How do you personalize your marketing strategy to attract a group of customers that is ready to buy your product or service?
You identify your target accounts, market to them, and measure your results. That's account-based marketing ( ABM), and it really can be that simple.
As Matt Heinz, president of Heinz Marketing, has stated, "In its purest form, account based marketing has been around forever." When B2C and B2B companies started realizing the need for more personalized marketing, marketers developed a new, targeted strategy; and in 2004 ITSMA named this concept, officially coining the term "account based marketing."
ABM is all about taking a highly focused approach to whom you target with your marketing efforts. SiriusDecisions describes it as the strategic approach marketers use to support a defined universe of accounts, including strategic accounts and named accounts. Over 90% of marketers recognize the value in ABM (SiriusDecisions).
There are three key steps to building a successful ABM strategy:
- Identify target accounts.
- Market these accounts in a very direct, personalized manner.
- Measure the success of your ABM strategy.
This video from Salesfusion's Marketing Minutes Video Series provides key tips on incorporating the identify, market, and measure technique and using your current marketing tools to adjust your strategy around an ABM approach rather than implementing extra technology.
Some 84% of B2B marketers say ABM delivers a higher ROI than any other approach, according to ITSMA. As we move deeper into the digital age and continue to uncover the power of personalization, the ABM approach will undoubtedly become progressively more valuable in how marketing and sales teams operate.
