6 Expert Account-Based Marketing Tactics to Reach High-Value Clients

If you’re a B2B business owner, then you’ve probably heard of account-based marketing (ABM). And now, you’re curious. You want to see if there are any account-based marketing tactics that you can apply to your business strategy that will help you land more clients and ultimately, more sales.

Here’s a simple truth: ABM is a tried and true method for companies of all shapes and sizes, and is especially useful for B2B industries. If you’re interested in this strategy, then you’ve come to the right place! In this article, you will learn:

• The types of businesses that benefit from ABM
• How to profile and target your high-value client
• 6 account-based marketing tactics to win more sales
• And so much more!

Now, just in case you need a little refresher, let’s take a quick look at what ABM is.

Account-Based Marketing Tactics Defined

ABM follows a tactical strategy that pursues very specific, high-value accounts. Unlike other types of marketing, ABM invests a lot of time in account profile screening and selection. Only the accounts that are the most likely to become clients are chosen. Then, through highly-targeted campaigns, ABM seeks to build a strong rapport between the company and each account.

Oftentimes, the company creates a personalized campaign for each account it pursues. This develops a unique account-based customer experience (ABX) for the key players of the account and encourages them to become paying customers. Here’s the thing: in order to create a strong ABX, the strategy usually requires a joint team effort across the company’s departments (marketing, sales, and customer service) to see success.

We’ll go into more detail about ABX later down the road. But for now, let’s talk about the types of businesses that would excel with account-based marketing tactics.

Types of Businesses Benefit from ABM

In general, any type of business that sells a high-involvement, high-priced product or service would be a great fit for account-based marketing tactics. Typically, these types of businesses cater to a very specific niche market and are often B2B.

For instance, here are a few categories of B2B industries that would benefit from ABM:

• SaaS
• Manufacturing
• Wholesale suppliers

Now, when it comes to ABM, it’s super important to know WHO your high-value clients are. Here’s what you need to know.

Who is the High-Value Client?

The high-value client, also referred to as the high-value enterprise account or the ideal customer profile (ICP), is someone who has a major impact on your bottom line. Think of them as a prize fish. If you are able to catch them and turn them into a paying customer, you will see a BIG profit.

These “prize fish” also fit your niche market perfectly and are compatible with what you offer.

Here’s the thing: To catch a prize fish, you have to spend a lot of time profiling them, pursuing them, and building a relationship with them. Otherwise, you’ll have a really hard time getting them into your boat – especially if you are trying to sell a complicated or pricey offering.

This is where account-based marketing tactics come into play.

ABM Naturally Pursues High-Value Clients

More times than not, if you can build a strong business relationship with your high-value client, they will subscribe to your brand year after year. And since ABM is all about building personal relationships with clients, it’s a no-brainer for businesses that sell high-involvement offerings.

This is why many SaaS businesses adopt ABM strategies – it might take some time to nurture a lead and migrate them to your software platform, but once you do, you usually create long-lasting relationships with these clients and reap a high-yielding reward for years to come!

6 Account-Based Marketing Tactics to Win the High-Value Account

So, what are some ABM techniques you can add to your marketing strategy to start catching more prize fish? It’s about time we answered this question! Without further ado, here are 6 expert account-based marketing tactics to get you started.

1. Identify Your Ideal Customer Profile 

As we mentioned before, it’s extremely important to define your ICP. You’re probably wondering, “how on earth am I supposed to do that?”

Here’s the good news: it doesn’t need to be complicated. You can get started by analyzing your current customer base and find the commonalities between them. You can do this through a CRM. Be sure to consider the following characteristics:

• Company revenue
• Number of employees
• Job titles
• Type of industry
• Region

Once you’ve done that, you can go the extra mile by investing in predictive analytics software. There are a ton of different platforms out there that you can use to collect and analyze ICP data. This leads us to our next point.

2. Target Key Players in the High-Value Accounts

One of the biggest benefits of using predictive analytics software is that it helps you gather qualitative, quantitative, and predictive data on your ICP. This ultimately helps you collect valuable information on:

1. The accounts you wish to pursue
2. Key stakeholders in the accounts that you decide to pursue

Why is this important?

