What if you focused all your resources on attracting and closing only the most high-value accounts?
That’s account-based marketing in a nutshell. For any B2B firm that sells high-value items on a long sales cycle, this method is one of the best ways to nurture leads to close over time.
ABM is intended to develop personalized, long-term relationships with key accounts rather than appeal to a broader audience, like in traditional inbound marketing. It works best in high-value, complex sales cycles in niche markets, where targeting the right companies is more important than reaching a large audience.
This guide walks you through the essentials of ABM, its benefits, and challenges, and how Allied helps companies deploy and implement it effectively.
Table of Contents
What is Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?
Account-based marketing is a marketing approach that targets specific high-value accounts with personalized sales messaging. In ABM, marketing and sales teams collaborate closely to identify key accounts and tailor personalized campaigns that show they can meet those accounts’ unique needs.
ABM focuses on creating bespoke campaigns for each high-priority account or group of accounts. This requires deep research into the industry, pain points, and decision-making structures of the accounts your organization is targeting.
Sales and marketing teams must closely collaborate, ensuring their messaging is consistent across all touchpoints. Designing messaging like this makes prospects feel understood and valued.
How Does ABM Differ from Traditional Marketing?
In traditional inbound marketing, businesses aim to attract as many leads as possible through tactics like content marketing, SEO, and PPC advertising. ABM, on the other hand, involves focusing resources on a small group of pre-identified prospects.
The intention is to deeply engage decision-makers and influencers at these target accounts through personalized communication and outreach.
Traditional marketing can often feel like casting a wide net and hoping for the best. ABM, on the other hand, is like using a spear to hit a specific target.
Both approaches have their merits, but for companies with long sales cycles and high-value offerings, ABM is often more effective at converting leads into long-term clients.
Benefits of Account-Based Marketing
Increased Win Rates
By concentrating on accounts with the highest potential to close, sales and marketing teams can increase their chances of turning key accounts into loyal customers.
Instead of spreading resources thinly across many low-value leads, ABM enables teams to invest heavily in a select few prospects, giving them the attention and resources necessary to close high-ticket deals.
Shorter Sales Cycles
Although ABM typically targets companies with longer decision-making processes, the high degree of personalization in Account-Based Marketing can help shorten the overall sales cycle. When a company is presented with content that speaks directly to its pain points, and the decision-makers feel that the solution fits their unique needs, they may move more quickly to make a purchase decision.
Sales and Marketing Alignment
One of the key benefits of ABM is the alignment and camaraderie it fosters between sales and marketing teams. Historically, these two crucial halves of a business aren’t always the best of friends.
In many companies, sales and marketing operate in silos, with little communication or collaboration. This misalignment can lead to mixed messaging, wasted resources, and lost opportunities.
ABM ensures that both teams collaborate on a shared vision: moving key accounts toward close. When marketing creates personalized content for target accounts, the sales team uses that content in their outreach to decision-makers.
This consistency in messaging helps ensure that the entire customer journey, from the first point of contact to the final sale, feels cohesive and seamless.
Improved ROI
Because ABM focuses on high-value accounts, businesses can see a higher return on investment (ROI) compared to other marketing approaches.
By tailoring resources toward a select group of potential clients, companies can maximize their marketing spend and achieve a greater payoff when these key accounts convert into customers.
Long-Term Relationships
If done correctly, ABM cultivates long-term, meaningful relationships with key accounts.
These relationships lead to greater customer retention and higher lifetime value. Companies that practice ABM often have stronger partnerships with their clients, as they demonstrate a deep understanding of their client’s unique needs and goals from the start.
Best Practices for Account-Based Marketing
Build a Target Account List
The foundation of a successful ABM campaign is a well-defined target account list.
This list should be created in collaboration between the sales and marketing teams, ensuring that the companies being targeted align with the business’s ideal customer profile (ICP).
Factors to consider when building this list include company size, industry, revenue, and decision-making structure.
Personalize Every Touchpoint
One of the core principles of ABM is personalization. Every interaction with a target account should feel tailored to their unique needs and goals. This includes customized landing pages, personalized email outreach, and content that speaks directly to their pain points.
How to Implement an Effective Account-Based Marketing Strategy
Step 1: Prospect for Potential High-Value Accounts
The first step in implementing an Account-Based Marketing strategy is identifying the accounts in your ICP that are most likely to need your offer. For this example, let’s say we’re selling tax software. We have decided to target directors in the accounting departments of companies that are doing $20 million in ARR.
