Effective Content Tactics for Account-Based Marketing

As you look at launching your account-based marketing (ABM) campaign, you need to develop highly personalized content to engage your target account list. There are numerous factors to consider as you develop your content.

Here is your guide to understanding the factors to consider with a few tactical examples of effective content marketing to implement in your ABM campaigns.

Account-Based Marketing Strategy

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Before you consider the various types of content you could create, you need to assess your account-based marketing strategy. Your content becomes the primary vehicle of your strategy when it comes to execution. 

The content you create and serve to target accounts should be heavily influenced by their likelihood to close. To ensure you serve the right content at the right time, you need to effectively segment your target account list. 

Based on how you have segmented your target account list, your ABM strategy for engaging target accounts will likely fall into one of three categories. 

1. One-to-One Approach- This ABM content strategy focuses on developing highly personalized content that you only use for one target account. An example of a one-to-one piece of content is a video your salesperson makes specifically to answer a client's question or a live demonstration of the product. 

2. One-to-Few Approach- This ABM content strategy focuses on developing personalized content that appeals to a few select accounts. An example of a One-to-Few approach is a Slack community or an invite-only virtual happy hour. 

3. One-to-Many Approach- This ABM content strategy focuses on developing content that appeals to a specific target audience of an industry. An example of this approach is a webinar or a case study served to a specific target account list through digital advertising. 

The most effective ABM programs will utilize each of these approaches, but you need to assess your current target account list as you consider the various approaches. If you have an incredibly large target account list, it's recommended you start with a One-to-Many approach and become more personalized as the accounts show higher buyer intent. 

Marketing and Sales Teams Bandwidth

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Every ABM campaign would focus exclusively on the One-to-One approach if the bandwidth were available. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in the day and only so many people on staff.

After looking over these various approaches, you need to have an honest conversation as a marketing and sales team. You need to address what each team member can accomplish and what technology you have to streamline your tasks. 

For example, you may want to consider a video content tool like Loom, Vidyard, or BombBomb to simplify the process for your sales team by creating personalized video content. With these tools, they can easily record and distribute personalized video content. 

Additionally, you may want to implement some technology that transcribes conversations with your clients so you can more easily create case studies based on conversations you have. 

The more you can create a One-to-One experience, the more success you will see. If you have a smaller marketing and sales team, focus on attracting more target accounts into the pipeline. Once they are in the pipeline, move to more and more personalized tactics. 

Practical ABM Content Tactics

Creating content is an essential component of account-based marketing because it creates personalized interactions between your company and target accounts.

The following marketing tactics will provide you ideas for creating a full pipeline content strategy aimed at converting your target accounts into customers.

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Targeted Ads

One of the most common ABM tactics is targeted ads. These ads serve your content marketing efforts directly to the contacts within your target accounts. For many marketers, the targeted display advertising implemented through LinkedIn and an ABM platform like Terminus are the linch-pin that drive their ABM efforts. 

Here's why. 

You create content that speaks directly to your target accounts, and you are implementing soft outreach strategies to engage them. The contacts will start trusting your business as an authoritative and helpful source of information. Then your sales reps can reach out directly to start a sales conversation.

Create A Podcast

Today, creating a podcast is easier than ever. Using a tool like Stream Yard, you can create a live stream video podcast. You can position this podcast in a few ways. 

For your ABM efforts, you can create a podcast that interviews the decision-makers at your target account. To get started with your podcast, you can interview existing clients at the same professional level as the prospects you eventually want to interview and convert.

Podcasts are perfect for building trust between you and potential customers. By interviewing those you want to work with, you create a relationship by asking for their insight first. 

You essentially record a discovery conversation where they directly address their pain points. You can then offer direct insight and advice into their pain points. 

Not only does this function well as a One-to-One ABM tactic, but the content then resonates with others in your target accounts list functioning as a One-to-Many tactic as well. You can use this podcast as a way to directly start a conversation with your target account list. 

