Account-Based Marketing For Dummies

by Sangram Vajre

Overview

Grow your account list with an effective account-based marketing strategy

Buyers have changed the B2B marketing game. Account-Based Marketing For Dummies is here to give you the tools to transform your current approach to find, reach, and engage with your potential customers on their terms to meet their ever-changing demands. Packed with expert tips and step-by-step instructions, this book shows you how to analyze current data to identify the accounts with the biggest ROI opportunities and execute effective, account-specific techniques that get results.

This practical guide takes the intimidation out of account-based marketing in today's highly digitized world. You'll be armed with the knowledge you need to increase your reach in real time, giving you greater exposure to other decision-makers and influencers within an account. You'll discover how, through a combination of marketing technology and online advertising, your messages can be displayed where and when your customers already engage online.

• Align your sales and marketing teams for greater success in your ABM efforts
• Analyze data to identify key accounts
• Target your messages for real-time interaction
• Integrate your campaign with marketing automation software

If you're a member of a sales or marketing team already using a CRM tool who's looking to increase your reach, Account-Based Marketing For Dummies has you covered!

"Account-Based Marketing For Dummies clears away the confusion surrounding this much-hyped topic. It offers simple, direct explanations of what account-based marketing is, why it's important, and how to do it.  Any business marketing professional will benefit from a look at this book."
—David Raab, Founder at Raab Associates

"If you're reading this book and just getting started with ABM, welcome to the future of what b-to-b marketing can be: insight-led, technology-enabled and, above all, customer focused. Our clients are delighted with the business impact they deliver using account-based marketing, and you will be, too."
—Megan Heuer, Vice President and Group Director, SiriusDecisions

"Like a Hollywood agent, marketing's job is to get sales the 'audition,' not the part. Account-based marketing is the key to maximizing the number of the 'right' auditions for your sales team, and Account-Based Marketing For Dummies explains how."
—Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing at InsightSquared

"Ever-advancing marketing technology is enabling a new generation of sales and marketing strategies to thrive, changing the playing field for companies of all sizes. This modern wave of account-based marketing has tremendous potential to improve your business, and Sangram Vajre is an insightful and enthusiastic guide to show you how."
—Scott Brinker, Author of Hacking Marketing

"Account-based marketing is shifting how businesses use customer insights to capture more upmarket revenue. This book teaches a new wave of data-driven marketers how to embrace an enlightened quality-vs-quantity approach and execute a scalable ABM strategy that delivers real results."
—Sean Zinsmeister, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Infer

"The book may be titled '…for dummies', but ABM is proving to be a smart approach for B2B marketers charged with generating sales pipeline and acquiring and delighting customers.  Use this book to help you get started and advance your account-based marketing strategies and tactics that will thrill your sales colleagues, executive team and customers alike."
—Scott Vaughan, CMO, Integrate

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119224853
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	04/25/2016
Series:	For Dummies Books
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Sangram Vajre has quickly built a reputation as one of the leading minds in B2B marketing. Before co-founding Terminus, a SaaS platform for account-based marketing, Sangram led the marketing team at Salesforce Pardot. He has spoken on the topic of marketing technology around the world and is the mastermind behind #FlipMyFunnel.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 4

