Account-based marketing is the latest thing in B2B marketing, but the fact remains that many marketers are unsure about how to get started.
So to help you figure out how to kickstart your first ABM campaign, we came up with a list of the most successful strategies that our customers have used to see an increase in revenue, pipeline velocity, and customer satisfaction. Then, we used them as inspiration for the first-ever account-based marketing framework! Check the framework out below, and then read on for an closer look at the top seven strategies for ABM.
The Top 7 Strategies for Account-Based Marketing
1. Turning Leads into Qualified Accounts
As time goes on, B2B marketers are becoming better at generating new leads, but they’re having a harder time finding qualified leads. But using account-based marketing, you can take every new lead and expand your reach to all of the decision-makers at that account. Terminus specifically allows you to engage everyone in this account across mobile, social, display and video advertising channels.
[ctt template=”1″ link=”5Secu” via=”yes” ]With #ABM, you can turn leads into qualified accounts by expanding your reach. (via @Terminus)[/ctt]
2. Turning Qualified Accounts into Opportunities
Traditionally, B2B marketers have been focused on generating as many leads as possible and letting the sales team do the rest. Fortunately for everyone, though, B2B marketing becoming more sophisticated. Marketers are instead asking, “How do we increase the velocity of turning a marketing qualified lead (MQL) into an opportunity?”
Many Terminus customers find the most success in this stage of the pipeline because digital advertising provides the ability to reach the accounts on the channels most relevant to them. As a result, they’ve seen an increase in engagement as well as pipeline velocity.
Note: For a case study on this topic, read How Tipalti Increased Engagement & ROI in Hard-to-Reach Verticals Using Account-Based Marketing.
3. Turning Opportunities into Customers
Once you’ve turned that lead into an opportunity, it’s time to begin the “smarketing” process. This is where the sales and marketing teams come together to identify the opportunities and figure out the best way to get them to purchase your product. Using the information that you gathered about how your ads are performing and who is engaging with them, you can develop personas for each decision-maker within an account. This gives the sales team the information they need to properly approach the buyer and makes the sales process faster and easier for everyone involved.
4. Turning Customers into Advocates
I’m a firm believer that word-of-mouth is the most valuable — and often overlooked — marketing tool. That’s one reason it’s important to turn your customers into advocates for your brand. You can accomplish this through training, webinars, and content. By making sure that your customers are experts when it comes to your product, you’ll start to see higher usage rates and customer retention.
So, where does account-based marketing fit into this? You can use digital advertising, along with other marketing tactics like emails, to promote your customer-focused content to your clients. Considering providing tutorials, how-to guides, and special training events to make sure that your customers are always comfortable using your product, which in turn will lead to them raving about your company to others. And if you have a referral program, you can advertise that to your customers as well!
[ctt template=”1″ link=”V1mqK” via=”yes” ]”#WordofMouth is one of the most valuable & overlooked marketing tools.” – @Pretty_Southern[/ctt]
5. Upselling & Cross-Selling Products
Just because you closed a deal doesn’t mean the work of account-based marketing is over. ABM can be used at any stage in the customer journey. Our customers see great success using ABM as a tool to help them upsell to their customers and cross-sell different products. With account-based marketing, you can serve advertisements to your customers using different marketing channels, and then watch the revenue from that account start to increase.
6. Land & Expand
Once you’ve closed the deal, it’s time to expand your reach from the key decision-makers in the account to everyone in the company who will use your product. The “land and expand” concept is an excellent way to increase your business by turning our customers into advocates for your product.
[ctt template=”1″ link=”bs009″ via=”yes” ]Tip: Land & expand #ABM campaigns turn customers into advocates & help generate revenue.[/ctt]
You can use targeted advertising to make sure everyone within the company is aware of the features your product has to offer. You can also provide them with additional resources to help them become experts at using it. Your marketing and customer success teams should work together here to make sure that everyone using your product is familiar with its features and would feel comfortable recommending it to friends and colleagues.
7. Keeping Top-of-Mind
An air cover campaign is a genius way of expanding the reach of your product beyond target client accounts. Air cover campaigns work by using a very targeted and strategic message to reach partners, analyst, influencers, and investors. While the message is targeted, the channels you’ll want to use are very broad in order to make sure that all key stakeholders are aware of your product. You want to stay at the top of their mind — that way when it comes time for them to write a review, an e-book, or a case study about your industry, your company will be the first thing that comes to mind.
[ctt template=”1″ link=”9dHd2″ via=”yes” ]Air cover #ABM campaigns target influencers & investors to establish your #B2B as an expert.[/ctt]
What are your favorite ABM strategies?
These are just seven of the many ways that you can use account-based marketing to help your business increase its revenue and customer satisfaction. Have you used any of them in the past? If you can think of any other uses to make the customer journey even better than it is, leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
If ABM is still new to you, no worries! Learn the basics in our free e-book, the Beginner’s Blueprint to Account-Based Marketing.
