Account-based marketing (ABM) is a highly strategic and targeted approach. Get it right, and you can bring in those lucrative high-value target accounts.
You’ll need to be a little patient with ABM, as it can take some time to deliver the returns you’re looking for. But it’s most definitely worth it, as the benefits of account-based marketing are hard to beat. According to the B2B marketing research and advisory firm ITSMA, a whopping 85% of marketers find that an account-based strategy delivers higher ROI than any other marketing approach.
To help you map out your timeline and imagine how your campaigns will play out, let’s take a look at a few key account-based marketing tactics.
Step 1 – research, research, and more research
Research is the linchpin of any good account-based marketing strategy. You’ll need to do both quantitative and qualitative research to identify the ‘big fish’ accounts you really want to go after, and the ‘must-win’ accounts your business needs to scoop up in order to move forward. Data is key here, along with knowing how to analyse it properly.
Step 2 – defining key target accounts
There are two parts to this. The first is to create a persona for your ‘ideal’ target buyer, and the second is to find them in real life. It’s also crucial to find out exactly who you need to be aiming your message at. You need to match your target personas to influential decision-makers in each of your target accounts.
Step 3 – fine-tuning your messaging
To effectively reach your target accounts, you need to take a personalised, highly tailored approach to content creation and messaging. Figure out what will appeal most to your target (again, you’ll need to do your homework) and craft your content to suit. Design, sales, and marketing working together in a coordinated approach are all key to this process.
Step 4 – promote your campaigns through the right channels
You guessed it, this involves more research. Your creative campaigns and targeted content need to get in front of the right eyes, so you need to understand where your target stakeholders spend their time – both online and offline.
Step 5 – measure, analyse and optimise
Once a campaign is live, you need to be tracking its impact immediately. Test, measure, and learn from the data you gather, so you can optimise and tweak your campaigns so that your results will continually improve.
So, how long does ABM take to implement?
The short answer is, it depends – on the account, on your resources, and how much work you’ve already put in. Research can be the most time-consuming part of the process, requiring at least 10 solid hours or more per account.
But once your campaign is live, you should see results within around 6 months. However, you may start to see a positive return for your time and efforts in as little as 3 months.
Remember – you’re likely to see better results faster by outsourcing to a specialist. Get in touch with our ABM specialists here at IT Focus to find out more.
