Leads are only as good as the companies they work for, which is why account-based marketing is the new normal in B2B. That’s not to say that lead generation is dead (it’s not!) but rather that not all leads are created equal, and inbound marketing alone doesn’t cut it when it comes to surfacing the best-fit accounts for your business.
In this post, we’ll look at different approaches to demand generation and how account-based marketing fits in. Then, you can use the editable campaign planning worksheets we created to help you plan and execute your next demand gen campaign.
Demand Generation with Account-Based Marketing
There is no one-size-fits-all model for demand generation, but every company with a complex sales cycle and large deal sizes should be doing some level of account-based marketing. Here are some examples of common approaches to demand generation with ABM:
- A company with a large total addressable market (TAM) that already generates a high volume of inbound leads scores those leads against their ideal customer profile (ICP) to identify the accounts with the highest revenue potential. Then, they use account-based marketing tactics such as display ads and direct mail to expand reach to the entire buying center at those accounts while simultaneously nurturing the individual lead.
- A business with a limited TAM and a highly specific ICP brings together sales and marketing to identify a list of 15 target accounts that they want to turn into customers. They need to be extremely strategic about how they engage these potential customers, so they orchestrate multichannel 1:1 ABM campaigns to generate demand within these companies.
- An enterprise company with an enormous database recognizes they’re sitting on a treasure trove of forgotten accounts. They use a predictive data tool to identify which accounts are showing interest in keywords that matter to their business and focus on engaging key stakeholders at these companies with programmatic display advertising and sales development outreach.
Let’s look at 3 types of demand gen campaigns you can run using an account-based approach to marketing.
1. Pretargeting Campaigns
Pretargeting is more or less the opposite of retargeting. Instead of waiting to serve ads to people who have visited your website, you proactively pretarget your dream accounts with relevant ads. This is a great way to familiarize all of the key decision-makers within your target accounts with your solution and messaging before your sales team begins outreach. You can also use pretargeting to warm up accounts before an event.
2. Account Nurture Campaigns
Account nurture plays aim to engage key stakeholders at target accounts that you already have in your database and convert them to sales pipeline. Because many B2B sales cycles are often long and complex, many of the accounts you’re marketing to won’t be immediately ready to make a purchasing decision.
But don’t ignore these accounts just because they’re not going to turn into immediate sales. Instead, you can use account-based nurturing to continue to present your messaging and content to those accounts over time, keeping your company top-of-mind until they’re ready to convert into a sales opportunity.
3. Lead-to-Account Nurture Campaigns
Lead-to-account nurtures are only applicable to a Bolt-On ABM program. This play allows you to funnel leads (usually inbound or event leads) into your database and then expand your reach to nurture their entire buying committee, even those you don’t have contact info for, with account-based ads. Just like with an account nurture play, the goal of a lead-to-account nurture is to convert an account to an opportunity.
Get More Worksheets & How-To Guides
Get more resources for planning, orchestrating, and measuring your ABM campaigns in our e-book the Blueprint to Account-Based Marketing Campaigns. Download it now to access worksheets, real-world campaign examples, and tips for ABM success.
