1. Personalize your documentation
There are plenty of useful tools in CRM systems (even Microsoft Word has had a merge function for years) to personalize publications. Personalizing documentation can be as simple as personally addressing and growing into documents in which you also personalize the content. A well-personalized communication strategy impresses your customers.
2. Personalize the user experience of your website
If you use a good Leadnurturing tool (for example, Customer Factory’s
LeadMachine
) identify visitors on your website in real time. Using dynamic fields or web pages you improve the visitor experience and with automated responses you support personal contact with the Account.
3. Make an offer that facilitates a face-to-face meeting
Certain offerings may require a face-to-face or Skype appointment with an Account. Free evaluations or reviews, free quality scores or analytics are excellent ABM tactics to get and keep in touch with your customers.
4. Mention your account in blogs and on social media
Affirm the relationship with your customers in blogs and spread them through social media. A best practice article about a project you’ve done with the client or short reports of fun meetings make the relationship between you and the client more valuable. Large companies use trackers to see when their name is mentioned on the Internet, and this is a useful tool to attract the attention of your Account.
5. Follow key employees from accounts on social media
Improve your engagement with Accounts by following companies and their key employees. Monitor activity on social media relevant to your industry, business or proposition. Take advantage of all the opportunities offered by social media. It is a strategy of the long haul, which fortunately requires mostly consistent effort and little out of pocket cost.
6. Create a network organizational chart of your customer and your network
While the blessings of networking have been preached for years, we see that we are still not using it enough. In a network organizational chart, you center the prospect and draw circles of actors who are in relation to the account. There is a chance that someone else from your company is connected to influencers or even decision makers at your account without you knowing it. Perhaps they are connected at an industry event or have worked together in the past. Above all, map the relationship of employees in companies in your network. They are often good ambassadors of your proposition.
7. Create highly personalized email campaigns
Email is the best platform for personal communication. They are sent directly from one mailbox to another. So make them personal for prospects, leads or opportunities. This is one of the most effective marketing tactics B2B marketers use to reach contacts. Email campaigns must be deployed very carefully. You are moving into people’s private spaces, so the right tone-of-voice is important.
8. Give a personalized gift
We are so focused on digital marketing that we sometimes forget that people also use analog things. Think carefully about your Account and occasionally make sure there is an enticing gift on their desk, including a personal note and informative content specific to their role.
9. Send creative (and helpful) emails
We are so focused on digital marketing that we sometimes forget that people also use analog things. Think carefully about your Account and occasionally make sure there is an enticing gift on their desk, including a personal note and informative content specific to their role.
10. Consider the employees of your account
Depending on the size of the company, account-based marketers can also send larger gift boxes, full of goodies for the entire company. The buzz generated at these companies creates many curious questions about which great company sent the gift. As an added bonus, it can also generate some social media buzz.
11. Prepare well for a trade show or event visit
Check the list of attendees, before a conference or event, and set up social media alerts. Gather as much knowledge about attendees as possible and make sure that your trade show crew or visitors know who they are meeting and have content on issues within the Account.
12. Make sure your accounts know you are at an event
It seems like an open door, but I still don’t see it enough: invite accounts and prospects to sign up prior to the event and let them know you will be at the event. Try to find a moment for a firm handshake and good conversation.
13. Invite accounts to company drinks
Happy hours, get-togethers or dinners are excellent ways to fête Accounts and deepen the relationship. Pull together with fellow companies to increase the guest list for an event. Organize a meeting where you make sure your existing customers sit next to your prospect. No one can sell your product better than an existing customer.
14. Organize your own trade show or event
It seems like a lot of work, but with modern communication tools it is quite possible to organize (small-scale) events yourself. It has the advantage that you can properly control the content of the event and develop a good communication strategy in preparation for your event. Make it worthwhile for visitors. Order delicious food, choose tasty drinks, choose a convenient, attractive location and choose a speaker who will come prepared and deliver a good presentation. At the end of the night, your participants would like to be invited back.
Also consider hosting an event in an area or city where you have a high concentration of Accounts. Choose a local, thoughtful speaker and invite accounts and prospects. Make sure the event is strategically pitched, connect with strong local brands that attend the event and can invite others.
15. Target your prospects through social media
Facebook allows advertisers to define custom audiences based on a number of factors, including email address, phone number, name, date of birth, gender, location, app user IDs, Apple’s ad identifier (IDFA) or Android’s ad ID. Use these identifiers to target your audience more pinpointed.
Google AdWords allows you to target ads to specific audiences. When an individual from a target audience has logged into their Google account, Google offers hyper-targeted ads.
Twitter followers can be reached in three ways. First, advertisers can enter a list of Twitter handles to whom they want to advertise. Second, advertisers can add a Twitter tag to their website and recover those viewers with Twitter ads. Third, if you have a mobile app, you can retarget app users.
Among the plethora of targeting methods available for LinkedIn ads, the platform enables company-specific targeting. Media executives can identify company accounts on LinkedIn and serve ads to key influences at those companies.
16. Target retargeting
Many social media supports retargeting based on a user’s behavior, such as clicking on an ad or visiting your website. With that, you can present just the right content that invites prospects to perform new actions that propel them further into the sales funnel. For example, if a prospect clicks on an ad for an e-book, you then offer them a case study. If he clicks on that you offer a demo, if he doesn’t click on that, you offer him the e-book. This way, the prospect gets the information he wants at the time he is ready to properly absorb the information and develop a positive attitude toward your product.
17. Test community sites and professional platforms
There are professional platforms that use advanced targeting methods to find your prospects on the Web. These platforms use cookies and IP addresses to identify your prospects and/or find specific individuals at those companies. Based on your needs, they are often able to direct you to the right people within organizations.
