Account Based Data
Article | August 19, 2022
The only constant thing about account-based marketing (ABM) is its evolution. ABM goes beyond plain sales and marketing. It is a strategic and dynamic approach to marketing. It influences B2B buyers who are savvy, digitally native, and educated buying committee members who are otherwise difficult to target, let alone convert.
ABM has evolved from pure one-to-one ABM to one-to-few and one-to-many. We know how ABM is now ABX, which harnesses intent data and programmatic advertising for better results.
Consider a company that wants to implement account-based marketing on its key accounts. If every aspect of this organization revolves around the needs, demands, and requirements of its key accounts, it becomes an account-centric enterprise.
In the first part of this article, we will discuss how an account-based approach on an organizational level can enhance your ABM strategy and help you create relationships that deliver mutual value and growth.
Building an Account-Centric Organization
Transforming an entire organization into an account-centric one is overall an eight-step process. Let us look at the first four:
Two-fold Approach: Check Your Foundation
Examine your foundation before implementing an account-based strategy. Ensure that your tech stack is optimum and that the right employees handle the right responsibilities. Secure the internal buy-in needed to get your ABM program up and running.
Adaption: Make Your Changes Eventually
Make changes to your current strategy only when required and over time. It is unnecessary to completely revamp your organization to align it with your ABM efforts. Ideally, make changes based on your performance. Always focus on the target account so all your teams— demand generation, events, sales, and marketing teams— will have the mindset to target your ICP. The correct approach is to enhance your processes as you go.
Awareness: Train and Educate Your Teams
Your entire team should live and breathe ABM. Align your sales and marketing teams. Other teams should match their processes to best suit the target accounts’ needs. Train and educate your teams, so they can easily adapt to new ABM processes and don’t feel blind-sided.
Analysis: Data Matters a Great Deal
Understand your data. Constantly review, acknowledge, and adjust your processes based on the data at hand. Then, support it with the knowledge of your salespeople. Get their input and advice on which accounts to engage with for optimal results. Then, bring them into the decision-making process for outstanding results.
It’s a Process
Building an account-centric organization requires time and commitment. In the next part of this article, we will discuss important aspects that impact and govern the success of your ABM strategy.
Stay tuned to read the next part of the article.
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Buyer Intent Data
Article | June 20, 2023
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!
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Buyer Intent Data
Article | September 11, 2023
Account Based Marketing (ABM) is not a new concept in B2B marketing. However, as an important integrated B2B marketing and sales approach, we don’t think it is widely understood or used as it should be in B2B media/events businesses and professional membership organisations.
Regardless of the size of your organisation, product types, or the sectors you serve, every senior business leader and marketer should be embracing ABM and integrating it as part of their overall marketing strategy.
If you’re keen to learn more about ABM – what it is, why it is important and how you put it into practice, read on!
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Account Based Data
Article | December 10, 2021
Introduction: Lead Nurturing
The leads in your database are there because your brand or service offers them a solution to a particular problem they are facing. Developing and reinforcing relationships with leads is critical at every stage of the sales funnel. How can you do this? By fostering leads.
To effectively nurture leads, you must first understand their wants, then address their problems, build brand recognition, and follow up until they become buyers.
Campaigns for Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing campaigns accelerate the process of deepening your connection with a prospect. A lead nurturing campaign has elements like:
Lead Magnets
Offering relevant content, solutions to pain points, and other enticing content like whitepapers, ebooks, and newsletters in exchange for the visitor’s contact information, mostly email, can get you a lead.
Website Landing Pages
Lead magnets are hosted on landing pages to attract visitors and collect their contact information.
Personalized Content
Personalized content engages and holds the visitor's attention. Marketing software generates this tailored material.
Data Segmentation
Every marketing software allows you to segment your lead data based on differentiating metrics like geography, age, and behavior. So, you can understand and analyze your users better.
Content Development
Using case studies and whitepapers to build credibility throughout the buyer's journey shows your capacity to aid customers you can relate to. This type of content nurturing can turn a visitor into a buyer.
Emailers
Engaging and educating your leads via periodic emails can help maintain a consistent communication chain. Your marketing software will send emails through the lead nurturing workflow you choose.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation, much like robotic process automation, leverages software to automate marketing tasks. Remember those survey and feedback emails you receive now and then? Marketing automation software sends them.
This software helps marketers align processes, technology, and people to achieve marketing goals. It automates and measures marketing tasks like email campaigns or content schedules into workflows to increase operational efficiency and revenue growth. It sends out marketing emails, grows your database, and collects data that helps with your marketing strategy.
