A recent NetLine report revealed that B2B buyers are consuming content at a greater rate than ever before — up by 9% in 2021. For that reason, it pays for market operations leaders to study effective account-based marketing (ABM) campaign examples.
What Makes an ABM Campaign Effective?
The NetLine survey discovered that B2B leaders want “more straightforward, ‘how-to’ content.” ABM campaigns, therefore, should focus on solving the tough challenges B2B decision-makers face. Since ABM campaigns target individual decision-makers with personalized content geared to their specific interests, they’re a perfect fit for B2B marketing.
Also, an effective campaign must target those executives most responsible for making game-changing decisions. As the NetLine report discovered, B2B executives’ content consumption rose by 15.8% during 2021. Catering to their needs is an essential step in pursuing B2B content marketing success.
Those insights have proven true. As WARC’s Jon Clarke points out, those companies that have implemented ABM boosted their revenue anywhere between 10% (for first-year adopters) to 208%. That statistic alone should drive B2B companies to integrate account-based marketing campaigns into their content strategy.
Learn the secret to ABM success from some of the nation’s most effective B2B content marketing teams.
1. DocuSign
Who hasn’t taken advantage of this convenient service that allows people to sign business-critical documents with just a few clicks? Its popularity owes much to the company’s marketing operations team, which pursued major prospects with an ABM campaign we think is well worth emulating.
Using account intelligence tools from Demandbase, they set specific criteria for the types of prospects they wanted to attract. Then, they used targeted advertising to get their ads in front of hundreds of top companies that met their criteria.
At first, the campaign created more views than click-throughs to the target content. Then, they personalized their approach, creating industry-specific homepages that would appeal to decision-makers in their top prospects.
Using dynamic content, including customer testimonials from people in the same industry as their prospects, they drove their leads to an industry-relevant page through a short series of questions to determine which industry they were in.
On each landing page, prospects found valuable information dealing with industry-specific problems, ending in a call to action to fill out a free trial form.
DocuSign’s prospects couldn’t resist. With triple the click-through rate of their previous campaigns, their approach delivered 22% growth in their sales pipeline.
2. Clearwave
Clearwave, a company that developed a patient engagement platform for the healthcare industry, needed to design a personalized approach that showed how they could meet each healthcare facility’s unique needs.
To do so, their marketing operations team aligned their efforts with their sales teams through content collaboration. Their marketing team shared data they received from their content analytics — specifically, behavior that showed their prospect’s leadership team looked ready to purchase.
Conversely, the marketing team consulted the sales team to discover which marketing messages connected best with their prospects so they could tweak their approach to better engage them.
Combining marketing data and personalization, the sales and marketing teams built a buyer’s journey for each of their prospect’s decision-makers. Then, using their shared data, they created engaging content that addressed each decision-maker’s interests while keeping their eye on their competitors’ approaches, thus putting them ahead of the game.
This personalized, collaborative approach allowed them to create more effective buyer personas, resulting in campaigns that closed sales 20% faster than ever before. More efficient marketing and speedier sales — all thanks to an approach that breaks down departmental silos to solve problems.
3. Snowflake
A major cloud-based data warehouse company, Snowflake created a library of content targeted to their customers’ interests. Then, they customized each piece of content to meet the specific needs of each account.
Focusing on establishing its position as a thought leader in the industry, Snowflake built trust from the ground up through informative, helpful content. That helped its prospects solve problems and educate themselves about the industry. That long-term approach paid off, resulting in an increase in the company’s marketing ROI.
4. Salsify
A company whose mission is “powering superior shopping experiences,” Salsify connects retailers with prospective customers in the digital space. To convince retailers to use their services, the company capitalized on their scheduled appearance at a major trade show.
Appearing at the show alongside global powerhouses Johnson & Johnson and Google, Salsify’s marketing strategists thought, would be the ideal platform to showcase their work. So, the marketing team reached out to their prospects with custom messaging and display ads targeted to their prospects’ interests, and personalized emails.
The results well exceeded their goal of 60 prospects. Eighty-two target customers sent decision-makers to the show.
There, Salsify’s marketers partnered with their sales team to deliver those prospects into the company’s hands. Informed and engaged by both the preparatory messaging and the presentation at the show, they were ready to hear more about how Salsify could improve their business.
