Account Based Data
Article | August 19, 2022
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 Data
Article | June 29, 2023
Here’s a (somehow) well-kept secret about ABX: it can create immediate wins for your teams.
When you and your teams start laser-focusing on the right prospects and customers — at the right time — it doesn’t take long for the wins to start piling up.
Why?
A winning ABX strategy will leverage an AI-powered customer data platform (CDP) that has an existing database of critical information such as:
What your ideal customer profile (ICP) looks like
Accounts you might not know about that are in-market and ready-to-buy
The websites, keywords, and topics your buyers research most
The signals your buyers give off when they’re ready to buy
When you leverage this historical data, it’s like flipping on a spotlight on your most important accounts and everything they’re doing.
Let’s look at why a CDP is so important for an ABX strategy and how you can switch your thinking from, “When will I start seeing ROI?” to “How will I capitalize on all of these opportunities?”
How CDPs Bolster Your ABX Strategy
Pursuing an ABX strategy means fine-tuning your revenue activities (marketing, sales, operations) to target very specific accounts.
The critical data you need about those accounts comes from your CDP, which houses all of the interactions you have with your prospects and customers.
That information includes:
Web pages they visit
Webinars they attend
Content they download
Calls they have with your sales team
The CDP ingests all of that data and starts to learn what your typical buyer looks like, the patterns they follow, and what signals they give off when they’re ready to buy.
Over time, and with enough data from your interactions, this information becomes very powerful and enables your teams to start honing their strategies. All of your revenue activities become more efficient because you’re reaching the right buyer at the right time.
There’s a problem with traditional standalone CDPs, however. They can’t look backwards.
They can only begin collecting data once implemented, and therefore take some time to start uncovering patterns and delivering results.
But what if you could unlock the CDP-version of a flying DeLorean that empowers you travel into the past and unlock those missing puzzle pieces — without waiting for your CDP to ingest enough data?
Win Fast with a CDP Full of Critical Data
The key to unlocking fast wins for your ABX strategy is to utilize a CDP with historical first-party and third-party data.
Your buyers have searched keywords related to your offerings, attended industry events, and read third-party review sites long before you implement a stand-alone CDP. Why should you have to wait for the platform to catch up and uncover those insights that are hiding in plain sight?
6sense’s embedded CDP grants you instant access to all of the historical data that our AI-powered platform has collected for years.
Previously anonymous accounts that have been researching topics that match your offerings
A detailed ICP based on real, historical data
Insights into which of your prospects are actually in-market and ready-to-buy
Clear evidence on which accounts and buyers should be prioritized
We call uncovering this information lighting up the Dark Funnel™. When you shine a light on your Dark Funnel™ your teams can immediately start reaping the benefits. It won’t take months or even weeks to get your first wins — within days you can see a positive impact on your pipeline.
Your sales team will get leaner and meaner. No need to spend hours trawling through LinkedIn to find the one uncovered gem of a prospect. As soon as you leverage an embedded CDP loaded with historical data, you’ll discover exactly who your next target should be. Your inside sales team can focus on personalizing outreach, not figuring out who to talk to.
Your marketing team will begin improving their engagement numbers without increasing their spend. When a Director of Sales at “Ready-to-Buy Corporation” has been performing some under-the-radar research, the marketing team will receive an alert and can start targeting that person with ads that address their specific pain points.
Software development company PTC is a good example. It has used 6sense to uncover more than 1,500 net new high-intent accounts that have generated $18 million in pipeline.
“With 6sense, our team has driven outbound success by being empowered, motivated, and eager to strategically prospect to the right targets with relevant messaging,” says Brenda Souto, High Velocity Sales Manager at PTC.
Conclusion
Traditional standalone CDPs help you capture the interactions you have with your prospects and customers. All of this data is very useful to build a focused and efficient ABX strategy.
But, a standalone CDP lacks historical data and trends — meaning it can take longer to see wins and ROI.
An embedded CDP with a treasure trove of previous interactions, buying signals, and trend data can instantly prioritize your target accounts. Within days your teams will know much more about your buyers and how to target them with the right message at the right time.
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Account Based Analytics
Article | August 3, 2022
Sales and marketing have transformed. Marketers have had to adapt, modify their activities and lean into more collaborative interactions with sales teams in a way they haven’t done before. As events and direct channels are on the minor list of concerns, sales teams have become a principal marketing channel to reach accounts.
A quick look at Google trends shows you how Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has revolutionized the world of B2B marketing. It happened by going from non-existent to extremely popular in the last several years and hiked during the pandemic. With today’s buyer journey becoming progressively digital, B2B organizations are interested in ABM to deliver exceedingly personalized and focussed marketing campaigns.
