Let’s be honest. You don’t always have time for a podcast or webinar. And no one has time to read a transcript. Executive Summary is Iron Horse’s look at what our team has been up to while they’re out-and-about in the marketing world, summarized for your easy perusal.
The Content: Iron Horse Founder and CEO Uzair Dada on the “Sunny Side Up” podcast.
The Question: How does account-based marketing (ABM) help professional services companies drive scalable growth?
The Plug: Iron Horse CEO Uzair Dada on “Sunny Side Up”
ABM presents massive opportunities to reach more buyers.
In today’s B2B landscape, more and more buyers are independently conducting research online and engaging with multiple digital touchpoints when considering a purchase decision.
On top of that, there could now be up to 25 individuals within a buying group who play a significant role in the decision-making process.
Yet, despite their substantial size, many, if not most, professional services organizations lack the modern marketing and sales capabilities to expand beyond one-to-one relationships. These kinds of prospects are traditionally developed and nurtured through personal referrals or limited digital marketing channels such as email or company websites.
No one is saying companies should ignore one-to-one relationships. But it’s not enough for professional services organizations who want to grow. ABM enables companies to expand beyond individual connections and tap into broader networks of decision-makers who are increasingly online and inaccessible through traditional channels.
In essence, ABM is a modern marketing approach that targets key decision-makers on the buying teams within entire companies (accounts). Marketers can then engage these prospects through multiple digital channels, with personalized communication that speaks to their unique needs and interests—which are revealed through their online behavior and activities.
“Yes, you know these one or two or three or ten people, but did you know there are these other 25 people in that space that actually have a pretty important role, and that you may want to talk to?”
– Uzair Dada, Iron Horse CEO
Additional content: Making Growth Scalable with ABM.
ABM facilitates eye-grabbing personalized content.
Professional services organizations often have a lot of valuable content, which serves to drive conversations with potential clients. But companies often lack the marketing and sales execution engine to leverage content effectively.
ABM provides a framework for marketing and sales teams to collaboratively personalize content and messaging to the unique preferences and requirements of target prospects, and deliver this communication across the touchpoints their prospects use. This approach ensures that the right content reaches the right people at the right time. Additionally, by understanding the unique needs and interests of their prospects, marketing and sales reps can effectively engage them at any stage of the buyer’s journey, from initial awareness to making a purchasing decision.
Additional reading: How to humanize your account based marketing content strategy.
ABM aligns Marketing and business development into one revenue team.
By leveraging ABM platforms and software tools (that professional services organizations may already be using), ABM allows marketing and business development teams to work off a unified view of prospect behavior and engagement analytics. These technology resources serve as a bridge between marketing and business development functions, allowing marketing to share insights that can help sales optimize their outreach strategies and enhance their effectiveness.
Marketing and sales alignment can’t just be a superficial agreement at the leadership level, however. To facilitate a smooth transition from current practices to new ABM initiatives, change management serves as a disciplined approach to getting buy-in from all stakeholders. Change management helps mitigate resistance to change by ensuring that marketing and sales teams understand the reasons behind the change and are adequately prepared for it.
Related webinar: How Marketers Can Drive Sales Efficiency.
