Today's post is an excerpt from The MFS Guide to B2B Account Based Marketing.
Before designing an ABM strategy, it is worth keeping some best practices in mind.
ABM Best Practices
1 - Think Strategically
ABM is not simply another tactic. In fact, if you treat ABM as a tactic, there is every chance your ABM program will flop. ABM, in order to succeed, needs to be treated as a strategic initiative. It should be supported by the executive team and given the resources it needs to succeed.
2 - Get Executive Sponsorship
ABM must be a priority for those highest in the organization. Before trying to get buy-in from sales and marketing teams, you must secure executive support. The program will not work otherwise.
3 - Align Sales and Marketing Teams
Alignment is key. ABM is a cross-functional sales and marketing strategy. In fact, you will need to build a separate ABM team - containing people from both marketing and sales - to implement and execute your strategy.
4 - Conduct an ROI Analysis
ABM is not for everyone. A quick way of figuring out if ABM is suitable for your needs is to conduct an ROI analysis. Weigh up what your average deal size is and what the cost of your ABM program is. If you are targeting low dollar value accounts, then you should realistically focus on areas like optimizing the self sign-up process rather than ABM. ABM is best suited to larger enterprise level deals.
5 - Pilot Your ABM Program
An ABM program requires considerable resources to set up in terms of personnel, content, systems, etc. For marketing and sales teams it is essentially a new way of working. Before embarking on what can amount to a reorg, you should pilot your ABM program by targeting a small number of accounts. If you can pilot your ABM initiative successfully with a closed deal, then you will have living proof of the merits of your program and you can build it out from there.
6 - Find Your Content Monster
ABM is powered by content. With personalization at its core, an ABM strategy requires an enormous amount of content. You will need a content resource you can rely on to produce high quality, tailored content - and produce it at volume. You - as an ABM leader - can work with your content resource initially as you develop unique value propositions for each account and decision-maker within the account. From here though, you will need your content resource to take the lead and start building out this content at scale. Your content resource should also have the flexibility to quickly turnaround new pieces of content as new and evolving buyer needs emerge throughout the sales cycle.
7 - Finetune Your ABM Tech Stack
As you design your ABM strategy, ask yourself the question - do you have the systems in place that you need to execute? If you don’t, then you will need to select and implement some new technology. Start off by ensuring you have the basics with CRMs, marketing automation tools, market research, and intelligence platforms in place. Consider then how you can augment what you have with AI and other ABM-specific tools that have entered the market.
8 - Take a Land and Expand Approach
Remember, many of the companies in the F100 have revenue larger than some countries GDP. If you have an existing deal in place, there may be additional teams or offices that your product can also add value to. A key part of ABM will be expanding business lines with existing customers.
9 - Build an ABM Dashboard
Take the time to build a live ABM dashboard that gives both the ABM team and executives instant visibility into the revenue generated from the ABM program. Create a custom report with visuals that shows progress with each of the target accounts. Keep it high level - the executive team will focus on one metric in particular - revenue.This post is an excerpt from the MFS Guide to B2B Account Based Marketing. If you would like to read more you can access the guide in full here. If you have a marketing challenge you are looking for support with, you are welcome to set up a no obligation initial strategy consultation with our team.