Why is Account-Based Marketing so important?
If you’re selling a high value product or service to other businesses then your content marketing strategy will include some form of Account Based Marketing (ABM).
ABM is for B2B organisations that win their business from a very specific group of other businesses and individuals. The target audience is very clearly identified and defined so marketing and sales activities can be very focused on that group.
You can identify specific individuals at each of these targeted accounts who you need to influence in order to make a sale, and structure your plan to reach them. All the content you create is designed to be useful to individuals in the key accounts you want to reach as well as purpose-built to help drive traffic to your site.
Often, more than one person influences the buying decision, and as the number increases the chances of a purchase declines. A proactive, personalised, strategic marketing plan that conveys value and demonstrates how you solve problems targets the individuals directly.
Should you be combining ABM with Inbound Marketing?
Inbound is a mindset of helpfulness - it’s an approach to marketing that is designed to assist people as they research topics during purchases and help them find answers related to your services. Sometimes referred to as ‘permission marketing’, inbound advocates (like me!) know that if you create content that welcomes potential buyers into your tribe and nurture them towards your products and services, then you’ll get their ‘permission’ to sell to them. Both before and during the sales process, having materials that answer questions and facilitate research are useful and help to build a very strong foundation of trust.
Combining ABM and Inbound, in simple terms, means the content you create is working double-time - firstly to drive traffic to your site where new, warm contacts and leads can be generated, and secondly to convey to the specific accounts on your list that you are there to help, you are knowledgeable, you are expert, you solve their problems.
Several examples we created
We used this strategy of double-time content (ABM and Inbound Marketing) for our clients, and gathered a few examples below to look at:
ADCO - A newsletter delivered to all potential clients to present each specialist in their staff, and what can be delivered through their expertise. The use of testimonials is a great strategy to show ADCO as a trustworthy brand.
Metec - A LinkedIn post that explains why services design is so important for their clients' building, which answer one of their needs. At the same time, it targets clients with an interest in sustainability and green construction, while also showing Metec's expertise through winning an award.
Tritech Engineering - A video on LinkedIn says more than a 1000 words. Through video production, we helped to show Tritech's values.
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