The rise of Account Based Marketing (ABM) has transformed B2B marketing in recent years. ABM is a marketing strategy adopted by many companies to stay close to strategic customers and grow their accounts. It allows companies to identify and target specific high-potential accounts, profile key decision-makers, trace relevant needs and problems faced in one department or in other business divisions, and subsequently open new upsell and cross sell opportunities.
An ABM program, though not entirely new to marketing, has transformed from its early beginnings with the influx of data and technology. AI and data science is today enabling companies to filter accounts, identify segments, divisions, and individuals you may never have thought to consider in the past. With modern-day technology and insights, the full potential of ABM strategies can be exploited without affecting the performance of other marketing initiatives.
Importance of data and personalization in aiding ABM
With digitalization and the rise of marketing automation, it has become much easier to track the progress of ABM leads through a sales funnel. Effective account-based marketing has also become less cumbersome to manage and requires less time and attention. Historically, marketers often sacrificed more top-of-the-funnel marketing bandwidth on efforts like account-by-account communications and campaigns which consumed time and impacted other marketing initiatives.
The recent pandemic has also accelerated the focus on data-driven, hyper-targeted ABM strategies. As mentioned in a previous blog, “This 4-letter word and video are not taboo anymore”, data-driven insights present immense opportunities for businesses to connect with prospects at a deeper level. Creating personalized and contextually relevant interactions or experiences in real-time, and automating them within an ABM framework makes it possible for the ABM campaigns to remain in cadence with other marketing efforts.
Companies can leverage data to distill highly granular personas and behavioural patterns, and create personal messages to uncover insights that might otherwise have been missed. ABM programs that are targeted at the right accounts with contextually relevant messages, will help your campaign resonate better with the individual audience, in turn condensing the sales cycle. Your prospects will need less education on your products and services, and you can spend more time focusing on the solution.
Since B2B purchase cycles are also lengthy, it is crucial to keep prospects engaged throughout the sales cycle. Relying only on generic messages or promotions that might have been used for other marketing initiatives might not yield the best results. Rather personalizing and automating interactions such that it resonates with the client at the most opportune moment can deepen engagements. Automating communications also allows for seamless customer experiences and improves marketing efficiency.
Incorporating personalized videos in the ABM last mile
Personalized videos can be an effective bolt-on feature for your ABM program, to deliver the campaign messages to the right audience in a visually engaging manner. Since videos are a highly engaging medium by nature, they can be used to retain the clients’ attention much longer than traditional text-based messages. When combined with personalization which places emphasis on quality over quantity, a necessity for successful ABM strategies, personalised video integrated into an ABM program can deliver the last mile impact for the campaign, deepen customer engagement and lead to higher open rate and conversions.
Following the pandemic, the priorities of businesses and decision makers have changed drastically. Revenue opportunities from existing accounts are starting to run thin for many companies. It is therefore essential to redouble efforts to retain, grow, and innovate with the most important accounts and prospects. Employing an effective data-driven and hyper-targeted personalised video-based ABM program, to talk to each decision maker at an individual level on specific pinpoints or considerations, is the customer-centric ABM strategy of the future.
Personalized videos can also help in spreading brand awareness and recall. As highlighted in a previous blog, “How to accelerate and retain brand engagement and loyalty during COVID-19”, taking the extra step to personalize your communications and being proactive can help your business in forming long-lasting customer connections. In the ABM context especially, where the stakes are much higher, being aware of your client’s needs and ongoing business changes can be beneficial and will help maximise your competitive advantage.
If you are looking for a powerful video marketing solution to incorporate into your account based marketing strategy, you have to go no further than Go Campaign Videos, a cloud-based automated video marketing platform. Built primarily for the B2B sector, GoCampaignVideos provides studio-quality video production, data integration and distribution services that align with your marketing objectives. The platform can be easily integrated with most CRM, to automate and interpret data, and deliver account-based targeting in a visually engaging format.
