Ah, validation. Account-based marketing (ABM) is the term most of our clients now use to discuss their new acquisition strategy - it’s all about “Net New”. While it’s clearly not a new term, it’s a paradigm we’ve been pushing since day zero, and it pleases us to hear our techy friends include it in their business lexicon more frequently.

Naturally, it’s net-new that gets all the SDRs, CEOs, CMOs and all manner of other very important acronymisms swooning. But it’s only half of what account-based marketing strategies excel at.

The technology sector needs to spread more love and be more human. SaaS vendors, especially, are guilty of creating purely transactional relationships. It’s all about getting the signature to spend $000’s a year, then move on to the next target account. Few C-Suite engagements. Fewer still genuine connections.

What a missed opportunity. Increasingly, our clients are asking about how account-based marketing can help them attract target accounts and grow existing clients. This makes perfect sense. ABM tactics rely heavily on how well you know the various target account lists – and what accounts do you know better than the ones you already work with?

We’re being asked for advice on things like building communities. Customer advocacy groups. Advisory boards. All of those lovely activities which build trust with key customers and, most importantly, have an ROI.

Vendors (you) are starting to wise up to what changes need to happen when an ABM strategy is used beyond signing day. So this article will cover how you can use your account-based marketing strategy to boost client growth and retention.

First, some obligatory “do you really ‘get’ ABM” messaging.

Understanding Account-Based Marketing

What is account-based marketing (ABM)?

We define account-based marketing as a focused growth strategy. Where Marketing and Sales functions align (finally!), agree on a set of accounts to target, and commit to crafting unique, individualised experiences for each of those accounts as they move them through their sales funnel.

But ABM is so much more than another way to win new clients. The clue is in the name - there is much more to be won by looking at your clients as entire accounts instead of just a singular sales target in an arbitrary Digital/Marketing/eCom (etc.) function.

The breadth of opportunity is broader when you view your clients as individuals with needs, fears, desires and personalities. Wasn’t that profound?

How does account-based marketing differ from other marketing strategies?

On the surface, how ABM differs from other marketing strategies can be wrapped up relatively neatly:

• Sales and Marketing teams align (which is in itself a remarkable difference), and work together to cherry-pick a number of high-value targets
• Which means account-based marketing strategies focus solely on this smaller number of specific “target accounts”
• Marketing and Sales teams then devise individualised messaging for each of these
• Instead of firing off emails into murky data sets, ABM hinges on exceptional quality account data that is continually enriched and updated as you learn more about the people you are targeting

When you dig deeper into the purpose behind your marketing strategy – in this case growing existing accounts – these differences become more apparent.

Often simply muttering “marketing” conjures images of a graph with a big, fat line labelled “juicy new business” swooping up into the stratosphere. Research supports this notion. It consistently shows that acquisition is viewed as indefinitely sexier than retention – only 18% of companies value customer retention as part of their marketing campaign, while 44% side with acquisition.

Fixating on acquisition is what gets many businesses into a bit of a pickle. Lead generation is a classic example. Often lead gen campaigns operate in a “spray and pray” or “annoying at scale”, mass-appeal manner. Get as many leads in as possible, then hound them until they get pissed off and leave or convert. A nod of approval for whomever can correctly guess which of them happen more often.

Lead generation has its place, we’re not denying that. However, it also has a tendency to engender less than desirable behaviours in sales teams.

We’ve recently seen reports that sales teams are creating content on behalf of companies, in order to represent the brand and engage with their target audience of customers. The content is often pushy, usually overbearing and always self-serving. Accounts that don’t reply get binned. Existing accounts that don’t respond to personalised content get shunted to the ‘low-value client’ list.

Letting 22 year-old sales reps fresh out of university write your content? You can imagine how well that goes down with potential new customers. And when activities like this go unchecked, that behaviour is reinforced and re-applied when it comes to growing your existing accounts. Unsurprisingly, customer churn can reach 30% for some organisations (though we suspect it’s higher).

So, how does an account-based marketing strategy shore-up these issues? A well-executed ABM strategy doesn’t stop after the account has been won. Indulge us a moment while we use a slightly self-gratuitous example.

