Posted by Personalization is the B2B marketer’s key to a successful account-based marketing (ABM) campaign.
A personal touch can reduce acquisition costs by as much as 50%, lift revenues by up to 15%, and increase the efficiency of marketing spend by up to 30%, according to research from McKinsey.
The goal of ABM is to nudge the perfect target into becoming a customer and partner for years to come. To cultivate such meaningful relationships, marketers must get to know their prospects’ needs in order to be of service to them.
Here are three ways to make your ABM campaigns stand out.
1. Create content specifically for your target customers
Curating educational material for your prospects is an excellent way to show them how you can provide real value to their specific needs. There’s just one catch: You’ll need to create more than just top-of-funnel, generic content.
Find ways to repurpose marketing collateral or create new assets that have relevant information for all of your different buyer personas. Identify your targets’ vertical-specific interests and pain points, and write about them; these make excellent topics for blog posts, videos, and case studies.
Creating custom content is certainly an investment, but helpful resources live online forever and generate much higher account interest than one-size-fits-all posts.
Make it easy for new targets to continuously discover your site by creating SEO-friendly pieces and also by sharing them across social media.
2. Provide a personalized experience on your website
Treat your target accounts’ visits to your website as if you’re giving them a personal tour. With the right design and tools, your website can be an opportunity for you to speak directly to your targets and guide them to the information they’re looking for.
House your custom account resources in special landing pages or microsites tailored to them. Showcase relevant pieces from your content library for each buyer persona or industry so that every target can easily find information that is relevant to them.
Then, take the personal touch up a notch and address your high-priority accounts directly when they visit your website: Use plugins and platforms that read visitor IP addresses, allowing them to customize your website message and display the target account’s name on the landing page.
3. Send tailored outreach that inspires your target to learn more about your brand
Content and website visits aren’t the only ways to engage your target accounts. Sometimes, you have to start the conversation yourself. You must be deliberate, though: Your targets won’t pay attention to a generic email. If you send a unique message that aligns with your prospect’s values, however, they’ll want to keep talking.
One idea for tailored outreach is to personalize a mailer campaign: Show your target that you took the time to learn more about their organization and find a gift that will resonate, delight, and encourage them to get in touch with your brand.
An example: say you’ve just found a prospect’s blog post about how her company is committed to sustainability. You come up with a gift in which sustainable elements are front and center, including a notebook made from 100% reclaimed paper and fruit jam sourced from sustainable local farms. In your note, you talk about a few ways your company has taken steps toward being more eco-friendly, like reducing waste and boosting energy efficiencies.
Consider purposeful alternatives to direct mail
Instead of mailing a gift, you can always extend a meaningful gesture to your prospect through digital outreach. Here are a few examples for outreach that might personally resonate:
- Donate to an organization your prospect advocates for, and include a note explaining why you chose that cause.
- Support a local business by purchasing a gift card for your prospect. Gift cards help businesses while in-store activity is down.
- Send a custom email inviting your prospect to explore the content you designed specifically for him. Start a conversation about how his company is solving problems in its industry.
However you reach out, be timely. Work closely with your sales team to identify prospects who are at key points in the sales funnel or who have an upcoming sales meeting. Your outreach will generate organic interest from the prospect to make your sales team’s job even easier.
Personalized ABM campaigns build trust
Business buyers are inundated with pitches and content, most of which isn’t relevant to them. That’s good news for B2B marketers: Your prospects are hungry for a personalized experience.
Stand out from the crowd with meaningful, customized resources and engaging personalized communications. Your prospects will listen to you because they trust you—and trust builds partnerships that will bring more business for years to come.