As interest in account based marketing continues to reach new heights in 2016, businesses are racing to adopt the right set of strategies needed to integrate ABM into their digital sales process.
The benefits of ABM are clear, and those already mapping buyer personas and creating digital sales content for inbound lead generation are best positioned to implement an ABM strategy.
The challenge with ABM is trying to apply a completely new approach to a strategy (content marketing) that many are still wrapping their heads around.
Today’s article explains when and why you should implement an account based marketing strategy.
Click Here to learn about the recent resurgence of account based marketing, and why it spiked in 2015.
Click Here to learn about the top 5 reasons for why you should use an account based marketing (ABM) strategy.
When to use Account Based Marketing
Although ABM has shown promising returns, and the tactics used in ABM are preferred by prospects; ABM is still an investment of resources, and knowing when and how to apply those resources influences the success of these tactics.
The old adage ‘80 from your 20’ (80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers) offers a practical scope for account based marketing strategies.
By focusing your communication efforts and resources on the 20% group, you can target those accounts that bring in the bulk of your revenue.
Ideal Account Characteristics,- High value – the account offers strong revenue potential or is of a strategic importance; and
- Long and complex - the sales process may include many actors.
High Account Value,
We’ve already seen that traditional and intrusive outbound efforts fail to provide the strong results seen from inbound digital content marketing, but inbound marketing is far from perfect.
Fewer than 10% of marketing qualified leads become closed-deals won (Source: AMA, 2016), buyers are finding vendor inbound content less and less valuable, and the right customers seeing the right content only happens 20% of the time when using static inbound website content (Source: AMA, 2016).
As explained by Chris Golec, founder of DemandBase,
“Most of the traffic coming to your website is not from companies who will ever buy anything. It’s usually shocking when we show people the makeup of their Web traffic. Usually only 10-12% are companies with potential to buy anything (they fall into their target audience)” (Source: AMA, 2016).
Finally, since marketing teams often wait for a lead to interact with content, several opportunities for direct engagement are missed. Chris estimates that this kind of interaction “only happens about two percent of the time” (Source: AMA, 2016).
An ABM approach ensures that the most valuable accounts aren't falling through the cracks of mismatched inbound content and timing.
Long and Complex Sales Cycle,
Certain industries and categories naturally incur a long and complex sales process. This can be for several reasons, but additional complexity drags down strong purchase intent. Consider this graph.
(Image Source: VidYard, 2016)
An average buying group consists of 5.4 people, therefore an account focused effort greatly improves the chances of success by strengthening relationships with the target account.
ABM initiatives help to create subject matter experts (SME) for specific industries (Source: PropelGrowth, 2016). The account-team will learn to speak the language, recognize the trends, and add a consultative approach to any sales presentation.
Ideally, your account-team will become a trusted resource for questions and concerns among the buying group. ABM enables your sales team to create a ‘total sales solution’ rather than simply closing on point solutions.
Fully Adopting an Account Based Marketing Approach for all Prospects
While account based marketing started with large enterprise servicing existing high value accounts, deeper sales stack maturity innovations have made ABM more attainable for small and medium business (SMB).
Chris Golec explains,
“I think for anyone who is selling to businesses, ABM can now be done at much greater scale. It’s been done for years and years, but a lot of it has been done in the analog world. Now, I can target 10 accounts or thousands of accounts at scale with the same level of effort” (Source: AMA, 2016).
Candyce Edelen, CEO and Founder of Propel Growth, suggests three tiers of account based marketing, with some excellent breakdowns for when to adopt an ABM approach for all sizes of prospects. Her interesting article explains the details of these breakdowns.
Tier One,
These are accounts where ABM efforts deliver the most value and ROI. Incredibly strong sales and marketing collaboration is required to create or repurpose digital sales content for highly specialized communication and distribution. This group consists of ten or fewer accounts valued at 500K and up. Candyce calls this tier “marketing enabled strategic selling.”
Stronger ROI and outcomes are seen when the ABM team’s accounts share similar needs or are in the same industry.
SiriusDecisions maps similar levels of account based marketing focus. Tier one would fall under their Large Account level - characterized by a small number of existing and targeted high value accounts (Source: SiriusDecisions, 2015).
Tier Two,
Accounts where ABM efforts will provide tailored support, but the effect dilutes when used across many accounts. Industry research, regulatory requirements, business needs, and etc. shape the degree of personalization at this tier. Candyce calls this tier “ABM-lite” for accounts between 100K and 500K in annual value.
Under the SiriusDecisions ABM framework, this tier includes their Named Account Level – characterized by a moderate or large number of existing or targeted accounts (Source: SiriusDecisions, 2015).
Tier Three,
These are ABM efforts that strongly resemble a niche strategy or persona-based digital content marketing. Personalization at this level would require technology integration and a complete sales stack. Clients under 100K in annual revenue make up this tier.
Under the SiriusDecisions ABM framework, this tier includes their Industry/Segment Level – characterized by any number of new or existing accounts in the same vertical or other specific segment (Source: SiriusDecisions, 2015).
(Image Source: PropelGrowth, 2016)
At SKURA we help companies of all sizes coordinate front line digital sales content communications for effectrive account based marketing at any tier. If you're trying to implement an ABM program, request a demo and let our sales consultants show you how easy ABM can be.
The Risks of Using Account Based Marketing
Though ABM offers several benefits, there are potential drawbacks to using an ABM approach. In order to effectively adopt ABM, the downside risks must be recognized and mitigated.
In our next post we’ll explore the potential risks associated with account based marketing. Subscribe to our mailing list for an instant notification upon release.
