Account Based Analytics
Article | August 3, 2022
B2B businesses use various marketing techniques to increase revenue. Most marketers run campaigns to target a wide range of audiences. But strategies are rarely successful in the B2B world. Moreover, these companies are forced to sell to a narrow list of prospects. So, they use a combination of inbound and account-based marketing techniques to make the magic happen. But, most of them probably aren't marketing the right way.
Similarly, if the sales team fails to align with marketing in your company, perhaps, it's time to try something new. Because, as a marketer, you already know how difficult it is to decide on marketing aspects. Of course, none of these are convincing unless you aren't aware of account-based marketing and its clear and observable benefits.
The benefits of Account-Based Marketing can help you to know accurately how to measure marketing ROI. In addition, the benefits can button-up marketing-to-sales alignment, reduce or maintain the size of the sales force you need, and cater to your marketing message to specific targeted accounts.
The list of advantages and benefits of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is endless. But, here is an attempt through the ten most valuable ones that'll push your marketing goals with ABM.
An Opportunity to Get Personal
Personalization is an essential benefit of Account-Based Marketing! ABM technology allows marketers to create more personalized messaging for specific accounts instead of creating blanket messaging for a larger number of accounts. When approaching a specific account, spending as much time and effort as creating relevant content is essential, which provides value for your targeted account.
For instance, instead of creating bulk email marketing, your efforts would work better if there is direct messaging or account-targeted ads for your accounts.
Faster Sales Process
Depending on your business, industry, and resources, the sales cycle typically looks something like this:
1) Prospect → 2) Connect → 3) Research → 4) Present → 5) Close → 6) Delight
Several investors are involved in making a final purchase decision. This can often slow down your sales and marketing process. But when you do account-based marketing, it allows making the process faster. With ABM, you get the opportunity to specifically nurture your primary decision stage, along with all relevant accounts, to facilitate the sales process.
However, with the concept of ABM, you can communicate individually to every stakeholder in an account. Hence, this would make the individual sales process faster and longer, yet very effective.
Clearer Path to ROI
ABM is precise, targeted, and measurable. And it helps you maximize your ROI. With personalization as one of the most effective marketing tactics, you select only valuable accounts, which boost your sales, and thus, ROI increases. In addition, the approach makes your team easily align sales with consistent marketing that grows ROI.
Here are some stats to support this benefit of Account-based Marketing:
Response rates from ABM accounts: 47%
Online activities: 39%
Number of new contacts in accounts: 36%
Participation in all marketing activities: 25%
Set an Appropriate Marketing Budget
A sound ABM strategy would help your marketing team focus on the targeted accounts on the various touchpoints to explore during their buying journey. Scaling ABM techniques will save a lot on your allotted marketing budget, which has been wasted on useless leads before.
From a marketing budget perspective, ABM is the best way to go for any B2B communication coupled with the newest ABM tools and strategies to target specific organizations or companies.
Experience Lesser Risk Possibilities
This benefit of account-based marketing can significantly reduce unnecessary waste and risk factors. By scaling ABM marketing strategies, you can do more. Smart ABM technology helps the same number of account managers to target, market, convert, and upsell a much larger number of accounts personally. This means there's much less risk involved. Therefore, with ABM tactics adequately set up, accounts become revolving doors—even if one contact is lost, another one will walk right in. It's that simple—ABM is a no-brainer.
Better Reporting
Your marketing campaign's effectiveness can be measured using ABM metrics. And, the truth is, the more tangible these metrics are, the more clearly you can target your account.
The main benefit of account-based marketing is that there are fewer metrics you're required to keep track of, which helps you to report better. This makes it easier to set marketing goals. And so, analyzing reports becomes a breeze compared to pulling out large sets of data from different accounts. This is because you tend to spend more time assessing each aspect of the efforts put in by you. So, the metrics help to document relevant data for all the accounts and set better goals at the end of the quarter.
So, if you're sure of your target audience, ABM is the way to go!
Sales Alignment Becomes Much Better
ABM technology provides a supplementary targeted marketing initiative, which directly aligns sales and marketing teams to work together & keep track of their efforts and goals. With that, purpose-driven activities like communication code, the collaterals to be shared, the tone of messages, and the ultimate content are put in sync between marketing and sales teams. So that these directly address the unique needs of each account.
