Technology has been wonderful for B2B marketers: It's given them the ability to hyper-target with a degree of accuracy never before possible. But no matter how accurate your targeting may be, driving sales still depends on the effectiveness of the marketing message you deliver.

All the technological bells and whistles in the world can't make up for a message that fails to resonate with its target on a personal and emotional level.

To successfully drive revenue in today's highly competitive B2B environment, marketers must find ways to tie their brand-building and demand generation campaigns together. Hyper-targeting and focused conversion efforts are a big part of the demand side, of course, but it's important to also incorporate elements of the emotional heartstring-tugging that characterizes most brand advertising.

Successful campaigns must be driven by your customers' emotions and unique challenges, not just by the product you are trying to sell them. That's the only way to break through the noise and confusion of a B2B marketplace that has become, to put it mildly, "cluttered."

ABM for the Win

Account-based marketing (ABM) gives B2B marketers the ability to hyper-target customers and prospects with highly personalized messaging—and thus break through the clutter. But there isn't a magic ABM switch, and the challenge is, How do you effectively personalize content at scale?

Customers are looking for customization and personalization based on their unique set of goals and challenges. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but customers do have one thing in common: They are all human. And at the most basic level, customers want to engage with B2B companies that understand their needs.

That bottom line—customers want customization and personalization—is something that traditional demand gen, persona-based marketing can't sufficiently provide.

Tapping Into Brand for the Emotional Element

So how do B2B marketers appeal to customers' needs, challenges, and goals at the buyer-specific level? They start by showing empathy and understanding.

The brand campaign's role in that conjoined effort is to inject an element of emotion into the mix by way of narrative: What is this person's challenge? Can I empathize with that challenge? Can I build a relationship with my target based on my understanding of what they need?

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Marry Brand and Demand to Unleash the Full Power of Personalization in ABM

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Michelle Yancey

Michelle Yancey is group account director at Centerline Digital, where she is a champion of account-based marketing. She partners with Centerline's Fortune 500 clients to solve unique marketing challenges in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

LinkedIn: Michelle Yancey