If you’re one of those veteran B2B marketers, you clearly know how pivotal Account-based Marketing (ABM) is to generate tangible business leads.
For those unfamiliar with ABM, it is a niche B2B Marketing strategy that flips traditional Marketing on its head by targeting a select few high-value accounts (instead of mass marketing) through highly contextualised value propositions and personalised content.
ABM is one of the most sought after Marketing skills by a diverse range of B2B companies because it delivers a higher ROI than conventional Marketing. More importantly, if done right, ABM has the inherent ability to develop a close-knit relationship between your Sales and Marketing teams, something that goes a long way in creating a harmonious and fruitful business culture.
If you have stumbled across this post, we are sure you probably know a bit about ABM, at least conceptually. Now that you are keen to tread on the path of ABM, here are the top four B2B Marketing skills that you need in your team to execute successful ABM Campaigns.
1. Wordsmithery
B2B content writing is relatively straightforward since it does not warrant glitzy words or an artistic style of writing. However, ABM copywriting is a bit different than regular B2B writing, as it demands a knack for churning copy that appeals to a very specific niche audience.
ABM copywriters should be adept at knowing the specific words, phrases, and general ideas that will appeal to the ABM Campaign’s target audience – from CIOs and CTOs, to CFOs, to a target account’s CEO.
And since consistency is a key to any ABM Campaign’s success, an ABM content writer should have the perseverance and creativity to churn out multiple engaging ad copies revolving around the same offering.
2. Analytical Adroitness
While your ABM team definitely needs to take a holistic view of an ABM Campaign while aligning it with the Campaign’s granular objectives, it is equally imperative to keep an eye on missed opportunities from a website / landing page’s conversion rate.
An ideal ABM team member with this trait will always keep pushing the rest of the team by learning from industry-best practices of others’ ABM Campaigns while adapting to your own ABM goals.
3. Budgeting Ingenuity
Accurate budgeting for the apt ABM channels is fundamental to Marketing ROI. With ABM’s veracious targeting strategy, 96% of B2B Marketers report that ABM is a key driver of their B2B Marketing’s success.
But this high ROI isn’t always guaranteed with ABM, or for that sake with any, Marketing Campaigns. To ensure high success rates, your ABM team needs to master budgeting ingenuity by keeping a close eye on where and how the Marketing dollars are being spent.
When to hold back on the Campaign spends and when to go for the kill is something that needs to be minutely analysed keeping in mind the stage at which your target accounts are in their buying cycle.
4. Visual Marketing Expertise
When it comes to ABM Campaigns, creative assets play as important a role as the ABM content itself.
Since an ideal ABM Campaign consists of a host of Marketing platforms, your graphic designing team should be adept at designing compelling artworks for emailers, infographics, e-books, case studies, social cards and banner ads, amongst others.
Deftly aligning aesthetics with copy plays a catalyst’s role ensuring a higher consumption of your ABM proposition.
To sum it up, please remember when all is said and done, at the end of the day, the success of any ABM Campaign hinges on a team effort as, after all, it is a marriage between Sales and Marketing. And like all marriages, communication between the partners is the key to a healthy relationship.