B2B Marketing News

Posted by John Noble on 22 Jan 2016

As B2B marketing continues to evolve and develop, B2B marketers are becoming more focused on account based marketing. So what is Account Based Marketing and why is it so special? How does it differ from traditional B2B demand generation?

Account Based Marketing is essentially a more targeted or focused type of demand demand generation. It covers all the activities B2B marketing teams do to support sales. On the surface it might seem that it’s not dissimilar from traditional demand generation, however there are crucial differences.

Integrated Campaigns:

Account based marketing moves away from the “random acts of marketing” where campaigns are more closely integrated and targeted. In essence a multi-channel approach is a central feature.

Sales and Marketing Working as One:

Account based marketing is characterised by sales and marketing teams working together as one unit. Firstly, to identify and agree on the target account list, followed by defining the highly personalised and effective messaging for these targets. Sales is the delivery vehicle for marketing’s message and must deliver the right content at the right time to targeted prospects. Account based marketing plans will only succeed with complete co-operation between marketing and sales.

Segmented Content:

Account based marketing is based on relevance and focus. Marketing teams can deliver this focus by taking time to understand each account and creating content that addresses relevant pain points. Personalised web content is another feature of account based marketing.

Beyond the Funnel:

Account based marketing goes beyond the traditional sales funnel. The old notion of marketing taking responsibility of the top of the funnel is replaced by a customer decision journey where every single lead is influenced by both sales and marketing through the buying process.

Iteration:

Account based marketing at its best tracks interactions, engagements, and conversion metrics. Companies can then optimize their marketing processes and do it again.