Account-Based Marketing is changing the discipline of marketing - Why?
Business-to-business (B2B) companies spend $40 Billion on marketing each year, and they embrace tech-driven innovations, yet the traditional model for lead generation has not changed for decades. Why? In addition to the techniques being outdated, they create friction and distrust between marketing and sales teams. ABM has quickly gained traction with leading B2B companies because it aligns sales and marketing teams around the accounts that will have the most business impact. Instead of chasing a large volume of lower-quality, generic leads, ABM helps sales and marketing professionals coordinate their efforts against a specific set of target accounts.
Despite the clear advantages of ABM, there continues to be much confusion around just how to implement it. Written by the leaders behind the successful marketing firm Demandbase, Account-Based Marketing explains how to execute a world-class ABM strategy from start to finish.
- Find out exactly how highly successful B2B companies are using Account-Based Marketing to grow their customer base
- Develop an effective strategy to adapt ABM principles for your own organization with its own unique needs
- Integrate your sales and marketing processes into an efficient, cohesive workflow
- Locate and attract the ideal clients for your business to increase revenue and open up new opportunities
From building the right target account list and understanding the impact of ABM on marketing programs, to selling ABM within an organization and finding budget for the strategy, you’ll find it all in this authoritative guide.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Sweet Spot 1
Is This Book for You? 3
What Would a World-Class Marketing Strategy Include? 4
Pushback 6
Key Gains of an ABM Strategy 11
How to Make a Smooth Transition into ABM 13
Chapter 2 Building Blocks 15
Organizational Benefits of ABM 15
One Size Never Fits All 17
Data Is at the Core of an ABM Strategy 20
The Six Areas of Faocus for ABM 22
ABM Maturity Model 33
Key Transformations of an ABM Strategy 36
Chapter 3 Getting Buy-In 39
What 1878 Can Teach Us 40
Getting ABM Off the Ground 41
Next Step: Alignment 47
Everyone Will Get to Flex Some New Muscles 51
Your New Compass Heading 53
Chapter 4 Your Target Account List 59
Beginning the List Process 60
Secure Provisional Agreement 64
Update Your List Regularly 65
Begin to Embed the List in Your Systems 66
Segmenting Your Target Account List 67
Set Your Goals 70
Expanding Your Target Account List 70
Customers, Partners, and Your Target Account List 73
The 30-60-90-Day Plan 77
Chapter 5 Attracting Your Target Accounts 79
Marketing Automation Systems 80
Account-Based Advertising 80
Case Study: Progress 85
What About Retargeting? 86
Field Marketing 88
Getting Social 90
Your Event Strategy 90
Webinars 92
Content Marketing 93
Defining Your Initial ABM Attraction Strategy 97
Chapter 6 Boosting Engagement 99
The Net and the Dart 100
Personalize the Message 101
Seven Steps to Phasing in Website Personalization 106
Chapter 7 Converting and Closing 109
Signals and the Buying Journey 110
Heat Maps Deliver Insights 111
On-Page Signals to Watch for 112
The Great Gate Debate 114
Ways to Increase the Likelihood of a Conversion 116
Best Practices for Webinar Conversions 121
Lowering the CTA Bar 123
Case Study: Iron Mountain 124
Closing Accounts 125
Chapter 8 Measuring What Matters 129
Attribution 130
Three Levels of Measurement 131
Establishing Goals and Incentives 139
Reporting Your Results 143
Chapter 9 Scaling Your ABM Efforts 149
Six Questions to Ask Yourself 150
Your ABM Playbook Is Crucial 155
Five Ways to Find the Budget for ABM 164
Orchestration 167
Chapter 10 Enhancing ABM with Technology 171
Identify Current Gaps 172
The ABM Tech Stack 173
Infrastructure Technologies 173
Account Selection Technologies 176
Engagement Technologies 177
Sales-Enablement Technologies 180
Measurement Technologies 181
Four Considerations to Keep in Mind 183
Take It Step by Step 184
Chapter 11 Guiding ABM Ever Higher 187
The Top Eight Signs that Your ABM Strategy Might Be in Trouble 188
Two Interesting Questions 191
CA Technologies Case Study 193
What’s on the Horizon for ABM 195
Acknowledgements 199
Index 201
