Modern marketing is heavily focused on the use of paid and earned channels to engage with prospects who are looking for the services a business offers. Marketing content is targeted, but the targets are broad because marketers hope to pull a large number of prospects into the top of the sales funnel.
Account-based marketing is a different approach. Instead of a broad focus, marketing and sales content is designed for specific prospects. Personalized campaigns are shaped according to the prospect’s requirements and the personalities involved. Marketing and sales teams align to pursue a single goal, which is why highly targeted account-based marketing is sometimes referred to as pursuit marketing.
Account-based marketing demands a significant investment in a limited number of prospects. It has proven highly effective, but such a precisely targeted marketing strategy isn’t ideal for every business.
When is account-based marketing the right approach?
You Sell To High-Value Prospects
A company in the B2B space that sells products or services to large businesses is an ideal candidate for account-based marketing. Traditional inbound marketing is unlikely to be effective with larger businesses, who demand the personal touch. The high value of a sale justifies an investment in unique marketing content and personalized strategies.
You Have Low-Visibility In A Target Market
B2B buyers are often conservative. As the saying goes, “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.” That makes it difficult to enter new markets with traditional marketing techniques — you really have to make a big impression to break through.
Account-based marketing allows businesses to target specific leads within new markets, pushing hard with intelligently targeted content, pitches, and sales enablement content, increasing the likelihood of catching the interest of a valuable lead.
You Plan On Moving Up-Market
Moving up-market means making bigger sales to bigger businesses. If you don’t have a proven track record it can be difficult to get on the radar of your ideal prospects. The best way to break through is to identify a small number of promising prospects and create such a compelling tailored marketing strategy that the prospect would be foolish to ignore you.
Traditional Inbound Marketing Isn’t Getting The Job Done
Finally, account-based marketing should be considered whenever traditional inbound marketing isn’t getting the job done. This is a generalization of what we have discussed so far — casting broad networks in many situations, but when you need to kickstart a marketing campaign that is not thriving, a more focused approach could be just the ticket.
Proactive account-based marketing may not be what you’re used to, but it has proven highly effective for businesses that decided to transcend the limitations of scattershot marketing strategies to pursue their ideal prospects.
