TLDR:
Understand and leverage the distinct phases of an ABM lifecycle—the acquisition phase, expansion phase, and acceleration phase—to determine if an ABM program needs improvement.
Let’s face the facts: ABM isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. According to Forrester, a market research company, ABM is just about to hit the mainstream. Marketers far and wide need to realize this and climb onboard with the ABM phenomenon. This means accepting everything involved with ABM ranging from approaches to technology.
Fundamentally, ABM is a self-sustaining marketing strategy. Customers are turned into assets that last a lifetime. This is because ABM focuses on the customer first. What results is the cultivation of a lifelong relationship.
It’s based on lifecycle marketing, where prospects are treated according to where they are in the buyer’s journey. This often translates into personalized approaches for every prospect.
To reap the benefits of approaching accounts at different stages of the buyer’s journey, marketers need to effectively scale their ABM programs.
There are three main points in an ABM lifecycle that encompass seven stages taken together. Those three stages are acquisition, acceleration, and expansion phases.
In the acquisition phase, the goal is to attract new accounts into engaging with your content. It’s important to keep in mind that you’re looking for accounts, not leads. A buying signal from an account might look like several high-value webpage visits in a short span of time.
The acquisition phase has two sub-stages: pre-targeting and account nurture. Under pre-targeting, the key to engagement is brand awareness. Create downloadable offers and don’t gate content. These accounts need to be in the pipeline. In account nurture, marketers need to engage the buying committee specifically. Use persona data to personalize and tailor relevant messaging.
In the acceleration phase, the key is to speed up the conversion process of prospects in the pipeline while revitalizing inactive accounts also in it. The substage for this phase is called pipeline acceleration—this is where marketers increase the number of engaged stakeholders they reach out to with advertising methods. It’s a process that is repeated with inactive or stalled accounts to rekindle interest.
The expansion phase is about keeping the customer happy. In the first substage of this phase, retention, marketers need to ensure the customer is cared for and successful. In the following stage, cross-sell and up-sell, customer trust needs to be broadened with offers that provide value to them. The last stage, land and expand, involves selling to more business units that belong to the customer. Use relationships in your accounts and have them advocate for your business to turn customers.
ABM has the tendency to expose what’s not working in a company. Identify where in the ABM lifecycle the problems exist to fix them.
Original article from Terminus on 28 February 2019.
