In 1898, a Philadelphia advertising agency coined the term "marketing funnel" to describe one of the most efficient marketing tactics. The prospect's buying process can be tracked using four easy steps: awareness, interest, desire, and action. This entire concept was born out of a desire to streamline the marketing process. What if we told you the marketing funnel was incorrect in some cases? What if we told you that if you placed the funnel sideways, it would be extremely useful? Even while they have been enormously successful (and continue to be), what if we told you that there are certain improvements that might be made, at least in the B2B scenario?
And that is where my friends, the Account Based Marketing (ABM) knocks your door.
We're sure the phrase "Shed some light on this whole ABM already yaar" will echo in your head. We're going to do the same thing, plus a little extra. The goal of this essay is to provide you a comprehensive review of the ABM and the things to remember so that when the ABM knocks on your door, you can greet it with a warm grin and a hot cup of coffee. Hold on tight, we're about to go right in.
What exactly is Account Based Marketing (ABM)?
Account Based Marketing is a streamlined marketing strategy that focuses available resources on an array of targeted clients (in this case accounts) in a market. Using personalised campaigns and tailor-made content, you have to concentrate on the specific attributes that an account holds and it should be designed in such a way.
When you examine the traditional marketing funnel, the process starts right from acquiring as many leads as possible by spreading out a net that is very wide. Then, after the whole process of nurturing, the prospect makes the final decision. If you want to know about the marketing funnel in depth, check this blog out that we wrote sometime back. You will get all the details regarding traditional marketing.
Back to ABM, so, we know the process of traditional marketing funnel right? Just invert the traditional marketing funnel and boom! You get an Account based marketing funnel. Instead of spreading out a big net to catch every lead nearby, the idea of the ABM is to focus on those selected accounts and personalise the marketing game accordingly.
The inverted ABM Funnel
As we stated earlier, the ABM funnel is inverted unlike the traditional marketing funnel. The process of generating leads, the nurturing and all is entirely different here in the ABM funnel. A well-made ABM funnel will be divided into 4 topics namely, finding, customisation, engagement and advocating. Let’s discuss in detail, shall we?
Finding
This one is easy. Go in as specific as possible and find an account from the wide spectrum of prospects that you have. Always keep in mind to choose only the accounts that are in need of your product or service. To adopt a truly concentrated approach many successful organisations only focus on less than 50 accounts simultaneously. The less the number, the better the results.
Customisation
After finding the prospect, it’s now time to customise your marketing strategies to the selected account. You have to tune your content according to the selected account as personalised as possible. A less known fact is that 40% of the people prefer content that is personalised for them. In simple words, you have to rework your marketing strategy top to bottom.
Engagement
After the customisation process and a well thought out research time, you now have to indulge in a personal relation with the prospect. Provide them all the suitable marketing materials and personalized items. A recent study has shown that this idea has evoked 100% engagement with the selected prospect.
Advocating
Now you have built a strong relationship with the prospect. Most probably they will be your consumer by this time. If not, don’t worry. Use the fruitful relationship to ask them to do some referral marketing and ask their help to introduce some good leads to your way. And the whole process starts again.
As we have understood the concept, let's look at some advantages that the ABM brings to your company.
Crisp ROI
The ABM is crisp and clear. It is also highly measurable. The ABM provides the highest ROI compared to any marketing strategies out there. A study shows that 85 % of the marketers who use ABM as their strategy claimed that this is the most successful marketing technique.
Sales and Marketing team rapport
The ABM encourages your sales and marketing team to work together in an account. From finding out the suitable prospect to conceiving creative campaigns to guiding the prospect in the marketing pipeline, both the marketing and sales team have to work together in a harmony. And that harmony ends in great success.
Little to no wasted resources
As the time and resources are concentrated on a single account the chances of sales closure is extremely high. As the ABM is all about personalisation, the time it takes to curate every content for each domain is comparatively high. The main attraction is the client’s quality, so the hard work never goes wasted.
Sales cycle is very low
A company having multiple decision makes typically slows down the marketing process. As the ABM is directly focused to the top people of a firm, the probability of selecting our proposal is really high and by that, the sale time will drastically decrease.
This was a basic introduction to the idea of ABM. There is more to talk and discuss. If you are planning to implement this in your company, you should definitely check our website. You can find more info and you can contact us to discuss the business in detail.