Your Strategy’s Alignment and Flexibility Will Steer Your Account-Based Marketing Campaign Towards Success – Here’s How.
Are you ready to plan and implement successful ABM programs within your organization? (Don’t worry, we always have more to learn.)
Here’s where we throw you the adage of “proper planning prevents poor performance.” And when it comes to ABM, nothing could be more true! It is absolutely necessary to plan ABM campaigns in advance because there are so many moving parts.
As a recap of Account-Based Marketing, you’re operating differently than you would in a traditional sales funnel, where you pull in as many leads as possible and hope some take the bait. With ABM, you’re not waiting for companies to show up; you’re actively reaching out to them. And not just any old company, but a shortlist of companies that map to your ideal customer profile, or ICP.
Because ABM is such a pin-pointed process, careful planning to align teams is of utmost importance – but we also know that best-laid plans often go awry, so we need to be aware of issues that can arise along the way and have the flexibility to take a turn when it’s necessary.
Alignment: The Foundation of Successful ABM
The first key to success that you’ll need for a successful ABM program is alignment across teams, which is why we are advocates for “account-based everything” to ensure success throughout your organization.
Let’s start with aligning the marketing and sales teams.
ABM enables teams to focus on shared goals to grow their client base and revenue. You must move away from a siloed approach to marketing! The more you can create a collaborative approach to make ABM a strategic business initiative across the company or agency, the more efficient and effective it will be.
Great things can happen with proper team alignment:
- Collaboration and unity within the team culture
- Ability to track the level of engagement throughout the life of an account (from lead to prospect to customer, etc.)
- Filling the funnel with prospects that are associated with an account as a whole
- Creating collaborative interactions and delivering consistent messaging to the entire account as they move through the funnel
- Providing a complete picture of an account and mapping out decision-makers within it to educate buyers and increase the likelihood of closing the deal
Look, most people don’t like change, so change management is going to be crucial when you’re first implementing ABM campaigns and getting buy-in across teams. Focus on the positive benefits and have regular collaborative meetings to find the best ways to encourage your teams to succeed.
Flexibility: The Vehicle for Sustaining ABM
Once you have your teams revved up and ready to roll, it’s time to really implement your ABM strategy.
Even with the most in-depth plans in place, we can’t read the future. We might have a prospective account that completely throws us off our game, and we have to be ready for those curveballs.
That’s where flexibility comes in.
Hopefully, you already have a great library of inbound content and a strategy in place to be able to filter leads through your funnel. Remember, ABM isn’t just throwing ads out into the universe! You need a multi-channel approach to make sure they have somewhere to land and educate them as they get to know how your solutions can meet their needs.
Then, you need to pay attention to your metrics. If you see that something is off, it’s time to make a tweak. You can use A/B testing to determine which path to take and make sure you’re communicating effectively with sales reps to see if they have the resources they need to be effective in their outreach and other activities.
What Can Happen If You’re Not Aligned and Not Flexible?
Unfortunately, if your efforts are not:
- well-planned out
- aligned effectively, and
- flexible to change if you hit a rough spot,
then your ABM campaigns can fall flat (no matter how much budget you pump into them).
With these key elements in your ABM strategy, you will set yourself up for success.
No matter how carefully aligned and flexible your plans may be, some challenges can still arise, so it’s important to know how to use ABM to solution for the issues your organization or clients need to solve. Check out our guide to learn how you can put your efforts to use and navigate the challenges you may face ahead!
Download the eBook: 5 ABM Challenges You'll Face and How to Solution for Them
