When selling in a B2B market, you must manage information on an account level.
Accordingly, B2B marketers activate account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns. However, ABM campaigns require a deep understanding of your sales pipeline.
You must understand your account attributes. You must also understand how you engage with potential prospects.
Furthermore, you must consider how to use your CRM in marketing. You must also understand how prospects move through the marketing funnel and into your sales cycle.
To learn more about how to build an ABM list for target accounts, continue reading.
Understanding Account-Based Marketing
Account based marketing is a practice leveraged by B2B advertisers. It focuses on campaign efforts to reach one or many key accounts or enterprises.
Marketers have used ABM for decades. However, it’s evolved dramatically from the days of cold calls and snail-mail.
Now, B2B business advertisers use the latest technology to execute digital campaigns. Today, you can run an entire ABM initiative using an automated marketing platform.
However, it’s important to choose the right platform for ABM marketing. For an ABM initiative, you must have the ability to identify target accounts. You must also have the ability to measure the performance of your accounts.
Account based marketing requires coordination across your company’s departments. It’s especially important that there’s an alignment between your sales and marketing teams. However, your teams must also coordinate to manage enhanced data and technology.
For example, you’ll need a well-qualified ABM list. You’ll also need a capable customer relationship management (CRM) application. Furthermore, you’ll need a platform for analytics.
It may help to begin with the fundamentals of ABM. Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place to learn how to get started with an account based marketing (ABM) target list.
Let’s start by assembling your key players.
Building a Team for ABM Success
Account based marketing requires teamwork. It’s vital to assemble the right players for the task.
Every company is different. The team that you assemble will vary based on your needs. However, there are a few key players that are central to every ABM project. These players are the:
• Project lead
• Project manager
• Executive marketing sponsor
• Executive sale sponsor
• Marketing representatives
• Sales representatives
Your ABM project lead will bring your team together. They’ll influence and inspire their colleagues behind your ABM movement.
Meanwhile, your project manager will hold stakeholders accountable for their roles. The PM will also ensure that staff members meet their targets. They’ll also ensure that the project moves forward as scheduled.
Your executive marketing sponsor is the senior level representative of your ABM initiative. This team member is key for acquiring top-level buy-in.
Elsewhere, your executive sale sponsor will serve as a liaison between sales and marketing. They’ll also represent your ABM initiative in the boardroom.
Your marketing representatives will work on moving clients through your sales funnel. The number of reps that you employ will depend on the size of your business and your budget.
Finally, your ABM sales team is essential for success. It’s important to choose sales representatives who understand the value of working with your marketing team.
The Right Technology for ABM Management
You might use a customer relationship management platform to manage marketing. Alternatively, you may use an enterprise resource planning system.
Either one of these sources is a good place to start looking for information for your ABM initiative. You’ll know intuitively whether this task is viable.
For example, you’ll know if your data is valid. You most likely have valid data if your database is well maintained by sales. You should also have a pretty good idea of how easy it is to work with information in your database.
You’ll also need an account based marketing automation system. It’s important to know that you need quality data to work with this kind of system. Advanced technology will do you no good if you’re using bad information.
Assuming you have quality data, you can use your ABS automation system for lead scoring. This practice will help you to track down needs that have engaged with your company’s digital assets.
You can also use the system to evaluate your website visitors. For example, you can analyse what organisations visit your company website the most. If you have a great deal of traffic coming from a particular company, your ABM system will help you figure out how to turn more of those visits into conversions.
Getting Started With ABM
You’ll also need to develop an ABM strategy. There are a few different methods that you can use to run your campaign. The most common methods used by B2B marketers are:
• One-on-one strategy
• One-to-few targeting
• One-to-many
• Targeting a total market
• Targeting individual key accounts
• Targeting small groups
The most common B2B business marketing method is the one-to-few strategy. This method allows marketers to use ABM practices with a wider range of contacts.
It also allows marketers to make use of artificial intelligence-based tools and industry-related knowledge.
You’ll want to remember this information for the first step of building your ABM list. However, the following offers insight that you’ll need for step two of building your list.
You’ll also need to create your ideal customer profile. Furthermore, you must create a clear, categorical description of potential clients who will benefit from your offering greatly.
These are the clients that are most likely to spend money with your organisation. For this reason, you’ll want to target clients who match the characteristics of your ideal customer profile.
Your ideal customer profile will inform your decision-making when building your target account list. Also, it will help you to focus your resources on higher quality leads and produce a better return-on-investment from your ABM marketing initiative.
Building Your ABM List
When building an ABM list, it’s vital to follow a structured process. Also, you’ll want to focus solely on accounts that will invest in your product or service.
The following process for building your ABM list will help you to define your strategy.
1. Choose Your Strategy
Here, you’ll pick one of the previously mentioned approaches, such as the one-on-one strategy. You want to select a strategy that helps you to focus solely on your highest-converting accounts.
2. Create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Now, you’ll create an ICP using the concepts mentioned in the previous section. However, it’s important to understand that an ICP and customer persona are not the same.
An ICP focuses on companies. Conversely, a buyer persona focuses on individuals.
3. Vet Your Data
Before submitting your data, you’ll need to make sure it’s valid. Your ABM initiative will rely heavily on this information. Therefore, it’s critical to ensure that it’s accurate.
4. Segment Your Data
Now that you’ve ensured your data is clean, you can break it down as needed. For example, you might segregate your data based on geographical location, organisation or industry. You can also further segment your ABM list based on how much work you’ll need to do to engage a target.
5. Incorporate Third-Party Data
Third-party data can help you to build an effective look-alike ABM list strategy. This tactic is helpful for finding new audiences.
6. Establish Priority Tiers
Using your ICP, you can make a structured list of target accounts. You’ll segment your targets into three tiers:
Tier 1: Best-fit accounts for your ICP
Tier 2: Accounts that meet most ICP criteria and have demonstrated intent
Tier 3: Accounts that meet only some ICP markers and have demonstrated intent in some way
7. Establish Accountability
A successful ABM marketing initiative thrives on organisational alignment and accountability. By choosing a project lead as a single point of contact, you can ensure that your initiative stays focused and succeeds.
Managing an ABM List
It’s important to invest in a high-quality ABM list. By choosing a trusted data broker, you can ensure that your ABM targets are still relevant.
Relevant leads are important for any marketing campaign. It’s essential that your leads are still in the market for your service.
It’s also important to know the opportunity phase of a potential account. This information can help you to calibrate your marketing to match potential clients’ buyer’s journey.
Depending on the groups or segments that you target, you’ll need to use different tactics and channels. For nearly any marketing situation, there’s different data available.
No matter your circumstance, you’ll need to make sure that your information is up-to-date. You’ll also need to know where potential buyers are in the marketing funnel or sales cycle.
You can stay on top of these tasks by automating ABM list management. By doing so, you’ll make updating your ABM list much easier.
It’s important to solidify the basics of your ABM program. Once you do, you’ll just need to find the right partner to provide you with current, vetted ABM lists.
Your Partner in Successful B2B Marketing
Now you know more about how to build an ABM list for target accounts. What you need now is a trusted ABM list provider.
Zelite Solutions specialises in research services and enterprise software solutions. We can provide you with the right technology to help you grow your clientele. Furthermore, we work across all types of industries and geographies.
With Zelite Solutions, you can successfully develop an end-to-end solution for ABM list marketing. We can help you develop the perfect application to meet your needs.
Contact Zelite Solutions today at +91 99585 22499 or connect with us online to learn more about innovative approaches to solving your mission-critical business pain points.