A marketing strategy where main business accounts are marketed directly, as units of one, is known as Account-based marketing. In essence, high-value prospects or accounts are identified, key stakeholders are targeted, and marketing strategies are implemented through several channels to appeal to their specific needs and personas.
Here are a few account-based marketing examples that are worth implementing:
1. GumGum
It can be challenging to stick the landing with personalized content. When you’re trying to leverage a personal connection with inadequate public information about a prospect, it’s relatively easy to come across as fake. This is the ideal opportunity to go for an attention-grabbing, big gesture. It’s also a chance to show the kind of attention to detail and perceptiveness they can expect from you once you’re working on projects they pay you for.
GumGum set the bar high for personalized ABM marketing in their efforts to land T-Mobile as a client. The CEO of T-Mobile, Mr. John Legere’s active presence on social media has enabled GumGum to gain insight into his preferences and personality traits. They understood that he was a big fan of Batman. So, GumGum custom-built and published a comic book with Legere cast as Batman sort of superhero ‘T-Man.’ Now this ‘T-Man’ saves the city from lousy cell phone services with the help of his sidekick, known as ‘Gums.’ Gums gives T-man an image-recognizing marketing technology that helps popularize T-Mobile more efficiently.
The concept was new and very out-of-the-ordinary, but it was also entertaining, happening, engaging, and professional. So much so that Legere had to give them a huge Twitter shout-out. Needless to say that GumGum landed the project and also got tons of positive and free publicity out of it.
2. Snowflake
While the term “snowflake” has often been associated in a negative light, meaning someone who gets offended quickly, the data warehousing company named the same is presently running 500+ account-based marketing campaigns simultaneously. All of which are tailored to reach a particular target customer.
Snowflake dedicated six marketers to work in close association with their sales team. They even put this out on the open web. This showed immense credibility by signifying their commitment to knowing their customers inside and out and taking the long view.
3. Invoca
Everybody wants presents. Direct mail marketing has always used little gifts here and there to attract people into giving a second look to spontaneous offers. B2B companies can send out big and fancy items to their prospects. But there will still be a point of diminishing returns, which most brands would have reached before they’ve even heard of you.
Your prospects are in a similar kind of place. You’re going to have to get creative if you want to get through them by sending them gifts. In 2015, at the Dreamforce conference, the analytics and tracking company Invoca gave away Apple Watches and ensured that whoever booked a meeting with them would remember them for a lifetime.
It wasn’t just about giving away a high-value and pricey item. It was also a concrete reminder to remember the meeting’s follow-up and appointment. It was merged with the communication-centric services Invoca provides. The end result was that Invoca considerably exceeded the pipeline goals and lead generation they had set for themselves.
4. Intridea
Taking a confrontational or challenging approach in a business marketing campaign is a tremendously risky move. Failing in an attempt to follow one of the earlier examples may get you forgotten or ignored. However, if you put in excessive effort to grab the prospect’s attention with a bold move and you fail in that attempt, they will remember you – but definitely not in a favorable light.
The web developers and designers at Intridea aimed to secure a significant opportunity with the advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather. Hence, they wanted to rent a billboard across the street from their offices in Manhattan. The billboard was a simple one; it was in plain white text on a bright red background and said “Ogle this, Ogilvy” with a URL below and Intridea’s logo. This worked in favor of Intridea. The CEO Ogilvy called them and arranged for a meeting.
5. GumGum (once more)
The reason that we are back to GumGum is that they’re actually very good at account-based marketing! This final example is living proof of it. They created a practical and ingenious marketing product for a variety of Clorox brands. It was temporary tattoos with augmented reality functionality. They then took those products to Clorox’s annual iConnect conference to show the owner.
Needless to say, it was an instant hit. It helped GumGum begin conversations about the rising computer vision technologies they specialized in. The GumGum app was downloaded by 200+ conference attendees that year.
Account-Based Marketing: A holistic and long-term strategy
Perfecting ABM strategies takes time. It is always tough to define which account-based marketing tactics and examples will work best for you. Therefore, it’s better to gear up, develop your plan and begin testing!
However, before executing any strategy, make sure you know where the line between intrusion and personalized is, and never cross it.
Final word
With ABM, you must continuously reinvent the wheel whenever you are gearing up to connect with a new prospect. It’s imperative to build your campaign from the ground up and always treat every prospect as a clean slate. It’s all pretty easy to begin repurposing your old ideas and content, and very soon, you’re back to being a traditional marketer.
There’s endlessly fertile ground for innovative new ideas and concepts to come out of account-based marketing. Social media becomes a valuable ally when it comes to staying informed about your prospects and discovering effective ways to connect with them. Stay connected with your ears and eyes open.
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