We’ve spent the last couple of years working with a global software company (founded in the 1970s) and growing its top 20 accounts. We’ve helped its customer leaders gain speaking slots to improve their careers and run workshops and collaborations in their offices about subjects they care about.

Why? Because we’re good people…and because it cemented the relationship and provoked genuine solution selling. Come on – we all know altruism is a myth.

Whether to win new business or grow existing, high value accounts, account-based marketing focuses on tailoring messaging and campaigns to the specific needs and interests of a particular, high-value account. Sometimes those needs don’t appear to have an immediate benefit to your bottom line – but that’s ok.

The Account-based Marketing Strategy Behind Client Growth

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, email, Google Ads – building a business in 2023 requires your marketing strategy to become an arachnoid beast, with little legs spidering out into every channel imaginable to garner some of your prospective customers’ attention.

No wonder marketing and sales teams turn to mass-marketing. But while account-based marketing strategies must also feed into this advertising zeitgeist, you can still do so with that crucial, human element.

Developing a human multi-channel approach

People get to choose where they spend their time and consume media. A successful account-based marketing campaign therefore must combine a multitude of channels (inbound, outbound, digital and traditional) to reach the right people at the right time.

You don’t need us to tell you what those channels are. But we will:

• Email
• Social media
• Blogs
• Paid Ads
• Mailers/Gifts (they’re not dead yet)
• Tradeshows

Your standard “marketing mix.” Our account-based marketing approach even tacks on a couple of warm and fuzzy extras:

• Events
• Communities
• Even a cup of coffee, a pint or a heated text discussion about the rugby

When it comes to boosting existing client growth, it’s here account-basd marketing shines. Events are a brilliant case-study.

Say you’re at an event – maybe a tradeshow – and you’re chatting away with the perfect person from your target account. You’re on fire. You’re suave, charming, effortlessly charismatic – a real Joanna Lumley/Sean Connery, circa 1970. You’ve somehow ignored the sibilant whispers of your inner sales person, who’s urging you to upsell a package. Now your conversation partner is opening up, telling you all sorts of amazing things about themselves, their family, their worklife. Gold.

That’s where the magic happens. Instead of throwing an ice cold bucket of budgetary reality over their heads in that moment, gobble up all of that useful information. We spoke recently about how important it is to measure how many touchpoints you have with prospects to determine community ROI; this is no different.

Everything you learn in seemingly arbitrary encounters like this can be used throughout email, social media, blogs so that when you do speak to them again, and the time is right to upsell something, it’s not a jarring demand for cash from the out of the blue. It’s someone they trust saying they can help.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows – your first priority should of course be delivering value. But the point here is that being human and taking an interest is not only the right thing to do – it’s optimal. Build relationships, maybe even friendships (sounds hippy, but it’s right). For client growth especially, maximise time with your targets.

ABM methods of Client growth: Building communities, advisory boards and advocacy groups

One consistent messaging point you’ll come across on this blog (and across our site) is that the technology industry needs to be more human. And that leaders, salesman, and marketers need to remember that customers are people, not cheque books. That’s what account-based marketing is all about.

Technology leaders are making the change. More and more often, we’re having conversations around building communities, advisory boards and advocacy groups with the aim of giving back to customers first, and improving the bottom line second.

And they work – 79% of marketers who turn customers into advocates see increases in cross-sell, upsell, and enrichment. And businesses with customer advisory boards report an average of 9% more new business from advisory board members.

Community, advisory board or advocacy group – each are extensions of the acocunt-based marketing strategy. And each have their nuances.

Building Communities

B2B businesses have seen communities as a slow-growth strategy for a long time, but there’s ample evidence (anecdotal and statistical) that proves this is false. For example, 72% of community-led deals closed within 90 days.

Communities are an effective way to engage with your target accounts and build stronger relationships – they're literally account-based marketing in action. Most SaaS businesses (arguably all) already have one, it’s just a case of knowing where to look. When you decide it’s time to start building your community in earnest, bear this one thing in mind – people love engaging with companies where they already hang out. We talk about technology communities as a dedicated space (like our own Commerce Futures community on circle), but a dedicated WhatsApp group fits the bill, too.

