Peter Isaacson, CMO of Demandbase, Pawan Deshpande, CEO of Curata, Alisha Lyndon, CEO of Momentum ABM, Heather Wearn, marketing manager at Momentum ABM and Ricky Abbott, marketing and strategy director of Pulse, provide answers
What’s in the ABM tech stack?
ABM layers across the whole tech stack: almost all customer-facing systems can be pivoted to present an account-based view. It’s not about ripping out what your department already has in place, but rather orchestrating existing technology in a way that’s centred on the accounts. The wheel below, provided by Demandbase, neatly outlines the components of an ABM tech stack capable of executing highly targeted programmes at scale.
But for a basic approach, the bare minimum requirements are the following:
- Basic IP tracking: Every company has its own IP address. And there are no forms to be filled in order to get it, which makes it easy to target individual companies.
- Data tracking: Once the target list has been defined, data needs to be gathered of contacts matching it. Use first-, second- and third-party data to track them.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) for account selection and infrastructure: For account-based management and tracking all data must be normalised and clean. This is a big job but without it, your strategy is unlikely to take off.
- An MA system for engagement: MA can track first-party data and be used to execute campaigns based on insights.
Avoid constructing an elaborate tech stack that needs to be knitted together. The longer a programme goes on, the more likely sales and the wider organisation will lose interest. In turn ABM becomes merely another tool that’s being used and you’ll run the risk of losing what’s been campaigned for at board level.
What are the components of a good ABM strategy?
It goes without saying that any ABM strategy should dovetail with the organisation’s go-to-market approach. Otherwise, the marketing team will be generating demand in or engagement with accounts that the rest of the organisation hasn’t bought into – that’s if they secure company backing in the first place.
Beyond that, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the purpose of ABM: to give customers a personalised experience. If the focus of the ABM conversation of ABM shifts too far towards the technology, interdepartmental alignment or content creation, we run the risk of overcomplicating something that’s already pretty complex.
Every organisation is structured differently – both departmentally and technologically – so there is no universal strategy, however the strategic must-haves can be broken down into five main areas:
1. Identification and selection of target accounts
Most organisations will already have key accounts (earmarked by sales) that a marketer can tap into. So collaborate with sales to identify these accounts: there’s no better sign an account is ripe for ABM activity than sales actively looking for marketing support. Figure out which accounts have the propensity to buy and search for common characteristics such as a growth potential, the strength of relationships, or how they align with your business’ products or services.
2. Account-based insight
The account insights formed now will frame all activity that follows in the ABM programme. With a combination of primary and secondary research, start to gather information on the selected accounts. Identify the key decision-makers of accounts and consider their needs. Discuss existing relationships with account managers to elicit insight into past projects, analyse first-, second- and third-party data to build a fuller picture, and monitor opinions and preferences of key members of the purchasing team. With this information to hand, put yourself in shoes of the customer to find areas where you can add value. How will you address their challenges? What are their aspirations? Make a plan per account – this isn’t a one-size-fits-all marketing tactic.
3. Messaging and propositions
Take the insights gleaned and map them over to the customer’s proposition. This will enable you to develop messages to specifically address the needs of those in the account. This is an opportunity to empathise with the customer’s needs and demonstrate a deep understanding of their problems.
4. Content and communications
Use these insights to learn how to best communicate the message to the account. This is a particularly powerful stage for one-to-one level programmes. For example, if the prospect is particularly active on social, use Twitter to engage with them. See when they’re most active, and shape your activity accordingly. Consider using traditional direct marketing tactics as well as digital communications to target those inside the accounts.
An ABM strategy is medium agnostic: a marketer shouldn’t decide the communication tactic beforehand, but be led by the account to decide the tactic that’s most likely to have impact.
5. Execution, engagement and measurement
All of these stages lead to the execution of the campaign. Where other marketing efforts often start with engagement, ABM is about earning the right to start up a dialogue in the first place. By this point, marketers are equipped to deliver personalised and relevant engagement through customer events, executive dinners and workshops.
The metrics used to measure success must reflect the customer-centric approach. Measure the amount of accounts sales and marketing are actively engaging with, the lifetime value and customer satisfaction rates.
Programme size and scale
The marketing resource available per account greatly affects ABM strategy. For example, if a campaign is only targeting a handful of accounts, a marketer is able to invest heavily on personalised gifts for each lead. But if the set of target accounts is much larger – and if the cost of the product itself is low – it would be cost prohibitive to employ such a qualitative approach. Running a programme too large will risk diluting the impact; it’s not about casting the largest net over the widest area.
In the same way that you wouldn’t replace a key account director with an automated engagement service, a one-to-one approach with the very finest accounts will not need the same technology as the larger programmes. Technology becomes more crucial as the list of target accounts gets larger. For example, if a programme is targeting 100 accounts it will require programmatic technology to detect signals and surface relevant content as the development of bespoke pieces becomes unfeasible.
This is where companies can adopt data science to predict which accounts have the highest propensity to buy and use third-party intent data, and look at buying signals and analytics. For example, if a company has just put out 20 job vacancies for digital roles, chances are they’re a pretty strong prospect for digital software.
Read our detailed account-based marketing overview, to discover more.
