The success of a strategic ABM strategy relies on a well-thought-out targeted account list.
Imagine a list of 2,000 named accounts, each representing a certain dollar amount that contributes to your revenue goals. Companies that hyper-focus on building their lists, ensure that the members of these lists are led through a rewarding customer journey. Additionally, working with these specialized lists ensures sales and marketing are aligned and campaigns move in unison.
This dance isn’t an easy one to learn- but Unlimited Mixed Marketing provides you with the steps to move in the right direction.
Investing in your lists as a starting point, and focusing on building everything around your list and the personas within, is how we truly utilize budgets and efforts the most efficiently. And now that you’ve learned about why laser focusing on your list is so important, let us look at how to build the right list.
Step One - Who?
Your ideal customer profile (ICP) describes the perfect customer in relation to the goods or services your organization provides. This will in turn represent the type of customer that deserves your attention, giving you direction when building your list. Defining your ideal customer allows you to focus resources on higher-quality leads and get a better return from your campaign.
Your ICP is not the same as your customer persona. An ICP is the type of company you should be targeting, while a customer persona is a detailed analysis of the people who buy from you. Customer personas are useful, too, but you can’t develop effective personas without a broader understanding of the types of companies they work for, so your ICP should always come first.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking an ABM list is only for acquiring new customers. It is also ideal for expanding services, to adjacent divisions, departments, and geographies.
Be sure customers that fit the ICP bill are also part of your list.
Step Two - How?
Start with an audit of the connections you already have to start discovering leads for any ABM sales and marketing efforts.
Assess the prospects that are currently in your marketing-to-sales funnel. Consider the possibility of up-selling, cross-selling, adding appropriate services, and similar transactions with other company subsidiaries or divisions based on previously executed transactions.
Use list segmentation techniques to assess website interactivity and email open rates. People might be linked to prospective high-value accounts among prospects that have previously connected and interacted with your content.
Be sure to consider:
Who follows you on social media and identify big-deal connections and integrate them into your ABM tools
Conferences, trade shows, and industry gatherings are great times to meet people who may help you make valuable connections, whether they are in-person or virtual
The contacts you've made as a result of conversations, chats on a virtual event platform, or interactions
Any well-known brands or major players in that market that you might use to boost your credibility and make contact with people who work at such organizations.
Step Three - When?
Your lists need to be periodically updated, usually within a couple of months because people regularly change positions and companies.
From the time you extract a list of leads to the time you contact them, they might not be there anymore. You don’t have to completely rehaul your list, but you should spend some time removing closed accounts and bringing in new opportunities that are showing intent signals. You’ll quickly realize that updating your list actually makes your efforts more effective, and puts you in closer contact with accounts that matter the most.
While ABM target lists require a lot of time and effort, the results net you high-value enterprise customers, which makes the work you put into them worthwhile. The monitoring and reporting required for the target list success may assist you in making substantial changes to your overall marketing strategies. Over time, the information you gather can help you enhance your ICP standards, further helping you fine-tune your marketing strategy.
If you are ready to start with the list and would like some help, email us at info@unlimitedmixedmarketing.com.
Written by Raycheal Proctor
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