The key thing to remember is that you are creating a community around your brand to give your customers a space to connect with each other and share their experiences. Not somewhere you can corner them and gleefully pepper them with sales messaging. Creating a sense of belonging and loyalty leads to increased sales. Not fear.

Here’s your hit-list to get started:

• Commit to only focussing on the needs and interests of your target accounts
• Fact find relentlessly; interview any customer that will talk to you and encourage them to be brutally honest. Even if they give you a dressing-down, you’re learning
• Create a forum for discussion, and elect willing ‘super-users’ as champions
• Use what you learn to give back; host webinars or events to help people discover unused features, offer exclusive content or resources for being a member
• Pay it forward – help people in your community excel in their lives, they’ll likely take you with them

You get the picture.

Building Advisory Boards

Not only are advisory boards an effective ABM method for building relationships with your target accounts, they’re incredible assets for maintaining transparency between you and your customers. Bringing together key stakeholders from your target accounts helps you identify market insights and creates immense learning opportunities.

You can gain valuable insights into their needs and preferences. These are the people doing their jobs. They will be honest and they will speak about their problems. This can help you to tailor your products or services to better meet their needs and build stronger relationships.

Really savvy SaaS leaders out there will use this as an opportunity to inform their roadmap and build in features and capabilities you know customers will pay for. But reader be warned; listen to the majority, not the loudest voice in the room.

With that in mind, ensure you select members who are a diverse representation of your target market of accounts and have a deep understanding of your industry. You should also provide clear goals and expectations for the board and ensure that members are compensated for their time and expertise.

Here’s your hit-list to get started:

• Choose the right mix of individuals. Ten is plenty, but ensure they each represent a variety of characateristics and are passionate about your product
• Choose champions (maybe the champions from your community) who are forward-thinkers and will help you innovate
• Ask your candidates who from your community they admire and want to get to know – which will give you a good indicator of other potential champions and ensure your existing picks remain engaged
• Push access as a key benefit for being involved; maybe its early access to insights/research/technology. Perhaps its access to people or ideas

Building Advocacy Groups

Research shows that 92% of customers trust word-of-mouth recommendations and 76% trust advocate content. This isn’t surprising, but numbers are compelling.

What makes advocacy groups an effective account-based marketing method for boosting client growth are how they allow you to formalise and scale the process of asking customers to speak about your products. Formalising this process makes collecting valuable social proof from customers like reviews, referrals, and testimonials a much smoother and organic process.

There is still an argument over where customer advocacy sits - with customer success (CS) or with marketing. We’ve been vocal about how in our view this remains the last rift to overcome in B2B SaaS businesses. But we’re optimistic, and indeed most of our tech friends agree that both departments need each other.

By identifying key influencers or advocates within your existing accounts, you can leverage their networks and credibility to make personalised campaigns that drive huge growth from other clients that trust them.

Here’s your hit-list to get started:

• Start by defining things: your goal (like growing your existing client by X amount)
• Define the persona of who you want to recruit as advocates
• Stroke their egos a little and give them special titles

Customer advocacy is never one-and done. As part of your account-based marketing strategy for client growth, think about what resources you can share with customers to usher them along their ongoing path to endorsement

ABM For Existing Client Growth: The TL;DR (too long, didn’t read)

Customers are your most valuable asset to revenue growth and customer success is a revenue generator. Whether you define it as an ABM strategy or not, your marketing team must prioritise customer marketing, advocacy, and community programs to drive existing-customer growth funnel rather than solely top-of-funnel activities. Retention is more important than ever.

As you may be aware, we’re running a conference later this year titled ‘The Hundred’. Its purpose is simple; to gather people working on the eCommerce front line together for a day of learning and networking. Everyone who attends leaves with a list of 100 things that they can go and do that will move the needle for the digital business.

Each of these 100 things has been submitted by our amazing community, friends and general digital geniuses. A recent submission from Kodak UK’s Anastasia Roumelioti sums up this article pretty well:

“Design your marketing flywheel and steer away from funnels. Funnel is making you focus on acquisition and can be unsustainable. Flywheel is pushing you to focus on lifetime value and prioritise the right customers.”

Should have just written that for the blog post, shouldn’t I?

For 99 more digital takeaways and 2535 fewer words, register for The Hundred through this link here.

‍