One of the hottest topics in marketing and sales this year is Account-Based Marketing. SiriusDecisions’ 2015 State of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) study found that 92% of marketers recognize the value of an Account-Based Marketing Strategy. Whether or not your company has fully embraced an Account-Based Marketing strategy, any company can benefit from looking at how the ABM methodology can help their marketing and sales strategies. One of the best places to implement ABM is in your event strategy.
Account-Based Marketing Definition
You’ve probably heard about ABM, but what does it really mean? Here is a detailed definition of Account-Based Marketing from SiriusDecisions:
Account-based marketing (ABM) is the strategic approach marketers use to support a defined universe of accounts, including strategic accounts and named accounts. It also includes support for the post-sale customer lifecycle using marketing’s toolkit to contribute to the overall customer experience. ABM provides guidance on how to deliver the insights, goal setting, strategy and planning, integrated marketing execution, and sales alignment required to support growth, retention, and loyalty objectives. It also provides guidance on how to measure marketing’s impact beyond demand creation within defined groups of prospect and customer accounts. ABM helps to evolve the role of marketing to reflect a stronger alignment with sales objectives and customer needs to deliver better execution and revenue outcomes.
That definition is a little dense, so let’s break it down to into smaller chunks and how they relate to events:
Target Accounts and Events
Account-based marketing (ABM) is the strategic approach marketers use to support a defined universe of accounts, including strategic accounts and named accounts.
The first step in Account-Based Marketing is to identify target accounts. To create your target account list, you can evaluate your current customer list to discover common attributes, use predictive analytics, ask your sales team for a list, or use some combination of those three tactics.
To make your event strategy more effective, you need to have target accounts in mind when planning. Any event from sponsoring a conference to hosting a roadshow, cocktail hour, or private dinner, should be targeted to a specific group of prospect and customer accounts you want to engage. Looking at the target accounts that will be attending an event shouldn’t be an afterthought. Your event strategy should revolve around engagement with your target accounts. When considering which conferences to sponsor or where to hold field marketing events, you should be using your list of target accounts to make decisions.
Focus On Your Customers
ABM also includes support for the post-sale customer lifecycle using marketing’s toolkit to contribute to the overall customer experience.
A good event strategy doesn’t just focus on prospects and winning new business. Your customers are the most important part of your business, and events are the perfect place to engage with them. Along with your list of prospect target accounts, you need to have a complete and up-to-date list of your customers on hand when planning your events. Beyond your full list of customers, you should have a list of top customers and customer advocates. Both of these lists should play a role in where and when you hold your field events to make sure you are involving both your regular customers and your vocal advocates.
Supporting Growth, Retention, and Advocacy
ABM provides guidance on how to deliver the insights, goal setting, strategy and planning, integrated marketing execution, and sales alignment required to support growth, retention, and loyalty objectives.
Events are the most effective B2B marketing strategy. Just like Account-Based Marketing, they should be used to “support growth, retention, and loyalty.” Using ABM to get the right mix of prospects, customers, and customer advocates to your events is an excellent way to create an environment that meets those three objectives. Events create growth in the form of new opportunities with qualified prospects. Events encourage retention by engaging customers in person and making them feel like part of your community. Events boost loyalty by leveraging your most loyal and supportive customers to inspire your prospects and customers.
Marketing Is More Than Just Demand Generation
ABM also provides guidance on how to measure marketing’s impact beyond demand creation within defined groups of prospect and customer accounts.
Account-Based Marketing is all about quality over quantity. Your events should be too. Events need to measure more than just the number of new sales leads. We’ve talked about why pipeline acceleration should be more of a priority than demand generation at events, and account-based marketing supports that. Account-Based Marketing requires lot of touches throughout the entire length of the customer lifecycle, not just at the point of lead creation. Looking at metrics like the relationship between customer event attendance and customer retention and renewals should become part of your event process.
Stronger Marketing and Sales Alignment
ABM helps to evolve the role of marketing to reflect a stronger alignment with sales objectives and customer needs to deliver better execution and revenue outcomes.
Alignment between marketing and sales is extremely important for events. The in-person nature of events makes the stakes higher than other areas where sales and marketing intersect. Events are the one time where marketing plans something and sales has to be there physically. Account-Based Marketing requires sales and marketing collaboration in everything from creating target account and customer lists to implementing a strategy to engage those customers and prospects. If you use the ABM methodology in your event strategy, sales and marketing will be aligned from the start. Getting sales input on the customer and prospect accounts to target and then getting in front of those accounts helps to prove the value of marketing events to sales.
Even if you aren’t ready to change your entire marketing and sales strategy over to Account-Based Marketing, your event strategy needs to start following the ABM framework.
