Strategy and metrics for ABM

Account-based marketing (ABM) is no longer fashionable marketing jargon. It’s now a staple of B2B marketing. But while more companies are embracing ABM, many struggle to make it deliver real, measurable results. That’s because those responsible for it have neglected to thoroughly research their strategy and establish how to measure various parameters of a campaign’s success.

It’s a game of blind darts.

Start with Your Target Accounts

Do you have a long list of “target” accounts tucked away in a spreadsheet that hasn’t been touched in months or even years?

Dig it out. How many of those accounts are still relevant? How many still exist?

Effective ABM starts with identifying the right accounts—not just shiny brand names (and a few you’ve never heard of that “sound cool”) but who you’d really like to work with. Build your list using a combination of:

• A thorough analysis of your best existing customers
• Named accounts from sales
• Account identification technology
• Intent and firmographic data

This list should be dynamic and be reviewed regularly to ensure it still tracks with your ideal customer profile (ICP). Things can sometimes change profoundly with you and your company. The ICP you created a few years ago may bear little resemblance to the one you need today.

Identify the Right Channels and Tactics

Next, establish a means to evaluate the channels you’re currently using. Are they performing, or do they need an overhaul?

A multi-channel approach typically performs better in ABM. Depending on your target audience, this might include:

• Telemarketing and outbound calls
• Personalised (and I emphasize personalised) outbound email and direct mail
• Paid social ads
• Retargeting (especially CRM-based retargeting)
• In-person or virtual events and networking

Align and Empower Sales and Marketing

ABM fails when sales and marketing don’t work together. To succeed, both teams must be in lockstep on:

• • The target account list
  • Campaign goals and KPIs
  • Roles and responsibilities at every stage of the buyer journey

Sales and marketing should also have access to the same data and toolbox. Marketing automation platforms can enable both teams to track engagement and monitor performance with minimal manual effort.

Create Personalised Content

As already mentioned, targeted personalised content is crucial for ABM success. It is essential that you show and understanding of each account’s specific challenges.

That doesn’t always mean creating one-off content for every company. You can personalise at scale by segmenting accounts by industry, challenge, or persona. “Personalise” does not mean “one size fits all”.

Meaningful Metrics

Once your strategy is in place, how you are going to measure performance?

Following are some key ABM metrics to watch:

Coverage – Are you reaching the right contacts within your target accounts?

Keeping an eye on coverage will help you understand data quality and will determine whether your database includes the right contacts. A good way to start is to create and build a spreadsheet of how many contacts you have for each single account. This will help you to see gaps that need to be filled. You can then use that purified foundation and build on it over time.

Engagement – Are your target contacts actually interacting with your content?

Are your targets engaging with you? They may not be, so it’s important to look for increased email opens, ad clicks, meeting attendance, and website visits. Engagement should grow over time, especially as you personalise more effectively. If it’s not, you need to know and take steps to reengage.

An effective way to do this is to use a simple model like the one below to compare engagement across account types. The table helps to break down important stats and therefore gain a better understanding of new account acquisition and, hopefully, expansion.

Awareness – Do your target accounts actually know what your company does?

Track your web traffic, direct traffic, brand search volume, and social mentions by target accounts. If their awareness of you is low or non-existent, consider updating your outgoing messaging or optimising your landing pages to make them more resonant (which is a whole other blog in itself).

Touchpoints – Are you engaging the right people, not just whomever you happen to catch?

High engagement is great but only if it’s coming from the people you actually want to engage. Segment your accounts into priority tiers:

• • • Tier 1: Top 5% of target accounts
    • Tier 2: Top 20%
    • Tier 3: A broader ICP

This helps ensure you’re focused on the accounts that matter most and enables you to fine-tune campaigns accordingly.

Revenue – It’s about revenue, stupid.

ABM requires looking beyond last touch to understand how your efforts influenced closed deals. Even early-stage awareness can have a long-term impact on revenue, so it’s important to connect each campaign’s activity to the pipeline of awareness that was established to create it.

Final Thoughts

A smart ABM strategy and the right metrics go hand in hand. You can’t measure what you haven’t planned for—and you can’t improve what you don’t measure.

By setting clear goals, narrowing your focus to home in on the right accounts, personalising your outreach, and tracking meaningful metrics, your ABM campaigns stand a much greater chance for sustainable, long-term success.

Find out how Napier supports B2B technology companies with their ABM campaigns.