When you build a lasting home, you start by laying a solid foundation first. Similarly, a successful Account-Based Marketing (ABM) program is built on 3 key foundational building blocks:

• Audience Research that provides a clear understanding of Buyer Personas and their needs, motivations and challenges as they go through their buying journey
• Brand Messaging that clearly highlights who you are as a brand and what core identity and value messages you want to share with your buyers
• Content in Context, created based on the messaging developed to meet the Audience’s specific needs at each stage of their journey, and delivered when and where they need it

Each block builds on the other and together they form strong pillars supporting effective and successful ABM campaigns.

First, clarity in knowing your audience through primary research – who THEY are? what are their roles and behaviors? what are their needs, motivations and challenges?  – provides a solid, accurate base for creating Buyer Personas, understanding their individual and collective Buying Journeys and for establishing brand identity.

Second, combining a clear brand identity – who YOU are? what are your vision, mission and values? how do you want to project yourself to your audience? – with targeted and consistent brand/product messages to different Buyer Personas at different points in their Buying Journey strengthens the base.

Finally, the Buyer Persona details along with the corresponding messaging together can be used to generate the right content, specific to buyers’ needs for various stages of their journey, in the right formats. This content can be distributed through appropriate channels in Account-focused marketing campaigns to drive significantly higher engagement resulting in positive sales outcomes and business growth.

The order of the building blocks is important.  Content that is not based on audience understanding or consistent messaging is unlikely to get the attention of buyers and engage them. Similarly, generic messaging without specific knowledge of each buyer’s needs at each stage of their buying journey will water down the impact of the content.

For Account-Based Marketing to be effective, creation of targeted content for buyers based on the buyers needs in the context of each journey stage is a must. This can be made easy through a systematic understanding of audience and creation of targeted brand and product messages that can consistently be embedded in targeted content which in turn are distributed through the right channels to individual buyers at various stages of their buying journey.

Make your sales zoom with the ABCs of ABM!