Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategic approach to B2B marketing that focuses on targeting and engaging individual accounts rather than broad, generic prospects. It’s based on the idea of identifying key accounts in your target market and then developing tailored campaigns to engage them.
By taking this more personalized approach, ABM can help you build relationships with potential customers who are likely to be interested in what you have to offer, resulting in higher conversion rates and better ROI for your marketing efforts.
As technology continues to evolve, there are new opportunities for B2B companies to leverage ABM strategies. For example, data management platforms (DMPs) can be used to collect and segment customer data, making it easier to identify and target key accounts.
Additionally, you can pursue an ABM strategy through PPC Google Ads. The power of PPC B2B lead generation lies in its ability to reach high-value prospects. By running targeted ads with specific keywords associated with your high-value accounts, you can reach individuals who are actively researching your products or services. You can easily target those interested parties that have an intention on converting into customers right away! This type business model works well for B2B companies because it allows them to track conversion rates and ROI, which will help assure success investment pay off quickly.
You can also reach key decision-makers with audience targeting using PPC Google Ads services from a professional PPC agency. By tailoring ad copy and landing pages to the needs of your target customer, you can increase the likelihood of generating leads and sales from your PPC campaigns. You can even set up different campaigns for different stages of the buyer's journey, so you're always making the most of your PPC marketing budget.
Knowing which metrics are important to track will help you measure the success of each campaign, identify areas where improvement may be needed, and make sure that your budget is being used efficiently:
By monitoring the performance of each campaign and its associated key metrics, you can make more informed decisions about how to allocate your resources to ensure you are making the most of your marketing budget.
Nevertheless, to understand the metrics, it is prudent to adopt these ABM stages: Identify, attract and engage. Following these stages, we can then use ABM metrics to review and improve each step in the next ABM cycle.
Who we are: With over 25 years of experience, SnellMedia has created thousands of successful B2B Google Ads campaigns for clients primarily in SaaS, Manufacturing Automation and Healthtech. Book a 30-minute consultation with a senior, Google-certified member of our team today. During the call, we’ll answer any Google Ads-related questions you have and audit your account to provide your marketing team with valuable feedback they can implement to double or maybe even triple your lead generation.
It is essential to create an account-based marketing campaign that is personalised for the personas of target businesses, industries and demographics. The selection is based on the common attributes of customers that best match the company’s revenue and business objectives. This means that any past successes with specific targeted accounts with respect to attracting, engaging, closing and retaining business invariably become a model for further adjusting the attributes that shape the account identification process.
There are three target audiences that are necessary to focus on in your ABM strategy:
We can identify the right buyers using buyer intent platforms like terminus and Leadfeeder or marketing automation platforms and CRMs like salesforce. The natural next step, then, is to attract the identified targets.
Once you have identified prospects and customer accounts for your ABM campaign, you can start attracting them with relevant content that will interest them. You can attract them through, for example, relevant ads, direct personalised emails or PR (which can take ABM assets beyond the realm of owned content and add critical third-party validation).
If they are not interested in what you have to offer, there is no point in trying to engage them further. Engagement is the third and arguably most important step.
The main goal of ABM is to develop a long-term, trusted and mutually beneficial relationship with accounts, companies and decision-makers in order to increase brand awareness, penetrate deeper into market spaces, build brand loyalty and grow market share. After attracting buyers, it is even more crucial to engage them in order to establish a long-term relationship with them.
To be successful, you need to know how the customer wants to engage with your company. They might want a phone call, a visit from an account executive or a face-to-face meeting. You have to find out what kind of engagement they need and then provide it in a timely manner.
Pro Tip: Sending interested prospects and customers directly to your videos on YouTube may not be a good idea for a number of reasons. YouTube’s focus is keeping visitors on the platform, not necessarily to engage with your content alone but with all other videos. This means your customers get recommendations even from competitors after watching your video (or some ‘crazy sports highlights’ because the viewer likes sports).
So, to avoid disruptions, it is best to avoid sending ABM prospects to YouTube where they are made to engage with YouTube ads and other people's content. A more beneficial tactic is to send the prospects you attract to your own ecosystem or controlled platform where they can focus on solving the problem they seek answers for.
After engagement, additional techniques to sustain interest for repeated revenue gains include:
To maximise ROI for your ABM, you need to use ABM metrics. But which metrics do SaaS B2B companies need to measure at every layer of the funnel for optimal returns?
The main metric for success in ABM is conversion rate, which measures how many leads turn into customers. Other metrics worth tracking include:
These metrics allow you to troubleshoot your ABM strategy based on actual data. ABM metrics allow you to hold yourself to a higher standard of customer maintenance and relationship management.
So what does 2023 hold for ABM?
According to a report from 2022, demand and Account-Based Marketing (ABM) leaders must stay focused on long-term success in 2023 by continuing to optimize their strategies and focusing on customer experience.
That is why the future of ABM looks very promising in 2023. As marketers continue to strive for higher ROI and higher efficiency, ABM is becoming an increasingly popular tactic. With precise targeting capabilities and the ability to create personalized experiences for high-value prospects, companies can maximize their efforts and make sure that each marketing dollar is well spent.
In addition, recent technological advances in 2023, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are making ABM even more effective by automating tasks like data collection and analysis so that marketers can focus on creating successful campaigns. This will allow marketing teams to better understand their customers’ needs and deliver personalized experiences that engage prospects and drive sales.
ABM is also becoming more integrated with other marketing tactics such as content marketing and programmatic advertising to create an even stronger customer experience. This integration allows companies to leverage their existing data, such as website analytics and customer survey responses, to get a better understanding of what their customers want and deliver the most effective campaigns.
Overall, 2023 looks to be an exciting year for ABM as marketers continue to explore new ways to use this powerful tactic to maximize their ROI and drive sales.
Pro tip: ABM is a great way to build relationships with high-value prospects and keep them engaged over time.
You, as a company, should strive to make your ABM campaigns unique and memorable, as this can help to foster loyalty and create long-term relationships with customers. This will be especially important in 2023 when companies are looking for ways to stand out from their competitors and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.
SaaS B2B marketing is the marketing of software to large organisations who are increasingly looking to outsource their B2B software to cut costs. ABM is an important part of SaaS B2B marketing because it helps SaaS B2B companies reach the decision makers in these large organisations.
ABM is based on the idea that the best way to sell to large organisations is by targeting specific accounts that are in your target market, rather than making blanket offers
ABM platforms are technologies that support digital marketers in practising ABM. B2B marketers utilise these platforms to target and manage suitable accounts for high-quality lead generation based on buyer persona. Popular ABM platforms include 6sense, Demandbase one, Terminus and RollWorks.
Now that you've done your research review your ABM campaigns based on your metrics and implement learnings into your next ABM cycle.
It is in this area that you can rely on SnellMedia's experience with account-based PPC marketing campaigns.
With over 25 years of experience, SnellMedia has created thousands of successful B2B Google Ads campaigns for clients primarily in SaaS, Manufacturing Automation and Healthtech. Book a 30-minute consultation with a senior, Google-certified member of our team today. During the call, we’ll answer any Google Ads-related questions you have and audit your account to provide your marketing team with valuable feedback they can implement to double or maybe even triple your lead generation.
