Account-Based Marketing, or ABM for short, is quickly becoming a favored marketing strategy, primarily among B2B enterprise companies. According to SiriusDecisions, 92 percent of B2B marketers believe that ABM is vital to overall marketing efforts.
But what is ABM, exactly? ITSMA defines ABM as “a strategic approach that treats individual accounts as markets in their own right.” Unlike other mass marketing techniques, ABM is a more tailored approach, fundamentally centralized on creating highly personalized experiences for select target accounts, with varying degrees of scale.
ABM strategies are typically broken up into three buckets, with different strategies associated with each approach:
- Targeted One to One: The process of creating highly personalized marketing plans for individual accounts with high perceived value.
- One to Few: The process of marketing to small clusters of target accounts that share similar needs, pain points or values.
- One to Many: Also known as programmatic ABM, this strategy focuses on engaging prospects from specific named accounts at scale.
If you work in B2B, there’s a chance that you may already be doing some form of ABM today. Developing an ABM program is a long-term investment, requiring collaboration with your Sales team to identify key accounts and align strategy.
The Importance Of Personalization
Personalization is the bread and butter of any successful ABM strategy, and for good reason. Personalized content can help increase engagement, and according to CEB, customers who felt that content was tailored to their individual needs were 40 percent more willing to buy from that particular vendor.
Integrating personalization into your marketing efforts can start out small, but it’s important to remember to keep a consistent experience across all your channels to provide the best experience for your customers.
Video is a perfect medium for building out a robust ABM campaign — it’s highly engaging by nature, easy to repurpose, and can be used to connect with customers at any stage of the buyer’s journey. Here are a few ways you can leverage video to improve your ABM strategy:
Use Personalized Video In ABM Emails
Email is a vital channel for communicating with customers and prospects. According to Campaign Monitor, adding video to your email campaigns can increase click-through-rates by up to 50 percent, while improving open rates and retaining subscribers. Integrating video into your ABM campaigns can be a two-pronged approach, with both Sales and Marketing contributing in different ways. For the Sales team, recording personalized messages addressed specifically to the email recipient is a great way to make an introduction, while standing out from the crowd. Marketing teams can also embed intro videos, explainers, and product videos into personalized email nurture campaigns to provide a more engaging and informative experience. When Sales and Marketing are aligned on efforts, you can create a cohesive video story through email, without overloading your prospect’s inbox.
Leverage Dynamic Video
Dynamic videos are animated advertisements that are programmed to render relevant, personalized content in real time. Integrated dynamic video tools identify keywords tied to web pages that consumers are browsing, and pull media that share relevant themes from your content database to create a more personalized ad experience. Combined with the right programmatic targeting, dynamic video can be a great way to repurpose existing media assets for ABM audiences.
Tailor Product Videos To Match The Needs Of Your Audience
When creating video for ABM, it’s important to consider the unique needs of your target account, segment, or vertical. Different audiences may find your product or service beneficial in different ways, so a one-size-fits-all explainer doesn’t do the trick here. Consider creating a tailored demo, or a series of product videos that speaks directly to your target accounts’ pain points and values, to really highlight the benefits they’ll get from partnering with your company.
Video As Part Of A Direct Mail Campaign
Direct mail has experienced a serious lift in light of growing adoption of ABM programs because of their intrinsically personal touch. Direct video mailers can help pack an extra punch. These direct mail pieces include an LCD screen where you can include a personalized video front and center. Though pricier than other options, it’s a unique way to surprise and delight prospects, while standing out from the crowd.
At IdeaRocket, we’re proud to work with leading B2B brands and tech companies to help bring their ideas to life. Get in touch to learn more about our tailored approach to animated and live action video production.