## ABM Marketing: What It Is, Examples, and How It Helps in Working with Target Leads

Chances are you’ve experienced this scenario in your company: there’s a desire to boost revenue, the marketing team intensifies lead generation efforts, only to later find that just 10% of the leads are qualified and actually make a purchase. The marketing budget is being spent inefficiently, while the sales team struggles with low deal closure rates. Ultimately, the sales team blames the marketers for poor lead quality, and marketers blame sales for unqualified deals.

In this article, we’ll delve into a relatively new approach to B2B marketing that promises to resolve this issue. The material will be particularly useful for B2B companies seeking effective strategies.

# What is ABM Marketing and How Does It Differ from Lead Generation?

Imagine you’re the owner of a boutique firm that manages private equity investments. You have a steady stream of clients who contribute significantly to your revenue. You start paying them special attention: remembering their names and investment preferences, offering bespoke investment opportunities that align with their goals. As a result, they feel valued and continue to invest with you repeatedly. ABM (Account-Based Marketing) operates similarly. Instead of gathering leads from all possible sources, a company selects key clients and develops unique marketing strategies tailored to each one. The goal is to create an approach that meets the specific needs and expectations of each client, ensuring higher engagement and conversion rates.

# ABM vs. Inbound Marketing

ABM and Inbound Marketing are two methodologies that can complement each other. ABM is a strategy focused on attracting key clients, while Inbound Marketing draws in clients more gradually through content creation and SEO.

Benefits of Using Both Methodologies:

• Accelerated Sales: Inbound Marketing attracts valuable clients, and ABM speeds up the sales process through more targeted work with them, yielding higher conversion rates.
• Effective Resource Allocation: Inbound Marketing lays the groundwork for company processes, upon which ABM can be built.
• Wider Audience: Utilizing both strategies allows for a broader reach of potential clients.
• Enhanced Content: Marketing and sales materials can be adapted for use in both strategies. For example, creating personalized case studies for individual clients based on general mechanics already outlined on your website.

# The Main Advantages of Account-Based Marketing

ABM offers several benefits:

1. Alignment of Marketing and Sales: ABM compels marketers and sales teams to work towards a common goal. Regular meetings and coordinated actions eliminate the gap between departments, facilitating collaboration at every stage of the deal.

2. Increased ROI and ROMI: ABM focuses on clients with high potential, making marketing campaigns more targeted and personalized. This reduces the number of non-targeted leads and improves overall marketing efficiency.

3. Shortened Sales Cycle: ABM allows for filtering out low-potential clients early on. Marketing and sales resources concentrate on key clients, working diligently to expedite their decision-making process.

4. Growth in Brand Loyalty: Clients experience a personalized approach, perceiving the company as a partner. This gradually increases their loyalty and turns them into brand ambassadors, thereby increasing their Lifetime Value (LTV) and average deal size.

# Three Types of Account-Based Marketing Directions

Companies implementing ABM typically categorize their clients into three segments:

• Strategic ABM: Top-tier clients with substantial deals. This segment requires an individual approach. Unique marketing programs are developed, including comprehensive analyses of the client’s business, stakeholders, finances, and market position. Senior management involvement is essential.

• ABM Lite: Smaller clients with modest deals. A standard interaction scenario might look like: commenting on social media, emailing the executive, calling with relevant material offerings, inviting to events, sending promised materials, and having a personal meeting. Experts recommend combining online and offline touchpoints and not forgetting direct mail—this distinguishes you from competitors in the digital noise era.

• Programmatic ABM: Targeting a broader range of clients. This uses the “fit-intent-engagement” model, which involves selecting ideal clients, tracking their interest in your product, and actively engaging with interested parties.

# Importance of Customer Data in ABM Strategy

Data plays a critical role in ABM strategies, enabling companies to:

• More Precisely Segment Audiences
• Target Prospective Companies
• Develop Personalized Marketing

By analyzing customer data, companies can create profiles of ideal clients (ICP), serving as a foundation for prioritization and selection of target accounts for ABM campaigns. ICP helps in:

1. Launching Targeted Campaigns: ICP assists companies in filtering and selecting the most suitable clients for personalized marketing campaigns. This impacts engagement and ROI. Campaigns can be expanded by including additional criteria, such as revenue or geographic location.

2. Engaging Anonymous Users: ABM helps in building contacts with unknown users from target companies who have interacted with the company. Using Customer Data Platforms (CDP), similar audiences can be created, and strategies can be developed to activate these users.