The secret behind the burgeoning popularity of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is how confident and versed marketers feel now while using it. While ABM persists as the hot MarTech topic since 2019, its influence grew during the pandemic. While it may seem all geek to new users, ABM offers rewarding opportunities for marketers.
As per the ABM evangelist, Sangram Vajre of Terminus, “If marketers embrace ABM methods, they will earn desired revenue in their businesses. I want to do everything I can to help make marketers heroes.”
As per The B2B Lead, ABM directly inscribed sales and marketing alignment and challenges 50% of the time when sales wasted time against unproductive targeting.
ABM Drives Revenue, and Here’s the Proof:
If you are putting together an ABM strategy, such numbers would be handy. This blog gathers ten powerful Account-based Marketing stats that every marketer (you) should know as we land in 2021 (the post-pandemic era). So, to show you how beneficial account-based marketing can be, here you go.
10 Account-based Marketing Stats
92% of Marketing Leaders are More Focused at New Selling Process
Marketing leaders are now selling with vision to the executive level than what they did some years ago. As per a recent ITSMA report titled, “Engaging the C-Suite: 2019 Sales and Executive Engagement Survey Report”, 92% of marketing leaders mentioned that selling at the executive level is more critical to their sales strategy.
In today’s time, marketers are relying on ABM capabilities to capitalize on new market prospects. In addition, B2B businesses are designing and deepening their relationships around ABM to engage C-level executives more effectively.
90% Role of Marketers in ABM Today is Strategic
The role of marketers doing ABM is more strategic on particular programs. As per Alterra Group’s report, marketers need to demonstrate deep account and industry-specific expertise to create seamless ABM campaigns. To create account-relevant marketing messages, companies are bestowing more resources and snowballing the expenditure on ABM. Such expenditure is predicted to exceed that on other marketing technologies rapidly.
A Sturdy ICP has a 68% Higher Account...
Organizations with a strong ICP have 68% higher account marketing win rates. Modern marketing teams are now being measured on pipeline and revenue, not leads. This way, they are staying more focused on productive revenue growth at every stage of the funnel.
A Total Economic Impact report by Forrester found that prospects see an average 313% ROI by bringing go-to-market teams practicing account-based marketing tactics together to make marketing efforts efficacious.
69% of Top-Performing Account-Based Organizations have Dedicated Leaders
69% of top-performing account-based organizations now have a dedicated account-based leader. The Account-based marketing stats reflect that 70% of marketers who started their account-based initiatives in the past six months have dedicated leaders who are entirely dedicated to the market, having particular and focused accounts instead of a sea of buyers.
60% of Users Reported an Increase in Revenue
When ABM picked its pace in at least a year, 60% of its users reported a revenue surge of at least 10% & 19%, termed an impact of 30% or greater. In companies with a stout ROI from ABM, 75% measure pipeline generated and revenue, 67.5% measure meetings and target account pipeline are set, and 63% measure marketing qualified leads are gained.
As a result of this, approximately 70% of B2B marketers will pilot or launch full-sized account-based software and programs to target and engross groups of buyers in selected accounts.
62% of Marketers are Being Optimistic
They can easily measure the positive impact of account-based marketing tactics since adopting ABM. This has been the most efficient benefit of ABM observed up until now.
Forrester envisages that by 2025, the term "ABM" will evaporate as account-centric becomes the distinct way for B2B organizations to identify, plan, manage, and measure buying and post-sale motions for prospects.
80% ABM Budgets are Intensifying
After B2B companies saw the success of early programs, budgets devoted to ABM amplified by 40% year over year, from 20% in 2019 to 28% in 2020. This surge in investment reflects a confident attitude in return on ABM initiatives.
42% B2B Companies Favor Keeping Accounts in ABM Strategy between 50 and 500
As per the Demand Gen Report, 18% of B2B companies try to keep their accounts list under 50, 19% target a broad set of accounts, ranging between 1,000 and 5,000.
For a focused ABM approach, the report found that 42% of B2B companies try to keep their account list between 101 to 500. However, as this quantity varies depending on the size and scope of individual company deal sizes, these results will vary based on industry and product.
Companies Executing ABM Amplified ACV by 171%
B2B companies that have implemented ABM perceived a 171% rise in their Annual Contract Value (ACV) more significant than the pre-ABM ACV. In addition, ABM offers a boost to the pipeline rate, thus, enabling marketers to target prospects belonging to new revenue goals.
75% of B2B Buyers and 84% of C-level Executives Use Social Media
B2B buyers and C-level executives progressively rely on social media to harvest more information about products and services before making purchase-based decisions. 80% of buyers who had not yet used social media to research purchases are willing to use the right platforms.
