Many people ask me: “What is account-based marketing?” It can and does mean different things to different people, but in essence it is a relatively new way of thinking about and executing your sales and marketing efforts. Rather than casting a wide net and trying to attract as many prospects as possible, account-based marketing focuses on identifying and targeting specific accounts that are most likely to become customers. By aligning your sales and marketing teams around a smaller number of key accounts, you can create a more personalized experience for each prospect and increase the chances of winning them over. Ready to try it out? Read on for tips on how to get started with account-based marketing.
Why is this important at all?
In truth, this is how companies and individuals should have been engaging with prospects in any generation. People buy from people and that is still true today even though there is more of a digital interaction between buyers and sellers.
With that in mind, being human means that your buyers care about two primary things. The first is their personal welfare. Such thoughts may centre around internal and external recognition, wealth creation, promotions and making their jobs easier or less stressful.
The second human element is related to their job and the company. This is about demonstrating that they have made a positive impact in the business and that it has improved their teams happiness, productivity and success among other things.
To invest the time, effort and costs to reach and engage with these Senior Decision-Makers, it is important to have a laser-focused approach which includes the following:
1. Define what an account is and put in place a process for identifying them – this is about defining which companies are most likely to want to do business with you and which you want to do business with them. It is also about defining within those companies who are the people (titles and roles) that you wish to engage with.
2. Align sales and marketing teams around common objectives for key accounts – this is critical for the success of the business, not just for ABM but in general. By working together, there is great insight and knowledge that can be shared to help understand the challenges and pains of the organisation and how the solution overcomes those. It is also good to share what are some of the key ´Top of Mind´ things going on with their prospects and generating Thought Leadership Programmes or content to engage, educate and if possible, also entertain them.
3. Create tailored, personalised content and messaging for each target persona in each account – self explanatory but is so important especially when sales and marketing are aligned.
4. Use technology to automate outreach and engagement with accounts – there is a lot of technology that can help companies understand where their buyers are in the buying cycle based on intent and other such measures. Data and analysis should be at the heart of this approach.
5. Measure success against defined business outcomes – there is no point implementing strategies, tactics or otherwise and then not measure the success against the stated goals, objectives and KPI´s. And if it is not working then you know to change the activity until it does achieve the desired outcomes and results.
There is so much more that could be added here, and I would be delighted to engage further if that is something that you would like. You can contact me in the following ways:
Many people ask me: “What is account-based marketing?” It can and does mean different things to different people, but in essence it is a relatively new way of thinking about and executing your sales and marketing efforts. Rather than casting a wide net and trying to attract as many prospects as possible, account-based marketing focuses on identifying and targeting specific accounts that are most likely to become customers. By aligning your sales and marketing teams around a smaller number of key accounts, you can create a more personalized experience for each prospect and increase the chances of winning them over. Ready to try it out? Read on for tips on how to get started with account-based marketing.
Why is this important at all?
In truth, this is how companies and individuals should have been engaging with prospects in any generation. People buy from people and that is still true today even though there is more of a digital interaction between buyers and sellers.
With that in mind, being human means that your buyers care about two primary things. The first is their personal welfare. Such thoughts may centre around internal and external recognition, wealth creation, promotions and making their jobs easier or less stressful.
The second human element is related to their job and the company. This is about demonstrating that they have made a positive impact in the business and that it has improved their teams happiness, productivity and success among other things.
To invest the time, effort and costs to reach and engage with these Senior Decision-Makers, it is important to have a laser-focused approach which includes the following:
1. Define what an account is and put in place a process for identifying them – this is about defining which companies are most likely to want to do business with you and which you want to do business with them. It is also about defining within those companies who are the people (titles and roles) that you wish to engage with.
2. Align sales and marketing teams around common objectives for key accounts – this is critical for the success of the business, not just for ABM but in general. By working together, there is great insight and knowledge that can be shared to help understand the challenges and pains of the organisation and how the solution overcomes those. It is also good to share what are some of the key ´Top of Mind´ things going on with their prospects and generating Thought Leadership Programmes or content to engage, educate and if possible, also entertain them.
3. Create tailored, personalised content and messaging for each target persona in each account – self explanatory but is so important especially when sales and marketing are aligned.
4. Use technology to automate outreach and engagement with accounts – there is a lot of technology that can help companies understand where their buyers are in the buying cycle based on intent and other such measures. Data and analysis should be at the heart of this approach.
5. Measure success against defined business outcomes – there is no point implementing strategies, tactics or otherwise and then not measure the success against the stated goals, objectives and KPI´s. And if it is not working then you know to change the activity until it does achieve the desired outcomes and results.
There is so much more that could be added here, and I would be delighted to engage further if that is something that you would like. You can contact me in the following ways:
If you would like to learn more or have a chat please feel free to contact me at:
Have a chat on zoom: calendly.com/simon-warman-freed or
Contact me on Email: simon.warman-freed@ibg-int.com or
Whats App me on: +34 6871 600 85
Simon Warman-Freed LLB Hons, FInstSMM, MIMM
CEO, Sales and Marketing Strategist
UK Mobile: +44 (0)7785 232301
UK Office: +44 (0)203 368 6606
International Mobile: +34 68 7160 085
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