Unique approaches to account-based marketing & sales: tailoring strategies to fit your goals
In the dynamic world of marketing and sales, finding the right approach to engage with potential clients can be challenging yet pivotal to success. Account-based marketing & sales (ABM&S) offers a strategic solution by focusing efforts on specific, high-value accounts rather than casting a wide net.
According to a study, 75% of marketers say that ABM generates more revenue than any other marketing strategy. Understanding the distinction between the various ABM&S strategies can significantly enhance your campaign’s effectiveness and efficiency. Let’s explore the identified approaches and discuss how they can be customised to align with your unique business goals.
Exploring different ABM&S strategies
To aid marketers in defining the scope and scale of their ABM&S programmes, ITSMA, a renowned thought leader in the field, identified three distinct types. Each strategy offers varying levels of personalisation and scalability, allowing marketers to choose the approach that best aligns with their resources and goals.
1. One-to-one ABM&S: hyper-personalisation
This strategy is the most personalised, involving highly customised campaigns for a few individual accounts (typically around 15). This approach includes bespoke content, exclusive events, thought leadership and personalised meetings, where marketing and sales teams collaborate closely, tailoring efforts to each account’s specific needs.
2. One-to-few ABM&S: strategic group targeting
At this level, marketing teams work with sales to target groups of accounts with similar characteristics, like industry or challenges, balancing customisation and efficiency. This strategy usually focuses on 10 to 100 accounts, with marketing and sales closely cooperating to tailor content and propositions.
3. One-to-many ABM&S: scalable personalisation
This strategy targets the largest number of accounts, averaging around 900. It uses technology to personalise marketing for many accounts, aiming to generate new leads and repurpose content. Common tactics include email marketing, direct mail and blogs, allowing one marketer to manage several accounts – making it less resource-intensive.
4. Bolt-on ABM&S: enhanced engagement
This strategy involves marketing to a specific lead while engaging the rest of the buying committee. When a lead is qualified, it is placed in a nurture campaign and technology triggers actions to involve other stakeholders from the company – ensuring comprehensive engagement throughout the buying process.
Choosing the right ABM&S strategy for your business
There’s no denying ABM&S can elevate your sales and marketing efforts, but the right approach depends on several factors critical to your success. Each unique ABM&S strategy targets different buyer segments using both inbound and outbound tactics, including account selection, account-based channel execution and multi-touch revenue attribution. Businesses can begin by considering these key factors:
- Value and complexity: The value and complexity of your product or service will dictate the level of customisation needed.
- Target organisation size: Tailor your approach based on whether your target accounts are large enterprises or smaller businesses.
- Number of stakeholders: Consider the number of decision-makers within the targeted organisation and adjust your strategy accordingly.
- Strategic importance: Determine whether securing clients within specific industries or segments warrants a more personalised approach.
- Competitive environment: Understand the competitive landscape to ensure your strategy stands out effectively.
- Internal resources: Assess your team’s capabilities and resources to execute the chosen ABM&S strategy effectively.
Our ABM&S services at PDS
As a marketing, creative and print agency, partnering with PDS gives you access to top talent and expertise in all aspects of design, digital and print marketing. Your brand will benefit from our pool of specialists and awareness of current trends, who will help you elevate your ABM&S journey with a powerful idea, unforgettable design or expertly crafted branding campaign.
One-to-one ABM&S services:
Our one-to-one ABM&S service excels in closing deals with hyper-targeted campaigns, involving meticulous planning, a competitive 45-day execution timeline, a tailored approach for large organisations lasting 6 to 10 months, seamless communication among teams, defined goals and KPIs for deal closure, and custom messaging and assets using web personalisation technology.
One-to-few ABM&S services:
Our team specialises in crafting personalised marketing campaigns for specific groups of highly qualified target accounts, including extensive research, a 6 to 12-month comprehensive strategy, collaboration between sales and marketing, and customised asset creation and messaging utilising web personalisation technology and intent data.
Partner with PDS for strategic growth
Partner with PDS to elevate your ABM&S efforts and achieve strategic growth. Download our comprehensive eGuide today for all the information you need on selecting and implementing the most suitable ABM&S strategy for your business.
We are PDS
Established in 1998, PDS is a print, design, communications and marketing company that combines creative ideas and insights with our knowledge and experience of the production process. Our full range of services encompass communications, marketing services, print, design, merchandise, storage, fulfilment, and logistics, underpinned by our intuitive online management system, PDS+. Partnering with us will improve the efficiency of your organisation, save time and reduce costs, while also taking your communications, creative design and print production to a whole new level.
Transform your approach to ABM&S for lasting business impact
In conclusion, embracing the right ABM&S strategy not only enhances engagement with key accounts but also drives long-term business success by aligning marketing efforts with precise business objectives.