This week, I started listening to Drift’s growth podcast, hosted by Matt Bilotti. As someone that considers herself to be a life-long learner, this is a great way for me to fill some of my knowledge gaps when it comes to marketing, as well as refresh myself on concepts that are already familiar to me.
The most recent episode focuses on account-based marketing (ABM) strategy. The episode’s guest is Jon Miller, one of the founders of Engagio, and current CPO of Demandbase. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of ABM, and the way he breaks it down makes it easy for marketers at all levels to understand.
The first point he made was a comparison between general marketing, and account-based marketing in terms of fishing. He describes less specific marketing campaigns as fishing with a net, and ABM as fishing with a spear. The aim should be at accounts worth over $50K, and you should be aiming to reach the people that count.
Miller also made the compelling point that ABM is actually a misnomer because it is not just for the benefit of marketing teams. In order for any ABM campaign to be successful, sales teams must be on board and willing to take ownership when it comes to providing their marketing team with accounts to focus on. That said, we should be looking at ABM as being sales owned, and marketing supported.
When it comes to deciding which accounts are best for marketing efforts to be put towards, sales folks should make use of the F.I.R.E. method. It is as follows:
- F = FIT — How well does the account relate to your company’s ideal customer profile (ICP)?
- I = INTENT — What does data show about the research being made in that account?
- R = RELATIONSHIP — What is their history with you, whether it be purchases or people?
- E = ENGAGEMENT — How much time are they spending with you/on your site?
Lastly, email is a quick and easy way to do marketing outreach, but we should keep in mind that direct mail is not dead. In a sea of emails, having something land on the doorsteps of key stakeholders might be a better way to get their attention for a meeting.
What are your thoughts and/or experiences with account-based marketing? Let me know in the comments 🙂
Khadijah Plummer Consulting 