According to Demand Gen Report’s 2023 ABM Benchmark Survey, “More than two-thirds (67%) of practitioners are leveraging an account-based marketing (ABM) strategy — and for those who aren’t, 81% plan to adopt an ABM approach within the next year.”
Whether you’re just starting your ABM journey or have a seasoned program in place, one thing remains constant: the need to regularly evaluate and evolve your approach. The key here is to optimize—not overhaul—your strategy. Keep on with what’s working and improve on what’s not.
Regardless of your ABM stage, auditing your strategy can seem like a daunting task. Where should you begin? And what should you focus on? In this article, we will hone in on three integral elements of an effective ABM strategy: alignment, personalization, and insights. By making continuous adjustments to these core areas, you can ensure your program keeps pace with industry shifts, meets the needs of your business, and delivers true value to your target accounts.
Alignment: Getting on the same page
Fostering collaboration between Sales and Marketing is crucial to implementing a successful ABM strategy. Alignment across teams ensures:
- Shared targets: No more wasted resources chasing different accounts.
- Unified messaging: No confusing customers with conflicting information.
- Seamless handoffs: A smoother transition saves time and offers customers a better experience, accelerating deals.
- Streamlined processes: Automating insights and information sharing enhances efficiency.
To get on the same page, these teams need to work together to adopt shared goals and communicate effectively. They should also look to the Operations team to enrich their account-based approach with data and automation. Achieving such alignment rarely happens on the first go, which is why it’s important to evaluate from time to time.
WHAT TO EVALUATE
| Considerations | Actionable Steps | ||
| Cross-functional meetings | Frequency | Some teams may need to meet more often than others. For example, SDRs and campaign managers may benefit from weekly check-ins to provide updates, offer feedback, and maintain smooth lead hand-off. |
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| Length | It’s important to be cognizant of everybody’s time. Factors like the purpose of a meeting and its frequency should play a part in determining its length. Be aware that long meetings risk losing people’s attention. |
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| Attendance | Not everybody is going to want or need to attend every meeting. Determine which roles and levels of seniority would benefit most from the information shared. Too large of a group might make it difficult to hear feedback from a variety of individuals. |
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| Agenda | Having a meeting outline helps to keep the conversation on track. It also allows for consistency—attendees can know what to expect and meeting owners know what to prepare. |
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| Communication channels | Different levels of seniority may or may not prefer this form of communication when summarizing high-level insights. Keep in mind sometimes important or timely information can get lost in inboxes. |
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| Messaging apps (Slack, Teams, etc.) | This can often be a faster and more colloquial way to communicate. Excessive replies can inundate members of a chat group with irrelevant information. |
| Commonly shared KPIs (key performance indicators) |
When defining which KPIs sales and marketing teams should align on, factors like which metrics executives prefer to report on and what KPIs each team uses to measure their own departmental success should be taken into consideration. It is also invaluable to have historical data to reference and the right tools in place to track such metrics effectively. Aligning on KPIs doesn’t always work on the first try. Priorities and forecasts can change over time, and teams must adapt alongside one another to achieve successful alignment. Dynamics between teams are unique to every company and so are the metrics they track. That being said, here are some commonly recommended KPIs B2B sales and marketing teams can aim to align on:
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Establishing an ABM strategy can help break down departmental barriers by uniting teams toward a common goal. Not only that, but it can also enable the optimization of resources across the organization and ultimately drive more conversions. But cross-functional collaboration doesn’t happen overnight; finding what works best for your teams requires practice and refinement along the way.
Personalization: Delivering a customer-centric experience
Personalization within an ABM strategy isn’t simply addressing customers by their name; it’s about understanding their unique needs, preferences, and pain points, and delivering tailored experiences that resonate on a deeper level. Doing so maximizes the impact of your sales and marketing efforts on target accounts. Personalization can also:
- Establish stronger relationships: Demonstrating a deep understanding of a customer’s challenges and objectives fosters trust and credibility.
- Increase engagement and conversion rates: Speaking directly to the specific interests and concerns of a customer is more likely to capture their attention.
- Offer a competitive advantage: Engaging customers with tailored content and messaging can help differentiate your efforts from those who maintain a more generic approach.
To determine what resonates best with your target accounts requires experimentation. That is where optimization comes into play.
CONSIDERATIONS
Personalization is a powerful tool in sales and marketing, but it's crucial to approach it strategically. The key lies in balancing the level of personalization with your available resources—budget and bandwidth. By doing so, you can ensure that your personalization efforts are not only impactful but also sustainable in the long run.
Personalizing Your ABM Program
| Channels | Elements | Ideas and recommendations |
| Sales Outreach | Subject line |
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| Copy & Messaging |
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| Cadence |
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| Marketing Emails | Invites |
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| Newsletters |
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| Nurtures |
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| Transactional |
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| Announcements |
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| Website Experiences | Chatbot |
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| Landing pages |
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| Dynamic content |
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| Content |
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| Ads |
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| Events |
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Measuring the impact of your personalization efforts can be accomplished by teaming up with your operations team to track key metrics like engagement, conversions, and ROI. These data points help to reveal what resonates with your audience and what needs fine-tuning. Remember, personalization is a journey, not a destination. Be willing to experiment with different tactics and adapt your approach based on what works best. This data-driven, agile mindset will maximize your return on investment and turn personalization into a powerful tool for success.
Insights: Optimizing with data
In ABM, data reigns supreme, enabling personalized strategies, goal tracking, and internal alignment. It's the language of quantifiable success that resonates with executives and drives iterative improvement. With a wealth of data available, the challenge lies in determining the most effective ways to utilize it to achieve your goals. In today's competitive landscape, embracing data-driven approaches isn't just advantageous – it's essential for staying ahead of the curve, as competitors are likely leveraging data to their advantage.
WHAT TO EVALUATE
| Data Hygiene |
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| Automation & Integration |
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| Reporting |
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| Scoring |
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| Data Augmentation |
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| Data Privacy & Compliance |
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Data greatly enhances the effectiveness of ABM strategies, yielding advantages such as precise target account selection, personalized experiences, informed decision-making, and enhanced measurement capabilities with real-time updates. However, amidst the abundance of data, challenges arise, including concerns over data quality and privacy issues. To navigate these challenges effectively, periodic audits of tech stacks, metrics, reporting, and data hygiene are essential. These audits enable teams to optimize processes and strategies, ensuring sustained success in their marketing endeavors.
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In the dynamic world of ABM, strategies must continuously adapt to evolving customer behaviors, emerging technologies, and market trends. Regularly assessing core elements of an ABM program such as alignment, personalization, and data practices are essential to ensuring an effective approach. Embrace this process to ensure your strategy delivers exceptional results over time.
Looking to leverage a demand partner as part of your ABM approach? DemandSkill offers customizable ABM programs, leveraging AI and intent data for real-time personalization and optimization. We tailor programs to engage and capture contacts within your TAL through various tactics like content syndication, email marketing, telemarketing, and more. Unlock your ABM's potential for long-term success.
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