Account-based marketing (ABM) can be an extremely effective way to target and convert leads within your B2B business. But if you’re not familiar with account-based marketing or you’ve used it without success in the past, pay close attention.
If you want to reach your highest-value leads and get them to close more deals, this is the way to go. You simply need to understand how ABM and lead conversion work together. And then, you need to create a strategy that will help you implement this new practice with ease.
How an ABM Strategy Can Increase Lead Conversions
Account-based marketing is different from a traditional sales funnel in one major way. With a traditional funnel, you’re casting a wider net to attract a ton of leads into your business. Moving through this funnel narrows down those leads by qualifying them over time. Ultimately, you’ll go from this large number of leads to just a few who actually convert. While this is effective, it’s not the best option.
Instead, it’s better to identify and qualify your most valuable leads first. Once you’ve decided who these people are, you can create stronger, more personalized content that speaks directly to them. They can move through your sales funnel as you nurture those relationships and engage with them until they hopefully convert. With account-based marketing, you’re also encouraged to upsell and cross-sell previous buyers, as it’s easier to get repeat customers rather than new ones.
But how does this factor into a lead conversion strategy? Well, you’re already targeting your top leads. These are people who are already familiar with your brand and are poised to buy. All they need is a little encouragement along the way. And you can do that by creating ultra-tailored content in relation to their needs.
ABM and Lead Conversion: How to Make Your Strategy Work
Now that you have an understanding of how ABM and lead conversion work hand-in-hand, it’s time to create an effective strategy. A strategy helps you move forward with purpose, ensuring that you’re staying on track as you work toward your goals and that you’re taking worthwhile actions along the way. Here are a few steps to create your ABM strategy if you want to generate leads:
1. Know Your Goals
First and foremost, it’s important to set your goals. That’s a crucial part of any strategy, as you don’t want to go into it blindly. It’s not enough to know that you want “more leads.” You need to know, specifically, what you’re working toward. A great way to go about this is by setting a SMART goal. This means your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
So, exactly how many more leads do you want to generate with your account-based marketing efforts? By what percentage would you like to see your ABM conversion rate increase? Whatever number you choose, make sure it’s realistic to accomplish in the time frame you’ve designated, otherwise, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure.
You may also want to set additional goals, such as launching a new offering or entering different markets. There’s no reason to hold back here. You can set a few different goals and map out a plan that will allow you to accomplish each one with ease.
2. Understand Who Your Audience Is
The next part of mastering your ABM and lead conversion strategy is to get clear on who is in your target audience. In doing this, you’ll need to identify the accounts you primarily want to reach so you can prioritize them. Account-based marketing is all about catering to your most qualified leads. You have to know who they are if you want to target them effectively.
Understanding their interests and needs will allow you to cater your content and your offerings to them. Doing this is a great way to provide the valuable content your audience needs at exactly the time they need it the most. This is applicable when it comes to things like blog posts, email newsletters, and even website personalization. It’s all about creating an unforgettable experience for them. And when you can create tailored content, they’ll feel like you’re reading their minds.
3. Build a Dedicated Team to Implement Your Strategy
Having a dedicated team to handle your account-based marketing strategy will be essential to its success. You don’t want to put just anyone on this task. Rather, you want to have both your sales and marketing teams involved so they can work side-by-side.
As you build this team, consider the strengths of each one of your team members. For marketing, you want someone creative, savvy, and amazing at crafting content. And for sales, you’ll need someone who truly understands the needs of your audience and what they’re looking for when it comes to your content and offerings. They need to be actively talking to your potential buyers and past customers, so they’ll know what needs to be factored into future projects.
4. Select Your Account-Based Marketing Channels
Now it’s time for the fun part: content creation! But before you can dive in, you need to think about which marketing channels are going to be most effective. Again, this goes back to your goals and knowing who your audience is. You want to be where your audience is spending time online. You want to create the types of content that will resonate with them the most.
Luckily, there are tons of options to consider. To name a few: website, blog posts, social media, email, display or search engine ads, direct mail, in-person events, and webinars.
Once you’ve chosen your ideal channels, you can begin planning your content strategy. Think about the topics you’ll want to cover to address the needs and pain points of your audience. Once you’ve got everything planned out, it’s time to execute your strategy!
5. Evaluate and Optimize Regularly
Arguably one of the most important aspects of an ABM and lead conversion strategy is to evaluate the results you’re getting. Have you been able to achieve your goals or are you falling short? If you’ve achieved the goals you’ve set, then you’ll know you’re on the right track. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’re sure to see continued success.
On other hand, if you’re not hitting your goals, something needs to change. There’s no shame in tweaking your strategy. After all, it’s how you learn and get better at what you do. Plus, it’ll only help you create a stronger strategy in the long run. You may want to implement a new marketing channel or cut one out that hasn’t been performing. It’s all about testing and optimizing.
Improve Your ABM and Lead Conversion Strategy
Did you know that attracting and converting leads in business doesn’t have to be a struggle? With the right action plan in place, you can create a major impact with your ABM and lead conversion strategy. And here at Hushly, we help our clients provide account-based experiences so you can generate sales.
Want to boost your lead conversion rate? Contact Hushly today to learn how we can help.
