While everyone talks about the amazing return they are seeing from their account-based marketing (ABM) initiatives, there has not been enough education on the right steps to take to launch an ABM program that drives revenue.
Effective ABM implementation and execution are among the variety of topics on tap at the B2B Marketing Exchange in Scottsdale, Ariz. Nick Ezzo, VP of Demand Generation at Host Analytics, will take the stage to explain how he and his company tackled ABM in his session, Building An End-To-End Strategy For ABM Success.
During a pre-show Q&A, Ezzo shared his thoughts on why ABM requires a data-driven approach, as well as a look at the steps necessary to effectively implement an ABM program that will deliver results.
Demand Gen Report: Can you give us a sneak peek at what you’ll be presenting at The B2B Marketing Exchange?
Nick Ezzo: I’m going to be talking about taking the concept of ABM from the abstract to the concrete by giving attendees a step-by-step guide for what they can do to get an ABM program off the ground with some quick, actionable steps.
DGR: What is the biggest step that people need to take for effective ABM?
NE: It would have to be what I call the “ABCs of ABM.”
The letter A stands for “account selection,” which is the most important step in an ABM program, because if you picked the wrong accounts from the start—even if you have a picture-perfect campaign—you’re just going to be hitting the wrong targets.
The B stands for “build out the contacts,” which means building out the three-to-five (maybe even 10) stakeholders within each of those target accounts so you have a foundation to work off of with your marketing messaging and campaigns.
The C stands for “creativity.” That’s where we brainstorm with our account teams between sales and marketing to identify the best ways to get in front of these target accounts in unique ways. This can be traditional email campaigns, or tactics that are fun and exciting, like sending swag to your top clients.
DGR: What challenges are common on the road towards ABM?
NE: For account selection, people typically tend to rely on sales reps to choose the accounts that they go after, which I think is almost always a mistake. We here at Host Analytics took a data-driven approach and used two different predictive models to identify individuals that fit within our target accounts. Then we involved our sales reps to add or pull accounts off that list.
For identifying contacts, we use a few vendors to give us a full picture of a target account. It’s also important to align leads to accounts from our CRM to make sure we have a full understanding of what’s happening within that account. If you’re not doing that, you’re only getting half the picture—which is a big issue for some people.
For creativity, you must be willing and able to go outside the norms with your messaging and content offerings, while also continuing to be relevant and valuable to your target accounts.
DGR: What are you looking forward to the most about #B2BMX?
NE: I always learn from what people are doing, and I’m really looking forward to picking up some techniques that I haven’t used yet.. That way, I can bring that information back to my company and help us get better and smarter with our ABM initiatives.
