Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy that targets a few key accounts using hyper-personalised campaigns rather than casting a wide net. While broad marketing can reach more accounts, ABM increases a brand’s chances of connecting with high-value clients because campaigns are tailored specifically to each account.
However, ABM strategies only work if everyone at your company is on the same page. Marketing and sales must align to create clear, consistent messaging that appeals to the most important accounts.
What is an Account-Based Marketing Strategy?
ABM strategies flip lead generation strategies upside down. While marketing often begins with casting a wide net, ABM starts small and then scales. ABM focuses on high-value accounts and treats them as “markets of one.” Sales and marketing teams work together to select target accounts, focus on the buying committee members of each account, and create customised campaigns to reach those buying committees.
There are three main ABM approaches: one-to-one, one-to-few, and one-to-many. One-to-one is the most personalised, targeting only a few major accounts with a fully tailored strategy for each. One-to-few targets more, typically 5 to 15, but focuses on accounts with similar goals and pain points so strategies can remain similar. Then, one-to-many is the broadest option, targeting hundreds of similar accounts with some personalisation.
ABM is beneficial because it focuses directly on accounts that can benefit from your brand, leading to higher conversion rates. When targeting broadly, you might be trying to reach an audience that isn’t a perfect match, which can waste time, money, and resources. So, if a brand has a very specific audience in mind, ABM leans into that.
Building the Foundation for ABM
For a successful ABM strategy, you need to start by implementing the foundations. First, determine the goals you want to achieve with your strategy, such as goals surrounding revenue, relationships, and efficiency. Decide how you’ll measure that success.
You also need to develop an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), which is a detailed description of who will get the most value from your products and services. With a clearly defined ICP, your team can more effectively find accounts that fit your audience. Identify relevant accounts and choose which ones to prioritise.
Once you know which accounts you’re focusing on, map their key stakeholders and buying committees. The goal is to build strategies based on the people making the decisions for that company, so find ways to appeal to their interests, priorities, and pain points.
Creating an ABM Engagement Plan
An ABM engagement plan must be perfectly tailored to your target account. Develop messaging that’s specific to each account by considering their pain points and what pushes them to make a purchase. Align your messaging plan to the stakeholder needs and buying stages for the best success.
Choose channels that you know the decision-makers spend time in, which could include email, LinkedIn, advertising, events, and sales outreach. Find a balance between scalability and personalisation so you can reach a decent volume of accounts while still offering relevant, trust-building content.
Aligning Sales and Marketing
Your sales and marketing team must be aligned with your ABM strategy to ensure messaging consistency throughout the entire process. To do this, establish shared account lists and goals. Then, define responsibilities across teams and communicate clearly as you complete tasks.
Messaging isn’t the only aspect that should be consistent. Make sure your engagement and follow-up processes also align so every step can be completed properly without any confusion or disjointed approaches. Use regular feedback loops to assess your current process and adapt as a team to improve your strategy.
Measuring ABM Success
ABM success is about more than just lead clicks. You need to determine if you’re reaching the entire buying committee at target accounts. Goals like revenue and new relationships might take a while to show results, but tracking different metrics throughout the process can help you measure success at every stage.
The following can help you measure ABM success early on:
- Track account engagement and buying committee coverage
- Measure meetings, opportunities, and pipelines generated
- Monitor win rates, deal velocity, and revenue impact
- Evaluate account growth and expansion opportunities
By tracking all these aspects, you can see the bigger picture to help you determine which areas work and which need improvements. Your ABM strategy should always be growing and improving, so don’t be afraid to adjust it if you’re not getting the results you want.
Common Challenges and How to Avoid Them
To prevent these common challenges from hurting your brand, take extra precautions:
- Poor account selection: Clearly define your ICP before selecting your accounts. Determine your ICP’s firmographics, technographics, behaviours, pain points, stakeholder roles, and business triggers. Then, find accounts that match all those qualities.
- Lack of sales involvement: Treat ABM as a shared revenue strategy, incorporating both marketing and sales teams in every phase. Build the account list, set goals, and share data together to keep the approach consistent.
- Over-reliance on campaign metrics: Only looking at clicks and impressions shows you surface-level numbers. You should focus on the metrics that directly impact your goals, such as pipeline progression, multi-stakeholder account engagement, and account progression rate.
- Insufficient personalisation: If you’re only swapping out small parts of your messaging to personalise it, you’re missing what matters most. Your messaging should specifically target what the account cares about and what drives them to buy, which may require completely rewriting content to match their needs.
- Treating ABM as a short-term initiative: ABM isn’t just a one-time strategy. For best success, you should create long-term business plans and consistently readjust them based on achievements and areas of improvement.
Scaling an ABM Program
Your ABM strategy isn’t over once you build a relationship with one account. If your method was successful, you can scale the program and adjust it to reach more accounts and grow your business further.
Here are some steps to take for scaling your ABM strategy:
- Start with a focused pilot
- Standardise processes and reporting
- Use technology to improve efficiency
- Expand targeting and personalisation based on results
Strong ABM Strategies Offer Growth
ABM strategies can build relationships with crucial accounts while offering an effective way to scale your business. However, ABM is only successful with the right approach. You need to start with the key foundations, such as defining a clear ICP, finding relevant accounts to target, and mapping key stakeholders.
With the key elements of ABM clearly established, the strategy can lead to pipeline growth and positive revenue outcomes. Yet, this isn’t a strategy that’s finished after one plan. ABM requires ongoing optimisation and alignment between sales and marketing for the best success. Regularly assess your methods and implement new approaches when needed to keep your strategy fresh, relevant, and successful.