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 5

Part 1: Getting Started with Account-based Marketing 7

Chapter 1: Introducing the Basics of Account-Based Marketing 9

Defining Account-Based Marketing 10

Pouring leads into the funnel 10

Moving away from lead-based marketing 12

Flipping the Funnel 14

Identifying your best-fit contacts 15

Expanding contacts into accounts 16

Engaging accounts on their terms 16

Creating customer advocates 17

Chapter 2: Making the Case for Account-Based Marketing 19

Understanding Why B2B Companies Need Account-Based Marketing 20

Measuring leads is no longer enough 22

Maximizing your marketing efforts 22

Starting the Conversation about ABM 23

Investing your resources the right way 23

Supporting sales productivity 23

Influencing customer sentiment 26

Driving More Revenue from Account-Based Marketing 28

Generating qualified opportunities 29

Closing more new business 29

Preventing customer churn 30

Chapter 3: Aligning Sales and Marketing 31

Setting the Right Marketing Goals 32

Changing the B2B game 33

Creating a message that works for sales 35

Driving Revenue through Teamwork 36

Selling the dream 37

Building your “A” team 38

Renewing the Vows between Marketing and Sales 40

Connecting to marketing 41

Talking to your sales team 41

Setting realistic expectations 42

Playing to your strengths 44

Chapter 4: Selecting Tools 45

Understanding Marketing Technology 46

Determining your MarTech needs 46

Assessing your resources 48

Building a MarTech Stack 48

Defining your digital presence 54

Setting Up Your Platforms 54

Integrating your software 54

Managing ABM tools 56

Tying everything back to an account 57

Types of Marketing Activities 58

Advertising 58

Social 59

Events 59

Direct mail 60

Content 61

Webinars 63

Email 64

Calls 66

Part 2: Identifying Accounts for Marketing 67

Chapter 5: Targeting Your Best-Fit Accounts 69

Focusing on the Right Market 70

Specifying the industry 70

Sizing the company 71

Segmenting by industry and company size 71

Creating an Ideal Customer Profile 72

Determining your ICP 73

Crafting personas 74

Understanding personas’ motivations 75

Making a Value Proposition 76

Differentiating value based on roles 76

Tailoring your message 76

Remembering everyone is different 76

Building Your List of Target Accounts 77

Starting with a tiered list of companies 77

Applying your ICP to the company list 78

Laser-focusing on best-fit 80

Prospecting within accounts 80

Chapter 6: Fueling the Account-Based Marketing Engine 81

Managing Your Existing CRM Data 82

Leveraging your customer data 82

Comparing customers with your ICP 84

Figuring out what you can use 84

Obtaining New Data on Target Accounts 84

Gathering the right data 85

Acquiring correct company information 85

Finding the right people in those companies 87

Utilizing predictive analytics 89

Creating New Accounts 91

Completing a full profile 92

Avoiding duplicate accounts 92

Assigning new accounts to owners 94

Protecting Data Quality 95

Profiling your data records 96

Determining whether your data is bad 97

Updating account information 98

Chapter 7: Qualifying Your Target Accounts 99

Gauging Interest 100

Comparing inbound and outbound activities 100

Discovering BANT 100

Asking the right qualification questions 101

Intending to buy 103

Converting Accounts to Opportunities 104

Nurturing or converting 104

Monitoring activities for buying signals 104

Triggering at the right time 105

Communicating with your accounts 106

Qualifying a Revenue Opportunity 106

Examining the account’s journey 107

Agreeing on sales-ready opportunities 108

Building a full view of an account 109

Finding multiple opportunities within one account 109

Part 3: Expanding Contacts Into Accounts 111

Chapter 8: Reaching the Right People in Target Accounts 113

Preparing Your Account-Specific Plan 114

Finding the right stakeholders 114

Enabling your champion 117

Pointing out potential detractors 118

Discovering your power sponsor 118

Using Tools for Expansion 119

Selecting the right software 119

Avoiding manual data entry 121

Continuing to expand accounts 121

Adding Contacts to an Account 121

Appending more contact data to accounts 122

Writing out your organizational chart 122

Working with new contacts during the sales process 123

Identifying buying centers 123

Chapter 9: Using Marketing Automation for Your Account Strategy 125

Strategizing Your Expansion Tactics 126

Nurturing for inbound vs outbound 126

Monitoring marketing activities 130

Filtering for the right contacts 131

Advancing from initial touch to account nurture 134

Learning the Fundamentals of Scoring and Grading 135

Scoring based on activities 135

Combining scores for a single account 137

Grading based on best fit 137

Flowing Data Back into Your CRM 138

Integrating your platforms 139

Assigning tasks and follow-up 139

Determining the next steps 140

Chapter 10: Distilling the Key Roles of “Smarketing ” 141

Making Sales Your Marketing Team’s Number 1 Customer 142

Reestablishing marketing’s mission 142

Finding urgency among your accounts 143

Providing air cover throughout the sales process 144

Benefitting from “Smarketing” Alignment 146

Going for your goals together 146

Targeting accounts across all stages 148

Lining up your pipeline 150

Banking on Your Strengths 150

Creating a sustainable process 151

Serving and selling 153

Greasing the wheel to revenue 153

Part 4: Engaging Accounts on Their Terms 155

Chapter 11: Generating Velocity for Sales 157

Accelerating Your Pipeline from Click to Close 158

Launching a pipeline acceleration campaign 158

Executing with your sales team 160

Focusing on the right deals 161

