The Ultimate Guide to Account Based Marketing(ABM)

Account Based Marketing(ABM) is the hottest and newest,
up and coming marketing schemes. More and more businesses
are planning and implementing it in their organizations. ABM is
gaining traction for a good reason. It gives you the way to close
potentially bigger deals at a much faster rate.

ABM is on fire. ABM lets you drive strong business results without
taking your budget through the roof or burning the midnight oil.
It also allows you to connect marketing programs from awareness
all the way through the pipeline and closed/won business.

Account Based Marketing(ABM) Stats:

You definitely will want to incorporate ABM into your business after
seeing these stats:

❖    According to Demand Metric Report, 96% of B2B companies say
that ABM has an enormous impact on marketing success.

❖    ITSMA states that 84% of marketers believe that ABM delivers
higher ROI than any other marketing approach.

❖    A report from Sirius Decision says that 60% of the businesses
plan to invest in ABM methodology in the next few years.

What is ABM?

In its simplest form, Account Based Marketing(ABM) is a marketing
which based on account, existing or prospective.
It is commonly done by enterprise-level sales organizations.

ABM is inherently a form of tactical business marketing.
An organization takes an individual prospect or customer account.
These are companies and not individuals that is treated separately
as a market of its own. ABM is particularly helpful for business with
multiple stakeholders or buyers.

Types of ABM:

1.    Email list-based Account-based Marketing(ABM):

In this approach, you can either use target accounts from your CRM
data or in-house marketing automation and serve ads to the users
of these accounts. Alternatively, you can rent or buy 3rd party lists
from a contact data provider. This is a targeted approach for potential
buyers and influencers at larger companies.

2.    IP-based Account-based Marketing(ABM):

In this technique, IP address blocks are used to target the right audience.
Your company chooses the list of target accounts which is then matched
by data partner and users at these IP address blocks are targeted.
This method is useful for midsize and small companies.

3.    Predictive Account-based Marketing(ABM):

Predictive ABM goes beyond the existing contacts. Instead, it involves
identifying new contacts and accounts from the past conversion data.
The major focus here is to find those accounts which “look like” accounts
which have made past conversions and are targeted.
However, this tactic requires a deeper evaluation to generate best results.
This scheme is most suitable for large companies with more data as more
data accounts to better analysis and prediction.

You can combine these 3 tactics with personalization by target accounts
to get the highest engagements and conversions.

Getting started with ABM:

Now that you know the basics of Account Based Marketing,
it’s time to dive in!

1.    Gather your ABM team

The first step for successful ABM is to gather your ABM team.
It is requisite that both your sales and marketing team define the
expectations, goals and KPIs. Before planning your first campaign,
you will need to gather your core team. Remember that ABM is a
joint effort between your marketing and sales team.

2.    Define your ABM goals and strategies

Now that you have gathered your core team, the next step is to
carefully define your goals and strategies.

If you are just starting your ABM campaign, it is advisable that
you focus on one single goal. Your goal can be successfully launching
a product, building market share or even getting more value from customers.

3.    Identify and prioritize your target

Identifying the target audience is a fundamental of successful marketing.

Firstly, define your buyers’ personas and list the accounts.

Use market research to determine the list.

You can use predictive ABM technologies to pinpoint companies that fit your ICP.

4.    Craft your content

The next step is to craft new content that resonates with the targeted accounts.

The content should speak the pain points of the individuals as well as organizations.

You may choose to create diverse assets for different buyers persona and even use
1-1 messaging for each of the accounts.

5.    Choose your channels

ABM would not be as effective as expected if you don’t use the right channel to promote it.

Compelling content and right channel go hand-in-hand in order to reach the potential targets.

Research how the channel is being consumed by the users and prioritize them accordingly.

6.    Run your campaign

At this point, you have identified your targets, defined your goals, created great content and
selected the channel that you will use to promote it.

It’s finally the time to get your content onboard. Use your sparkling new ABM campaign to
show up and deploy ads across the web to engage your target accounts.

7.    Analyze your results

Your job as a marketer isn’t over yet. You will need to accurately analyze the campaigns,
keep a check on what’s working and what’s not and optimize your campaigns accordingly.

You can use tools to help you evaluate your marketing ROI. Make sure you refresh your
creative periodically.

Conclusion

Account-based marketing is not so overwhelming as it might appear, especially when
broken down into steps. It is not so different from inbound marketing yet is so much more
impactful. Once you start executing ABM in a scalable way, you will achieve unparalleled
business results. Having ABM in your bucket will make you look like a marketing genius.
Not only will you grow sales and revenue but also you will be recognized as a true marketing
hero, with the smart use of Account-based marketing tactics!

So, are you ready to get account-based marketing?

Need Leads ASAP? Here is why Quora Marketing is next best Lead Generation Hack

Generating leads for your business is a tedious task. Marketers utilize numerous amount of social media platforms to gain their business momentum. But often they fail to harness the power of Quora. Quora, which has the power to generate thousands of leads and build a huge online community within a few months.

