target company to develop relatable content and graphics.
Recognize the expertise, pain points, and challenges of the target account and frame communication.
Send personalized emails addressing the challenges your target account faces.
Host face to face or virtual events
5 Trend-setting Examples of Account-Based Marketing
ABM is a marketing strategy that has shown guaranteed success in the B2B industry. You have to sculpt unique ideas and have a personalized approach towards your targeted clients. The clients should feel that you have made efforts to know them, understand them, and address the challenges that they face.
Some companies have achieved an altogether different benchmark in ABM strategy. As a result, these are prominent examples of B2B account-based marketing.
Let us go through their account-based marketing case study and learn their ways of execution.
Snowflake- Excellent Use of Content Creation
“We needed to make sure that when you see an ABM campaign, it’s reflective of not only sales input but also product marketing, partner marketing, field marketing, and our SDRs. We needed a way to co-create one cohesive message for our key accounts.” — Hillary Carpio, Director of ABM, Snowflake.
Snowflake, a cloud-based data warehousing company, utilized its in-house services in the best way to create a library of high-quality content. This content is used to create personalized experiences for high-valued and targeted accounts. Then, this personalized content creates account-based marketing campaigns customized to reach the target customers.
Gumgum- Using Technology the Right Way.
GumGum collaborated and created an effective marketing product for the Clorox brand. They showcased this product at the Clorox annual iConnect Conference.
The product they created was turning a temporary tattoo into a fascinating 3D animation while incorporating logos of the concerned brands. It was a hit among the Clorox brand, and almost 200 attendees downloaded the GumGum app.
Intridea- Making the Right Confrontational Approach
Intridea did take a risk by implementing the direct approach of ABM advertising. They rented a billboard right across the advertising giant 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.
And they succeeded in fixing a meeting with Ogilvy’s CEO.
Payscale- Utilizing Data to Gain Profits
Payscale helps employers manage compensations in the right way. They also aid employees know their correct market value.
Payscale collaborated with their sales and marketing team to gather the correct information about ABM target accounts. Once they had ample information about the company’s decision-makers, they targeted the client with their best ad campaigns.
As a result, their ROI was six times more compared to any other marketing strategy!
O2- Gathered Data to Create Personalized Reports.
O2 is a leading ICT service provider.
The organization targeted many high-value clients and created personalized reports for them. Their modus operandi was to curate personalized reports on how the organization will benefit by utilizing O2 for their ICT services. The dedicated teams also emphasized on face to face meetings for customized strategies.
As a result, O2 had a successful ABM strategy as they achieved 313% of their target pipeline.
The Bottom Line
Account-based marketing strategies are incorporated in unique ways. As a result, there are many ideas where you can implement account-based marketing to stand out and gain maximum ROI. All you have to do is gather data and make the correct use of it.
So gear up and come up with uncommon ideas and, you never know your company could make it to the list of trendsetting examples of B2B account-based marketing!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best strategies for successful account-based marketing?
Enlist your high-value clients and gather maximum data about them(Social media can be of great help.)
Address their pain points and portray how well you know the organization
Collaborate with the marketing and sales team in the best way to provide appropriate solutions
Deliver 100% relevance in communication
What are the advantages of incorporating ABM?
Faster sales process
Guaranteed maximum ROI
Cost Efficiency
Shorter sales cycle
Deliver excellent value to high-value customers
When should you implement ABM?
ABM should be used in the B2B industry to sell to clients with high-value accounts. ABM should be implemented when an organization notices that certain exclusive clients can be easily converted with personalized strategies.
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Buyer Intent Data
Article | August 8, 2021
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.
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