5. LiveRamp
A data-enablement company whose mission is to make “data safe and easy for businesses to use,” LiveRamp used a selective approach to target their “big fish” prospects — in this case, Fortune 500 companies. Using predictive technology, they sought out intelligence on possible leads, whittling down their list by the characteristics that made them a perfect fit for LiveRamp’s services.
Then, LiveRamp’s marketing team launched a multi-channel, multi-touch approach that included email marketing, display ads, direct mail, and personalized gifts tailored to its prospects’ personal preferences.
And, like most successful ABM campaigns, LiveRamp’s campaign partnered with the company’s sales development representatives (SDRs), providing them with all the data they needed for successful outbound calls.
6. Robin
A software-as-service (SaaS) company that specializes in helping teams “work collaboratively” in a hybrid work environment, Robin has a client list that includes guitar maker Fender and the ever-popular Peloton.
Using their current clients’ success as a springboard, Robin’s marketing team featured the office spaces they created for their clients in their content. Then, they leveraged paid advertising and social media — all targeted to their biggest prospects — building their prospects’ desire to have workplaces as stunning and efficient as those featured in the images. As a result, the company increased its website traffic by 50% and grew its leads by 20%.
7. GumGum
GumGum, a company that provides contextual intelligence services, helps its corporate clients run digital ads where and when they will produce the best results. Using an innovative ABM campaign, they landed T-Mobile as a client. Here’s how:
The savvy marketing team at GumGum channeled their inner James Bond, scouring social media for posts from T-Mobile’s CEO, John Legere. They soon discovered that Legere had a thing for Batman. So, they took an outside-the-box approach to attract his attention — and his business.
They created a comic book that featured the CEO as the lead character, T-Man, who they modeled after Batman. And, as a touch of genius, they cast themselves as the helpful sidekick that helped T-Man conquer the city’s poor cell phone reception, thanks to T-Mobile.
That approach worked. Not only did GumGum land T-Mobile, but they also created a ton of buzz on social media, boosting brand awareness and attracting new prospects to their brand. Since then, they’ve exploited T-Man’s popularity to tackle a variety of issues, including the availability of data via wireless devices.
Take Inspiration from These Campaigns to Achieve ABM Success
Account-based marketing levels the playing field regarding planning content that converts. No matter how large your company is, you risk an up-and-coming competitor beating you out for a big account if you don’t launch your own ABM campaign.
Appl some of the winning strategies that the companies we’ve featured in this post have used to put your content operations on the road to ABM success.
Personalize Problem-Solving Content
Chances are you already have some generic content that shows how your products and services can solve business problems for your typical prospects. Repurpose some of this content with a personalized approach tailored to your most promising prospects, as did DocuSign, Clearwave, and Snowflake.
Tailor Content to Your Prospects’ Buyer’s Journeys
As our own Jonathan Hill points out, today’s B2B buyer’s journeys are often non-linear. Start with where your prospects are — especially if they’re nearly ready to buy. Then, tailor your approach to winning their business with content that shows how your products and services can help them generate more business of their own, as Clearwave demonstrated.
Partner with Your Sales Teams
Sharing intelligence with your sales teams and vice versa tends to strengthen your overall approach to winning more customers, as Clearwave and LiveRamp did.
In fact, we’d advise you to take an extra step. For stellar service after the sale, consider collaborating with your customer service teams by producing content that helps customers get more out of their investment in your products.
Feature Client Success Stories in ABM Content
As your high school English teacher probably taught you, content works best when you “show, don’t tell.” Demonstrating what you’ve done for your clients through imagery and hero’s journey stories can reap a wealth of success, as Robin discovered.
Don’t Fear Stepping Outside the Box
If you want to catch the attention of a busy executive, as GumGum did, you need ultra-personalized content that hooks them on an emotional level. Find out what their passions are — and step outside the box to deliver content that connects those passions to business success.
Combine Predictive Technology with Content Analytics
To win with ABM, you need to uncover which content resonates with which buyers. Combining a predictive technology solution with your content analytics, you can produce the types of content your top prospects will gobble up, as LiveRamp discovered.
With a content analytics solution that integrates with a wealth of other platforms, you can do just that. In today’s competitive environment, it pays to use integrated solutions to save time and gather more information about your prospects.
With DivvyHQ, you have such a content platform. With robust metadata, hundreds of integrations, and a collaborative capability built specifically for content teams, it’s a great choice when you want to launch ABM campaigns.
Even better, you can try it for yourself for 14 days, absolutely free. Start your free trial today!