Align with sales to powerfully engage customers
Truly relevant marketing requires a tighter connection to the customers and deeper insight about their beliefs and buying behavior. But the idea of focusing on an individual account necessitates a significant mind shift for marketers, away from formulaic, automated processes to a more fluid and adaptive approach that integrates customer learning in real time.
The ultimate goal in account-based marketing campaigns is to drive specific desired behavior in identified accounts. Some account-specific plays that support your company's strategic imperatives might include:
- Increasing relevance and expanding your company's footprint
- Engaging in specific selling strategies (e.g., selling higher in the organization, blocking competitors)
- Deepening relationships with legacy or acquired customers
- Winning back lost customers
- Building champion base and neutralizing detractors
- Increasing utilization of your products and driving up renewal rates
- Piloting new sales strategies (e.g. vertical selling, partnering, or selling a new offering)
Only a matter of time
Many marketers think they can't afford account-based marketing because it's so tailored. But as mass marketing quickly moves into more contextual marketing, the question is no longer, "How can I afford to do it?" but rather, "How can I afford not to do it?" The challenge lies in balancing between scalability and relevance.
Account-based marketing can provide the means to achieving a level of relevance with customers that has not been possible before, demonstrating commitment and understanding on your part to the customer. However, you need to be able to scale this degree of relevance across multiple key accounts to achieve economies and accelerate ROI. For instance, creating a strong library core of content, offers, and tools enables account teams to easily tailor touches for their clients, reduces duplication of efforts, and provides a flexible campaign framework for future expansion.
