How to Create a Successful ABM Campaign Step by Step

Know that ABM is the future for your marketing, but don't know exactly how to get started? Here, we'll take you step-by-step from the basics of creation to the finer points of optimization.

The advantages of Account Based Marketing are numerous - and yet only a handful of marketing pioneers in the DACH region consistently rely on ABM. What about you?

Wouldn't you like to minimize wastage and win the most important accounts as customers? Then start now! The best way is to follow our Blueprint for creating your first Account Based Marketing campaign:

• Build your ABM team

• Define your goals and metrics

• Build your tech stack

• Identify your target accounts

• Choose your content channels

• Monitor and Optimize

A targeted ABM campaign can make a huge difference to your business. However, it can only be successful if it follows a well thought-out and carefully implemented plan. Furthermore, it is essential to constantly monitor and optimize it. Learn how to do this with ease in our step-by-step guide.

Structured Approach Is the Basis for Your ABM Campaign

Implementing Account Based Marketing successfully has nothing to do with magic. Nor is there a magic recipe that is fundamentally applicable to every company. However, a structured approach allows you to implement a well thought-out strategy and thus an individualized and targeted ABM campaign

You have probably already encountered various difficulties in your first attempts. You are not alone in this. Many entrepreneurs find it difficult at first to implement their plans without problems. But don't worry: We will guide you step by step on your way to a carefully implemented ABM campaign.

Step 1: Teambuilding - Strong Together

You're probably like many other entrepreneurs: The subject matter around account-based marketing seems a bit overwhelming to you. But don't let that get you down. After all, you don't have to master this project alone. Quite the opposite:

For the successful implementation of an ABM campaign, you need a capable team. The different departments of your company must form a unit.

So align the individual processes and goals as well as the relevant metrics as part of a marketing & sales alignment. A structured team is the well-oiled engine of your campaign.

Step 2: Success with the Right Goals

If the sales department, marketing department and management are all pulling in the same direction, the next step is to work out a joint approach. As a strategic basis, it must be determined how potential customers can be identified. Relevant factors are, for example, the budget, the number of employees, the industry and the maturity of your company. So the second step is to work closely with the various departments to gather this relevant information as the basis for the common objective.

Possible goals of your ABM campaign can be

• Expand market share in the existing market

• Stand out from the competition or attract contacts from the competition

• Launch a new product

• Open up a new market (horizontal or vertical)

The results of these analyses serve as the basis for the creation of personalized campaigns for the various accounts. Now you create the basis for individual content strategies and set the course for the following steps. The individual contents must therefore be consistently relevant for the respective account. In addition, it is essential to choose the right channels for contacting people

Step 3: Keep Things in Order with the Tech Stack

Now it's time for the implementation. So that you don't have to tackle all your accounts 1:1 and don't lose track of new buying center activities, there are various supporting technologies.

It is worthwhile to invest time and create a proper tech stack. This consists of tools for account-based advertising, account management and personalization methods, among others. Websites like LikendIn basically give you various tools to implement your ABM campaign. You can also get helpful tools from providers like Adobe

Similar to the team, the different tools you use for your account-based marketing need to be aligned

So choose them carefully based on several criteria as you build your tech stack. If a core set of tools already exists, its integrity must be preserved. For example, complementary tools must not interfere with existing systems such as CRM. It's also important to ensure collaborative measurement of individual tools. So make sure that the individual parts of your tech stack can be connected with each other.

Step 4: Identify Target Accounts and Set Priorities

It's done: The foundation of your ABM Campaign is in place. You've gathered basic information, created structures within your team, and built a functioning tech stack. We'll use these foundations to finally start implementing your campaign. Therefore, we now focus on the so-called target accounts. The analyses from the second step will help you here.

From now on, however, your approach goes beyond general content strategy. Instead of addressing the individual accounts superficially, you now need to get in direct contact with them. To do this, your team needs to fully adapt to the client's preferences. Thus, there should be centralization as well as prioritization in terms of analytics tools, specific content as well as communication channels for each target account. But be careful: don't overburden your employees! By assigning a fixed maximum of target accounts to your team, you promote the efficiency of this process.

Step 5: Keeping Track of Channels

You'll quickly discover that there are a variety of channels that make sense for customer contact. Which of them are used depends on the respective target account. It makes sense to summarize the different content channels in an overview. You then use the overview you have created to map the individual channels on the customer journey. This helps your team to identify which steps are necessary to maintain contact with the customer in the best possible way based on defined deadlines and time periods. There are also corresponding project management tools for this process, which clearly display the desired map of the customer journey.

Step 6: Optimize Constantly

Even if your campaign is already running well, there is always room for improvement in ABM. Account Based Marketing thrives on constant optimization. For this reason, you need to measure your progress on the basis of the relevant key figures and, if necessary, turn the right screws. The following points form the core of this process:

1. In Order to Optimize, You Need to Measure

The real success of your ABM campaign can only be measured by using various indicators and the appropriate tools. The most important of these so-called Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is the Pipeline Velocity. This indicates how quickly individual leads move through the entire B2B sales process. Other key indicators are

• Number of MQLs and SQLs

• Engagement Rate

• Conversion Rate

• Churn Rate

• ROI

If you want to know more about evaluation: In this article we have summarized the most important B2B marketing KPIs

2. Better Overview Through Heatmaps

In order for all departments involved in the ABM Campaign to be able to act and react quickly and in a targeted manner, a clear presentation of the measurements is necessary. It is advisable to use heat maps for this purpose. These depict the activities of all channels and accounts so that current developments can always be kept in view and compared with each other.

3. "The Proof of the Pudding Is in the Eating."

The well-known saying can also be applied to optimizing your ABM strategy. If you identify weaknesses and potential for improvement through data measurement, it's a good idea to test other tools at the appropriate point. The use of different software for tracking activities can also be useful to advance your account-based marketing.

Conclusion: Successful ABM Must Be Well Planned and Orchestrated

Solid planning serves as the foundation of any account-based marketing campaign. Start by thinking about which departments need to be involved and what tactics should be pursued for the different accounts. Following this, target accounts need to be identified and prioritized through personalized strategies. However, planning and implementation is not the end of the story. Equally important for your success is the careful measurement and evaluation of various indicators in order to constantly optimize the ABM strategy.