Trust-Based Customer Relations
Companies are always looking for solutions to their problems online. In this case, ABM provides them a personalized solution through communication. Be it through blogs, whitepapers, videos, or social media, as they naturally get attracted to you if you offer to solve their problems. This further creates trust between the two. A relationship based on trust is a relationship that can lead to good sales, and future referrals may be.
Make Data-Driven Decision
As there are many benefits of account-based marketing, it effectively encourages marketers to make data-driven decisions. ABM creates a framework for sales and marketing teams to make data-driven decisions after targeting specific accounts. And then market to maximize upsell or create cross-selling opportunities by identifying prospects in the future.
The Right Target, the Right Leads
The concept of ABM is revolutionary. Its marketing methodology focuses on scoring the right leads as opposed to many leads. Why spend half of your team's energy on low-profit clients to create low-level leads when one right kind of lead can help your business to earn a double-digit revenue? As with ABM, you get to target only the accounts most likely to your business; therefore, the right leads are generated. This leads to more revenue than those hundreds of the wrong leads. This is the ultimate benefit of account-based marketing that ultimately runs your business!
ABM makes B2B marketing interesting and sensible completely.
Now you know the benefits of Account-Based Marketing. Just that you need is to implement ABM strategies and see its magic and how your business grows better than ever!
Frequently Asked Questions
How does ABM work?
ABM focuses on identifying accounts, which means companies that match ideal clients and target critical decision-makers with personalized messages and content through advertising campaigns. Content forms such as blogs, social media, and whitepapers work well with the ABM strategy.
Who uses Account-Based Marketing?
Generally, marketers prefer doing account-based marketing to identify target accounts, personalize the marketing and campaign experience. Thus, allowing the sales team to convert accounts into leads.
Does account-based marketing work?
Yes, account-based marketing works indeed. It encourages the marketing and sales team to identify target accounts, craft customized campaigns for accounts, and align individual accounts through the pipeline before and after converting into leads.
How to use ABM?
To use the ABM platform, here are the steps explained:
Identify targets while setting up an effective ABM strategy
Understand the targets
Define and personalize content formats
Choose relevant channels
Offer solutions
Measure & mold
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Buyer Intent Data
Article | March 6, 2023
Inconsistent language in B2B marketing is becoming a growing hurdle for collaboration.
I attended a workshop recently that brought together members of different marketing functions to train them on ABM. The task was simple enough: Act as the agency and put together an ABM brief. We didn’t have any trouble understanding the assignment. We just couldn’t seem to speak the same language.
We were discussing the same topics and working toward the same goal. But the variations in how each of us used established B2B marketing terms made collaboration harder. And so, it got me thinking. How often have you sat in a meeting and understood what someone has said but not what they’ve meant? Sure, you understand that impressions measure how many times someone’s seen your ad. But why does it matter? How does it contribute to revenue growth and the overall performance of the campaign? What does it mean to me?
I was reminded of when we were learning a foreign language in school. You could try directly translating a sentence to English, but chances are it wouldn’t make much sense. A translation would only add up when you understood its grammatical and syntactical context. So, if we (no matter how humorously) consider B2B marketing a language of its own, why aren’t we as rigorous in policing our use of terminology?
Growing pains
In the past, B2B marketing departments were seen as single-focus, cost center arms of a business. Since then, the Marketing remit has grown considerably. Tools and technology allow us to work on everything from insights and analytics to bespoke, hyper-personalized 1:1 ABM programs. Sales and Marketing alignment is helping prove our contribution to the bottom line. And we’re finally becoming a revenue center.
But I think there’s a catch. The same increased responsibilities that allow us to connect our marketing activity to revenue have made the language we use more inconsistent. Teams are more specialized than ever. And the size of the marketing department has expanded massively. There are even employees in the same functions who’ve never said a word to each other.
This creates bubbles of intradepartmental dialects. Linguistic nuances that create collaborative hurdles between teams, departments, and even organizations. Time that should be spent planning, producing, and activating is lost to soul-destroying email chains and inane meetings clarifying points of uncertainty. Things I’m sure we’d all be happier without.
The effects on business
Then there are the impacts inconsistent language has on your business. Brief your teams unclearly and budget/resource that could be used more productively is squandered on multiple revisions. Chains of stakeholder questions that could have been easily avoided with greater context can result in strained working relationships. Levels of employee stress can increase out of fear of asking a question and sounding stupid. And perhaps the scariest of all – misunderstandings of key deliverables that find their way through to your final outputs.
