How to Create Account Based Marketing Content That Drives Revenue Growth
Last week, Matt Benati, CEO of Lead Gnome, joined #ContentChat to talk about how to create account based marketing (ABM) content that drives revenue growth.
Q1: What is account based marketing (ABM)? How does it differ from inbound marketing?
A1 High-level, #ABM focuses on accounts 1st & personas 2nd – check out #FlipMyFunnel #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A1 Lead-based marketing is focused on persona first – disconnected from #sales #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A1. My understanding of it: knowing your customers at a *personal* level, not a persona level. #contentchat
— Andy McIlwain (@andymci) August 22, 2016
A1 #ABM focuses on the high priority accounts and marries marketing & sales efforts to nurture the sales process #contentchat
— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) August 22, 2016
A1 #marketing & #sales must identify “best-fit” accounts together – alignment of these 2 teams is critical for productivity #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A1 #ABM content must resonate with target account 1st & target buyer 2nd #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A1: #ABM gets marketing and sales out of traditional silos and gets them thinking strategically along the customer journey #contentchat
— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) August 22, 2016
A1. Account-based marketing allows you to differentiate content/messaging for relevance to specific orgs & people w/in them. #ContentChat
— Carmen Hill (@carmenhill) August 22, 2016
Q2: Why are so many #B2B startups switching to an ABM approach? What are its key benefits?
A2 #ABM is a focused approach that increases #sales & #marketing alignment, productivity, and lead conversion rate #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A2: It allows you to focus on key clients as you move each one down the funnel as their buying timeline demands it. #ContentChat
— Jeff Reno(e) (@Renoe) August 22, 2016
A2 #marketing focuses on #sales targets; #sales receives relevant leads from #marketing #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A2: I suspect it’s a shift from product-centric to solution-centric thinking. More alignment = higher chance of success. #contentchat
— Andy McIlwain (@andymci) August 22, 2016
A2: An ABM approach –> sales & marketing teams being better connected and working as a cohesive unit #ContentChat https://t.co/b5YooxYCSM
— Site-Seeker, Inc. (@SiteSeekerInc) August 22, 2016
A2: Sales ppl lead w/value instead of contacting prospects cold. They understand their audience & provide value before selling #contentchat
— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) August 22, 2016
A2: AMB tactics help you break apart your plan to more target specific segments. If anything it forces more creative thinking #ContentChat
— Phil Barnes (@Barnes_Phil) August 22, 2016
A2: Loving @quickmuse‘s answer! Perfectly worded and on point in every possible way. #ContentChat
— Yelling Mule (@YellingMule) August 22, 2016
A2: ABM allows hyper-targeting – creating a more personalized, and connected experience #contentchat
— Methodic Content (@MethodicContent) August 22, 2016
A2 Customers don’t like to be sold to. #ABM helps build trust by integrating knowledge of customer w/ great content #contentchat
— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) August 22, 2016
Q3: What types of content are needed for successful account based marketing?
A3 #ABM “flips the funnel” #FlipMyFunnel, but buyer journey still exists 2 gather product info & select vendor #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A3 #ABM requires typical mix of content formats, incl blog, eBook, WP, video, podcast, infographics #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A3: Funnel still stands, TOF/MOF/BOF. We’ll see more curated “packaging” of content for #ABM based on needs. s/o @uberflip #contentchat
— Andy McIlwain (@andymci) August 22, 2016
A3: ABM content should fit into each buying stage – leave one out and you’re not going to lead them down a path #contentchat
— Methodic Content (@MethodicContent) August 22, 2016
A3 #ABM content differs from lead-based with emphasis on account – think, “What is important to this specific account?” #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A3: Create a library of assets that you can white label. 1 white paper can work for multi clients and still have a 1-to-1 feel. #ContentChat
— Jeff Reno(e) (@Renoe) August 22, 2016
A3: I think #ABM really kicks in at BOF. You’ll deal w/ supporting repeat purchases and specific issues. #contentchat
— Andy McIlwain (@andymci) August 22, 2016
A3: Look at creating ABM content across the entire customer journey – TOFU, MOFU, BOFU and nurture post sale #contentchat
— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) August 22, 2016
A3. Valuable content that helps solve same problem your product/service does, as @jayacunzo might say. #contentchat https://t.co/gSjBa6y7T0
— Carmen Hill (@carmenhill) August 22, 2016
A3. For past #b2b clients, I’ve seen fun, personalized microsites work well. Also, custom content created by sales engineers. #ContentChat
— Carmen Hill (@carmenhill) August 22, 2016
Q4: What are the key elements of an account-based marketing content nurture campaign?
