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Introduction

Your account-based marketing (ABM) target list is everything, and will be the driver of all of your success. There is so much that actually relies on your list, from the building of it, the management of it, and the value squeezed out of it. So why is it that a lot of the time, building the target list gets ignored? 

Companies that laser focus on building their lists, ensure that it is led through an outstanding customer journey built, and that everyone is aligned and campaigns orchestrated in unison, are likely to be winners. The thing is though, none of it is easy. But try to imagine a list of 1000 named accounts in front of you, and each of those represent X$ amount to your revenue goals. 

Well, that just became a lot more interesting, right?

When you invest in your list as a starting point, are homed in on building everything around your list and the personas within, you will be an ABM ace. And now that you’ve learned about why laser focusing on your list is so important, let us look at how to build the right list.

Where do we start?

First and foremost, your ideal customer profile (ICP) needs to be a clear, categorical description of a customer who would benefit immensely from your offering and would therefore be most likely to spend money on it. This will in turn represent the type of customer that deserves your attention, giving you direction when building your list. If you get this bit right, you can focus resources on higher quality leads and get a better return from your campaign.

Your ICP is not the same as your customer persona. An ICP is the type of company you should be targeting, while a customer persona is a detailed analysis of the people who buy from you. Customer personas are useful, too, but you can’t develop effective personas without a broader understanding of the types of companies they work for, so your ICP should always come first.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking an ABM list is only for acquiring new customers. It is also ideal for growing the share of wallet in your existing customers pockets, and expanding to adjacent divisions, departments and geographies. So make sure that your customers that fit the ICP bill are also part of your list.

Securing the right resources

Starting with an audit of the connections you already have is a smart way to start discovering leads for any ABM sales and marketing efforts. It's only reasonable to assess the prospects that are currently in your marketing-to-sales funnel. Consider the possibility for up-selling, cross-selling, adding useful services, and similar transactions with other company subsidiaries or divisions based on previously executed transactions. 

You might also use list segmentation techniques to assess website interactivity and email open rates. There might be people linked to prospective high-value accounts among prospects that have previously connected and interacted with your content. Examine the number of people you follow on social media and identify big-deal connections and integrate them into your ABM tools.  

Trade exhibitions and industry gatherings are still ideal locations to meet people who may help you make valuable connections, whether they are in-person or virtual. Consider the contacts you've made as a result of conversations, chats on a virtual event platform, or interactions. Consider any well-known brands or major players in that market that you might use to boost your credibility and make contact with people who work at such organizations. 

Choose your strategy

An ABM list strategy can entail successfully allocating your sales and marketing efforts by the level of personalization you are willing to use. This allocation is based on the revenue or any other criteria defined by your company in terms of value that can be derived from the particular customer. As such, any ABM methodology can be further divided into the one to many method, one to few method, and the one to one method.

• One-to-many method

The one-to-many strategy, often referred to as Programmatic ABM, is a less targeted kind of ABM where marketers employ programmatic customization to tailor content at scale using information from their CRM. Usually, the fundamental purpose of programmatic ABM is to increase engagement. When an account has exhibited adequate interaction, it may be promoted to Tier 2 and benefit from a more tailored experience. Most of the engagement-generating activities utilized in programmatic ABM should also be included in ABM Lite and Strategic ABM.

• One-to-few method

The one-to-few strategy, also known as ABM lite, is a targeted sales and marketing method where the sales team builds tailored interactions for groups of clients who have comparable characteristics. One-to-few ABM is a highly customized strategy, but they aren't always the highest-value accounts. 

• One-to-one method

The one-to-one strategy, also known as strategic ABM, is a hyper-focused technique where sales and marketing build a tailored experience for a single account. Personalization should be a priority in one-to-one ABM efforts. When it comes to one-on-one ABM, the goal is to either initiate an interaction or influence an account's impression of your brand.

Closing thoughts

One important thing about your lists is that they need to be periodically updated, usually within a couple of months because people regularly change positions and companies. This also means that from the time you extract a list of leads to the time you contact them, they might not be there anymore. This doesn’t mean you have to completely rehaul your list, but you should spend some time removing closed accounts and bringing in new opportunities that are showing intent signals. You’ll quickly realize that updating your list actually makes your efforts more effective.

And while ABM target lists do require a lot of time and effort, the results net you high-value enterprise customers, which makes the work you put into them worthwhile. The monitoring and reporting required for the target list success may assist you in making substantial changes to your overall marketing strategies. Over time, the information you gather can help you enhance your ICP standards, further helping you fine-tune your marketing strategy.

If you are ready to start with the list and would like some help, email us at [email protected]