As online mediums have become a progressive information preference of buyers, companies create profitable account-based campaigns to ignite the initiative.
A recent Social Buying Study from International Data Corporation (IDC) concludes that B2B buyers are the most active in using social media to support the buying process by having 84% superior budgets that made 61% more purchase decisions. This significantly influenced a greater span of purchase decisions than those buyers who did not use social media for their purchase process.
A Note About the Account-based Marketing Stats and COVID-19
April 2020, was just when all businesses were beginning to feel the effects of the pandemic. As a result, the COVID-19 impact has altered several perspectives, including budget, headcount, and prioritization. Yet, ABM programs have shown results with significant improvements in pipeline growth.
“If economic obscurity continues, these programs should persist as a core element of the Marketing strategy.” – Todd Berkowitz, Practice Vice President, Gartner
While COVID-19 is changing B2B organizations’ ability to stimulate sustained growth, it’s hoped that an account-based approach will significantly benefit your organization in the following ways:
Focus on your limited resources (budget, time, and personnel) on those companies to do business.
Target the accounts you already know. This will enable you to spend less money on demand-gen campaigns to generate new names.
Make the most of your team’s efficiency by scoring sales and marketing campaigns that work together to create the best buyer experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are account-based marketing stats measured?
Marketers use close rates when required to measure ABM efforts. Typically, the stats are gainedby measuring the reachability of target accounts or specific contacts at those accounts. This gives you a percentage or a conversion rate by account, which further estimates how successful ABM efforts have been to date.
What are good ABM metrics?
The good ABM metrics are:
Marketing-qualified accounts
Real engagement of account
Velocity of Pipeline
Average selling price
Customer engagement rate
Why should we measure account-based marketing stats?
It is because ABM delivers ROI. For example, when there is a greater emphasis on defining Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), a properly structured approach to selecting account and value is aligned with what a prospect’s business needs. This results in gaining higher win rates.
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Account Based Data
Article | August 4, 2022
For B2B marketers like you, wouldn’t it be great to know which buyers are ready to purchase and when? It would be, but this doesn’t generally happen. Marketing and sales teams across businesses spend their time trying to find the perfect prospects instead of focusing on selling to the accounts that actually want to buy.
What Goes into Prospecting?
Prospecting is an entire process that is not only time-consuming but might not lead to anything worthwhile. Common steps involved in prospecting include:
Finding accounts that fit your target account profile
Zeroing in on the point of contact to get in touch with the account
Creating messaging to influence prospect’s buying decision
Wait for the prospect to answer calls
It is no wonder that prospecting is the most difficult part of sales. According to research by Sales Insights Lab, 50% of the prospects you go after aren’t a good fit for your product. To add to the mix, sorting through incomplete forms, questionnaires, anonymous web visits, and event attendee lists is backbreaking work.
Predictive Analytics: Pipeline Growth and Revenue Covered
ABM relies heavily on high-quality data management and analysis. It is based on quality and, not quantity. It can succeed only if the prospect account’s data like management hierarchy, business practices, pain points, requirements, etc. is interpreted, analyzed and utilized properly. This is where predictive analytics comes in. A predictive analytics model looks at how different parts of an account relate to each other and ranks them. A large amount of data can be successfully interpreted this way. Data mining, statistics, and text analytics uncover different patterns and relationships to give insights into an account’s behavior and outcomes based on data.
A Predictive Analytics Model Boosts Your ABM Strategy
Here is how predictive analytics can boost your ABM strategy:
Prioritizing Accounts Based on Rating
Marketing representatives need to approach prospects at the right time to capture expected revenue. Predictive analytics gives real-time data, forecasts into when to approach a prospect to get the conversion. With deep data insights, predictive analytics optimizes ABM and the allocated marketing budget.
Personalized Messaging
Personalized messaging is possible only when the data at hand goes beyond account intelligence-based numbers. Predictive analytics goes a step ahead, forecasts buyer behavior and gives marketers a tool to create content that appeals to every individual in the prospect account’s buying group and leads to conversion.
Objective Scoring
As accounts near the end of the sales funnel, predictive analytics forecasts the best time for sales overview, so risks like data deletion are bypassed.
Getting Ready to Adopt Predictive Analytics
To adopt predictive analytics in your ABM strategy, you need to follow these steps:
Create an ABM-centric organization where content marketers apply ABM
Marketing and sales teams need to understand predictive insights and its implementation in ABM
Align your marketing and sales teams
Decision makers understand predictive insights and how they are used at the grass-root level
Wrapping It Up!
Focus your investments on an intent data set based on predictive analytics and AI learning to make the most of the high-quality data insights without worrying about underlying technologies.
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