Account-Based Marketing Right in EMEA: 5 Features of ABM done well

Account-Based Marketing Right in EMEA.

Doing Account-Based Marketing (ABM) well in EMEA isn't easy. In fact, two out of each three ABM programs don’t reach their goals.

It doesn’t help that ABM isn't well understood in the region. ABM is quite a marketing initiative to target a few select accounts with messaging. It also doesn’t help that ABM programs can look very different from each other, making comparisons and following the instance of others ineffective.

We want to help you understand what it takes to execute well with ABM in EMEA – as a strategy, it's maturing from a marketing program to being part of a full-fledged business strategy for many organizations, particularly B2B IT companies.

In 2022, ABM is moving from a distinct segment to a mainstream concept. While the tools needed for ABM are around for some time, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a shift in buyer behavior primarily towards digital across the world. These changes open up more opportunities for digital ABM.

We’re already seeing significant success from companies embracing ABM. Research shows that 80% of marketers tracking their return on investment report ABM approaches outperforming other marketing strategies which 84% agree the return on ABM is somewhat or significantly higher than other initiatives.

Drawing from research, also as listening to industry professionals, we identified five features of a well-executed ABM. These can facilitate your increased buyer acceleration and succeed where others come up short.

1. ABM isn't just a marketing strategy.

ABM isn't simply a demand/lead generation tool targeted at accounts that then generate MQLs of individuals. ABM offers the chance for sales and marketing to look at the interactions of everyone in an account and reach out to the whole buying team rather than seeing each individual as a stand-alone opportunity.

Many companies make this error of focusing on the individuals, jumping in with nothing quite the notion of, “we should be doing ABM”, and find yourself disappointed with the results of pursuing each individual in an account the moment they interact with a piece of content rather than waiting for a several people in an account to engage meaningfully.

ABM may be a strategic approach that begins with taking a detailed look at specific target accounts. Because it demands such a high degree of focus, you’re visiting want everything about your business and how you provide value to align with your prospect's needs and expectations, not just your marketing.

An effective way of managing this is by deeply involving your marketing and sales teams as you determine business objectives, giving everyone a transparent, shared understanding of how their efforts connect with the general success of your organization.

2. ABM Relies on Strategic Content.

ABM may be a departure from traditional “spray n’ pray” marketing approaches of content distribution. Assuming that an enormous bank like Lloyds might like to see the same content that was used to win the HSBC account is a very simplistic way of looking at content usage. we'd like to be more sophisticated in how we use and create content.

Because ABM gives fresh insights into the research behaviors of accounts, content are often carefully selected for accounts according to the behaviors of their researchers. Then when sales reach out to the active researchers, they will tailor their messaging alongside the content to add value to the prospect. 

Plus, once sales has gathered more information on the account, the content they share are often based on nuances like the account’s maturity level, horizontal challenges, tech stacks, etc. These elements are often more important than the fact that an account happens to be in the same industry vertical as another you have had success with.

Also, give some thought to who makes up the buying teams in your typical customer win for each product and pricing tier. With a mean of five people in a buying team, you would like content that caters to each persona’s needs and addresses their challenges with a clear solution.

By focusing on your content strategy and distribution, you ensure your message stands call at the flood of content your accounts see every day.

3. MQLs aren't Enough.

Your marketing team’s role within your company must be more than simply generating marketing qualified leads.

While it's tempting to see single incidents, like one member of an account’s C-Suite looking at a piece of target content, as a hit , this is often insufficient for ABM. It overlooks the truth of the buying team.

For your ABM program to realize optimal results, you would like to look at the actions of all individuals within an account buying team to get a holistic understanding of their needs and how you can add value in your sales and marketing interactions. 

you'll need marketing content that can speak to each of these stakeholders. This includes not only the C-Suite but senior managers, IT, and technical professionals.

4. Sales and marketing need to talk to each other.

This is probably one of the most important internal characteristics of any company that successfully uses ABM.

Marketing can provide sales with important data about a prospect's interests and behavior long before the prospect speaks to sales. Additionally, marketing can enhance sales with content that can be delivered during and after meetings to provide real value to prospects and demonstrate both authority and understanding of prospects' challenges.

Done right, ABM can also provide marketing with insights about their target customers. This includes detailed information about key members of the purchasing team they want to engage with. Marketing can then create the relevant content and assets Sales needs to keep the conversation going.

The biggest change with ABM is fewer leads and better quality. ABM metrics are so well defined that everyone should get used to harsh results. Either you engage with your stakeholders well and drive sales, or you don't. This change in the number and clarity of those not involved can be terrifying, as positive opportunities seem significantly less at first. 

Acceleration can be greatly improved. Studies show that companies with close sales and marketing teams have 36% higher customer retention, 38% higher sales success, and an overall 67% higher likelihood of leads becoming customers. increase.

To achieve this, you may need to change some of your internal processes and corporate culture if your sales and marketing teams are not already aligned. Also, you should prefer generic tools that don't require a lot of learning curve. As a result, sales and marketing should be able to work together to develop processes that are tailored to the needs and desires of prospects.

5. Defining Accounts Carefully.

The final important attribute of a well-executed ABM program is a carefully curated named list of accounts. Start by asking yourself how your list is defined. Ideally, this list was the result of a conversation between sales and marketing, not just sales, and included as much quality data as possible.

But there are no easy answers to creating a good account list. It depends on your target company, your current tech stack, and what works. This includes questions such as:

• Who is on the market now?

• How did you get an account so far?

• What will help you get an account in the future?

• Did you lose your account? ? If so, how?

• How long did it take from the first touch to the handover?

ABM Offers Big Results ABM offers some specific challenges and a different approach than other marketing initiatives. But you don't have to switch all your marketing efforts to ABM at once. You can start with a step-by-step approach. Target only a few accounts initially to assess the ROI of your targeted efforts.

The key is to start with your chosen account at the core and develop an overall strategy to serve and support it in a way that aligns with your business objectives. A unified ABM strategy requires sales and marketing (and even customer success and product teams) to work together as a unified, revenue-focused team.

Reevaluates messaging, tools, people, strategy, and how they combine to achieve his ABM success. It's not an easy road, but it can yield a huge ROI.