What are the types of ABM, and how does Intent data supercharge ABM programmes?
ABM or Account-Based Marketing, is a B2B marketing strategy adopted by many businesses.
In this article we review the different types of ABM strategy a business can adopt and how intent data can fit into the strategy.
What is ABM?
Intent data providers usually collect one or more of the following:
- What is ABM?
- The 3 main forms of ABM
- How to use intent data to drive a successful ABM strategy
What is an ABM and how to optimise your ABM strategy with intent data?
ABM stands for Account Based Marketing. It’s a B2B marketing strategy that focuses only on the activation of high-value customers and requires strong collaboration among the marketing and sales departments.
In ABM, the priority isn’t to generate a quantity of leads, but to identify those who not only meet the demographic criteria for prospecting but also meet your “Ideal Customer Profile”.
At its heart, ABM is about delivering highly personalised content to these key accounts at the right time with the right message to position your business as the best solution in the market.
While this requires sales alignment and the time, energy and resources needed for in-depth research, it does yield terrific results. LinkedIn conducted a survey and found that 87% of marketers see higher ROI with ABM than any other type of marketing investment. What’s more, 91% of respondents reported that their ABM accounts have a bigger deal size.
Which ABM strategy is right for you?
1 to 1 ABM
Also known as Strategic ABM, traditionally this approach involves targeting only a small number of strategic accounts, often in specific industry sectors.
These accounts are typically identified by the sales department and You must have deep and relevant insights into each account—their strategic objectives, pain points and decision-makers. This information is vital to informing outreach and delivering deeply meaningful account engagement that demonstrates an understanding of their business.
For this reason, 1 to 1 ABM requires a great amount of investment however, it also offers great ROI, since each account comes with high-value contracts.
1 to Few ABM
Also known as ABM Lite, this approach involves targeting small groups of accounts typically divided by sector, a common size or location, or similar pain points and needs.
In 1 to Few ABM each group of accounts is treated separately. So, for example, if a group of accounts belongs to a specific sector (such as Financial Services), then you can create sector- or sub-sector specific content which touches upon trends and challenges (such as embedded innovation or protecting banking financial strength) and resonates with accounts in that group.
1 to Many ABM
Also known as Programmatic ABM, this is a scalable approach to sales and marketing efforts which involves targeting “many” accounts—the number is up to you and can go into the hundreds or even the thousands depending on the value of the accounts and the resources available to your business.
1 to Many ABM targets accounts which share a common factor within segments—horizontal or vertical. While this approach might appear to be less targeted than the other two, it’s still possible for marketing teams to accomplish personalised outreach through the use of sophisticated technologies and martech.
In comparison to traditional lead generation activities, 1 to Many ABM requires fewer marketing resources to result in better win rates.
Intent Data and ABM
What if you could not only identify those who meet your “Ideal Customer Profile” but are also currently in a buying cycle?
No matter the ABM strategy you adopt, your business needs to be able to identify and target accounts that are in the buyer’s journey so you can focus first on the most promising accounts and tailor further your messages.
Intent data is the tool that helps you do that—and power your entire ABM campaign.
With the right intent platform, you can upload lists of accounts and monitor their positions in the buyer’s journey for your solutions; You can identify unknown potential prospects and tailor your marketing and sales’ actions accordingly. This, in turn, helps you to prioritise resources, reduce waste and shrink sales cycles.
Intent data also provides valuable insights into account behaviour. Surging intent or heightened interest in keywords related to your business reveal what B2B buyers are looking for and where they are in the buying journey—both of which can be used to connect with prospects at the right time with the right outreach to boost conversions and achieve ABM success.
The Right Intent Data Provider For You
Intent data is only as good as its provider. That’s why B2B companies looking to power their ABM strategy with intent data need to ask key questions—pertaining to GDPR, data coverage and number of sources, accuracy, geographic expertise, and other issues—before choosing the best provider and ABM platform for them.
If you’d like to learn more about Cyance’s unique approach to intent data, please download our Accuracy & Intent Data eBook.
