Sangram here!
As you know, #FlipMyFunnel has built and introduced a new cadence to the way we produce and distribute content to our community! In addition to a short, weekly tutorial video from me, weekly podcast episodes and other amazing initiatives, I’ll be posting a blog to our #FlipMyFunnel site monthly that directly ties into the theme for the month.
This month’s topic centers around engagement, the second stage of the flipped funnel.
If you’re an account-based marketing (ABM) practitioner or even someone who’s not practicing yet but understand the ABM climate, you’re aware that engagement is one of the most popular stages, if not the most popular.
But why?
After selecting your best-fit accounts and expanding reach in those accounts, it’s essential for marketers to engage individuals within those accounts across the entire buyer and customer journey. Some of the best practices for successfully engaging the right individuals include direct mail, email, content (blogs, video, social) and digital advertising.
Something that goes hand in hand with this idea of engagement is personalization.
With B2B marketing, you’re not just selling to a consumer. You’re selling to a high-level decision-maker — or a group of decision-makers — who have complex priorities and obligations.
A few engagement tactics that prove to be successful for an ABM strategy include:
Direct Mail
If you’ve taken the time to do your research, personalizing a direct mail campaign should blow your account out of the water. And while promotional items are important, including a real gift that you know they’d enjoy might be the tipping point for that account. Did you see that they’re at every Braves game? Did you have a conversation with an account where they mentioned their love for rock climbing? Make their day and you’ll really get their wheels turning about your company.
Content
Understanding your target accounts’ pain points are essential to engaging with them on their terms and will help you in creating segmented content for them. If you know a particular target account struggles with finding quality prospects, consider writing a blog that focuses on the top five ways to identify accounts for B2B marketing and send it over to the decision maker with a quick note in an email. Also, just mentioning target accounts in blog posts may serve to be beneficial as a lot of companies are alerted when they’re mentioned on the web.
[Tweet “If you know a particular target account struggles with finding quality prospects,”]
Social
Engaging socially is more than just sending a Tweet to that key stakeholder you’ve been trying to reach. With all engagement strategies, it’s important to understand how these accounts are engaging online. What type of content do they share on Twitter? Which LinkedIn posts are they most receptive to? Social media can absolutely be huge in driving engagement but only when the behaviors of that target account are understood.
[Tweet “Engaging socially is more than just sending a Tweet to that key stakeholder you’ve been trying to reach.”]
These are only a few of the ways to engage with ABM – what are your favorites?