To get the information of those you would want to interview, pull your target account list with the appropriate contact information from a data enrichment tool like ZoomInfo or SalesIntel. With their contact information, reach out asking to interview them on your podcast. People generally feel honored and are happy to offer their insight.

Video Content

Video content has consistently been the most actively engaged with marketing content for the past five years. Yet, many companies are massively underutilizing video.

Incorporating video can feel like a daunting task but can also provide very clear differentiation from your competition.

The easiest and effective videos to implement are your salespeople directly speaking to existing prospects in your sales pipeline. 

If your prospect has a question in an email, your sales rep can send back a quick video to directly address the issue they are facing. These quick videos are often faster than typing a response and are provide higher engagement because they are personalized.

Lastly, if you created a live stream podcast, you can edit the video into smaller clips used in social media and email campaigns.

Case Studies

ABM focuses on showing your target accounts you have the solution they need to overcome their problem by creating hyper-personalized content. 

With a case study, you show the direct impact your product has had in the lives of one of your customers. When your target accounts can see factual evidence of your product's impact within their industry, you allow target accounts to start imagining their business experiencing the same result. 

Every business leader just wants to have confidence their purchase will deliver to their expectations. A case study gives them that confidence. 

Additionally, case studies have a full-funnel impact. They can function as a way to start an engagement, as a sales enablement tool for closing deals, or as a way to cross-sell/upsell an existing customer on another service you offer. If you have limited bandwidth, a case study can serve numerous capacities to further your ABM efforts. 

Blog Content

Blog content also tends to have an association with the inbound marketing approach.

This blog content aims to create such highly valuable content for your target accounts that your salespeople can use it in social media and direct messages with the decision-makers of the key accounts.

This content will get the target accounts on your website to continue to explore and binge your content until they take the first step into a sales conversation.

If this blog content also ranks well for search engines, it's an added opportunity to reach potentially good fit customers. 

Additionally, blog content can provide indicators of buying intent. Your blog content will likely provide someone value that is researching solutions similar to yours. The target accounts landing on your blog are likely researching solutions. When target accounts are researching, your sales teams have the opportunity to become the guide that walks them through the research and eventual decision stages of the buyer journey.

Webinars

One of the most effective content efforts you can invest in is a webinar. An effective webinar will attract your target accounts and can easily repurpose into numerous other content formats like a standalone resource video, blog content, or a case study.

Additionally, this content always your target accounts to fill out a form. A form submission shows a higher likelihood that the target account has a need or is starting to recognize a need that you can solve. 

Similar to case studies, many webinars can serve at any stage your customers at any stage of the funnel. Webinars are a great way to inform prospects or existing customers of a new product you offer and provide a clear lead into sales conversations. 

Create a Target Account Specific Report

This content tactic is the most difficult to implement but has proven effective. With this tactic, you would create a report or audit of the target account as it refers to your product. You would send the audit, and ask for a call to review the audit. 

This content clearly demonstrates that the target account has a need and that you have the ability to solve it. If you can also directly tie this problem back to lost revenue, you will more likely secure the call. 

How to Get Started

If you are looking to implement an ABM content marketing strategy, go back to your team and assess two ideas. 

1. What can you quickly start implementing?
2. Where are the target accounts going to engage?

If you create content that no high-value accounts ever see, you wasted effort. Once you have answered those two questions, go all-in on one tactic. You will become incredibly effective with this tactic, or you realize you may need to revisit the previous two questions. 

After you have a tactic running smoothly and effectively, implement a new tactic as well. Once you have a well-oil content machine running, you can have blogs, webinars, videos, case studies, and podcasts coming out in a regular cadence that are all served to your target accounts through target ads. 

If you'd like an example of how we at Mojo are implementing an ABM content strategy, here is a short video on a practical application of these principles. If you'd like help implementing a content strategy for your ABM efforts, schedule a call today.