ABM can often get the reputation of taking ‘too long’ to implement or requiring a clunky process to get off the ground. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. We’ve actually gathered a few tactics that can show a quick impact on your journey to becoming more account-based. From speeding up your point of contact with your target account list to personalization, there’s a lot you can do with little time on your hands.
1. Exercise your internal network for target account referrals
Identify the buying committee (decision makers, influencers, etc.) per Tier 1 target account and send the list (including name, company name and LinkedIn profile to make actioning easy) to executives, board members, advisors, or partners and ask for introductions, where there are personal connections.
2. Add geolocation to your SEM strategy to reach TAL via search
A common misconception is that you can’t target your target accounts via Search. You can… sort of. Identify the geolocation (headquarters) of your Targeted Accounts and add city + state to your geo-targeted within SEM. Setting geolocation barriers and keywords focuses your budget on the searchers located in your TAL. It’s not a perfect science (since not all employees work in the city of HQ and some cities are more densely populated than others), but you’d be surprised when you cross-reference keywords your TAL may be interested in a place like Dayton, OH how quickly you focus your budget (and impact!) against key buyers.
3. Deliver highly-personalized content to tier 1 accounts
Re-skin relevant content with company name/ logo and maybe a custom intro by the account owner. Offer that content via a personalized page using a tool like Uberflip and include a tile with the seller’s face, name, and Calendly link. See the example here. Real-time web personalization allows you to engage prospects by delivering a relevant message.
Leverage tools that allow you to reach and engage your TAL with personalized ad copy as well as accurately targeting key contacts and accounts via personalization and account-based advertising.
**Note: during stay-at-home orders, be wary of relying on tools with IP-based personalization or targeting alone. Reaching people at home requires a more rich set of tech. Read more here.
4. Look for intent or engagement signals for TAL prioritization
- G2/ Trust Radius category and/or profile views from company
- Bombora or other “intent” providers
- Recent high value engagements such as:
- Case study or product page viewers
- Closed-lost opportunities (“timing” or “future interest”)
- Prior demos that no-showed
Tip: Don’t forget to continue to focus on high-fit accounts. You’ll get A LOT of noise by looking at engagement or intent signals alone. High propensity to buy isn’t an either/or, it’s a scale. Your highest propensity to buy accounts/contacts are those who exhibit both high-fit and high-intent or high-engagement.
5. Scale multi-channel approach via social engagement
First, have your sellers set up private Twitter lists (Tweetdeck) for members of your TAL buying committees to keep a tab on daily activity.
Next, on a weekly basis, monitor social media feeds of key members of their TAL’s buying committee to look for relevant posts to engage with/ID as signals. Engage “organically” by writing back, retweeting, liking
Tip: You can also leverage your social media team to do the above, but we find higher engagement (and ultimately higher impact) by having the rep be the single line of communication across channels, if possible.
Bonus: Social monitoring not only gives your sellers an “organic” way to engage, it also allows you to get to know your buyer’s personal interests, which can come in handy when you’re looking for a door-opener (i.e. a direct mail gift).
6. Trigger email alerts with engagement signals to your seller
- Known TAL contacts who visit your site, especially product-centric pages like a pricing page
- New contacts at target account who gets added to your system
- Add the page they visited/ conversion point, owner name, and a link to contact to make it easy for reps to action
7. Scale your sellers' reach by sending emails "from” contact owner
Marketers who invest in marketing automation (and who doesn’t, really) typically send millions of emails per year. But many of us fall into the trap of sending “from” something generic like “Acme Corp’s Marketing.” First, don’t do that. You, like everyone else, are far more likely to open an email from an actual person vs. a machine. Second, you can get your rep more reach/ awareness within an account by sending all relevant marketing content “from” the contact “owner.” Simply add send-from rules to have a primary send from name/ email and a default. That way, your TAL get all their useful content
What tactic is next?
We already know it seemed antithetical for there to be ABM tactics, but once you got a chance to read them...do you still think it's unrealistic? We don't. And we hope you don't either. Take away the heavy expectations and you'll soon find there are far more ways to make your account-based marketing work feel a lot easier. Have a great tactic that didn't make the list? Reach out to our team and let us know so you can be included in the latest and greatest of our ABM strategies.
