How do you successfully pilot, refine, and scale your account-based marketing program?

Editor's Notes

1. This isn’t a ‘how to guide’, this is a collection of learnings and things we wish we (and our clients) had known when we first started ABM over 5 years ago We hope that by sharing these with you, you can avoid some of recurring issues that stall ABM programs and ultimately demonstrate how valuable the first 12 months of an ABM program is
2. You need to take a step back and work with your internal teams to define what they want from ABM, and to build a roadmap to deliver the kind of services they needed before you even think about launching your program
3. When setting out clear expectations from the start, these could be verbal, or for some teams, getting them written down on a whiteboard or drawn up on paper may be necessary to keep everyone accountable And it’s not just Sales; it’s Operations, Customer Success, etc. Take time to truly understand what sales want to get out of the process, cross-check that with marketing goals, and use that to develop a joint set of goals that you’ll both be accountable to
4. Having a strong relationship will help you ride out any negativity as you experiment with what works for your organization. And when it feels like a team effort, you avoid the blame game when things don’t quite go to plan (let’s be realistic- it happens!)
5. If everyone does what they agreed to do at the outset, and ultimately, you reach the intended goal, ABM has the potential to become the way you do Marketing A word of caution though- if there’s been friction in the past between marketing and sales, don’t expect it to be evaporated just because you’re now doing ABM, you may need to rebuild that trust through results
6. Open new doors, unlock new deals- Highly focused, highly relevant, high impact marketing to move up the value chain in a small number of top target accounts. Win big in your top 100- ‘Industrialize’ relevant, high impact marketing to mini-segments to generate significant net new pipeline and revenue. Retain and grow key customers- Target moments of truth in the customer lifecycle to keep and grow customers. Or sell new services to the accounts most likely to close. Generate pipeline at scale- Optimize planning, data, process management and technology to improve targeting and relevance across bigger markets Each of these impact the model you will build initially, the strategy and approach, and the tactics- it’s important to have a clear goal in mind from the start, this is the starting point for testing the approach…
7. VISION Define what ABM is and what it is not – create understanding from day 1 Create a vision – picture of success for the business and team Gain agreement on our milestones – it takes time to build, and even longer to see the returns RESOURCES Team – internal resources, structure, responsibilities Skills, training & development – a consistent approach External support and scalability – agencies, tech, budget  ALIGNMENT Ensure the account team aren’t just on-board, they are advocates – get them shouting for more Account selection will make or break your program You have to be the evangelist – Be visible around the business evangelizing this approach, use internal channels sharing successes, etc. Not just sales alignment –draw on the expertise of senior execs, marketing ops, business value, solution consultants, product specialists PILOT Focus where we you sales advocates – people who want to make this work and believe in the approach Test delivery models cross-functional Build it so it can scale when it’s time to come out of the pilot Finding quick wins is key – pilot a few aspects of the approach into some targeted segments, and used that to build momentum with sales
8. Closed Loop Campaigns – Ongoing communications with sales
9. We’ve seen organizations with hundr3ds of ‘ABM solutions’ from a tech perspective, some are point solutions bought by sales, others seem to have been bought and left in a corner untouched because no one knows how to use them.
10. Your team gets bigger, and the results get better, and you end up doing more and more great work You can even treat each evolution or step as another pilot, un
11. Many assets/campaign flows developed in one area can then translate to other areas. Leverage learnings from 1:1 Account Workshops and Comms Strategy for industry specific Cluster campaigns
12. To end, we wanted to leave you with three top considerations when standing up your own ABM program/practice These were three important lessons we wish we knew at the start that we want to share with you
13. ABM can inform broader content pieces and even corporate marketing strategy. Blending 1:1 and 1:few ABM approaches maximises your upfront effort & investment. Example 1 An analytics org worked with us on a 1:1 ABM campaign into a key FS account. The sector lead who sat in on the playback of the planning insights was so impressed with what had been uncovered that she asked for the messaging to be broadened out and the campaign extended to 1:few across a number of FS accounts. We’ve seen similar things across several clients using upfront 1:1 planning and asset templates to then produce less personalised collateral for account groupings in 1:few. Example 2 One of our clients describes ABM as ‘the tail that wags the dog’, because market insights uncovered through ABM research have now been fed through the marketing organisation and are informing the organisation’s brand strategy.
14. Pushing content out via the C-suite and subject matter experts helps the message land quickly Example 1 We worked with a high profile CHRO to help generate meetings in key accounts – she provided a personalized foreword to some corporate market-research driven content and for the ABM programme we’ve produced customized invitations on her behalf to their events. Example 2 One of the objectives of an ABM programme for a telecommunications provider was to help them reposition themselves in the retail sector. We worked with their retail lead, generating content on topical themes that helped present her as an expert in her field and which led to her being invited to client workshops to provide retail insights.
15. When done well, ABM programmes draw on value from across the business, and the business can derive broader benefits than marketing outcomes. Example 1 A recent workshop for a cloud computing firm uncovered the fact that senior engineers’ time was being taken up responding to low-level enquiries which could be better diverted elsewhere. An action was taken to address the problem by the relevant teams Example 2 The success of one ABM programme’s value reports was due in great part to crucial input from the bid response and customer success teams who fed insights and data