When discussing account-based marketing, the phrase “two birds, one stone” will probably come to mind a few times. That’s because the success of ABM can be credited to its ability to create efficiency and drive results. It enables clear communication between teams within your organization. It’s also a very cyclical strategy, one that creates a symbiotic relationship between teams: Marketing needs sales, sales needs marketing. Customer success helps both teams and benefits from positive outcomes and results.
In the B2B marketing space, ABM is a clear win (if implemented correctly) for everyone—from the marketing team to the sales team to the customer success team. Here’s how.
How ABM Benefits Marketing
If you’ve done some ABM research, then you’re probably already familiar with one of the pros of ABM: It’s all about collaboration, bringing the marketing and sales teams together and ensuring effort is streamlined and more efficient. No one is doing unnecessary labor in order to achieve the company’s goals.
With ABM, marketers have their work cut out for them, but in a good way. Their expertise in creating engaging content and finessing it until it hits home with a potential account is crucial in generating marketing qualified accounts (or MQAs). And the way ABM inherently works benefits this team because the content and messaging have guidelines. They should be custom, made to work for a very specific person within an account. So when it comes to actually writing the ad copy or creating the infographic, the copywriters, graphic designers, and marketing strategists know exactly what they need to create for the audience who will eventually consume the work.
How ABM Benefits Sales
ABM cuts down on the extra legwork that won’t ever lead to sales. The sales team becomes hyperfocused on valuable accounts with a high possibility of engaging and eventually converting. They have the chance to really do a deep dive and learn about the accounts and understand how some of the largest decision-makers within the organization work, think, and buy. Quality over quantity is an ABM motto you’ll hear from time to time.
With ABM technology, the sales team is also made aware of the right time to approach a potential customer or new contact within an organization. For example, they’ll know when a certain decision-maker has gone to their site, engaged with an ad, or attended a webinar—this signals to them the account has moved down the funnel and it’s an effective time approach (e.g. send an email) and discuss possible opportunities. Ultimately, ABM strategies serve to generate sales—and have you ever heard of a sales team that doesn’t have that goal in mind?
How ABM Benefits Customer Success
The purpose of a customer success team is to help the customer achieve their objectives. This involves ensuring the customer sees value in the company and has all the resources and support they need from the company. At its core, this team should work to maintain a great relationship with the customer.
ABM strategies are extremely helpful in two main customer success arenas: retention and expansion. ABM campaigns can be used to target current customers, keeping your company relevant and top of mind—especially when it comes to renewal or product updates and announcements. Partnering with the marketing team is necessary for this step of the ABM process: Campaigns should be engaging, consistent, accurate, and on brand.
With ABM, the customer success team’s knowledge is king: They know the customer (or a similar customer) inside and out. They know what the customer responds to and what they value. Their input here should be valued, as ABM is a truly customer-centric strategy with customized campaigns and a deep knowledge of clients.