Account Based Marketing Best Practices

Need a starting point for account based marketing best practices? Any (or all) of these Terminus resources can help!

• The Original Book on ABM: Account Based Marketing for Dummies
• Account Based Marketing Case Studies
• Account Based Marketing Course
• Account Based Marketing Training Materials
• Other B2B ABM Case Studies

These resources will help explain how ABM is similar to deal based marketing or key account marketing. They will also show the main principles of account based marketing in action. This includes:

• Using first and third party data to build target account lists
• Owning every point of interaction and placing your brand in front of your most important prospects and customers
• Combining sales and marketing into one team so there’s clear alignment and focus on the accounts that matter most
• Lead-to-account matching and integration with your existing CRM
• Full-funnel analytics to marketing, sales, and customer success teams can see the entire revenue journey
• Integrating ABM with other tools, technologies, or platforms so it compliments your already existing marketing and sales efforts
• The TEAM account based marketing framework and how it’s used to build, execute, and measure any ABM strategy

Account Based Marketing Cadence

An account based marketing cadence of emails is one of many account based marketing tactics available in a team’s playbook.

What do we mean by a cadence of emails? Think of his as a series (of three or four) emails sent by a sales representative to a contact within a target account. These emails are personalized to the recipient and are used as a way to educate the target account on the sender’s brand, product or service. Oftentimes the email will end with a call-to-action for a next step, like scheduling some time for a demo or introduction call.

What do we mean by account based marketing tactics? Think of these as plays or tactical actions a team can take to execute their account based marketing strategy. An email or cadence of emails is one of many tactics a team can set up and execute. Here are a few other tactics you might find in a team’s account based marketing playbook:

• Programmatic targeted display ads
• Regional field marketing events
• Direct mail or branded swag sent to the target account’s office
• Free trial incentive
• “VIP” digital events specifically for the target account (workshop, training, webinar, etc.)
• Personalized email signature banners
• Personalized account based chat on the website
• Web personalization specific to the target account

There are trends with these account based marketing tactics. 2019 is different than this year in terms of what’s most popular. With account based marketing 2019 tactics, field marketing and events were popular. With Covid happening in 2020, these are obviously not as popular this year. With account based marketing 2020 tactics, we’re seeing more creative personalized digital touchpoints. Such as website personalization, website chat, or email signature banners.

Account Based Marketing PPT

An account based marketing PPT is the perfect type of resource to share internally and show:

• The benefits of account based marketing
• Account based marketing examples
• Teams and/or team members who are involved in an ABM strategy
• Case studies and ROI numbers from other teams practicing ABM
• Other account based marketing content like testimonials, technology available, estimated investment, and training options

Internal education and selling the value of ABM to other team members is a common practice. Usually, it starts with one person who sees the value right away. Because ABM is becoming such an established category, many companies are establishing roles specific to ABM (such as an Account Based Marketing Manager). In these cases, since the company has already made the investment in recruitment, it’s easier to sell the idea of and implement ABM within the organization. But for other cases, where the team doesn’t have ABM in their title but feels strongly about implementing it, resources can be built and distributed that demonstrate the value of ABM.

Terminus can help with this. Actually, we love helping prospects and customers with this! Need help explaining exactly what account based marketing is with a clear and concise definition? We have an account based marketing blog post for that! Need a way to show the sales team how ABM can help drive more opportunities, improve close rates, and increase revenue? We have many account based marketing articles you can share with them. Need a starting point on how to build your ABM strategy? Terminus can provide an account based marketing PDF template that can help.

Collect, examine, and share as many examples as you can as a team. These examples will provide inspiration for your own ABM strategy and tactics. And they serve as best practices for ABM success.

Account Based Marketing HubSpot

If you think about the evolution of account based marketing as now a common approach driving more revenue, it’s crazy to think how it started in 2015 as just another buzzword. Now there is real legitimacy of the category, as review sites like G2 and Capterra have designated product categories for account based marketing. Not only that, statistics prove that the ABM category is now out of the early adoption phase. In 2018, only 14.7 percent of survey respondents stated they had been executing ABM for at least three years. In 2019, that number jumped to 45 percent! And almost none of the survey respondents said they had zero experience with account based marketing.

