Creating account-based marketing tactics can seem like a pipe dream for many startups and small businesses. Startups that are still searching for product-market fit will never be able to accurately define and map out their ideal customer profile (ICP). Small and medium firms, on the other hand, frequently lack the financial resources to invest in multi-touchpoint content marketing campaigns. Smaller companies and startups rarely have full-fledged marketing departments, and their salespeople are already stretched thin. To them, account-based marketing (ABM) is a practice reserved for companies with large marketing budgets and enterprise marketing teams.
This is far from the case, and both startups and small businesses can and should invest in ABM tactics. ABM strategies do not have to be expensive to be effective, thanks to a few ingenious growth approaches and tools.
However, there are a few distinct traits that your company should have before investing in ABM:
- ABM becomes substantially more valuable when deal sizes or client values are larger than typical. This is probably not for you if you are working with a long tail company model.
- ABM tactics are equally well suited to businesses with long sales cycles. The longer the sales cycle, the more vital it is to provide targeted content and marketing to key accounts through different channels and touch points.
- Complex purchasing committees are likewise vulnerable to hyperpersonalized marketing. Spray-and-pray marketing is not going to cut it in this situation.
- When sales, marketing, and service all coordinated, ABM methods perform best. Is your company on board with the RevOps concept? ABM appears to be the way to go.
Briefly, the points above depict what many refer to as the top end of the B2B market. Startups and small businesses that fit these criteria should think about growth strategies.
Account-based marketing
Account-based marketing, also known as key account marketing, is a business technique in which companies concentrate marketing resources on specified objectives (key accounts) in a market. This is similar to turning an inbound marketing funnel on its head. ABM takes the opposite strategy to generating leads, segmenting, activating, and finally selling to them. You pick major accounts, cultivate connections with them, and then sell to your network. This also entails creating highly relevant, highly tailored marketing material for a wide range of decision-makers at every stage of the consumer journey.
Account-based sales (ABS)
Account-based selling is a B2B sales method that focuses on selling to the same important accounts. Patience is the name of the game in this situation. Your salespeople will invest in relationships rather than striving to get that demo arranged as soon as feasible. This highly targeted and strategic process builds on the previously described customized marketing content. Account-based sales methods require sales and marketing alignment to be successful. Defining and reporting on shared goals and even KPIs will benefit your marketing and sales teams.
Account-based experience (ABX)
Account-based revenue creation works best when your entire firm is on board, including not only sales and marketing, but also your customer success team. This allows you to provide a customised experience to your key accounts throughout their whole buying journey, which continues after they have made a purchase.
