Inbound vs. ABM? That's the Wrong Question

As a modern B2B marketer, I find it impossible not to approach marketing from an account-based mindset. However, what hurts marketers most is the old-school philosophy of inbound versus outbound, and the idea that somehow ABM is only an outbound strategy to go "fishing with spears." Yes, that's a big part of ABM, but if we ignore inbound marketing, we miss at least half the value of ABM. In a recent article, the question was asked, "Account-based marketing takes on inbound marketing... Which will win?" But it's really not an "either or" situation.

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Castleford Media

We are Castleford. Australia and New Zealand’s leading content marketing agency. We strategise. We create. We amplify. As a full-service content marketing agency we win business, leads and brand exposure for our clients by creating tailored content for their sites. We can design your strategy, create cost-effective content – and then amplify it through smart promotion.

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Account Based Analytics

Transform Your Business into a Sales Machine with Buyer Intent Data

Article | August 3, 2022

B2B buyer intent data provides insight into a user’s purchase intent. With this information, you can identify when a prospect matching your ICP is actively considering buying your product, or similar products or solutions. This intent data is collated from different digital sources that use cookies to analyze key intent search terms to zero in on when a prospect is in an active buying journey. With this information, B2B companies like yours can make campaigns that are very specific to these prospects and are more likely to convert them. Let us take a look at how B2B buyer intent data can assist sales teams to achieve their revenue goals. Identify High-Intent Target Accounts In account-based marketing, a target account list has companies and accounts that are most likely to buy your product. This target account list helps your sales and marketing teams concentrate their efforts to push high-quality leads through the sales funnel. Using B2B buyer intent data, the sales team can know which prospect is showing key signals of purchase intent. These B2B intent data key signals include downloading resources, reading blog posts, signing up for a free trial, booking a demo, viewing the pricing page, and revisiting your website after the first interaction. Your sales team can segment the target list based on this information. Every lead can be broken down into three segments: high intent, medium intent, and low intent. Now that your sales team has the high intent leads, they can target these leads and convert them without wasting time on low intent leads that may not be ready to buy. Your Sales Cycles Are Shorter than Ever Salespeople often struggle with closing deals faster. The reasons behind this could be anything from wrong contact details to chasing imprecise, low-qualified leads and cold prospecting. Reaching out to accounts that do not show any intent to buy is a waste of time your sales team cannot afford if it wants to meet the revenue targets. With the help of B2B buyer intent data, your sales team gets actionable data insights on the accounts that are in the market and what they are looking for so they can approach these accounts confidently. Popular intent data providers provide more than 95% accurate contact information, company structure, and buyer group details on accounts so your sales team can connect with decision-makers directly and close deals faster. Lead Prioritization is No Longer a Struggle Prioritized lead scoring effectively puts sales managers and salespeople in a position to see real opportunities. B2B buyer intent data allows them to see what other paths leads can take even if they do not visit your website. They can understand which leads are in the final stage of the sales cycle in real-time. Leveraging this information, sales managers can align sales representatives based on the comprehensive overview of accounts without worrying about the initial ranking of the account with the help of intent-based marketing. It helps the entire sales team take advantage of the foresight that intent data provides to create an agile method to capture demand accurately. Improved ABM Implementation Enriching the B2B buyer journey with hyper-personalized content to target ICP in marketing as a part of intent data marketing becomes easy for your marketing teams. They can prepare content for each stage of the buying funnel, which consists of awareness, consideration, and decision-making stages. In the awareness stage, you can help your prospects narrow down their search and lead them to your brand. In the consideration stage, your sales teams can get in touch with the decision-makers who respond the most to your marketing campaigns and are in the stage to purchase your product. In the final decision-making stage, your customer support and sales teams can provide the prospects the assistance they need through content on crucial pages via a product guidance tool or a chat service. This way, your B2B account-based marketing strategy can be implemented with added accuracy. Final Thought Saving costs, generating more leads, and boosting sales becomes easier with the help of buyer intent data. Rather than letting your sales team wait for prospects to stumble upon landing pages, your business can leverage B2B intent data to gain a competitive edge by finding them first and offering them solutions to their problems through your products using buyer intent data strategies.