Standardizing our use of language can help alleviate these challenges. Key performance metrics will always differ between functions. KPIs like leads generated and engagement will be valuable to your Marketing or social teams, but not Sales whose sole focus is accelerating pipeline. But it’s context that helps tie everything together.
It saves you questioning why everyone’s talking about split testing and not A/B testing (before realizing they’re the same thing an hour into the discussion). It clarifies why certain conversations are happening, sets clear expectations of what needs to be done and by whom, and breaks down siloes between departments. It stops important points of discussion from being lost in translation.
Speaking the same language
Driving revenue through a more unified marketing and sales function is becoming core to what we do. But we need to take a step back and evaluate our use of terminology. Before considering Sales and Marketing alignment, our marketing teams have to speak the same language.
Collaboration is a product of good communication. But siloes across your marketing department can stand in the way of productivity. Making a concerted effort to convey the scope and role of specific marketing functions, core metrics necessary for success, and ways of working for each team helps promote a more collaborative work culture.
It’s our responsibility to ensure we’re all on the same page before starting group projects or aligning with other branches of business. Recognizing the inconsistencies in our language and addressing them in advance helps reduce wasted time and resource. It sets us up for success by reducing the number of roadblocks in the way of our work and path to revenue growth.
Marketing departments in B2B industries will likely continue to grow. And for organizations like B2B tech enterprises, the challenges associated with inconsistent language are only exacerbated by teams spread by geo, mother tongue, and culture. Creating clear and consistent rules for the language we use as B2B marketers can help overcome these barriers, allowing us to focus on creating exceptional marketing.
Some ways forward
So, how do we create guidelines for more consistent marketing language? I won’t say I have all the answers. But I do think there needs to be a shift in employee education and training with a view to standardizing nomenclature. Glossaries that include company-specific frameworks can be a great way to provide context and meaning to your business’ use of terminology.
Pre-recorded video resources with your subject matter experts can be paired with an intranet site to offer a more interactive, always-on education and training solution. Or, better still, regular workshops across departments to promote cross-functional understanding of why terms are used at certain times.
I’d also recommend reviewing your corporate team structures to see which stakeholders have a seat at the table. Changes in how your teams communicate can only come from the top down. And a reflection on how your use of language affects those you work with, through researching communication processes/best practices or otherwise, can be a step toward fostering a more collaborative work culture.
Establishing clear definitions for common language allows us to work closer together. It breaks down barriers to collaboration and lets us focus on common business goals. If Marketing really wants to become a revenue center, we need to start speaking the same language.
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Account Based Data
Article | August 19, 2022
Gain insights into 2023 buyer intent data trends. Explore key marketing technologies and strategies essential for businesses to enhance their ability to engage potential customers effectively.
Buyer intent data is indispensable for businesses in an increasingly fast-paced and data-centric account-based marketing (ABM) space. It serves as a compass guiding marketing and sales efforts by providing profound insights into consumer behavior and purchase intent. With this information, businesses can precisely target their targeted audiences, personalize their messages, and optimize their resource allocation, all of which result in higher conversion rates and a greater return on investment.
With rapidly changing customer behavior and evolving marketing space, buyer intent data has become the cornerstone of contemporary marketing and sales strategies. In 2023, it is set to reach new milestones, fueled by growing technological advancements and a deeper understanding of consumer behavior.
As a result, it is essential for B2B businesses and marketing teams to be aware of the emerging buyer intent data trends to adopt cutting-edge technologies and strategies that enhance their ability to understand and engage potential customers effectively.
Futuristic Buyer Intent Data Trends for 2023 and Beyond
In an era where competition is fierce and customer expectations are continually growing, harnessing the power of buyer intent data is not just advantageous; it's fundamental for achieving sustainable growth and increasing market share in the space. Furthermore, it bolsters customer engagement and loyalty by demonstrating a commitment to understanding and meeting their needs.
Businesses that embrace B2B buyer intent data gain a decisive advantage, positioning themselves as agile and customer-focused enterprises ready to thrive in the marketing domain. Consequently, staying informed about buyer intent data trends is not only a strategic advantage, it's a necessity for sustained growth and relevance.
Here are some of the latest buyer intent data trends that businesses must be aware of in 2023
AI-Powered Predictive Analytics
One of the most exciting trends in buyer intent data is the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics. AI-powered buyer intent data tools analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and trends that might not be apparent to human analysts. This, coupled with predictive analysis, enables businesses to predict buyer intent more accurately.