This approach transforms anonymous visitors into known potential clients, whose data can be integrated into CRM systems for further profiling and refining their match to ideal client criteria, strengthening the ABM strategy.

# Synchronizing Marketing and Sales in ABM

Aligned efforts between marketing and sales are crucial for ABM success. Lack of coordination between these departments can jeopardize the entire strategy. To effectively implement ABM, companies should:

1. Clearly Define Roles and Responsibilities: Ensure each department understands their roles in client interactions.

2. Establish Information Exchange: Enable marketing to create targeted and relevant content based on sales data, and allow sales to receive content support at all interaction stages.

3. Set Common KPIs: Focus on shared goals rather than individual metrics for each department.

4. Utilize CRM Tools: Provide both departments with access to up-to-date client and deal information, facilitating unified client interaction strategies and more seamless movement through the sales funnel.

# Step-by-Step Plan for Launching an ABM Program

To launch a pilot ABM program, follow this plan:

1. Find an Internal Champion: It’s vital to have a supporter within the sales and marketing teams. Select 2-3 key clients to start with and set objectives and metrics for success, noting baseline performance.

2. Personalize Content and Messaging: Add elements of personalization to existing content and communications without overdoing it. Use company logos, testimonials, and case studies, and adjust landing pages and emails to increase relevance for each target client.

3. Analyze Results and Identify Growth Opportunities: Expect initial results within 90 days, monitoring engagement levels, contact numbers, and conversions.

4. Scale the Solution: As positive changes are observed, document successful approaches and allocations, presenting a business case to management for additional investments and scaling the strategy.

# The Role of Customer Data in ABM Strategy

Companies that implement data-driven marketing strategies report 208% more revenue from marketing efforts (according to MarketingProfs). Customer data in ABM allows for:

• More Precise Audience Segmentation
• Targeted Client Outreach
• Personalized Marketing Development

By analyzing customer data, companies can create profiles of ideal clients (ICP), which serve as a foundation for prioritization and selection of target accounts for ABM campaigns. ICP helps in:

1. Launching Targeted Campaigns: ICP helps filter and select the most suitable clients for personalized marketing campaigns, impacting engagement and ROI.

2. Engaging Anonymous Users: ABM allows for building contacts with unknown users from target companies who have interacted with the company. Using Customer Data Platforms (CDP), similar audiences can be created, and strategies can be developed to activate these users.

This approach turns anonymous visitors into known potential clients. Their data can be integrated into CRM systems for further profiling, refining their match to ideal client criteria, thereby strengthening the ABM strategy.

# Challenges in Implementing ABM Marketing

Launching ABM is an active process. Think of it as panning for gold—you have an idea of what you’re looking for, but you discard about 80% of what you find. ABM approaches come with several challenges that you should be prepared for:

1. No Traditional Funnel: The concept of a funnel doesn’t apply to ABM. The client’s journey resembles a loop: X → A → B → A → Y → B → B → A. This requires a significant shift in thinking.

2. Continuous Monitoring: Unlike traditional campaigns, ABM doesn’t have a clear end or start. You need to embrace the ongoing nature of the process.

3. Unheated Accounts: Often, accounts are not sufficiently warmed up for sales. It’s difficult to determine when to further nurture an LP or when to stop.

4. Data Quality: Differentiating between customer objections and lead qualification mismatches is challenging. Emphasize quality data over quantity.

5. Misleading Metrics: Metrics can be deceptive—for instance, +20% SEO traffic may yield 0 relevant campaign registrations. Similarly, a piece of content performing 20-50% below average might still drive 3-5 necessary touchpoints.

6. Sales Alignment: Ensuring synchronous work with sales is paramount to prevent fragmented strategies and secure ABM success.

# Conclusion: Key Takeaways for ABM Marketing

ABM Marketing is a new take on an old sales approach: focusing on high-potential clients with a personalized touch.

ABM helps unify marketing and sales efforts, but requires genuine collaboration—from syncing KPIs and audience visions to organizing joint work. Implementing ABM is not an overnight task, but over a reasonable period, it can expand your reach, increase LP engagement, test marketing hypotheses, and identify effective patterns for scaling sales.

Co-Founder Ai offers tools and resources to streamline your ABM strategies, ensuring that you can target venture capital firms, private equity companies, and other high-potential investment opportunities near you with precision and efficiency.