The promise of account-based marketing (ABM) is that it enables B2B marketers and sellers to deliver better results by targeting the most relevant people and businesses from the word ‘go’. In so doing – the theory goes – it saves time and effort that might be spent chasing the wrong prospects or casting too wide a net.
However, ABM isn’t a cure-all for B2B marketing woes, and marketers and sellers taking an account-based approach are just as prone to fears that they are misdirecting their efforts, failing to engage in the right way, or not capturing interest effectively.
Many B2B industry leaders have been through this. At GO London, a summit hosted by DemandBase, senior figures from B2B firms shared stories about how they make ABM work: how they get the most from content, gauge intent, and tailor outreach to get results, as well as their key advice for anyone starting out in ABM.
The B2B customer journey has unquestionably shifted in recent years, with the increasing emphasis on online channels changing the way that buyers research purchases and how they expect to buy.
Marketers are also grappling with the rise of AI-generated answers within search and what this means for how buyers conduct their research and what content they engage with – or whether they engage with it at all. Dara Such, VP customer strategy and enablement at Informa TechTarget, urged audience members not to abandon content even in the age of LLMs, emphasising the “huge role” it plays “not as much for marketers or for sellers, but for the buyers.
“…We might be shifting the way we think about things, but don’t take away those tools that help create visibility for you.”
In a world of self-serve B2B, Such explained that content is now playing a “sales-like” role for buyers, who “want to have product demos, but they don’t want to talk to someone – they want that given to them, so it’s at their fingertips,” when they’re conducting research. “The window of time you have to influence them is actually quite large – but when you want to talk to them is a much more narrow point,” she said.
As a result, she advised marketers, “Think about content as a way to imitate what you would otherwise have had sellers do.”
Avishai Sharon, co-founder and CEO at Trendemon, concurred with this, pointing out that content in ABM – and marketing more generally – should facilitate an ‘always-on’ approach to B2B sales. “We need to stay in [buyers’] awareness, in their interest, the entire time,” he said.
Just as good salespeople also act as “consultants” for the buyer, “this is the role of marketing now. The content has to be the best salesperson of your company.”
Personalisation can take on quite a different guise in B2B marketing, but that doesn’t make it any less important – or impactful. Zoe Colver, marketing manager at accounting software firm Xero, reflected on some tactics that she has found effective when conducting outreach to large numbers of accounts, one of which is tailoring creative to a particular organisation.
“I’ve identified a couple of audiences [who are] high-intent prospects … and then run personalised creative to them that pulls out their company name. That, I’ve seen, really helps with click-through rates.
“And then, my high-value existing accounts … these larger accountants and bookkeepers that are already using us: if I put their name in the creative, again, it really helps drive the click-through rate.” Colver anticipates that advances in AI will be the “next stage” in letting Xero scale these approaches even further, potentially enabling personalised landing pages in addition to personalised creative.
Sometimes, personalisation can be as simple as making it clear to an audience that a piece of content is relevant to them.
“When I think of my audience – those accountants and bookkeepers – I ensure that I say [that the content] is for accountants and bookkeepers,” said Colver.
“It might be a guide that I’m doing – [such as] the accounting industry performance report. I pull that out in the creative, so that it speaks to the audience, [and] I can run that at scale.”
As Katie Penner, head of sender relations at direct mail and gifting platform Sendoso, wryly noted, “I think we can all agree that just because someone is reading a blog on your website doesn’t mean that they’re ready to buy.”
In order to determine when true intent is present, Penner stated that she looks for clusters of activity and ‘human-level’ actions such as attending an event or accepting a gift sent via direct mail, “and we prioritise those accounts. …I look at intent as kind of a ‘yellow light’ that turns green whenever we have those human-level activities layered in.”
Sam Stead, head of paid media at The Access Group, explained that understanding how a prospect has interacted with the business’s website and content is crucial information to help marketing and sales prioritise leads. “Access is made up of several different software companies, so … if we just give the feedback to a sales team to say, ‘It’s an active lead’ – they could be active in one of 200+ products.
“Being able to understand what they’re engaging with and how they’re active – whether they’re looking at a certain product, or pricing pages, demo pages, brochure pages, that sort of thing – and also where that intent is split over multiple products. [Then] the sales teams are going into that conversation far more informed of who that potential prospect might be and what they’re interested in.”
“You’ve got to have a clear vision of who your audience is,” said Colver, reflecting on the biggest piece of advice she would give to anyone starting their account-based marketing journey.
“That ICP (ideal customer profile) would be a good starting point, because if you don’t know who you’re targeting, then you’re going to fail at the first hurdle.”
Stead highlighted the importance of communication: “Make sure you’ve got a really regular cadence with everyone who’s involved in the programme in sales and marketing. Make sure you’re constantly talking, sharing the lessons, and sharing the opportunities for optimisation.”
Sophie Rasuch, head of digital marketing at Randstad Enterprise, advised: “As an ABM leader, be the expert in the room – in terms of technology and in terms of strategy.
“Really invest time in learnings [and] certifications, but also webinars; any reading materials. Understand the art of the possible, and then you become the best influencer in the room on the programme.”
Explore more on this topic with Econsultancy’s guide to Engaging B2B Customers Digitally.