This week was an exciting week for us as we celebrated our 1-month countdown until our San Francisco Roadshow. That excitement happened to spill over into 5 amazing articles covering the many perspectives of account-based marketing (ABM). We start with the planning phase, noting lead-to-account matching as the secret to #ABM success. We then move to how to handle accounts that are “on the fringe” and learning how ABM can help you land those accounts that are frequently overlooked. We finish our roundup with the most underused resource in marketing today, Direct Mail. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
1. Everything I Know About ABM, I Learned from a Six-Year-Old Star Wars Fan
This article is a fresh perspective on ABM. Usually, we focus on what ABM does for our company after implemented; using terms such as ROI, conversion rates, or revenue. It isn’t often that you hear of the planning that goes into making sure your ABM campaign is successful.
Flipping Points:
- ABM has the potential to dramatically improve revenue but it does require different preparation, strategy, and communication than your previous marketing efforts.
- Like the early days of marketing automation, “shiny object” syndrome has gripped marketing with little regards to whether these teams can actually deploy a successful ABM program.
Key Takeaway:
Few “thought leader” articles address the planning and preparation time required to ensure a successful ABM campaign roll-out.
- J. Robert Slaughter, President at Markistry
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Tweet “Try to avoid shiny object syndrome and focus on if the product is right for you #FlipMyFunnel”]
2. The Magic of Account-Based Marketing
The magic of ABM is the change in how you approach your marketing teams priorities. In this article, we learn how marketers all over are making the switch from random lead generation to a targeted account list to drive demand for your company. This particular post includes great real life uses of ABM, mentioning companies such as Vidyard, Terminus, Engagio, and Demandbase.
Flipping Points:
- Associating individuals with accounts rather than thinking of them as a standalone lead is a major first step.
- Account-based marketing also relies on marketers to help sales take a longer-term view, rather than a narrow focus on quarterly results.
Key Takeaway:
We want to get B2B marketers to the point where they’re not waiting around for the right people to swim into their net, but can reach out to them.
- Jon Miller, CEO of Engagio
[Tweet “Think of #ABM as branding at a highly refined level – @jonmiller #FlipMyFunnel”]
3. Managing the Fringe in Account-Based Marketing
Because ABM is such a targeted approach, we sometimes miss out on accounts that don’t fit the persona of a best-fit customer. This interesting article teaches B2B Marketers how to those “Fringe” accounts.
Flipping Points:
- Diversity of accounts in your pipeline reduces the risk of over targeting
- By building a diverse pipeline, if there is an outlier, it gets the right amount of focus; not too much and not ignored.
Key Takeaway:
The testing phase is critical to determing continued allocation of time and effort on each account.
- Belina Perando, Director of Global Client Relationship Development at Sykes
[Tweet “#ABM addresses both ends of the funnel – @Belina4 #FlipMyFunnel”]
4. The Secret to Account-Based Marketing Success
While 90% of marketers think that ABM very important to their marketing efforts, only 20% actually have an ABM campaign in place. There are many reasons for this large gap, but the most important one is lead-to-account matching. This strategy to get your ABM campaign started is the secret to ABM success.
Flipping Points:
- Most marketing and sales organizations do not have tight alignment and open communication, so correctly matching leads to their parent accounts is all the more important.
- Lead-to-account matching prevents Marketing and Sales from stepping on each other’s toes, which is frustrating internally, looks sloppy to potential customer, and can result in lost deals.
Key Takeaway:
Lead-to-account matching lets you match new and existing leads to their proper accounts. Without it, ABM falls flat.
- Doug Bewsher, CEO at Leadspace
[Tweet “#ABM requires strengthening the connection between #marketing and #sales #FlipMyFunnel”]
5. Direct Mail Reborn: B2B Marketers Integrate More Physical Mail With Digital Channels
Here at #FlipMyFunnel we just completed our first Direct Mail campaign and we’re looking forward to the next one after our B2B Marketing Roadshow in February. There are many ways to carry it out and you can be as creative as you want. Check out this article on how direct mail can be your next big lead generation tool.
Flipping Points:
- Direct mail will play a bigger role in marketing plans this year, partly as a way to gain attention among the overstuffed email inboxes.
- Direct mail is one of the easiest media channels to track and measure; enabling more complex messaging than many digital avenues for B2B marketers.
Key Takeaway:
Although expensive, B2B mail packages can attract attention and ultimately be worth the production cost to capture the right lead.
- Christopher Engman, Founder and CEO of Vendemore
[Tweet “Direct Mail is a way to break the clutter of digital content -@chrisengman #FlipMyFunnel”]
We are bringing the #FlipMyFunnel B2B Marketing and Sales Roadshow to San Francisco on Feb. 25, 2016.
Register today and save your 50% off your ticket with promo code FMFBLOG50
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Learn more about ABM and the T.E.A.M. account based marketing framework:
- Target – Create a target account list for ABM
- Engage – Account based advertising
- Activate – Account based sales enablement tools
- Measure – Account based analytics
See the full Terminus account based marketing platform.
Check out some account based marketing examples.
Learn more about account based marketing services.
Terminus: an account based marketing software company.
