Our team at The ABM Agency will help you see and demonstrate to other stakeholders within your company what’s possible and the overall impact ABM can have on your bottom line.
An account-based marketing pilot campaign is a test run for wider adoption of an ABM program. It’s the proof of concept for a broader go-to-market strategy, the first page of the next chapter of your B2B company’s growth.
You may already be researching an ABM platform to launch your pilot campaign—whether it’s Terminus, Demandbase, or something similar—which is a great starting point. Where you may run into difficulty is your team’s bandwidth when it comes to supporting each aspect within the platform as well as the integration with your other tools.
Consider this: An ABM platform takes a team of 5-7 people to appropriately run a pilot campaign. You’ll need a graphic designer, content writer, strategist, orchestration manager, marketing automation expert, and analytics and integration analyst. On average, each of these salaries will run around $70,000 to $80,000, minimum. Additionally, you will need to pay additional licensing fees for third-party platforms (intent data resources, for example).
You can easily run your pilot campaign bill up into the higher six-figure range—and you’re probably going to have a tough time getting sign-off.
Looking for a more cost-effective option? Hire an experienced B2B marketing agency to help execute your ABM pilot campaign.
Calculate the ROI on 1:few ABM with an internal team vs. hiring an agency
Launch Your ABM Pilot with The ABM Agency
By starting with an ABM pilot campaign, you’ll be able to figure out what you need, develop a scalable template and system, and begin to measure success that can serve as a building block for a larger strategy down the line.
All you have to do is get it up and running, but you don’t have to do it alone. By partnering with The ABM Agency, your pilot program will be supported and guided by experienced subject-matter experts who can prove success with a smaller ABM scope and budget. From kickoff to liftoff, we’ll get it done in 45 days.
45-Day ABM Pilot Campaign Roadmap
Strategy and Project Scope
The broad strategy of an ABM pilot campaign is this: Pick your most relevant, high-value target accounts, and begin marketing to them. More granularly, the part of the process should address the following…
Duration: A pilot campaign should be given between four and six months in order to determine if the current strategy is feasible and capable of results. With our agency at the helm, you can expect to see results on the earlier side of the timeline.
Team and Roles: This may be a pilot campaign, but that doesn’t mean the whole team shouldn’t be involved. From the beginning, marketing and sales should partner hand in hand, participating in cyclical communication throughout the program.
Goals and KPIs: Normally, your ABM goals should be in line with your revenue goals. The limited length of a pilot program often means determining different ways to gauge success. These smaller goals can include: conversations and engagement, reach within an account, and new opportunities. The ABM Agency will work directly with your team to agree on what these goals should be and how they will inform a larger ABM campaign.
Your Targets: A rule of thumb for identifying targets for an ABM pilot campaign is to start with 10 accounts. These should be decided upon with significant input from the sales team; use their account information to determine opportunities to cross-sell or up-sell within existing accounts. Additionally, pull information from previously lost accounts, those who have been good prospects in the past.
Analyze Your Tech Stack
You may know how you want to approach your ABM pilot campaign, but your tech stack is what’s going to help get you there.
While a pilot campaign doesn’t require a five-figure tech stack, it does need tools to support the marketing efforts. Our team will audit what you currently have and what’s absolutely necessary to run a pilot. From there, we’ll help you identify what type of technology you want to invest in later—and your ABM results will help support that larger investment in resources.
See the eight tools we recommend having in your tech stack for a larger omnichannel ABM campaign.
Asset Creation: Personalization and Customization
An ABM pilot may utilize fewer channels or go after fewer target accounts, but you will still need engaging, informative assets to drive performance within the sales funnel. You might already have a bank of content to use, but these need to be customized per account and, if you’re running 1:1 ABM, by target within the account’s buying committee.
Not sure your in-house team has the bandwidth for an ABM pilot? Our copywriters and graphic designers are at the ready to help strategize and create assets you will need—from white papers to landing pages to display ads.
See examples of our work here.
Pilot Campaign Execution
After we’ve outlined a thorough strategy, set up your ABM tools, and thoughtfully prepared your assets, our experts will build out all relevant campaigns, including: programmatic, paid search, content marketing, and paid social.
Measure and Optimize Campaign
ABM Pilot Campaign Estimate
Without an agency, an ABM pilot campaign typically requires eight to 14 people to fully run the platforms and create assets. An organization would pay about $115,000 in licensing fees, on top of the costs of bringing on a team of that size to maximize the investment.
