Account Based Marketing Customer Journey

One of the biggest problems with most forms of marketing is that it is vague and boring. If you can personalize your messages, prospects are far more likely to pay attention. The term personalization in account based marketing means targeting specific individuals at companies whose accounts you want to gain. It may involve using the person’s name, but can also include addressing points that you know are of concern to that person.

If you’re new to the concept of account based marketing (ABM), it’s a good idea to check out some account based marketing examples. These will give you ideas about how you can handle specific scenarios, prospect types, and more. Examples also help you avoid the sensation of “feeling around in the dark” as you get started.

ABM platform providers, such as Terminus, offer plenty of account based marketing examples, account based marketing case studies, account based marketing email examples, and more. They also provide plenty of instructional material, blog posts on the subject, and similar types of education in order to help you get up to speed as soon as possible.

By studying these materials, you’ll learn about shaping the account based marketing customer journey in the best ways. Then, your prospects and customers will never have to endure bland, generic marketing efforts from your company. Instead, they can look forward to learning about features that are relevant to them and their company’s needs, marketing that adjusts as they display interest in various parts of your offerings, and more.

Always remember that while some of the samples you see will be similar to what you need, the uniqueness of your company means that none of them are likely to be an exact match. Therefore, you should be ready to customize any examples or templates to fit your specific business.

Account Based Marketing B2B

As with most other aspects of business, there are differences between account based marketing B2B and B2C methods. This resource will focus on the B2B side.

Currently, B2B-oriented account-based marketing is the most popular form. Therefore, most account based marketing tools are meant to aid in this type. Account based marketing companies in the B2B sphere include Terminus, Demandbase, 6Sense, HubSpot, and Marketo. All of these account based marketing platforms are a bit different from each other, so it’s a good idea to take a close look at them all before choosing one.

Those who are just getting started with ABM, or who have decided to go for it but want to know more before they actually jump in, have several options for learning more. These include looking at case studies, ABM examples, templates, blog posts, and other information put out by the various ABM platforms.

It’s also a great idea to read a book or two about this topic. A book like Account Based Marketing for Dummies will provide the information you need to understand the terminology and general principles of this discipline, and will make it easier for you to understand and use the more-detailed lessons you may find on ABM-dedicated platforms.

There’s no need to find a physical copy of Account Based Marketing for Dummies. Instead, get the PDF version so that you can read it from your tablet or laptop on the go, or read it from your desktop computer as you sit in your office. The Account Based Marketing for Dummies PDF is available from several sources, including ABM platform providers as well as general publishers.

Account Based Marketing Tactics 2020

As with any aspect of business that hasn’t become set in stone, there are changes between account based marketing tactics 2020 and those that came before. This year, according to Terminus, there were plenty of changes between 2020 and account based marketing tactics 2019.

Due to the pandemic, live B2B events dropped to nearly zero. This alone put a significant dent in the sales efforts of many companies, who were used to spending about 20 percent of their budgets on these events. However, this was just the start of the complications. Due to so many people switching to working from home, it was no longer possible to rely on IP addresses to tell which companies website visitors were coming from.

These changes led to a trend of switching to platforms that are more sophisticated than the ones used for account based marketing 2019. Companies also moved toward customer retention and expansion, rather than getting new customers. In 2019, only 14 percent of respondents said that retention was their goal, and 38 percent said that cross-sell and upsell were goals, for a total of 52 percent. In 2020, 61 percent said that these were their goals. Another 14 percent were planning on it, and the last 17 percent intended to make it a priority.

Companies that had a mature ABM program increased funding to it even as their overall budgets were reduced, indicating high confidence in this method of marketing.

2020 also saw a higher number of companies starting new ABM programs than usual. Therefore, only 13 percent of respondents categorized their programs as “mature.” This means that there is plenty of opportunity for those who have an account based marketing resume. It also is a sign that companies are seeing marketing in ways that they hadn’t thought of before.

Account Based Marketing Strategy Template

Strategy and planning, also known as strategy and tactics, are very important aspects of accomplishing a goal. It is important to understand that a strategy is not the same as a plan. An account based marketing strategy provides a high-level look at things. Developing one involves setting overall goals, how success will be measured, and deciding on timelines for accomplishment.

Meanwhile, an ABM plan contains the details, or plays, of how the strategy’s goals will be accomplished. Plans can include plays like sending out personalized emails, direct mail packages, hosting virtual events, launching targeted ads, and more.

In order to keep teams coordinated, an account based marketing framework must be developed and communicated to everyone involved. It is helpful to use an account based marketing strategy template for this. Many ABM platforms offer sample templates that you can study to get your own ideas or that you can customize to meet your company’s needs.

One popular format for this is the account based marketing PPT. This is especially good for companies that have people working at home or other remote locations. It is easy to transfer a PPT digitally, and almost everyone has the software needed to read it. Other formats, such as PDFs, will also work. The most important thing is that everyone involved will be able to easily access the information.

Account Based Marketing Plan Template

As mentioned in the prior section, a plan is not the same as a strategy. Instead, the plan contains the details of how the strategy is to be accomplished. Therefore, an account based marketing plan template will have plenty of room for specific details about every aspect. For example, it won’t just list the idea of making direct contact with customers. It will include goals for how many contacts, the desired conversion ratio, and perhaps, even the method of communication used. Because of this, a plan template may also be referred to as an account based marketing playbook.

For those just getting into ABM, an account based marketing PDF focused on play ideas is a great start. Importantly, you must remember that even if you find a great PDF of ideas, you should customize it to take the details of your company and its goals into account. This will help ensure that you get the results that you and your company are seeking.

Playbooks are available from multiple sources, such as blogs, companies that make ABM software, and a variety of industry experts. Therefore, they may be referred to by different names, such as account based marketing tactics ideas, ABM plan ideas, and ABM playbooks. Regardless of the name a specific publisher uses, you can get plenty of help by looking at a few of these plan templates. Tweak them as you go to improve your results over time.

HubSpot Target Accounts

HubSpot and Marketo have long been known for marketing automation, but now, HubSpot has added ABM features and functionality to let you use HubSpot target accounts. This development further confirms that account based marketing is here to stay.

Of course, HubSpot didn’t just bolt on a few ABM features like HubSpot buying roles and call it done. It has also added plenty of instructional materials, made an account based marketing HubSpot Academy section, and more to make it easier to get started with using their platform for your account based marketing efforts.

HubSpot Academy ABM isn’t just a random set of articles. Instead, it’s a series of lessons that include videos. Each one aims to teach specific aspects of account based marketing and sales, so you will have good educational building blocks to base your strategies and plans on. No credit card is needed to sign up, and the first lesson is free.

Marketo also has educational materials available, starting with a lengthy article on the basics that is on its site. For further account based marketing Marketo education, you can download a variety of guides, which are highlighted on the same page as its “getting started” article.

It is clear that many companies are getting into offering tools for account based marketing programs, and that the biggest ones are also providing the education needed to give you the best chance at success (account based marketing HubSpot content is a good example of this). These, combined with the wide availability of templates, playbooks, and similar resources, make it easy to take the first steps into this new way of personalizing your marketing and sales efforts.