With advanced AI algorithms, businesses are able to sift through vast datasets, recognize intricate patterns, and predict buying intent with unprecedented precision. This technological advancement enables companies to not only identify prospective customers but also create customized marketing strategies and engage them at the precise moment when they are most likely to make a purchase. In essence, AI-powered predictive analytics is elevating buyer intent data to an entirely new level, making it an invaluable asset for any forward-thinking business striving for marketing and sales excellence.
Integration of Multiple Data Sources
Buyer intent data relied on a single source of information, such as website analytics or email engagement metrics in the past. However, with increasing emphasis on understanding customer behavior, there's a growing recognition of a holistic view of buyer intent. This, in turn, is increasingly creating a need to integrate multiple data sources.
The trend of integrating multiple data sources provides a more detailed and deeper understanding of consumer behavior, thereby significantly enhancing the value of buyer intent data. Businesses can construct an extensive mosaic of each lead's digital journey by combining data from various touchpoints and channels, such as website interactions, social media engagement, email responses, and chat interactions. This multidimensional perspective provides more in-depth and accurate insights into buyer intent, allowing companies to tailor their marketing and sales strategies with unmatched precision.
Real-time Intent Monitoring
As businesses and marketers increasingly adopt advanced technologies, the days of post-event analysis are rapidly diminishing. Now, real-time monitoring of intent has become the primary focus. The strategy involves the use of innovative tracking technologies to detect and respond to buyer signals in real-time. The trend is increasingly gaining prominence as it allows businesses to respond to buyer signals as they happen.
When a potential customer exhibits strong purchasing signals, such as extended engagement with pricing pages, repeated product demo views, or initiating a live chat, real-time alerts trigger immediate action. This instantaneous response capability enables marketing and sales teams to provide highly relevant information and immediately deploy targeted messaging or offers, significantly increasing the chances of conversion.
Cross-channel Engagement
As businesses recognize the significance of engaging with leads and consumers across multiple channels, the need for innovative strategies, such as cross-channel engagement, is rapidly growing to ensure that businesses are present where their audience is, be it via email, social media, website interactions, or even chatbots.
In an era where consumers frequently switch between channels during the purchasing journey, cross-channel engagement ensures that businesses are consistently present and responsive. It improves the customer journey, enables complete data capture and analysis, and contributes to a more in-depth and accurate understanding of buyer intent. Cross-channel engagement enriches buyer intent data by providing businesses with a more detailed and real-time view of their audience's behavior and preferences, ultimately resulting in more effective marketing and sales strategies and stronger customer relationships.
Hyper-personalization
The hyper-personalization trend is ushering in a new era of consumer intent data utilization by bringing personalization to new heights. The approach utilizes the abundance of available consumer intent data and AI-driven content recommendation engines to deliver personalized experiences to individual leads and customers.
By analyzing a prospect's past actions, preferences, and interactions, businesses can create hyper-personalized content and offers that precisely align with their interests. It also optimizes time, ensuring that engagements occur exactly when a prospect has the highest possibility of converting. This level of personalization increases the chances of conversion as well as fosters a deeper connection between brands and their target audience. Hyper-personalization is not merely favoring consumer intent data; it is elevating it, enabling businesses to deliver exceptional, one-to-one experiences that boost engagement, trust, and brand loyalty.
The Bottom Line
Buyer intent data is the lifeblood of modern businesses, providing vital insights into consumer preferences and behavior. It enables companies to determine when potential consumers are prepared to buy, allowing timely and targeted marketing and sales efforts.
Staying informed about the latest buyer intent data trends enables businesses to employ cutting-edge technologies and strategies that improve their capacity to comprehend and engage potential customers. Companies can improve their techniques, enhance customer targeting, and optimize resource allocation by foreseeing and adapting to these trends. Furthermore, being aware of these trends is crucial for maintaining customer trust and compliance with evolving data privacy regulations, thereby ensuring the ethical and responsible use of data.
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Core ABM
Article | September 21, 2021
Do you target your high-value clients using account-based marketing? Have your sales and marketing teams gathered all the data required to set up a marketing campaign for your valuable clients? Well, if you have hit the start button, then you should be well-versed with conversational marketing strategies, too.
What Is Conversational Marketing?