It is used in lead generation, lead nurturing, scoring, relationship marketing, cross-selling and upselling, retention, segmentation, ROI measurement, and ABM.
Choosing a Good Marketing Automation Workflow Software
There are thousands of marketing automation software on the market. Consider the following factors to find the best fit:
Features
The more features your software has, the more you can do to entice a prospect to buy your product or service. Features like email campaigns, real-time alerts, lead management, and personalized messaging are great to have.
Budget-Friendly
The software should be affordable so you can easily implement your strategy without creating a hole in your pocket.
Customizable
Ensure the software can be customized to your needs. This may impact usability. However, customization is an important attribute if you want to track any proprietary data.
Channel Integration
It should easily integrate with other channels so it obtains relevant data to send out selected workflows.
Easy to Use
The software should be easy to use and not require any special training so that the execution process is seamless across teams in an agile environment.
Among the most widely used tools, some notable marketing automation tools are HubSpot, Pardot, Demandbase, and Marketo.
7 Result-oriented Marketing Automation Workflows Revealed
After you choose a marketing automation software that meets the above criteria, it gives you access to various marketing automation workflows that help you nurture your leads. By using specific triggers, you can create different workflows to nurture different kinds of leads. A marketing automation trigger is a unique input that activates a certain workflow when specific conditions are met.
Check out these seven effective marketing automation lead nurturing workflows that you should definitely create:
Hot Lead Workflow
This workflow is crucial for your sales team to bag a lead. Set the criteria for a hot lead workflow by considering the lead’s engagement with your content. This workflow falls into the bottom-of-the-funnel (BoFU) phase, where the lead is very close to being converted to a customer.
Lost Opportunity Workflow
If you have lost a lead due to budget restrictions, competitors, or misalignment of your product, design a workflow that gets the lead back into the sales funnel. You can send such leads special offers or discounts, information on your product’s USP, and a regular update on your products to recapture them.
Re-engagement Notification Workflow
Losing hope when engaged leads go cold on you is not an option. Remind them of your brand to wake them from their slumber. Create a trigger when the lead has spent a specific amount of time not interacting with your content. Your workflow will send this lead an email to get it back into the sales funnel. Special offers, new products or services updates, and company news can get the lead’s attention.
New Subscriber Nurture Workflow
This kind of workflow is crucial for gaining new subscribers and moving your existing subscribers through the funnel. It gets new subscribers to engage with your content. Your new subscribers should receive your newest content first, not just regular subscriber emails.
Topic-based Workflow
If you have a variety of content, create a workflow of the most relevant content that might entice your leads. Once a customer visits your website or downloads an ebook or whitepaper about a certain topic, emails with related content on that topic are sent to them regularly.
Event Workflow
Today, remotely conducted events like webinars or seminars have gained immense popularity. Engaging your target audience with the help of events is not a new trick. A pre-event and post-event workflow can help you remain in touch with event registrants. Important information like event details, agendas, and reminders can be sent to them to keep them in the loop.
Lead Nurturing Workflow
A lead nurturing workflow converts leads into marketing qualified leads (MQLs), leads that have responded to your marketing efforts. If a lead comes and fills up a form on your website, requests a demo, or subscribes to a product launch event, then sending them related content can get them closer to being a marketing-qualified lead.
How Utah-based Start-up Chatbooks Grew Their Customer Engagement by 100%
Using Blueshift’s AI-based cross-channel marketing platform, Chatbooks increased their customer engagement by 100%. They achieved higher conversion rates by engaging with customers 1:1 through personalized content and event-triggered campaigns.
“Blueshift enabled us to up-level our campaigns and provide 1-to-1 personalization using dynamic user information. We can now focus on high-intent customers that want to hear my message rather than email blasting and annoying my whole customer base. The results? A +100% increase in email engagement.”
- Stephen Cruz,Lifecycle Marketing Manager, Chatbooks
Wrapping It Up
Leveraging marketing automation in ABM by creating marketing workflows can do wonders for your ABM marketing strategy. 57% of marketers stated that lead nurturing is the most advantageous feature out of all the features of marketing automation software.
FAQ
Why are marketing automation workflows important for lead nurturing?
Marketing automation workflows make sure that your leads get appropriate engagement based on their type so that they get converted into marketing qualified leads.
How to choose a marketing automation software?
Consider factors like UI, ease of use, features, easy integration, and customization before choosing a marketing automation software.
What factors are important for the success of a marketing automation workflow?
Designing workflows for each type of lead is crucial. Other factors include creating appropriate triggers, mapping customer behavior, and maintaining CRM and technology stack.
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