Because the initial interactions you have with these stakeholders can make or break your future relationship with them. You need to be able to identify the top players in the enterprise and create a custom campaign that fits their individual needs. But before you start creating campaigns, you need to check out this next account-based marketing tactic. 

3. Select the Prize Fish

Keep in mind that the goal of ABM is to select just a few prize fish accounts to pursue. Although you can opt for a “one-to-many” type of ABM strategy, it’s often a better idea to choose a “one-to-few” or “one-to-one” highly-personalized campaign. That way, you can really develop a strong customer journey plan for each individual account.

So, what’s the criteria for the perfect catch? The accounts you choose should be the most suitable for your business to partner with (i.e. it should just “feel natural” to work with each other) AND they should have the highest chance of converting into a paying customer. After all, that’s what your after, isn’t it?

Not only that, but you need to look at the possible retention rate you have with these accounts. In other words, how likely are they to stay with your brand in the long-run?

Once you have narrowed down the accounts you wish to pursue, then you need to get a strategy in place to initiate a conversation with them.

4. Personalize Your Approach to Maximize ABX

As promised, we’re going to talk a little bit more about account-based customer experience (ABX).

For businesses that offer high-involvement products or services, you want to make sure your ABX is spot on. This is where all of that data you collected on the stakeholders will come in handy. It will help you align your strategy with the overall goals of the stakeholders which, in turn, will help you foster a good relationship with them.

Build Those #RelationshipGoals

Like we mentioned before, ABM is all about building a strong relationship with your desired accounts. At the same time, you want to create content that increases ABX, drives your prospects to choose you over your competitors, and take action.

So, how do you do this? First, you need to really hone in on what your target accounts’ pain points are. Put yourself in their shoes.

• What types of questions would they ask you?
• What are their biggest problems and how will your product or service solve them?
• Why should they go into business with you?
• Are you reliable and trustworthy?
• Do you have their best interest at heart?

These are all questions you need to address BEFORE you make contact with the account. AND, keep in mind that you have to do this in a personalized way for each and every account.

Yes, this take time and resources to do this properly… but just think about the massive reward at stake! You just need one of these accounts to turn into a paying customer for you to make out pretty well!

5. Improve Your Website and Other Digital Assets

While we’re on the topic of customer experience, it would be wise to mention that general digital marketing strategies should not be put to the wayside while you’re focusing on your ABM tactics. For instance, one HUGE mistake we see business owners make time and time again is a lack of attention to their digital assets, such as their website.

Your website should offer a delightful user experience (UX) every time a high-value stakeholder visits your page. It should be quick to load, easy to read, and simple to navigate.

This is no exception. If you lack a user-friendly website, it will just make it harder for you to build a trustworthy and credible relationship with your prospects. This goes for all of your digital assets, including your social media pages, press releases, case studies, and even your email campaigns.

6. Give Them a Little Taste 

Sometimes, you need to give your prospects a little taste of what they’re missing out on. After all, no one wants to invest a ton of their time and money into something they know very little about. And you can best bet that they’ll be wondering, “what would it be like to partner with this business?”

So, what should you do to give them a little taste?

As an example, if you operate a SaaS-type business, offer your stakeholders a free trial of your service. Walk them through each step of your platform and really give them a personalized taste of what your service will do for them. You can also make a custom webinar or training guide specifically for them!

Again, we know it will take a lot of time and resources to give a tailored “taste” to each account you pursue. In some cases, you might have to give several “taste tests” for a client to finally say yes. However, at the end of the day, ABM is all about creating lasting relationships with your high-value clients. If you’re in it for the long run, chances are – they are too. With that being said, it’s worth the investment.

Final Thoughts

Account-based marketing tactics will help you land your ideal accounts, increase sales, and maintain long-lasting relationships with clients for years to come. If you take your time to master ABM from the get-go, you will see much success down the line.

Need help developing an ABM strategy for your business? Or maybe you need some assistance improving your website for UX? Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our digital marketing strategists at Chatter Buzz for a free ABM strategy session! Just give us a call and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.