I was suggested to read this book by Andrea Clatworthy, Head of ABM at Fujitsu, as a good insight into the world of Account-Based Marketing. 

Chapter 10 gets to the heart of account-based marketing campaigns: getting your targeted message across to potential buyers. Here are my 7 favourite highlights: 

1. Ingredients of a successful ABM Campaign

• precision targeting of stakeholders and influencers 
• personalised content that leverages your understanding of the imperatives facing the account and the initiatives they are taking

2. Setting your campaign objectives 

• aiming at increasing mindshare with the decision-making unit for a specific play so that your company is front of mind when the account decides to move ahead with a particular initiative and to investigate potential partners/suppliers

3. The most credible sources of information for buyers

• no.1 source of information is from ‘solution provider subject matter experts’

4. Creating personalised content 

• The very nature of ABM means that you are able to create content that is more personalised and relevant than the used for market or segment-based campaigns
• ITSMA’s research shows that business solution buyers prefer to receive content that is personalised 
• Best-practice companies have shifted from a publishing mindset to one of using thought leadership to support salespeople in their conversations with prospects and buyers 

5. Avoiding the pitfalls of marketing content 

• The biggest problem buyers find with content suppliers is that they send them content that is too ‘sales’, opinion based rather than factual and too long. 

6. Buyers turn to people for information early on 

• At the beginning of the purchase process, the first three sources of information buyers turn to are their peers, management consultants, and your subject matter experts.

• When using social media in your ABM campaigns, bear in mind that ITSMA research tells us that the content buyers value most from you is original content authored by your people
• After that comes curated content on a topic that interests them, which you have handpicked and introduced with some copy authored by you
• The least valuable content for buyers is filtered content that has been served to them based on their profiles

7. Account specific content development 

• There should be close liaison between the subject matter experts who produce the insights and anyone charged with client contact, with the subject matter expert increasingly delivering thought leadership in person as the buyer moves through their purchasing process 

I can highly recommend the book to understand the end to end process of embarking on an existing or your first ABM strategy. I have a few copies, all labelled with my highlights. Just let me know if you be interested and I can send you one. 

Finally, the video below summarises the 7 steps required for ABM with Bev Burgess.

(You can buy a copy of the book here!)