Account-Based Marketing: Valuable Insights and Instructions for Beginners

In the world of marketing, new techniques are always being developed and implemented. The end goal of marketing is to communicate to leads the features of a product in an attempt to convert them into customers.

Companies use all sorts of strategies to scout the right prospective customers for their brand to use marketing resources efficiently. One such strategy is account-based marketing.

In this comprehensive guide, we go over a brief overview of account-based marketing and its advantages. The article also acquaints you with the steps required to implement this marketing technique in your company.

What Is Account-Based Marketing?

In several industries, a handful of companies occupy a significant market share. The role of smaller players in the industry is minimal, and both suppliers and B2B services prefer to interact with the larger ones. For example, in the eCommerce website list, Amazon is a behemoth whose market share is currently untouchable.

To engage with specific companies that significantly impact the industry, firms prefer to use an account-based marketing strategy. In this type of marketing, you collect data about specific companies in order to tailor your marketing strategy as per their needs and requirements.

Through a detailed survey of their data, you identify the knowledge gaps and technical opportunities that you can take advantage of through your product's features and pitch your product to them accordingly. More than 90% of companies have reported that this marketing technique increased their deal size.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Account-Based Marketing

Step 1: Assemble a Team

The first step toward implementing account-based marketing is to assemble a competent team for the purpose. Account-based marketing teams need a different skill set than conventional marketing teams.

Fundamentally, account-based marketing teams must have experience in data analysis and interpretation. An added skill would be the ability to conduct research and experience working with large players in your market. These skills enable your team to generate better insights from data associated with just one company.

Step 2: Define Your Goals

As with any type of marketing, defining the goal of your strategy is important before you jump into its details. Brainstorm about what your marketing strategy is looking to achieve - is it greater market share, greater margins, or simply a market-leading customer?

Defining your goals is a key rule of thumb in every account-based marketing for dummies guide, as it helps you determine the approach you must take. As an example, if you are looking for greater margins, you are likely to be more rigid on your budget.

On the other hand, if you are just looking to make a customer out of a market leader, you might be more accepting of the shorter end of the stick.

Step 3: Choose Your Tools

The technology you use is an essential component of your account-based marketing tactics. There are several open-source and commercial account-based marketing tools available online.

• Marketo account-based marketing solutions can be really effective in enabling you to analyze lead data effectively and draw conclusions. They offer a smooth cross-channel experience and help you convert leads in a shorter time.
• Similarly, Terminus account-based marketing allows you to manage all steps of the process, from collecting lead data and selecting target accounts to customer acquisition and retention. Terminus allows you to continuously track your ROI, helping you make decisions with limited finances.

Step 4: Selecting Accounts

Account-based marketing isn't merely about targeting the top few market leaders. If your market is highly segmented among many companies, you might need to select more target accounts based on your lead data. Additionally, if market leaders do not have the technical gaps you are targeting, you might need to opt for the next best prospective customer.

Choosing target accounts also involves scoring these accounts by the probability of conversion. This enables you to prioritize certain accounts over others.

Step 5: Selecting Methods

Selecting the channels to use for account-based marketing can involve some market research to determine which methods are most effective. Account-based marketing tools such as Marketo and Terminus can aid you in this endeavor through their previous research, but you may also commission surveys as per your metrics.

Account-based marketing can involve reaching out to the same prospect through multiple channels, from snail mail to social media and from search engine ads to content marketing.

Step 6: Reaching Out

With all moving parts in place and decisions made, you can now start reaching out to your prospects. Keep in mind the need to be respectful, even as you stay within their sights. All your leads might not respond to you, but it is important to be laser-focused on the ones that do.

Begin reaching out by phone and email only once your advertisements and content have been out for a while, and you are sure you have reached your target accounts. For example, if you are targeting Amazon sellers, ensure that you have deployed content to channels that they frequent before you start individually contacting them.

Step 7: Optimization

Every account-based marketing strategy you come up with will throw up certain challenges and issues when implemented in the field. For this reason, you should continuously monitor the returns the company is receiving from the strategy and optimize it to maximize these returns.

At the same time, keep on addressing challenges your marketing employees are facing by tinkering with your strategy regularly.

In Closing

Account-based marketing is a hyper-targeted marketing strategy that focuses on individual target accounts. Such a strategy can aid your company in reaping rich benefits without the cost of having to engage with multiple leads simultaneously.

The above steps lay out an efficient framework to implement account-based marketing in your company. They represent the best practices in account-based marketing, thus allowing you to adopt this strategy as a core focus area of your business.

As a result, you stand a solid shot at improving your ROI in no more than a few months!