11 ABM Ideas (+ Examples) To Inspire Your Next Campaign
It’s no secret that marketing evolves drastically year after year with the increasing needs of buyers and sellers; but at the core of every marketing strategy, there’s one common thread that always remains the same—people.
Account-based marketing strategies hone in on the people on the buying side of the B2B marketing equation. The difference between this and a standard strategy where you need to identify a target audience to effectively market to them, is the depth in which you create a personalized experience for your target accounts. You can think of ABM as almost creating a VIP experience.
We’ll look at account-based marketing examples shortly, but first, let’s put a magnifying glass up to ABM itself to fully understand why it’s so valuable.
What is Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?
At its core, account-based marketing flips the traditional marketing funnel on its head by identifying high-value accounts first, then tailoring marketing strategies to the specific needs and pain points of those accounts. In this way, it’s all about precision.
The targeted approach of the account-based marketing funnel allows SaaS companies to build stronger relationships with key decision-makers, shorten sales cycles, and maximize their return on investment.
The Goal of Account-Based Marketing
The primary goal of ABM campaigns is to align marketing efforts with sales team initiatives to generate higher-quality leads, better conversion rates, and foster deeper connections with key accounts.
One of the best ways to achieve these goals is by utilizing a tried and true account-based marketing software. You’ll also want to maintain strategic creativity in the way you approach your targeted accounts, to ensure you’re creating a positive customer experience and standing out among competitors.
There are several marketing avenues where ABM tactics can come into play in B2B businesses, so let’s explore some ideas for how you can achieve your goals with ABM in 2024:
Traditional ABM Ideas
1. Customized Direct Mail
The idea: Send personalized, high-quality direct mail packages to key decision-makers within target accounts.
For example: LiveRamp, a data collaboration company, adopted an account-based marketing approach, with a goal to pursue a targeted list of Fortune 500 companies. They used a combination of display advertising, email marketing, outbound calling, and you guessed it, direct mail. The result? LiveRamp drove over $50M in annual revenue from 15 target accounts.
2. Print Newsletters or Reports
The idea: Keep your top accounts in the know with a brief but personal newsletter.
This type of document can be created monthly or seasonally to outline past successes and future opportunities for your accounts. You can also get more creative by formatting your print document directly around the interests of your target account, as shown in the example below. This attention to detail is sure to impress and engage top decision-makers.
For example: GumGum, a contextual intelligence platform, targeted the CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere, with a comic book where they positioned Legere as a Batman-esque superhero with themselves as his sidekick to promote their potential partnership. GumGum knew he was a fan of comic books, and this creativity landed them the account.
3. Custom Merchandise and Personalized Gifts
The idea: Create custom merchandise that will be both valuable and memorable for the leads of your target account. When done right, there are several benefits, and the more creative and strategic you are, the more memorable your brand will be. Look to your brand values, key messaging, and mission statement for inspiration, and consider the one to one marketing approach to really resonate with your target customer.
For example: A company specializing in digital clean-up and file management gives their top customers a way to stay clean and stress-free in their everyday lives as well, using something like SkipTheDishes’ GameTime Tarp.
4. Interactive Events
The idea: Sponsor or host industry-specific events to directly engage with target accounts. This could include hosting a roundtable discussion or sponsoring a panel at a relevant industry conference to provide a platform for meaningful interactions with decision-makers.
For example: Adobe is just one of many companies hosting a networking summit in 2024. The summit is set to include in-depth workshops led by industry experts, keynote speakers highlighting the latest advancements in Adobe technology, and exclusive previews of what’s to come in their software solutions.
Digital ABM Ideas
5. Account-Specific Landing Pages
The idea: Develop personalized ABM landing pages that address the specific needs of target accounts. Now I don’t mean simply changing out the branding on each page, but creating an actual tailored experience to resonate with each of your target audiences.
For example: Factors.ai offers a great example of how Procurify, a company specializing in spend management, saw a 38% jump in their demo rate after creating 50 hyper-personalized landing pages to combat the pain points they’ve seen in the industry. To ensure the right people saw these landing pages, they paired this ABM personalization strategy with account-based advertising — another highly effective digital ABM method — so let’s look at that ABM tactic next.
