Targeting and personalization are the heart and soul of every successful Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaign. With ABM, your sales and marketing efforts deliver highly customized content to a small number of very high-value prospects. It’s a one-to-one strategy, where each targeted account is treated like its own market. However, ABM execution is easier said than done.
Luckily, numerous digital tools can automate, or at least streamline, targeting and personalization. Our latest white paper, From Strategy to Launch: 10 Steps to Drive Results with B2B ABM, shares the five essential tools we recommend to help you deliver the right message to the right target at the right time:
- LinkedIn – With its 500 million-plus business users, LinkedIn represents a treasure trove of potential buyers for any B2B ABM campaign. You can easily hone in on your ideal prospect using LinkedIn’s sophisticated demographic and firmographic targeting tools to segment users by your key accounts and the job titles for your decision makers. To deliver super-personalized content directly to your highest-value prospects, you can place native ads in the LinkedIn feeds of your precisely-defined targets. You can also use LinkedIn’s Sponsored InMail feature to deliver personalized content to your highest-value targets and drive them to a landing page on your website.
- Google Remarketing – Complementing your LinkedIn ad campaign with Google AdWords Remarketing is a cost-effective way to continue the conversation and drive conversions with targets who’ve shown interest in your brand. By utilizing Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) codes placed in your LinkedIn ads, you can serve up highly-targeted display ads to these prospects as they search the web. Best of all, hyper- targeted ads such as these boast much higher click-through and conversion rates than standard Google display ads.
- Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs) – Google’s RLSA feature is a gold mine for ABM campaigns – helping your brand remain top-of-mind and drive conversions with targets already in your sales funnel. RLSAs allow you to dynamically target your Google Search Ads directly to your key prospects and tailor the content to their position in the sales funnel. You can also keep your prospects engaged and drive them further down the funnel by optimizing your bidding based on your remarketing list and your bottom-of-the-funnel keywords.
- ABM Display Marketing Tools – Companies like Terminus and Demandbase offer targeting tools – powered by artificial intelligence – that allow you to target display ads directly to decision makers at your prospect companies. These tools provide granular-level targeting options, turning display into a full-funnel channel, rather than a top-of-the-funnel tactic. Some of these companies charge a management fee, on top of ad costs, so make sure you understand the necessary budget before employing their solutions.
- Email Marketing/Drip Campaigns – Email plays a key role in any effective ABM campaign. First, you can target your LinkedIn and Google ads by email address, allowing you to track prospects already in your CRM, as well as leads who have completed a form on your site. Second, automated drip campaigns make it easy to educate and nurture prospects. You can create highly-tailored messages that address the specific pain points of each business role or decision maker at your targeted companies. Additionally, you can create messages that address every stage of the buyer’s journey, from awareness and research to purchase decision. Making your email content concise and conversational will further help to maximize engagement.
Using any of these five B2B ABM tools is sure to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your ABM campaign. But don’t forget about offline tools. Direct mail, events and phone calls still play a vital role in helping convert leads who are in the research and decision-making stages. Additionally, the ways in which you can personalize direct mail are unlimited. And because you’re beginning with a tightly targeted list of high-value prospects, you can cost-effectively experiment with premium direct mail pieces that have greater breakthrough and engagement potential.
To learn more about how to create and execute a successful ABM campaign, download From Strategy to Launch: 10 Steps to Drive Results with B2B ABM.