The paragraph above is intended to show why big players like HubSpot are now becoming more involved in the ABM category. Account based marketing HubSpot features are now available within their platform and can also be found in HubSpot Academy articles and it is reflected in the updated HubSpot pricing. HubSpot is a true leader in digital marketing, so the fact that they are not only acknowledging ABM but also now incorporating it into their platform is a great thing for this category.

However, you won’t find HubSpot mentioned as an ABM platform in the newest Forrest account based marketing report. The Forrester New Wave™: ABM Platforms, Q2 2020 report includes 14 other ABM providers and ranks them based on defined criteria. According to the report, Terminus, 6sense, Demandbase, MRP, and Jabmo lead the pack. The same can be said for review sites. As mentioned before, G2 has a defined account based marketing review category. They also publish quarterly reports based on the categories and service providers within each category. Their newest Summer 2020 report does not include HubSpot as a designated ABM platform. It does, however, recognize Terminus as a leader in the category in multiple areas. These include:

• Account based analytics
• Account based buyer intent
• Account based experiences
• Account based ads
• Account based orchestration
• Account data management

This marks the 10th consecutive quarter Terminus has been recognized as a leader in G2’s account based marketing report. The research behind these reports is powered by real customer reviews, ratings, and market trends.

Account Based Marketing Framework

Account based marketing isn’t just a hack or shortcut for generating more revenue for your sales, marketing, and customer success teams. It takes planning, thoughtful execution, and detailed measurement. With that being said, it might be overwhelming for some teams to even get started. That’s why Terminus takes a hands-on approach to working with prospects and customers on building out an account based marketing strategy.

The Terminus TEAM account based marketing framework is the perfect way to guide your team to ABM success. It’s a proven model that breaks out account based marketing steps into a crawl, walk, run approach. It allows teams to set up the best account based marketing customer journey for their most important accounts. In terms of account based marketing vs lead generation, this framework is much different than the traditional sales and marketing funnel.

Target

Teams use Terminus’ first and third party to match their ideal customer profile (ICP) with accounts who are not yet customers, but have characteristics that match the company’s current and best customers. Teams can then use the platform to build, prioritize, and organize their target account list. Rather than wasting marketing dollars on unqualified leads, sales and marketing teams agree on a set target account lists where they will focus their time, resources, and dollars.

Engage

Teams can then orchestration campaigns everywhere their target account spends their time: the web, social, and their inbox. With targeted messages across multiple channels, teams can place their brand in front of the most important stakeholders within each target account.

Activate

Terminus then brings together data, visibility, and alerts that marketing, sales, and customer success team members can use for timely action. For example, if a top target account has clicked on a lot of ads and visited important pages on the website, that would be the perfect time for a sales team member to reach out and ask if they are interested in a meeting or demo.

Measure

Finally, teams use this framework and the Terminus platform to measure the success of their ABM program. Revenue attribution and campaign performance metrics make it easy for campaign optimization, board-level reporting, and everything in between.

Account Based Marketing Tools

According to the Forrester New Wave™: ABM Platforms, Q2 2020 report, here are the 14 top providers in the account based marketing category.

• Terminus
• 6sense
• Demandbase
• MRP
• Jabmo
• RollWorks
• Triblio
• Engagio
• TechTarget
• Leadspace
• Dun & Bradstreet
• Madison Logic
• Kwanzoo
• Metadata.io

All of these account based marketing tools have strengths and weaknesses, and all are useful based on what’s most important to you. Based on defined assessment criteria, Forrester judged each of these account based marketing companies and ranked them. This includes account based marketing services like training, support, and customer onboarding. It also includes features related to intent based marketing tools and how teams can use this data to power their strategy.

The research included a 10-criterion survey, 2-hour briefing with each vendor, and interviews provided by each evaluated vendor. The report evaluated only emerging technologies within the category. For Terminus specifically, customers praised its capabilities for ease of use, advertising, account selection and prioritization, and reporting. As a top platform in the leader quadrant, Terminus demonstrated that it supports multiple steps in the ABM process and offers strong native capabilities for customers. For more details on each of these vendors and the overall evaluation, check out the report here.