Account based marketing (ABM) takes the spotlight every once in a while, although, it is not a novel concept. A personalized strategy with hyper-targeted campaigns, ABM skips the generalized route of promoting the products and services to the common audience and concentrates on data and the actual business or the key stakeholders involved in the company. ABM can be an effective strategy when it uses a multichannel approach and demands a strong collaboration among the customer success, sales, and marketing departments of an organization. With its roots in 1990s with the rising need for personalized marketing for both the B2C and B2B companies, ABM is presently gaining more importance in the B2B marketing industry due to its emerging concentration on ROI and demand generation.
Some of the common examples of how B2B marketers incorporate ABM programmes for effective results are physical or virtual events, webinars, email marketing campaigns, paid advertising like social media ads or PPC ads and web personalization.
Let’s explore the 7 key benefits of Account Based Marketing as follows:
1. Alignment
For the accelerated growth of an organization, some of the key factors are a strong collaboration and a better communication between members of the same and different teams. When it comes to implementing the ABM strategy, this concrete transparency is imperative to ensure the marketing and sales teams are working on the same objectives, have a mutual agreement on the planned budget and have well-assigned roles for each internal stakeholder.
According to the research study of LinkedIn, over 80 per cent of the B2B organizations observed a better alignment between the departments of marketing and sales after incorporating the ABM strategy in their execution plan. As the essence of ABM is to reach the specific accounts which synchronize with the desired partner or customer profile, the sales team should have the required awareness about the accounts which meet the required criteria based on the prior track records and the data and information collected after their interaction with the customers or partners. To implement ABM, a solid analysis of the sales profile is required to assess the potential of the candidates for this form of marketing strategy and what would be their objective for the business and the subsequent outcome for the same. A strong alignment between the sales and marketing is required to ensure that the marketing message meets up the required expectations.
2. Better experience for customers
The touch of personalization which AM explores comprehensively transitions the buying process into a smooth manner and pushes the consumers to the edge and take the action of purchasing. Every individual prefers their purchase action to be a personal move. Further on, the power of personalization specifically invokes the customers to take the shift to take up the partnership of a business. According to a study by Salesforce, the customers also have the rising expectations that the business should have the awareness of their needs and requirements. When the customers are targeted with the ABM strategy, they will be imparted with a personalized experience which they are anticipating inherently. This increases the probability of a higher engagement and an overall increase in the purchase from the customer’s perspective.
3. Shorter Sales cycle in ABM Marketing
For B2B companies, the purchase decisions are initiated by a group of key stakeholders which slows down the sales process, as the process begins from the lower hierarchy in the company and then eventually reaches the primary decision-maker. However, with ABM, the sales cycle is shortened as all the aspects are satiated simultaneously.
4. Best use of the budget and higher ROI
From a study presented by Salesforce, nearly 75 %of the business using ABM have a minimum ROI of 10%. The study also iterates that using ABM results in double the ROI as compared to the utility of other marketing channels for about 45% of the users. When the objective of the stakeholders is highly inclined towards spiking the revenue, ABM is the way to go!
The ABM strategy exclusively engages with the most eligible leads, which ensures that a very specific budget is inclined for the objective and there is no wastage, and the budget is maximised to its full potential.
5. ABM Marketing approach Higher conversion rates
As the target audience is already pre-decided, the sales pitch for the products or service is inclined to the requirements of the high-value accounts. There is a thorough research conducted by the sales team in collaboration with the marketing team about the customers or partners, their wants and needs and the most suitable time to approach them for the deal. The research should also extend to the different communication platforms which can be used and the pattern or frequency of initiating the communication with the customers or partners. This well-planned strategy with ABM has a higher probability to build chances of higher conversions.
6. Maximized utility of marketing automation tools:
ABM utilizes the data and marketing automation tools to channelize and present the marketing content to the specific target audience. The present-day automation tools like HubSpot and Marketo are designed with highly efficient features to have the most of customized and personalized approach with minimum efforts. These marketing tools can be leveraged for enhanced visual effects and dynamic functionalities and can also integrate attractive CTAs amid the informative content, making the maximized use of marketing automation tools to keep up the relevance factor with the messages.
7. Increase in customer engagement and Retention:
The most common precept used in marketing is that to acquire new customers is five times more costly when compared with the costs of retention for existing customers. It is imperative to acquire high value customers who align with the requirements of the business and then take all the mandatory efforts to retain them. To work on building personalized content which enhances ABM strategy can establish the ‘trust’ factor with the brand and create strong relationships which exceed the objective of sales turn over but reach the motto of having a long-term successful relationship between the clients and the companies.
According to the experience of 95 % of the marketers, the power of personalization gives the returns with higher engagement and enhances the bonding. Further on, 82 % of the specifically curated content customized as per the ABM campaigns enhances the retention, which is one of the key benefits of ABM strategy for B2B companies.
ABM strategy can be an extremely effective strategy for B2B marketers, which will add up to the clarity in the marketing objectives and the potential outcome planned for the execution.
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