Did you know that up to 95% of people or firms are not in the market for goods and services at any given time? This raises the question of how to make your Account-Based Marketing (ABM) more effective in finding and engaging the 5% who are ready to buy. This article discusses the importance of buyer intent data and a strong ABM strategy in tackling this challenge.
ABM is a B2B sales and marketing strategy that targets high-value accounts with personalized campaigns. It has evolved over the years, with the second phase coinciding with the rise of marketing technologies in the 2010s. Today, ABM is a well-established practice, with about 70% of B2B companies investing in it.
We are currently entering the third wave of ABM development, where it becomes easier to implement even for small marketing and sales teams. However, before diving into data and solutions partners, it is crucial to complete your marketing planning. Set your goals, define your universe of accounts, and decide on your account tiers and metrics to track.
When it comes to campaign tactics, it’s important to incorporate buying signals from buyer intent data. Every time a prospect interacts with your website, a competitor’s site, or searches the web for your product or category, it generates a machine data known as an “intent signal.” This data helps identify in-market accounts within the 5% you want to engage.
Buyer intent data is the keystone of an ABM solution. It provides insights into the buying journey stage and urgency of a targeted account. Review sites, in particular, are valuable sources of accurate buyer intent data. The logical relationship between activity on a review site and buying intent is strong, making it easier to identify and engage in-market accounts.
There are various ways to operationalize buyer intent data into your marketing infrastructure. It can flow into your existing ad platforms, marketing automation tools, CRM software, native ABM tools, sales engagement platforms, and advertising platforms. The key is to ensure that your buyer intent data vendor is flexible enough to integrate with your existing infrastructure.
To achieve effective account-based marketing, you need accurate buyer intent data without complexity. This means finding a solution that works seamlessly with your infrastructure, is easy to learn and deploy, integrates into your processes, provides actionable analytics, is cost-effective, and demonstrates ROI.
In conclusion, leveraging buyer intent data and implementing a strong ABM strategy are key to finding and engaging the 5% of in-market buyers. By incorporating accurate buyer intent data into your marketing infrastructure, you can make your ABM more effective and drive results for your company.