Influence B2B Decision Makers with an Account-Based Approach
Account-based marketing is the perfect mix between marketing and sales, allowing marketers to put content in front of the job roles and titles that sales teams need to get in touch with. This is what makes Account-based marketing synonymous with higher ad spend ROI, larger contract values, and shorter sales cycles. ABM takes the typical marketing approach of one-to-many and creates a one-to-one environment for the people that matter most: Decision-Makers.
Here are a few ways you can leverage Account-based marketing to better influence business-to-business (B2B) decision-makers.
Custom Content Drives Higher Engagement
Mass marketing is tempting, after all more eyes should equal more opportunity, right? But that’s not always the case in the B2B world. Many marketers struggle to gain or keep levels of engagement because it is a constant struggle of aligning content to users and their journey.
Users are more likely to engage with personalized content, which is one of the key reasons Account-based marketing conversions are consistently higher than other traditional targeting alternatives.
Account-based marketing makes it simple to get impactful content in front of your ICP by targeting companies by role. Content the C-suite wants to see is going to be different from something a department manager wants to see. By differentiating these roles via targeting, marketers can align their content to these roles to gain better engagement and increase influence within a company.
Having alignment with your sales team is a great way to create custom content. A buying team might not need another email from a sales team but a display ad addressing a concern or pain point they expressed previously can do the trick. Personalization done well will have decision-makers more open to reaching out.
Focus Time & Effort on Engaged Accounts
It’s hard to know whether an ICP is in the market or ready to buy. It could take a few sales emails or calls to get a response from a prospect, whether or not they’re even interested in pursuing the conversation. This costs your sales team precious time they could be spending pursuing more fruitful opportunities, talking to the decision-makers that are truly interested in having the initial conversation. Account-based marketing addresses this by not only allowing you to target those accounts receiving sales emails, but also reporting back on the engagement by company.
Being able to report on an account's level of engagement with your content is a great indicator if they’re interested in your service or not. A company with high engagement is perfect to hand over to a sales team member to reach out to key decision-makers. The identification process makes sure you’re reaching out at a time that works for those decision-makers and allows you to tailor the conversation to the content they’ve engaged with. This extra relevancy makes prospects feel valued and gives you the extra confidence that you’re reaching out to the decision-maker at the opportune time.
Accounts showing lesser engagement can be left as part of the campaign to continue to be nurtured. When the time is right and they’re in the market to buy, you’ll see the indicators and can hand them over to the sales team. This approach will result in better conversations and a more efficient use of your sales team’s time.
The Mere-Exposure Effect
Have you ever heard the phrase, “the more familiar you are with something the more you like it?” It’s true, and the more familiar a person is with your brand the more likely they are to engage with you. By having a strong presence in the minds of your target company, you are stimulating your sales pipeline. Account-based marketing allows you to spend more time in the eyes of the key decision-makers by targeting job roles.
Over time, potential consumers will grow comfortable and start associating levels of credibility with your brand. All for having a presence where they are online. When the time comes that your ICP is ready to buy they’ll have you on the shortlist of providers. This makes initial sales outreach easier and makes those “cold calls” a good bit warmer.
You Can Engage Decision Makers Effectively
Account-based marketing plays a key role in many marketers’ toolboxes when it comes to engaging decision-makers, making it easier to get in front of them with the content they want to see and engage with and being able to identify and pass off hot leads when reporting shows they’re interested. At a minimum, account-based marketing will help you grow your brand and better reach the companies that will impact your bottom line.
Have a decision-maker you want to turn into a client? Account-based marketing will help! For more info on how you can put it into practice, check out our eBook: Demystifying Account-Based Marketing: Yes, You Can Make It Happen.
