How to Use Account-Based Marketing to Grow B2B Sales

About a decade ago, B2B marketers were talking about Account-Based Marketing (ABM). A few years ago, they were doing it. Guess what? Account-Based Marketing is just as relevant in the beginning.

It’s a pretty new approach that many businesses find to be very effective at growing B2B sales. In fact, according to a report by HubSpot, almost 70% of B2B companies are leveraging ABM tactics.

It is true that Account-Based Marketing can help companies shorten their sales cycle while simultaneously decreasing the overall cost of sales. But how does ABM work? And more importantly, how can your company start leveraging it to grow sales faster?

This Blog Covers

How Account-Based Marketing Works
Benefits of Account-Based Marketing
1. Higher Conversion Rates
2. Increased Customer Lifetime Value
3. Better Return on Investment
4. Improved Lead Quality
Growing B2B Sales with Account-Based Marketing
1. Target the Right Accounts
2. Create Buyer Personas
3. Use Account Intelligence
4. Connect With Decision-makers
5. Use Automation Tools
Conclusion

Let’s dive in!

#1. How Account-Based Marketing Works

In the B2B space, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a very contemporary and cutting-edge marketing strategy. It is often described as an “advanced form of lead generation” in which a salesperson targets selected companies and individuals, while simultaneously excluding other potential leads.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a business marketing strategy that concentrates resources on a set of target accounts within a market. It uses personalized campaigns designed to engage each account, basing the marketing message on the specific attributes and needs of the account.

As a B2B company, this marketing strategy requires you to further segment your target audience by focusing on key accounts. It allows you to not only take a defined list of leads but also lets you play with it and define leads within your revenue and purchase cycle.

The goal of Account-Based Marketing is not just to get in front of the right prospects at the right time with the right message, but also to cut through the noise in B2B marketing by targeting and converting the right accounts into customers so that marketing and sales can work together.

#2. Benefits of Account-Based Marketing

Lost in the sea of social media apps, email marketing, and other strategies for prospecting and growing your business is Account-Based Marketing (ABM). It is an approach that focuses on specific accounts, instead of going after prospects with a shotgun approach.

Although often regarded as advanced lead generation, Account-Based Marketing is different from traditional lead generation, where leads are often anonymous and sold in bulk to multiple vendors. It is a modern approach to B2B marketing that focuses on building deep relationships with specific companies or accounts.

Account-Based Marketing offers several key benefits for B2B companies:

#a. Higher Conversion Rates

ABM provides you more time and resources to build relationships with your prospects and offer them personalized solutions. That helps increase the number of qualified sales leads you generate, which can lead to better conversion rates on your offers.

#b. Increased Customer Lifetime Value

Account-Based Marketing allows you to nurture these deep relationships with customers over time, so you can build trust and show them why they should continue doing business with your company.

#c. Better Return on Investment

ABM requires more time and effort from your sales team. It’s not as scalable as other lead generation methods. However, once you’ve invested in building these relationships over time, it can pay off by increasing your sales pipeline and boosting revenue per customer over time.

#d. Improved Lead Quality

Because you’re focusing on a small number of companies, ABM helps you get better leads by targeting companies that are already interested in what you have to offer.

#3. Growing B2B Sales with Account-Based Marketing

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a powerful way to grow your B2B business sales. It’s also a complex approach that requires a huge investment of time and resources. If you aren’t familiar with ABM, it’s the process of identifying accounts that are most likely to buy from you and then focusing all of your marketing efforts on those accounts. This includes building lists of target accounts, creating messaging for each account, and segmenting these lists for different marketing programs.

When executed well, ABM can dramatically improve ROI and sales velocity by increasing the number of qualified leads in your funnel. But as powerful as it is, many companies struggle with implementing ABM because they don’t know where to start or how to get everything set up properly.

Here are 5 ways to use account-based marketing to grow B2B sales:

#a. Target the Right Accounts

Choose your target accounts wisely by leveraging data from your CRM, website analytics, social listening, and other sources to identify ideal prospects for your company. Start by creating a list of accounts based on their value. Then understand which accounts are worth targeting. This will help manage time and resources while maximizing sales growth.

#b. Create Buyer Personas

Create buyer personas based on data from your target accounts and use them as the basis for all of your ABM efforts. When you create an ABM buyer persona, you’ll be able to create more relevant marketing content that resonates with that specific audience — and help them find your company as the solution to their problems.

#c. Use Account Intelligence

Use account intelligence tools to get granular insights into how specific accounts interact with your brand and what products they purchase most frequently. Use predictive analytics tools like Oracle Eloqua’s Insight and Salesforce Einstein Analytics to identify prospective buyers and their buying preferences. This information will help you tailor messaging and content specifically for each account’s unique needs and goals.

d#. Connect With Decision-makers

Connect with decision-makers at targeted accounts by sending out emails or making phone calls in order to build relationships with them before reaching out about sales opportunities later on down the line when they’re ready to buy new solutions from you. The goal is to accelerate the sales cycle and eventually increase sales volume by focusing your marketing efforts on the accounts that matter most to your company’s success.

#e. Use Automation Tools

The most effective account-based marketing strategies use automation tools to manage the process of identifying, prioritizing, and engaging key accounts. These tools can help you identify the right accounts for your business, track progress toward strategic goals, measure the success of your efforts, and grow sales. Use lead management software and email marketing automation software in your ABM efforts to grow sales.

#4. Conclusion

Account-based marketing might be the way to go for B2B companies. This process allows your sales team to break out of the “one size fits all” approach and reach out to each prospect individually. It also helps you keep track of a prospect’s interests, goals, and interactions with your company in a more organized manner allowing you to improve lead flow, increase pipeline and keep it all in one place.

Overall, this is one strategy in your account-based marketing arsenal. If your customers are staying locked in silos and need to be pried loose with some extra effort, you might have an opportunity for ABM. Make sure you have the resources available before you start scaling up and ensure your process is data-driven and tweakable to take advantage of any opportunities (or failures) that occur along the way.