8 steps to build your account-based marketing strategy + recommended tools

Start your free trial with Shopify today—then use these resources to guide you through every step of the process. A virtual event, also known as an online event, virtual conference or livestream, is an event that involves people interacting in an online environment. Yet, according to Hubspot, it’s also the most common challenge marketers face when bringing their strategy to life. In an age where everyone is overloaded with email, direct mail initiatives have once again increasingly become a popular method of reaching prospects within a company. Webinar events and follow-ups can be tailored for specific companies, and unique webinar content can be created with the target audience in mind. An ABM approach to events can include personalized invitations to key prospects from target accounts, special VIP dinners, personalized gifts and swag for target accounts, as well as personalized follow-up after the event.

Whether you choose to experiment with this marketing strategy or not, ABM teaches us that when marketing and sales truly work together, great things can happen. I think the greatest takeaway from account-based marketing is the alignment of marketing and sales. Then, after seeing the initial success of this content piece, they sent out a printed version together with some branded cooking utensils to their top-of-the-funnel prospects.

Website engagement, sales cycle length and velocity (conversion of prospects to opportunities and onward), revenue, retention, deal sizes (typically these are larger for ABM) and number of contacts per account are all additional metrics to monitor for success. To build better ABM campaigns, target effectively and connect with key accounts and opportunities, it's crucial to understand what technologies and tools are available. On the contrary, misalignment between sales and marketing teams can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

Build an ICP-first scoring framework

An effective account-based marketing example is creating industry-specific case studies or landing pages for a single account segment. Modern account based marketing platforms and account-based marketing software help automate this process. And over time, additional team members can support more accounts. This is one of the most important account based marketing best practices.

Not all customers qualify as strategic or key accounts, and organizations typically base their selection on factors such as revenue potential, profitability, account history, and long-term strategic fit. Meaning of account based marketing In the aligned model, organizations integrate tactical marketing activities with defined sales objectives and use feedback from sales teams to refine targeting and identify new opportunities. Account-based Marketing is frequently cited as an example of the close alignment of sales and marketing teams.

The roles of sales and marketing teams

• The next step in the marketing journey is planned and accounted for — end-to-end marketing to specific accounts.
• On the flip side, if you’re in one of the industries with lower ABM adoption, provided this strategy fits your business, ABM could give you an edge over your competitors.
• One of the primary advantages of a well-executed account based marketing campaign is its inherent customer-centricity.
• Alignment between marketing and sales is critical for the success of any business, and ABM serves as the perfect conduit for this alignment.

It’s arguable that one-to-many ABM does not work as a stand alone ABM strategy, but rather as a supportive, multiple account nurturing approach used to back up one of the two main strategies. It’s a programme that needs to be tailored to how your business goes to market, its organisational structure and offerings” That said, as a general rule, one-to-one ABM is resource heavy and is often a best fit for businesses targeting very high value accounts that justify the intensive one-to-one resource investment.

This clarity helps avoid confusion, duplication of efforts, and ensures that everyone understands their part in the overall strategy. To increase your chances of success, we’d recommend orchestrating a range of outreach tactics to ensure you have an integrated set of communications surrounding the account and audience. In the past, we’ve seen amazing research, strategy, messaging, and content channelled through a single tactic (typically display) only to get little to no traction. The aim is to address key elements at an organisational level that can lead to greater success or act as potential barriers to a more consistent and efficient approach to growing revenue across key accounts. The outcome is often to meet an immediate sales objective, with Marketing acting as Sales’ support.

Step 3: Map the Account and Create Your Plan

The Target Account List (TAL) is a dynamic, curated list of key accounts derived from your ICP and agreed upon by both sales and marketing teams. Moreover, ABM champions close collaboration between marketing and sales teams, with marketing delivering insights and engagement opportunities while sales drives these engaged accounts toward conversion. By focusing your efforts on tailored, personalised communications, you can engage buying committees more effectively, shorten decision-making processes, and turn high-potential prospects into long-term partners. ABM tools and software empower sales and marketing teams to collaborate seamlessly and execute personalised campaigns tailored to individual accounts. If your marketing and sales teams need alignment, you’re struggling to deliver personalised engagement at scale, or you need to make the most of a limited marketing budget, adopting an ABM strategy can help you.

By focusing their marketing efforts on these specific accounts, the software company can build stronger relationships, demonstrate their expertise, and increase the likelihood of converting these accounts into customers. By focusing on individual accounts, ABM allows marketers to create customized messaging and campaigns that address the specific needs and pain points of each account. This approach aims to foster stronger relationships, increase engagement, and ultimately drive revenue growth. By aligning their efforts, they can identify and prioritize key accounts, create personalized marketing messages and campaigns, and deliver them through targeted channels. Try Shopify for free, and explore all the tools you need to start, run, and grow your business.

Finally, with clearly identified targets and focused marketing efforts, it's easier to track campaigns and their results. 🎯 6 – Monitoring campaign performance to improve the content of your ABM strategy, by defining a common KPI for sales and marketing teams, in smarketing mode. ABM can be lean and cost-effective when done for a few key accounts using existing tools. The primary goal of ABM is to drive growth by targeting high-value accounts with tailored marketing and sales efforts.

Benefits of Account-Based Marketing for Global Businesses

A good account based marketing strategy involves creating valuable content that helps solve your customer’s most pressing issues. If your ABM dashboard starts and ends with MQLs, you’re missing the point. Account based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy where marketing and sales work together to target accounts that showcase significant revenue opportunities. So, you're CMO has just asked you to start looking into if account based marketing is right for you.

Because sales and marketing are aligned on these target accounts, all the right stakeholders are engaged at the right time across various channels. ABM as a marketing approach is individualised, bespoke and tailored. Well, in this guide we'll cover what ABM is, strategies that work and what to consider even before you start.

In-person events like sponsored booths at conferences or festivals and VIP dinners can be valuable opportunities to meet face-to-face with stakeholders from high-value accounts. You don’t have to send people who click your ads to your homepage—in fact, you probably shouldn’t. These platforms can help you reach your target customers (e.g., office managers in your city) with tailored ad creative. “It all starts with really digging in and doing your research in the category and being able to speak to why you deserve that very precious limited shelf space that they have available.” This might involve working with the product team to ensure new offerings will be ready on your customer’s timeline or securing renderings or samples of new products before buying starts.