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The Rise of Account Based Marketing (ABM) in Professional Services

Account based marketing (ABM) has emerged as a highly focused marketing strategy involving concentrating resources on a set of target accounts within a market. In other words, it uses personalised messaging delivered to different groups, designed to engage each account, treating them as an individual market.

This approach allows for a more tailored and effective marketing strategy that can significantly enhance engagement and conversion rates. It’s no surprise that 61 per cent of senior B2B marketers in the UK are planning to increase their ABM budgets, highlighting its immense potential.

 

The Types of ABM

ABM strategies can be categorised into three approaches based on the scale and level of personalisation:

One-to-One: This is the most personalised form of ABM, where marketing efforts are tailored to individual businesses. Detailed research and bespoke content creation are used to address the specific needs and pain points of each account.

One-to-Few: This approach focuses on small groups of businesses that share similar goals and needs. While the level of personalisation is less than the one-to-one approach, it still involves creating tailored campaigns that resonate with groups.

One-to-Many: The broadest ABM approach, One-to-Many groups a series of businesses with similar needs and targets them together. Using generalised, yet relevant content, you can appeal to a large range of companies with a single output.

 

The Process of ABM

  1. Identifying and Researching Groups: The process begins by identifying the businesses you want to market your services towards. From here, you should decide on the appropriate scale approach, potentially grouping them based on similar business offerings, pain points and processes.

 

  1. Personalised Content Creation: Creating custom content to address the specific needs and interests of your target businesses or groups is key. This includes bespoke emails, targeted LinkedIn posts and SEO-optimised articles. Your campaigns should utilise multiple channels to create a coherent and consistent experience across all touchpoints.

 

  1. Measurement and Optimisation: You should continuously monitor and analyse the performance of ABM campaigns to assess their effectiveness and to make necessary adjustments for improvement.

 

Benefits and Challenges

Bringing ABM into your general strategy can provide a series of benefits for your business.

  • Greater Growth Rates: Thanks to its targeted nature, ABM tends to secure increased growth compared to alternative methods. A study from Momentum itsma and ABMLA found that 77 per cent of companies using an account based marketing strategy saw revenue growth.
  • Improved Customer Relationships: Personalised marketing efforts help in building stronger relationships with your target accounts, increasing the likelihood of long-term engagements.

 

Although the positives are promising, ABM is sometimes a difficult fit for businesses based on resources.

  •  Resource Intensive: ABM requires significant time and resources to research, create and execute personalised campaigns.
  • Scalability: The more you scale the more time and effort will be needed to maintain the approach. This will most likely mean you have to reduce the personalisation.
  • Complexity: 40 per cent of B2B companies said that a lack of internal expertise was their main challenge in executing an ABM strategy. Effectively coordinating efforts across multiple channels and aligning focuses can be complex and demanding. Outsourcing your marketing may be the solution for you.

 

If you are considering adopting ABM, the Lacewing team is here to help. We offer the expertise and technology needed to make the most of this marketing strategy. With Lacewing’s support, companies can effectively target businesses, deliver personalised experiences, and achieve significant growth and success in their marketing efforts.

Get in touch with Kate at kate@lacewingmedia.com to discover how we can support you in achieving your goals.

 

 

References:

https://5356237.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/5356237/MomentumITSMAABMLA_ABMSurvey2022_ElevatingABM_Dec2022_Final.pdf

https://www.inboxinsight.com/state-of-account-based-marketing-uncut-us-vs-uk/