Account-based marketing, also known as (ABM) is a type of marketing that is focused on high-value accounts only. Instead of focusing on less valuable accounts or those that don’t fit your business model, you immediately engage your desired ones.
After singling out the companies or accounts that you wish to work with, businesses can do targeted advertising to companies that add value to the business. Account-based marketing is an important tool businesses can use in Business to Business Sales (B2B).
How Account-Based Marketing Differs From Traditional Marketing
The main difference between account-based and traditional marketing is the number of leads the two types of marketing try to reach. Account-based marketing will target specific companies and prepare specialized campaigns for them.
Traditional marketing tries to capture as many leads and prospects as possible.
The method of reaching the leads is also different. Traditional marketing will utilize various media like blogging, general advertisements, and link building to get as many leads as possible.
Account-based marketing will use personalized campaigns to reach their audience.
Types of Account-Based Marketing
In ABM, there are three different kinds of marketing. They include;
- One-to-One Marketing/ Strategic ABM
- One-to-Few Marketing/ ABM Lite
- One-to-Many Marketing/ Programmatic ABM
One-to-One Marketing/ Strategic ABM
The purpose of this approach is to establish strong relationships with the clients. It targets high-value accounts only. The programs created are highly individualized and have unique approaches that only suit single accounts.
One-to-Few Marketing/ ABM Lite
In ABM lite marketing, the marketing team creates a campaign for a group of accounts that share the same needs. The number of accounts may range from 5 to 10 at a given time. The marketing content used on the group of clients is customized and repurposed.
One-to-Many Marketing/ Programmatic ABM
Programmatic ABM targets a wider audience of accounts. The accounts may be as many as 100. It relies on technology to create as many leads as possible. For example, the market team may use cookies, reverse IP recognition, and social listening.
Advantages of Account-Based Marketing
- It helps move the targeted accounts to action due to the personalized experience.
- ABM increases the Return on Investment (ROI) because it provides a way to reduce risk.
- In addition, it allows for the efficient use of the resources available to a marketing team.
- It aligns the marketing efforts with the sales goals.
- It also allows for faster decision-making when accompanying the customer or client through the buyer’s journey.
If you’re wondering if you have achieved a positive return on your marketing strategy, Insights ABM can show you how to determine the ROI of account-based marketing at InsightsABM.
Disadvantages of Account-Based Marketing
- Due to its uniqueness to an individual account, it becomes impossible to use it to leverage other accounts that businesses usually have.
- The marketing team requires a lot of effort and dedication to create the right campaign for every single account. The marketing team needs to develop the proper messaging, advertisements, and content specific to a single client.
- It is expensive to run account-based marketing.
- The business may concentrate more on highly valued accounts at the expense of lower-level accounts, which are just as crucial to the business.
Executing an Account-Based Marketing Strategy
The resources that will help you to implement an ABM successfully include:
- An adequate budget
- A dedicated workforce
- Coordination between departments in your business e.g. marketing and sales