A4 Account Based Intelligence #ABI is critically important #ABM success – get to know your target accounts and buyers #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A4 Personalized and customized would be a good start for “Nurturing” #contentchat
— Scott Johnson (@iScottJohnson) August 22, 2016
A4: Conversion isn’t exhaustion. Help customers find value of your offerings with custom case studies, plaus-emergencies, etc. #ContentChat
— Jeff Reno(e) (@Renoe) August 22, 2016
A4 Personalize #ABM content based on your ICP & trigger events (new job, title, project) #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A4 More on trigger events here https://t.co/suGAMhQxyz #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A4) #ABM should keep current customers up to date with how your product can help them (further) #ContentChat https://t.co/zCZ15XFknr
— Jim Carter (@MSLJim) August 22, 2016
A4:build your ABM plan around every party involved. Don’t forget distributors & business partners in addition to end recipients #ContentChat
— Phil Barnes (@Barnes_Phil) August 22, 2016
A4 Map content & delivery to your buyer journey, examples: #marketing email or CEO call #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A4 keep current with your customers – if your end-user is promoted, they may now be your buyer – change your messaging #ABI #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A4: Don’t feel obligated to automate. Don’t fake personal when it obviously isn’t. (Lookin’ at you, “birthday wishes”…) #contentchat
— Andy McIlwain (@andymci) August 22, 2016
A4) consistency, targeting, surprise ( new educational ) https://t.co/3iJ0PIOGx5
— Red Rope Social (@Redropesocial) August 22, 2016
Q5: Who are key members of a successful ABM content team and why?
A5 Subject matter experts – drive themes/topics; review and iterate #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A5: Put me in a room with the AM, BM and a designer. I know the conversation, what we can offer and put a face to the voice. #ContentChat
— Jeff Reno(e) (@Renoe) August 22, 2016
A5 Creative teams are critical to produce compelling content #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A5 Writers – create outline based on SME input; draft copy, review for grammar, etc #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A5) Everyone: Marketing, Development, Sales, Support. #ABM is full lifecycle feedback for key accounts. #ContentChat https://t.co/rSFNW5VGRt
— Jim Carter (@MSLJim) August 22, 2016
A5 All team members – CXO, #sales, #marketing, #support – leveraged to deliver #ABM content – check out @engagio playmaker #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A5: leadership to start, they can help implement the content generation process throughout your organization #contentchat
— Phil Barnes (@Barnes_Phil) August 22, 2016
A5 For the love of humanity, hire writers who haven’t spent their entire lives in marketing departments! #contentchat
— Ken Gordon (@quickmuse) August 22, 2016
A5: ABM needs to be a cultural change between sales, marketing, analytics and full support from execs #contentchat
— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) August 22, 2016
A5: It’s worthwhile to bring members of different departments together. Give everyone a say and allow them to share ideas. #ContentChat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) August 22, 2016
A5 – #Sales, #CustomerSuccess, #Marketing, and whoever is managing the #CX and #content outside of these teams. #contentchat
— Sue Duris (@SueDuris) August 22, 2016
Q6: What companies are doing a great job of account based marketing?
A6 .@InsightSquared with @jchernov at the helm provides a great mix of formats and content to deliver #ABM success #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A6 SAP has a done a verygood job of #abm #contentchat
— Scott Johnson (@iScottJohnson) August 22, 2016
A6 .@Engagio delivers highly personalized #ABM content https://t.co/nmaxgQDJbC #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A6: It’s the people. Not the brands IMO. @Stevegeritano was great at this when we were a customer of his @Centro. #ABM #ContentChat
— Jeff Reno(e) (@Renoe) August 22, 2016
A6 .@Terminus @techmarketeratl & @SangramVajre can’t be beat – creative & effective content #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A6 – Tech companies really wrote the book on #ABM before it existed — see @Oracle, @SAP (which someone mentioned), @SalesForce #contentchat
— Sue Duris (@SueDuris) August 22, 2016
Q7: What tools or resources do you recommend for marketers just getting started with account based marketing?
A7 Great tools here: #FlipMyFunnel #ABM stack https://t.co/yjoVhdznIj #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A7 – If you looking into #ABM, your first stop has to be @demandbase. #contentchat
— Sue Duris (@SueDuris) August 22, 2016
A7 Great tools here: @Engagio #ABE Market Map https://t.co/8SADRehgmU #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
A7 – someone used to do #ABMChat but it stopped. Hope it starts back up! #contentchat
— Sue Duris (@SueDuris) August 22, 2016
A7 The beauty of #ABM is the ability to start w/ basic publishing tools. It’s a matter of marketing to best-fit accounts 1st #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
Q7 A simple XLW w/the 25 people you want to know and the various relationship stages you want to bring ’em to. #contentchat SIMPLE!
— Ken Gordon (@quickmuse) August 22, 2016
A7: Step one: Get yourself a CRM and use it. Don’t get fancy until you’ve got a decent CRM. #contentchat
— Andy McIlwain (@andymci) August 22, 2016
@SFerika My attn is split today. Here’s one for discovering what channels your audience use. #contentchat pic.twitter.com/Fh8Wawcwpt
— Kevin Mullett (@kmullett) August 22, 2016
@SFerika @Renoe check out @sangramvajre Account Based Marketing for Dummies book #contentchat
— Matt Benati (@mattbenati) August 22, 2016
Great chat, Erika. This one’s a keeper.
Thanks Carmen! I think everyone who attended (myself included) learned a ton.