Advancing Opportunities to Closed-Won Deals 163

Nurturing throughout the buying process 164

Selling value, not product features 164

Converting opportunities 165

Growing Revenue Using ABM 166

Creating clear metrics 167

Linking your ABM strategy to revenue 167

Turning opportunities into deals: a case study 168

Chapter 12: Personalizing the Buyer’s Channel 171

Mobilizing Your Message 172

Working outside of business hours 172

Networking in-person and online 174

Ensuring your message resonates 176

Advertising on the Right Platforms 177

Building your advertising campaigns 178

Pushing the envelope 181

Changing your message at every stage 183

Automating stage-based advertising for every opportunity 185

Launching form-free 186

Engaging on Social Media 187

Connecting with your contacts 187

Following accounts 189

Sponsoring posts 190

Chapter 13: Developing Content for Campaigns 191

Creating a Content Library 192

Storytelling and its importance 197

Taking an ABM lens to your content 199

Producing content by industry vertical 200

Basing content on personas 201

Humanizing Content 204

Demonstrating thought leadership 205

Addressing wants, needs, and pain points 206

Personalizing your message 207

Developing a brand identity 207

Reaching Through Technology 209

Employing a content strategy 209

Delivering content on the right channel 212

Cross-promoting your content 212

Measuring your content’s effectiveness 213

Chapter 14: Executing ABM: A Playbook 215

Centering a Strategy 216

Listing your accounts 218

Progressing accounts to the next stage 219

Planning your tactics and activities 221

Coordinating Your Efforts 231

Strategizing your content 231

Launching advertising campaigns 232

Assigning “smarketing” tasks 233

Ranking Your “Smarketing” Success 235

Winning with new revenue 235

Learning from mistakes and opportunities 236

Brainstorming new ideas 236

Part 5: Turning Customers Into Advocates 237

Chapter 15: Elevating the Buyer to Customer Journey 239

Prospecting to Contacts 240

Furthering opportunities through the pipeline 241

Closing the deal 241

Establishing a Customer Journey 242

Adopting your technology 242

Engaging end-users 244

Continuing education 245

Selling to Existing Customers 245

Landing and expanding accounts 246

Cross-selling in the account 247

Upselling new or upgraded products 248

Chapter 16: Valuing Customer Advocacy 249

The Rising Influence of the Customer Voice 250

Providing customer joy 250

Surprising your clients 251

Establishing relationships 252

Making Your Customers Your Marketers 254

Getting your customers talking 254

Interviewing your customers 257

Driving referrals and references 259

Reaching new contacts 261

Event marketing with your clients 261

Building buzz 262

Engineering Product Development 263

Reviewing your existing product 263

Asking for input on your product roadmap 264

Factoring in feedback 265

Chapter 17: Aligning Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success 267

Nurturing Never Stops 268

Advertising to your customers 268

Advocating for your users 269

Promoting customer content 270

Collaborating with Customer Success 272

Thinking of customers as prospects 272

Producing effective customer case studies 274

Sharing best practices 276

Planning Your User Conference 276

Picking the right venue 277

Treating your clients like VIPs 277

Programming the best content 279

Partnering with sponsors 279

Announcing new product developments 282

Part 6: Putting It All Together 283

Chapter 18: Measuring the Success of Campaigns 285

Setting Key Performance Indicators 286

Attributing metrics at the account level 287

Comparing cost per click 291

Showing impressions 292

Expanding your audience 293

Engaging accounts 294

Testing Your Campaigns 295

A/B creative testing 295

Trying new content 296

Combining your offers 297

Knowing You Aren’t Wasting Money 297

Budgeting the right amounts 298

Attributing advertising spend to revenue 298

Showing engagement in the buyer journey 299

Chapter 19: Tracking Metrics for Every Account 301

Ongoing Account Maintenance 302

Delivering reports and results 302

Creating a review process 304

Executing on tasks 305

Gauging Potential Opportunities 306

Limiting the margin for error 306

Anticipating future needs 307

Building an engagement report 307

Providing Value Add 308

Living up to expectations 308

Continuing to improve 309

Part 7: The Part of Tens 311

Chapter 20: Ten Reasons B2B Companies Need Account-Based Marketing 313

Doing the Math 314

Needing a Strategy 314

Focusing on Sales Productivity 315

Utilizing Your Technology Stack 315

Prioritizing Tech Investments 315

Building New Skills 316

Leveraging Customer Experience 317

Treating Clients Differently 317

Developing ABM Relationships 318

Measuring More Than Leads 318

Chapter 21: Ten Obstacles Facing Account-Based Marketing 319

Measuring Leads as Success 320

Blasting Emails Too Quickly 320

Expecting to Engage Every Time 320

Relying on Marketing to Do It All 321

Sending All Leads to Sales 321

Asking for More Leads 322

Not Paying Attention to Customer Retention 323

Forgetting About Your Customer Advocates 323

Selling Instead of Serving 323

Changing the C-Suite’s Assumptions 324

Chapter 22: Ten Account-Based Marketing Blogs to Read 325

MarketingProfs 325

ClickZ 326

Funnelholic 326

Business2Community 327

CustomerThink 327

MediaPost 327

Heinz Marketing 328

Chief MarTec 328

MarketingLand 329

MarTech Advisor 329

Chapter 23: Ten ABM Thought Leaders to Follow 331

Jill Rowley 331

David Raab 332

Craig Rosenberg 332

Jon Miller 333

Chris Engman 333

Ann Handley 333

Matt Heinz 334

Megan Heuer 334

Scott Brinker 335

Jim Williams 335

Index 337