September 27, 2021
Why B2B Marketers Should Invest in ABM Technology
Account Based Marketing is such a buzzword in advertising: “If you’re not doing it, you’re behind!” “How big is your list?” “What’s your ICP?” These are all delightful sentiments and questions, but what do they really mean?
Here’s the thing – ABM isn’t new. Sales teams have been deploying these tactics for years. The shiny new part of the strategy is demand gen involvement. Is there a place for a target account strategy at nearly every company? Yes, absolutely. But you should not implement an ABM program just to avoid missing out on something other companies are doing. Instead, you should implement a cross-departmental strategy that will drive meaningful and measurable results for your business.
Metric Theory recently had the opportunity to attend the ABM Innovation Summit, presented by Demandbase in San Francisco, to better understand what leading technologies in ABM were offering and what advice they have for marketers. Here’s our take on the biggest topics and most important takeaways to consider when building an ABM program.
Before you launch an ABM program, it’s important to spend the time and resources upfront to align on goals, budgets, and internal stakeholders.
1. The roadmap – What is the purpose of your ABM program? What are the goals? What are the risks? How is success defined?
2. The internal decision makers – Who will oversee the roadmap (sales, marketing, operations, and customer success)? How often will they meet? What are the mid-program touchpoints? Are there pivot points?
3. Shared definition of success – How will marketing and sales work together? What are the program goals? How will you measure and determine success?
4. Touchpoint identification and deployment – What’s the tech stack? Who is running it, and how and when will it be deployed? How is our nurturing structured? How does this impact sales messaging?
5. Budget – Budgeting should be based on growth goals:
This is not digital media strategy. This is ABM strategy. That means that you need representatives from sales and marketing in strategy meetings, information should be disseminated throughout the organization, and there should be agreement and alignment between divisions prior to launch.
1. List creation – Success of your ABM program will rely heavily on the account selection. In a presentation by Kathy Macchi of Inverta, she estimated that 60% of your success is based on your list, 25% on your offer, and 15% on creative.
Identifying right accounts is key in #demangeneration but not everyone prioritizes it. Kathy Macchi of @InvertaGroup goes all the way and says 60% of your success depend on it. I concur👏🏻#ABMSummit pic.twitter.com/TobsLu6dyO
— Can Ozdoruk (@canozdoruk) March 14, 2019
ABM accounts are commonly separated into three tiers based on company size or revenue. These tiers are a ranking system that is used to prioritize your account list based on potential revenue impact if the accounts were to close. The account selection will dictate the granularity of the strategy within each tier. 1-to-1 accounts are the highest priority, so strategy for these will be the most personalized and will require the most integration between marketing and sales (the majority of the activity will be offline). 1-to-few and 1-to-many strategies will more heavily rely on digital touchpoints, but should be segmented by clusters (ex: industry, company size, common pain points, etc.).
Revenue potential should guide account selection and which tier you place the account in. Higher-potential accounts get the 1-to-1 treatment, with lower-potential accounts in the other groupings. How often you refresh your list should match your sales cycle. if the sales cycle is one year, then the list should last one year. If you have a big list or a complex sales ecosystem, you might even consider changing these factors based on target account size. It’s a good idea to revisit lists and consider updates at least quarterly as part of performance reviews.
2. Research – Once the account selection is complete, give the ABM team time to familiarize themselves with their industries, geos, and prospects. Winning an ABM deal has the potential to make a meaningful difference to your company’s revenue, so sales strategy should be tailored, specific, and relevant. Use research to create content that will resonate more with those prospects.
3. Messaging – Your messaging should be consistent across every possible touchpoint. Tailor it by industry, geo, sometimes even account. Share all interactions via CRM. Anyone assigned to an account should be able to pick up where the collective team left off. Prioritize human-to-human engagements and storytelling over transactional online interaction.
This should be thought of as comprehensive ABM reporting and measurement. Demand gen data is a piece of that puzzle, but it’s not the whole thing.
1. Differentiate measurement by size of prospect, with KPIs falling into 3 categories:
2. Determine specific KPIs and evaluation cadence:
3. Collect and evaluate reactive and proactive data:
If you kick off your ABM program with clear definitions of success, cross-department resource allocation, and a comprehensive roadmap for program deployment, revenue will follow. ABM programs don’t exist in a marketing or sales vacuum. The only way for your program to drive overall business success is if the whole business is behind it. Whether you’re launching ABM for the first time or relaunching after a false start, we’re here to help.