6. Account-Based Advertising
The idea: Design digital ad campaigns, personalizing every detail from the ad copy to the visuals, to appeal to specific personas. We’ve all been served a relevant targeted ad online, and they generally provide a solution to a problem you’re facing because they use remarketing to follow up on something you’ve already searched for.
Try Google display or native ads to build brand awareness, attract new customers, and even build loyalty among current ones. Just pay attention to what type of ad performs best on the platform you’ll be advertising on.
For example: When Ignitium was finding it difficult to manage how their clients’ ad budgets were being spent, they used Demandbase to create an ABM ad strategy focused on one of their key clients. The result? 92% of opportunities clicked on the ads (only 33% prior to one-to-one program) and there was a 200-300% overall lift across impressions, clicks, and high-intent users reached.
7. Virtual Events and Webinars
The idea: Host virtual ABM events or webinars specifically tailored to the challenges of your target accounts. To take full advantage of this medium, conduct a webinar series featuring industry experts who discuss trends and solutions relevant to the pain points of your target accounts. Try using interactive elements like Q&A sessions to engage decision-makers directly.
For example: Later Media is just one example of a SaaS brand who does this in their annual Later Con social media conference, which I’ve personally attended numerous times and thoroughly enjoy virtually, even though I’d love to meet their marketing team at the real deal someday.
8. Free Downloads
The idea: Use web content personalization and create a free digital product that your target audience can download and get value from in their daily lives. This can include reports, templates, checklists, or a simple list of tips and tricks they can utilize when needed.
For example: Companies like SocialBee offer a free downloadable social media holiday calendar for their target audience. The strategy behind it is two-fold — to build brand loyalty and grow their email marketing list.
Social Media ABM Ideas
9. Targeted Social Media Ads
The idea: Craft a strategic sequence of ads on platforms like LinkedIn, META, and Instagram to tell a compelling story that resonates with the journey of your target accounts.
For example: You could start with an awareness-building ad, followed by educational content that offers direct value to your audience, and conclude with a promotional ad with a strategic call to action that gets the right people into your sales pipeline.
TIP: You can use this same sequence in your organic content marketing as well to build brand trust, but I also recommend adding social proof, like testimonials, to really seal the deal.
10. Social Listening and Engagement Strategy
The idea: Monitor social media channels for mentions and discussions related to target accounts. Good social listening software will help tap you into online conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry in general. It’s important to remember that the more personal your engagement, the more positively you’ll be remembered.
For example: I follow a 7-figure business owner on Instagram who has 219K followers. I’ve wanted to buy her online course for some time, but it’s a large investment, so I sent her a direct message asking questions about it first.
Based on her status, I didn’t have high expectations for a quick or elaborate response but I was pleasantly surprised when she messaged me back within 24 hours with a voice note answering every question. That left a positive mark—one you could also leave on key accounts if you were to do the same!
11. Instagram Takeovers
The idea: Collaborate with industry experts or influencers your account leads look up to, and have them do an Instagram takeover on your business account to share insights and expertise for a day.
Along with sharing valuable insights, this person can engage directly with decision-makers from your target accounts to give them a VIP social media experience! As a bonus, it’s a great way to optimize your own page’s reach and engagement too.
For example: When Trustpilot wanted to target specific accounts in Chicago and Houston, they ran an account-based B2B campaign that piggybacked off of a larger consumer-focused outdoor ad takeover of those two geos. The result? Trustpilot reached 84% of its target accounts, 53% of accounts targeted visited Trustpilot.com, and 45% of those that visited were engaged.
It’s Time To Get Personal!
Now that you know the incredible opportunities that account-based marketing vs traditional marketing can bring you, it’s time to take action.
By seamlessly integrating the trifecta of account-based traditional, digital, and social media marketing, you’ll unlock new and profound ways to connect with high-value accounts, experience a positive change in metrics, and establish a lasting competitive advantage.
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