Companies like ZoomInfo or Apollo offer massive databases where anyone can search for decision-makers at larger companies and export lists of their emails and phone numbers. We first export a list of 2000 emails and phone numbers of directors and get ready to target them.
Step 2: Create Personalized Content
Once we have our list of high-value accounts, we need to create content that speaks directly to their needs. We’re going to need:
- Sales call scripts
- Templated email campaigns
- LinkedIn outreach templates
We’ll design this content to address the unique challenges and goals of the people we’re targeting and position our company as the solution provider.
All of this content that we create must contain the same core messaging. It must tell the decision-makers we’re targeting precisely what we offer and how it can help them solve their problems.
Step 3: Align Sales and Marketing Teams With One Tool
ABM requires sales and marketing teams to work in sync. They must collaborate on messaging, strategy, and outreach to ensure they are working toward the same objectives.
One of the easiest ways to unite all stakeholders is to make them use the same outreach tool. Software like Salesloft and Outreach allow marketing teams to design email campaigns that work side-by-side with sales reps’ scheduled calls. Using either one of these tools allows any business to track the progress that’s been made toward closing an account.
Challenges of Account-Based Marketing
Time-Consuming Strategy
Account-Based Marketing is a highly resource-intensive strategy. The level of research, personalization, and collaboration between teams means that implementing a successful ABM campaign can take a long time.
It’s not unusual for ABM campaigns to require weeks of preparation before outreach even begins. Additionally, the sales cycle for high-value accounts can often take a long time, meaning it could take months or even years to see results from an ABM campaign.
Need for Sales and Marketing Alignment
For ABM to succeed, sales and marketing teams must work in harmony. This can be challenging for businesses where these teams operate independently, or where there is little communication between departments.
Aligning goals, strategies, and technologies between sales and marketing requires time, effort, and sometimes a cultural shift within the company.
Data and Technology Requirements
ABM relies heavily on data, and companies need the right technology stack to collect, manage, and analyze this data effectively. Many companies struggle to implement the right tools.
Find Your Perfect Account-Based Marketing Fit with Allied
At Allied, we understand that Account Based Marketing (ABM) isn’t one-size-fits-all. We work closely with you to determine the right level of ABM implementation for your business, ensuring you get maximum ROI without overextending your resources.
Allied’s Tailored ABM Services
We offer a spectrum of ABM solutions, from entry-level enhancements to full-scale transformations. Here’s how we can help you at different levels:
Level 1: Enhanced Personalization
Ideal for: businesses new to ABM or with limited resources to put towards ABM strategy.
Includes:
- Personalized email campaigns for key accounts
- Custom landing pages for specific industries or company types
- Training on basic ABM principles for your sales and marketing teams
Level 2: Targeted Account Strategies
Ideal for: companies ready to dedicate more resources to ABM and see stronger results.
Includes:
- In-depth account research and profiling
- Development of account-specific content and messaging
- Implementation of ABM-focused marketing automation tools
- Creation of multi-channel campaigns for key accounts
Level 3: Integrated ABM Programs
Ideal for: Businesses looking for a comprehensive ABM approach.
Includes:
- Full integration of sales and marketing efforts around ABM
- Implementation of advanced ABM technologies and analytics
- Development of account-based advertising strategies
- Creation of highly personalized, multi-touch engagement plans for top-tier accounts
- Regular reporting and optimization of ABM campaigns
Level 4: Enterprise-Wide ABM Transformation
Ideal for: Large enterprises ready for a complete ABM-centric approach.
- Organizational restructuring to support ABM initiatives
- Development of ABM centers of excellence
- Integration of ABM principles into product development and customer success
- Implementation of AI and machine learning for predictive ABM
- Ongoing consultation and strategy refinement
Our Approach: Finding Your ABM Sweet Spot
We begin with a comprehensive assessment of your current marketing and sales processes, business goals, and resources. This allows us to recommend the most effective ABM strategy for your unique situation.
Our experts will guide you through:
- Identifying your ideal customer profiles and key accounts
- Assessing your current technology stack and recommending ABM-friendly tools
- Developing a roadmap for ABM implementation that aligns with your business growth
- Training your teams on Account-Based Marketing best practices
- Continuously measuring and optimizing your ABM efforts
Ready to Transform Your Marketing and Sales Approach?
Let Allied help you implement a powerful Account-Based Marketing strategy that drives results. Whether you’re just starting with ABM or looking to take your efforts to the next level, we have the expertise to guide you.