By Shannan Hearne, Summit Technologies’ Marketing Specialist
The longer you have been in marketing, the more you know, right? Yes. And no. Some tried and true tactics are tried out.
Despite understanding the value of account-based approaches in theory, it can be difficult to abandon the lead-based tactics that marketers have relied on for years. However, even with data showing that these tactics are ineffective, marketers still struggle to let them go. For instance, almost 68% of people abandon forms, meaning that the majority of leads are lost immediately, and even those who do complete the form often provide fake information. As a result, sales teams end up chasing after the wrong leads, wasting time and resources.
Marketing has long believed that "content is king" and attempted to attract prospects by gating content that is deemed necessary for making informed decisions. However, B2B buyers are becoming increasingly unwilling to surrender their anonymity to access information that is readily available online. If content is gated, buyers are likely to seek out similar information from competitors who don't place barriers in front of their content.
Despite our realization, we still hold onto the hope that gating some of our "high value" content will bring in enough quality leads to meet our pipeline goals. We assume that anyone who fills out a form must be a good prospect, ignoring the possibility that the lead may not be a good fit for our business to sell to, based on their account size or industry.
Moreover, we overlook the fact that they may have shown no buying behavior other than conducting some research or scanning their badge at a tradeshow for a free charging dongle. This approach is flawed, and it's essential to understand that Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is not only about focusing on accounts instead of leads but also about targeting the right accounts that are actively in the market to buy and executing relevant outreach across their buying team.
Account based marketing is a smart approach to building your pipeline but it takes some planning and some tools. Summit Technologies LLC can help you deploy and customize your Salesforce platform and marketing automation tools while working with you to develop a powerful ABM plan that works for your business. Contact us today.