Account based marketing is a smart way to spend your marketing dollars as you focus on tailoring your marketing to the companies and people that you want to do business with. It enables you to focus your time, energy and marketing spend on your Top Account Prospects.
In a study by Alterra Group, 97% of respondents said account based marketing has a higher ROI than other marketing methods — 38% say it is much higher.
How Does Account Based Marketing Work?
Account based marketing starts with you doing your research. I can’t emphasise this enough. You only get one chance to make a great first impression so make it count by tailoring your subject line and content to make it interesting and relevant to the person you’re sending it to. You can tailor your content at all stages of the sales cycle to maximise the likelihood that the prospect you’re targeting is intrigued by what you’re sending and engages with you. Think about what challenges is the industry/ company facing. What best practices you can share? Any relevant eBooks or tip sheets, etc.? Content that educates and demonstrates the value you/ your company has is the best way forward.
Target the Decision Makers
If you don’t have a list of hot prospects ready to go you can develop your own list or approach a reputable company to tailor make a list for you. If you’re engaging a company to pull together a list for you be specific with your requirements. For example: size of company, number of contacts from each company, job types/ titles of the decision makers, number of companies you want to target, etc. Be sure to ask for all the information you require: email addresses, phone numbers, exact job titles, street addresses, etc. Don’t forget to ask how often the lists are updated, after all you want to be certain that you are reaching out to people that are still in the roles you’re targeting.
There is some upfront cost involved in having a company put together a list like this, but it can save you hours of time creating your own.
If you’re targeting C-Level execs send the email or InMail from the same level executive at your company. This will give you the best chance at developing a rapport/ making a connection.
How to Get Started?
You don’t need a big budget to get started. Work out what you have, what you need and what you’re willing to do in-house – then work out who you need to engage with, to fill in the gaps. Then start with researching the people you’re targeting. What groups are they in? Do you have any common connections? Have they posted an article or blog recently that you read? LinkedIn makes this sort of research easier than ever before. With more than 7 million members in Australia, this is one valuable resource that you can’t afford to overlook. If you want to search people’s profiles anonymously follow these easy steps to do just that.
Once you have some background on your target companies and the decision makers you’re going to start contacting you can make a start using LinkedIn InMails or Connections. As tempting as it is to get right to the point from the first email, don’t ask for too much too soon! Instead, start with a personalised InMail referencing a shared interest or connection and ask to connect. The key is to start slowly and keep it personal.
Account based marketing is a great way to ensure that the marketing you’re doing is targeting the companies and people that you want to engage and do business with – your top targets. Do your research, personalise every piece of content for maximum engagement and get ready to sign up new clients.