If you don’t know what Quora is, Quora is a popular question and answer platform. A site for elites to voice their opinions. It is indeed a curated platform, unlike Yahoo Answers and ask.com where almost anyone can ask and respond to any question about basically anything in the world.

Quora is kind of a social media platform, but it is far different from most. Quora is similar to Twitter in that you can follow other people. But it isn’t nearly as free-flowing. It is similar to Facebook because you can interact with other people, but not through direct messaging. Quora’s individuality is what makes it so effective for lead generation.

Using Quora, you can either ask a question which you want an expert to answer or you can answer questions that other people have posted. As a marketer, you will be answering questions rather than asking.

Why it’s great for generating leads

As of 2016, Quora has reached about 100 millions unique monthly visitors. It is indexed by Google which gives an edge and additional value. Type a question related to your industry on Google, and the chances are, the first few results would be Quora Answers. And therefore, searchers are more likely to stumble upon your writings. Quora can prove to be an effective platform to drive traffic and leads to your website.

Additionally, Quora is a great medium to communicate directly with your customers that no other social media platform provides. A platform where the prospects and customers are asking questions and marketers can interact with them directly. This ability of Quora is what makes it stand apart from other mediums. Thus, you should utilize Quora to your advantage.

If you join the platform and play the part of the expert, you will quickly enhance your brand’s image in the eyes of your target audience, drive leads to your website, establish thought leadership, generate organic views, build a massive following and grow your online community.

Here’s what biggies have to say about Quora:

“Being the epicenter of curiosity, Quora offers businesses potential opportunities to create a niche for their brand and leverage it to spread awareness about their products and services.” — Top League Technologies

According to Tyler James, co-Founder, Conversated Media, “Quora is neither a business development place nor a place for cold calling. Rather it is a place where you can genuinely and authentically interact with users with an intention to help them. Quora does open the lines of communication between you and your audience. Therefore, business should invest in building their authority on Quora paving a way for lead generation.”

The Powerful Ingredients to make the most of Quora

Now that you know, Quora can do wonders for your business, you might wonder how exactly to do that? Here are the few ingredients to make the most out of Quora:

1. Create a captivating profile:
   You can answer hundreds of questions on Quora, but your hard work becomes pointless if it’s not generating any lead. Quora profile is the first thing that a user sees and if it is unoptimized, the user would not trust you. So the first and foremost thing you need to do is to create a compelling bio. Here are four things which you need to incorporate into your profile:
   a. Make your profile picture professional and approachableb. Include a noteworthy accomplishment
   c. Social recognition or validation
   d. Include your location
   e. Link to other content
2. Follow relevant topics
   Once your Quora profile is set up, the next thing you need to do is to follow relevant topics. Identify the topics that directly apply to your target industry and follow them. This will keep you in a loop with relevant questions that users are asking. It makes the task easier as you will no longer need to search for them. You can directly see the updates on your dashboard. Remember, the more you follow, the more scope you will get to interact with your prospects and customers and drive leadsfor your website.
3. Show your proficiency
   Whenever you are answering on Quora, you need to make sure that you make people trust you. You will need to establish yourself as an expert. Here are some pointers that you need to keep in mind:
   
   a. Make sure you have professional looking profile pictureb. Be bold in what you are writing
   c. Start off with a brief explanation why you are an expert
4. Add value and be genuinely helpful
   Quora is a community-driven where people are looking for answers and not to be marketed to. So before you get carried away with your business promotion, make sure that your answers are genuinely helpful. It is important to avoid shameless promotion and be legitimately involved. Answer questions that will genuinely help people on the other side. If you appropriate and helpful, it will help you gain trust with your prospects, build brand awareness and even drive traffic to your website.
5. Contact your followers
   You can use Quora to connect with your followers via direct messaging. Though, you can send messages only to those whose privacy setting allow doing so. This will limit the number of people you can get in touch with. If you would like to connect with more prospects, make sure you choose to receive messages from anyone in your privacy settings on Quora.Here are 3 ways to contact your followers:a. Send a thank you note.
   b. Send a direct follow-up with targeted offers and link to your landing page.
   c. Connect with them on LinkedIn with a Quora reference.
6. Track your analytics
   Unlike most social media platforms, Quora has its own analytics dashboard. This dashboard gives a track of the number of views, upvotes and shares all in one place.As a marketer, you will need to track your progress at least once in a week. Identify what is working in your favor and what is not. Learn, adapt and reiterate this process to strengthen your Quora strategy.
   Conclusion
   Lead Generation is comparatively easier on Quora as compared to other social platforms. With less competition, growth opportunities and direct engagement with prospects, Quora offers a one hack way to drive leads and traffic to your website.
   Leverage the potential of Quora to make your business survive and thrive. Create your profile, share your knowledge and let the leads pour in!