Conversational marketing is a one-to-one conversation with the client or customer to provide them with an enhanced shopping experience. This conversation can include chatbots, live chats, filling up contact forms, or feedbacks.
Conversational marketing helps in generating leads, revenue, and personal connection with the customers. This approach also helps in understanding the pain points of the customer at a personal level. As a result, this personalized approach attracts the customer, enhances their buying journey, and makes them feel connected to the brand.
What Does Conversational ABM Mean?
Conversational marketing, when incorporated in ABM, is known as conversational ABM. And it is an essential step in enhancing the client’s journey through conversational ABM.
Conversational ABM is an essential aspect of account-based marketing. When targeted clients click on the ad campaigns or visit your website, they must receive a tailored treatment.
Let us explain this with a basic shopping example.
Assume that you are an owner of a luxury brand that sells cars. Your brand needs a public figure and, you have been targeting a couple of high-value clients for the same. You have been using ABM strategies to get to them. Finally, one day, one of them walks into your store. So what do you do?
Of course, you have the best salesperson attend to them. This salesperson knows everything about the client and addresses their pain points through a lucid and formal conversation. As a result, the client feels that you have made efforts to know them and address their challenges. They understand that for you; they are more than just a customer.
This personalized conversation constructed with the help of research data is known as conversational ABM.
Importance of Conversational Marketing in ABM
“Conversational marketing is about leveraging the power of real-time conversations and two-way dialogue to engage customers and seamlessly move them through your marketing and sales funnels. This could be online chats, social media channels, or live brand experiences, but the end goal is the same — engaging with customers one-on-one to stand out from the competition and humanize your brand.”- Nicole Bojic, SVP of strategy at InVision Communications:
Conversational marketing is of extreme importance. Conversational ABM helps you stand out in your client’s vision. Once the client visits your website or clicks on the link curated for him, your team needs to be super ready to provide them a personalized experience.
This approach of conversational marketing will help to:
Connect the client to the brand
Build rapport with the client
Make the client feel that you are well-versed with their pain points and challenges.
Build a personal relationship with the targeted businesses
Ensure conversion and client retention
How to Strengthen ABM Using Conversational Marketing
Conversational ABM is developed in the most personalized and formal way.
Conversational marketing in ABM is carried out through chats, calls, or in-person meetings. It is always better for a real person to have a conversation with the client in real-time instead of using chatbots. Align strategies so that your team instantly connects to the targeted client as soon as they visit your website or click on the relevant link.
They should have a personalized approach right from the beginning.
The best way to keep the clients connected is by involving them in a formal conversation while addressing their challenges and pain points. The live chat option has limitations, so your team should know when to switch from chats to audio or video calls. But, again, do this while keeping in mind the convenience and comfortability of the client.
Whatever the mode of communication is, you need to consider the following points while initiating conversation ABM.
Direct your sales team instantly to start the conversation as soon as the target account lands on your website. It may include enabling push notifications through emails, messages, or any other conversational marketing solutions.
Ensure that the welcome messages and conversations are streamlined with the research and ad campaigns. The client should feel connected, in sync, and cohesive.
Greet your target accounts with human-led chats over automated chats. This step amplifies a seamless customer experience.
Sculpt the conversation totally about the buyer’s account. They should feel that you have made great efforts to know them and address their challenges.
Your content needs to be customized to address their specific needs.
Know when to upgrade from a chat conversion to an audio/video call to take things forward.
Go beyond basic conversations and show how much the client matters to you.
Do everything to provide them with a premium and over-the-top sales experience.
And the Conversation Leads to Conversion.
Based on a survey by DemandGen Report, 95% of target accounts said they would choose the solution provider who helps them navigate through each step of the conversion process.
Conversational ABM is a critical step for a successful ABM. Thus, ensure you prepare your sales and marketing team for the best conversational approaches. This will eventually lead to successful engagement and conversion of the targeted clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is conversational marketing?
Conversational marketing is encouraging conversations that are client-centric. These one-to-one conversations are designed to provide a personalized and premium customer experience. The conservations are aligned with the research and specifically address the pain points of the customer.
What is ABM strategy?
Account-based marketing is a marketing strategy that concentrates on creating strategies and targeting high-value clients. This client list for ABM is curated while keeping in mind that these are the most likely to convert. The strategy consists of gathering maximum data about the client and creating tailored ad campaigns or pitches for them.
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