Account-Based Marketing: How to Target and Engage the Companies That Will Grow Your Revenue

Account-Based Marketing is changing the discipline of marketing—Why? Business-to-business (B2B) companies spend $40 Billion on marketing each year, and they embrace tech-driven innovations, yet the traditional model for lead generation has not changed for decades. Why? In addition to the techniques being outdated, they create friction and distrust between marketing and sales teams. ABM has quickly gained traction with leading B2B companies because it aligns sales and marketing teams around the accounts that will have the most business impact. Instead of chasing a large volume of lower-quality, generic leads, ABM helps sales and marketing professionals coordinate their efforts against a specific set of target accounts. Despite the clear advantages of ABM, there continues to be much confusion around just how to implement it. Written by the leaders behind the successful marketing firm Demandbase, Account-Based Marketing explains how to execute a world-class ABM strategy from start to finish. Find out exactly how highly successful B2B companies are using Account-Based Marketing to grow their customer base Develop an effective strategy to adapt ABM principles for your own organization with its own unique needs Integrate your sales and marketing processes into an efficient, cohesive workflow Locate and attract the ideal clients for your business to increase revenue and open up new opportunities From building the right target account list and understanding the impact of ABM on marketing programs, to selling ABM within an organization and finding budget for the strategy, you’ll find it all in this authoritative guide.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 The Sweet Spot 1 Is This Book for You? 3 What Would a World-Class Marketing Strategy Include? 4 Pushback 6 Key Gains of an ABM Strategy 11 How to Make a Smooth Transition into ABM 13 Chapter 2 Building Blocks 15 Organizational Benefits of ABM 15 One Size Never Fits All 17 Data Is at the Core of an ABM Strategy 20 The Six Areas of Faocus for ABM 22 ABM Maturity Model 33 Key Transformations of an ABM Strategy 36 Chapter 3 Getting Buy-In 39 What 1878 Can Teach Us 40 Getting ABM Off the Ground 41 Next Step: Alignment 47 Everyone Will Get to Flex Some New Muscles 51 Your New Compass Heading 53 Chapter 4 Your Target Account List 59 Beginning the List Process 60 Secure Provisional Agreement 64 Update Your List Regularly 65 Begin to Embed the List in Your Systems 66 Segmenting Your Target Account List 67 Set Your Goals 70 Expanding Your Target Account List 70 Customers, Partners, and Your Target Account List 73 The 30-60-90-Day Plan 77 Chapter 5 Attracting Your Target Accounts 79 Marketing Automation Systems 80 Account-Based Advertising 80 Case Study: Progress 85 What About Retargeting? 86 Field Marketing 88 Getting Social 90 Your Event Strategy 90 Webinars 92 Content Marketing 93 Defining Your Initial ABM Attraction Strategy 97 Chapter 6 Boosting Engagement 99 The Net and the Dart 100 Personalize the Message 101 Seven Steps to Phasing in Website Personalization 106 Chapter 7 Converting and Closing 109 Signals and the Buying Journey 110 Heat Maps Deliver Insights 111 On-Page Signals to Watch for 112 The Great Gate Debate 114 Ways to Increase the Likelihood of a Conversion 116 Best Practices for Webinar Conversions 121 Lowering the CTA Bar 123 Case Study: Iron Mountain 124 Closing Accounts 125 Chapter 8 Measuring What Matters 129 Attribution 130 Three Levels of Measurement 131 Establishing Goals and Incentives 139 Reporting Your Results 143 Chapter 9 Scaling Your ABM Efforts 149 Six Questions to Ask Yourself 150 Your ABM Playbook Is Crucial 155 Five Ways to Find the Budget for ABM 164 Orchestration 167 Chapter 10 Enhancing ABM with Technology 171 Identify Current Gaps 172 The ABM Tech Stack 173 Infrastructure Technologies 173 Account Selection Technologies 176 Engagement Technologies 177 Sales-Enablement Technologies 180 Measurement Technologies 181 Four Considerations to Keep in Mind 183 Take It Step by Step 184 Chapter 11 Guiding ABM Ever Higher 187 The Top Eight Signs that Your ABM Strategy Might Be in Trouble 188 Two Interesting Questions 191 CA Technologies Case Study 193 What’s on the Horizon for ABM 195 Acknowledgements 199 Index 201

About the Author :
Chris Golec (www.demandbase.com, Chicago, IL) the founder and CEO of Demandbase, a leader in the white-hot Account-Based Marketing space. Demandbase makes it possible for businesses to deliver personalized ads to people at specific companies across the web, and then help tailor the messages on their website to convert these companies to customers. Peter Isaacson (www.demandbase.com; San Francisco, CA) is the CMO of Demandbase, and has deep experience with international marketing across Europe and Asia. Jessica Fewless (www.demandbase.com; San Francisco, CA) is the Vice President at Demandbase and played a key role in executing Demandbase's Account Based Marketing strategy. Jessica has worked with organizations to build, hone, and measure the success of their ABM strategies, from building the right target account list and understanding the impact of ABM on marketing programs, to selling ABM within an organization and finding budget for the strategy.