Past,
ABM:
Future
Present,
Used to be, account targeting was where it was at.
Before the days of digital marketing, manufacturers knew precisely which customers to target. Inside sales set its sights on very specific accounts. Outside sales did the same. Channel partners worked their allotted patches.
There was little question, and lots of clarity, about who the intended audience was — and who was on the hook for selling to them.
Manufacturers were basically using account-based marketing approaches before account-based marketing was cool.
The main challenge back then, however, was that target accounts emitted few, if any, buying signals until a sales rep called someone on the buying team. In-house product marketers took their best shot building messaging and content to support sellers and channel partners. Likewise, brand marketing worked to create general awareness “air cover” through advertising and related tactics.
Manufacturing Marketing Hard Truth #1
Marketers are not in the digital age, despite what you might hear.
Today’s B2B buyers have high expectations for how they should be treated throughout their consideration and purchase processes. This is mostly because research material is more accessible than ever, thanks to the internet.
Buyers don’t engage sellers as much (or as early on) in the process as they used to. The information they need is usually online, either directly on your website or someone else’s. But in the precious few times they explicitly ask for something, they want first-class attention.
According to a Salesforce survey, 80% of customers value the experience that a company provides as much as its products or services. Just as telling is the fact people will change their buying behaviors based on the customer experience. Some 57% of respondents say they’ve switched to a competitor that provided a more satisfying CX.
We’re in the customer age.
It just so happens that our customers prefer engagement in digital channels.
Manufacturing Marketing Hard Truth #2
Then along came advanced inbound marketing.
The internet gave rise to marketing automation and campaign management programs. Marketing teams could leverage these tools to build websites integrated with forms, cookies, and email auto-responders. Then all that was left to do was:
Concoct some sort of lead-scoring system based on visitor interaction
Nope. As we saw in the story about Consultant #2, most of the MQLs brought about by these efforts simply weren’t viable. Pipeline charts looked good for a while … until it was clear that the leads were riddled with false contact information and tepid interest.
And go celebrate, right?
Dub the most engaged people “marketing qualified leads”
Flip any inquiries to the appropriate sales destination (in-house sales, distributors, dealers, etc.)
Customers may be looking for a manufacturing match more than you are.
In B2B commerce — manufacturing or otherwise — relationships matter. Buyers say they want longtime partnerships, not fleeting transactions.
Truth be told, there’s some cat-and-mouse happening here. Buyers look for a lasting fit, but don’t want to share information about themselves or their needs.
70% of them go through the buying process without ever speaking with a salesperson.
Anxious about the radio silence, sellers overcompensate by shoving solutions down prospects’ throats regardless of what it takes or whether it meets their fundamental needs.
Most of this happens through email spam, social media noise and cold calls. Should a buyer tolerate the onslaught of information and ask for details, the inquiry is often met with unprepared, uncoordinated, and unhelpful responses.
Sellers swing between coming on too strong and appearing like they’re not that into you.
Either way, it’s a bad look that does nothing for the funnel.
Meanwhile, the legitimate contacts grew increasingly leery of this spammy snare and annoying follow-up. If they didn’t run for the hills, they opted to anonymously conduct their research.
Increasingly, organizations were left to solve “the case of the disappearing funnel.” This required a lot of guesswork and very little insight. In extreme cases, this dilemma ate businesses from within.
Manufacturing Marketing Hard Truth #3
One person’s lead is another’s mis-lead.
Somewhere along the way, manufacturing marketers began to assume that when a buyer interacted just enough with their content or outreach, it meant the buyer was rarin’ to talk to a seller.
Predisposed to buy
Take this example: Jane Customer downloaded two ebooks from your website, subscribed to your YouTube channel, and liked your company’s social media picture of the holiday party. That definitely makes her…
A marketing qualified lead
And ready to be tossed over the fence for sales follow-up
Right? Nuh-uh.
In reality, Jane (and the hundreds of other leads who scored similarly) may have:
Merely been tantalized by your ebooks’ catchy titles
Wanted to win the giveaway you promoted to increase your YourTube subscribers
And thinks ugly sweaters are funny
The actions Jane took that “qualified” her say zilch about her professional intentions, or even where she might be in the buying journey.
In fact, Jane may not be interested at all in your solution and her company may not be a strategic fit. Sales might take one look at the lead, pinch its nose, and pitch to no avail.
Eventually, the traditional account focus
met up with the modern digital experience.
This transcends account-based marketing into what we call orchestrated account engagement.
Turns out, it’s still crucially important to give B2B buyers a personalized touch. And while digital marketing may not seem an ideal approach to replicate this kind of custom service, it actually is!
With today’s advances in artificial intelligence and data modeling, digital marketing completes the account-based marketing approach that was previously limited in reading buying signals. It deepens the playbook for how manufacturers can go to market because it reveals who relevant buyers are,
where they are in theuying journey, and what they’re contemplating and craving during any given moment.
We can accomplish this by using revenue technology platforms that leverage AI and big data to:
It basically means that sales and marketing work together to choose the very best accounts, understand what they care most about, and then plant worthwhile and engaging experiences for them throughout their purchase journeys to foster predictable revenue.
Gain granular visibility and predictive intelligence into which messages, content types, and channels should be prioritized at each stage of the game
Curate and personalize the journey like never before
And release informed campaigns and content tied to any combination of a prospect’s persona, engagement, company identity, size or industry, and more
Companies can curate specific messages — inbound and outbound — to individual members of the buying committee to best suit what they're specifically interested in and ready for. This empowers sellers to multi-thread distinct persons involved with the purchase so they individually and collectively see value in the offering.
The pendulum is swinging back to account focus because just-for-you marketing can now also be just-in-time marketing and persuade buyers in new and compelling ways.
“By 2025, B2B demand generation efforts will focus predominantly on accounts, not leads.”
—The Forrester New Wave™ report: ABM Platforms, Q2 2020
So what do buyers really want from sellers these days? Click the nearby image to learn more.
What kind of problems does that create for manufacturing marketers? Click the nearby image to learn more.
Click on the nearby image to discover what the buyer was really interested in.
So what do buyers really want from sellers these days?
What kind of problems does that create for manufacturing marketers?
With today’s advances in artificial intelligence and data modeling, digital marketing completes the account-based marketing approach that was previously limited in reading buying signals. It deepens the playbook for how manufacturers can go to market because it reveals who relevant buyers are, where they are in theuying journey, and what they’re contemplating and craving during any given moment.