Even experienced marketers can get overwhelmed when trying to decide which approach to lead generation will be best for the task at hand. Content marketing, email marketing, and account-based marketing are all interlinked, but will yield different results.
Today taking a look at account-based marketing.
Simply, account-based marketing is the process of developing tailored marketing campaigns for each high-value company (“account”) that you’re pursuing, and delivering the right message to them at the right time, on the platform they are most likely to receive it. But, aligning all these variables can definitely be tricky!
How Does Account-Based Marketing Work?
Let’s be clear: you will not be practicing account-based marketing for every company that you go after. Rather than blasting out emails and web ads to every company in your target market, you are instead going to identify accounts that have the largest potential to generate revenue - those with the biggest need and who will receive the most value from your solution or service.
Next, your marketing and sales teams are going to work closely together on each account. Marketing and sales alignment is often hard to achieve in other kinds of projects, but account-based marketing makes alignment mandatory. The marketing campaign must be precisely aligned with sales efforts, otherwise the account will be over-pressured with content and probably tune out.
Most companies find that the marketing-sales alignment in account-based marketing is more than a one-off. The relationship continues even when the organisation pursues different strategies, meaning that account-based marketing, when successfully executed, will bring benefits to every other marketing campaign.
Defining Success within an Account-Based Marketing Campaign
Let’s assume that you’ve performed step one, which is to create a detailed list of the most high-value accounts that match the profile of your target customer. Your next step is to drill deeper.
You need to find the names, faces, and contact information of the individuals who represent the economic buyer for your targeted account, as well as those who may have influence. If you’re selling accounting software, for example, you’ll probably be going after the CFO, but you may have to start by getting meetings with accounting managers and directors as well. Since the CIO will have final say over software purchases, you should also know how to reach them.
Now you need to create a narrow approach to these individuals. Find them on social media channels, understand the comments they write and the articles they share, and use these to understand their pain points as they relate to the product you sell. Create a targeted advertising campaign that finds them on the channels where they’re most active. Eventually you’ll start getting clicks, which means it’s time for sales to step in and begin closing deals.
At Triggerfish, we know that it can be difficult to collect data, create tailored marketing materials, and execute omnichannel marketing campaigns. That’s why we’re here, to provide advise and support while helping your team excel.
For more information on how to put account-based marketing into practice at your organisation, contact us today and we can get started.