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Buyer Intent Data

5 Must-ask Questions about ABM Strategy Implementation

Article | September 11, 2023

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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Buyer Intent Data

Five Things That Can Make a Difference to ABM in EMEA

Article | June 20, 2023

The shift in buyer behavior has increased the opportunities for digital ABM. Organizations implementing ABM are seeing significant success. But what does the situation in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) market look like? ABM is still not well understood in EMEA. Two out of every three ABM programs are not showing optimal performance (Heinz ABM Research). However, things might not be as bleak as they seem. Talking about the 2021 State of ABM in Europe report by Terminus, Albany Vincent, Senior Research Manager at Vanson Bourse said, “While we were not shocked to see the US to be moderately ahead of Europe in their ABM maturity, we were surprised to see how much more eager European companies were to adopt these practices and their American counterparts. It appears to be a very exciting time to be a marketer- especially in Europe." Europe has stringent data laws, so the account-based approach could be the only way for sustainable growth for organizations based in EMEA. Do You Know Enough About ABM Execution? Taking into account the ever-evolving account-based approach, here are five things you should know about ABM and how to implement it for optimal performance: A Curated Account List Is the Secret Ingredient Your target account list should be the result of a conversation between your sales and marketing teams using as much high-quality data as possible. Start off by implementing the program on a small number of accounts and analyze your ROI. Then, periodically revaluate your team performance, tools, skills, and messaging to clear the path for ABM success. Your Sales and Marketing Teams Should Share Their Pizzas Sales and marketing synchronization is the most basic requirement of ABM. The marketing team can enable sales with target accounts’ interests and behavior data. The sales team, on the other hand, can give the marketing team insights into key members of the target account buying group. According to research by ZoomInfo, when the sales and marketing teams are aligned, organizations have a 36% higher customer retention rate and a 67% improved chance of converting leads. Depending Only on MQLs Will Not Get You Far The TechTarget 2021 Media Consumption Survey highlighted that most buying teams have an average of five people, but can also be more than ten. Understanding the intent of the individuals from the buyer group and offering them value through every sales and marketing interaction is crucial to the success of your ABM strategy. Depending on only MQLs can limit the potential of your ABM. Only Strategic Content Brings in the Results You Want Your target accounts are flooded with content every day. To stand out in the crowd and appeal to the individuals in the buying group, you need to align your content with their customer personas. The content should address their pain points and needs. It should be crafted based on an account’s maturity, challenges, and technical abilities. ABM Isn’t Your Regular Marketing Strategy ABM is a strategic approach where the marketing and sales teams share their insights through the account interactions of everyone in an account. Then they collectively reach out to the whole buying team rather than targeting just a few individuals. ABM takes a detailed look at the target account and aligns your business with your prospects’ needs and pain points, and this easily surpasses a regular marketing strategy. Circling Back ABM in EMEA is still evolving. Therefore, organizations need to make special efforts to implement ABM effectively, keeping the target accounts in focus and understanding the attributes of ABM in detail to get the most out of it.

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ABM Accounts

Five Must-Try Software As A Service Growth Hacking Strategies

Article | May 30, 2021

Many businesses employ Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for its flexibility and simplicity to fulfill their marketing requirements. Different types of SaaS marketing platforms help companies simplify their marketing needs. But growing a SaaS company isn’t easy. It is quite challenging because the industry is flooded with competition. Research had predicted very early on that 73% of the companies would turn all their apps into SaaS by 2021, making SaaS competition fiercer than ever. Marketeers eye for consumers’ already limited attention spans in B2B and B2C spaces.

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Spotlight

Castleford Media

We are Castleford. Australia and New Zealand’s leading content marketing agency. We strategise. We create. We amplify. As a full-service content marketing agency we win business, leads and brand exposure for our clients by creating tailored content for their sites. We can design your strategy, create cost-effective content – and then amplify it through smart promotion.

Related News

Account-Based Marketing Won’t Be the Death of Anything

leandatainc | January 25, 2016

This has been proclaimed as “The Year of Account-Based Marketing” by several industry thought-leaders, including Craig Rosenberg and Scott Brinker. In the wake of all the recent publicity, some have begun loudly hypothesizing about how ABM could be the death knell of just about everything. Suddenly, there are blog posts everywhere about ABM will be turning out the lights on Marketing Automation, Inbound, Content Marketing, Demand Generation, and on and on. You can’t open up LinkedIn or Twitter anymore without seeing breathless predictions that the end is near for various, proven strategies for marketers. Oh, and they typically conclude with a pithy product pitch and how you just can’t do ABM without their solution. So, hurry. You don’t want to miss out.

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Account-Based Marketing Won’t Be the Death of Anything

leandatainc | January 25, 2016

This has been proclaimed as “The Year of Account-Based Marketing” by several industry thought-leaders, including Craig Rosenberg and Scott Brinker. In the wake of all the recent publicity, some have begun loudly hypothesizing about how ABM could be the death knell of just about everything. Suddenly, there are blog posts everywhere about ABM will be turning out the lights on Marketing Automation, Inbound, Content Marketing, Demand Generation, and on and on. You can’t open up LinkedIn or Twitter anymore without seeing breathless predictions that the end is near for various, proven strategies for marketers. Oh, and they typically conclude with a pithy product pitch and how you just can’t do ABM without their solution. So, hurry. You don’t want to miss out.

Read More

Events