Account–Based Marketing Guide

Table of Contents
Introduction
What is Account-Based Marketing………………………………...…….Page 3
How is ABM Different from Broad-Based Marketing…..............Page 4
What is the Benefit of Account-Based Marketing?....................Page 5
Getting Started with Account-Based Marketing
Getting Executive Support…………………………………………………..Page 6
Identify Your Team……………………………………..………………………Page 7
Clean Your Data……………………………………..……..……………………Page 8
Enrich Your Data…………………………………….…..………………………Page 9
Align Sales and Marketing…………………………..………………………Page 10
Agree on Key Qualifiers…………………………….………………………..Page 11
Identify Target Accounts……………………………..………………………Page 12
Formulate Metrics……………………………………...………………………Page 13
Develop or Re-Purpose Content..………………..………………………Page 15
Content Considerations for ABM………….……..………………………Page 16
Launch and Learn……………………………………..……..…………………Page 17
Additional Resources……………...............………………………..…………………Page 18
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Introduction
What is Account-Based Marketing?
Marketing has come a long way from mass mailings and ineffectual TV ads. Over the last few decades, the industry
trend has been to zoom in. Instead of addressing your message to everyone and maybe capturing a few interested
leads, we now tailor our message to a specific audience and speak directly to them. Personalization works. The right
content at the right time works.

The more we zoom in, the better the result.

But when you aim your marketing efforts at individuals–any person, in any industry, within any organization–those
efforts may still be too broad. In fact, the current marketing standard is referred to as broad-based marketing.

This is where account-based marketing comes in. You've probably heard of account-based marketing, but what exactly
is it?

Instead of targeting individuals, account-based marketing focuses on, you guessed it, specific accounts! Your
campaigns, content and goals will also shift gears to address the change in focus. That means that you are doing your
research, identifying key accounts and aligning your sales and marketing teams, all before building a single marketing
asset.

Before we go any further, here are some key concepts to keep in mind:

✔ Account-based marketing is a strategy, not a tool

✔ Broad-based and account-based marketing are not mutually exclusive–you can do both!
✔ ABM strategy is best suited to the B2B market
✔ Start small, then expand as needed
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How is ABM different from Broad-Based Marketing?
ABM is focused on accounts versus individuals, but what does that look like in practice? Here are some key differences.

Focus Area Broad-Based Marketing Account-Based Marketing

Target individuals in specific segments, like Target accounts based on segments using CRM
Strategy
industry or region data and Sales input

Sales and Marketing keep their data separate;

Data Sales and Marketing data is the same
little to no insight shared between teams

Content is built and personalized for a

Content is built and personalized for a buyer group.
Content
buyer persona Buyer group may include multiple contact roles
on an account, like CEO, Marketing Director, IT.

Marketing and Sales work together to identify

Metrics Marketing and Sales have different metrics
and set new metrics

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What is the benefit of Account-Based Marketing?
A key benefit of an account-based marketing strategy is that it allows you to focus on truly qualified leads.

One of the top challenges facing marketers today is finding leads that not only look qualified on paper, but
actually translate into closed deals. Even when broad-based marketing does a great job of segmenting,
qualifying and nurturing leads, the conversion rate is still fairly small–only 5-10%, on average.*

This may be because marketing has a different definition of “qualified” than sales, or because that very
engaged leads are not necessarily the ultimate decision-maker for their organization.

ABM synthesizes all the CRM information that you have available to you—previous purchases, successful
segments, contact roles that were involved in a deal—and allows you to convert that data into strategy.

An additional benefit of ABM is better alignment between sales and marketing—something that most
organizations seek, yet struggle to accomplish. Since ABM assumes that the two teams will be working with
the same data and same end-goals, adversity turns into collaboration!

Sales Marketing
✔ CRM Data ✔ Pardot Data

✔ Contact Relationships + ✔ Understanding of

prospect behavior
= ABM Success
✔ Revenue Goals
✔ Content

*Source: Marketing Insider Group

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Getting Started with Account-Based Marketing
Getting Executive Support

Because account-based marketing is a big shift in strategy, it is important to

get support from your organization's decision makers. An executive can help
by championing this new strategy in the following ways:

✔ Encourage collaboration between internal teams

✔ Authorize significant time investment for asset development
✔ Guide strategy through the lens of overall business objectives
✔ Allocate funds as needed

Once you have executive support, you can begin building your team of key
stakeholders.

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Identify Your Team
Just as executive sponsorship is key in getting started with Sales: When it comes to closed deals, there is no better
ABM, a carefully selected team of internal representatives can resource than your sales team. Sales representatives talk to
also make a big impact on the success of your planning. leads on a daily basis, answering their questions and
addressing their concerns–they know what it takes to sell your
Although the goal is to get your entire organization involved product. What's more, sales reps know who the right contacts
and using ABM, it’s best to test ABM with a smaller group first. are and how to find them. Finally, it is likely that your sales
team has built a great network of solid relationships that you
The goal of this small group or task force is to: can tap into when targeting specific accounts.
✔ Define success metrics
✔ Define what qualifies target accounts Marketing: In many ways, the marketing team is the lifeblood
✔ Identify target accounts of the ABM strategy. This is the team that will build content,
identify opportunities to personalize, and carry out
So who should be on this initial team? Ideally, you will have account-specific campaigns. Their input on past campaign
representatives from: performance and understanding of marketing automation
capabilities will ensure a strong start.
✔ Sales
✔ Marketing Operations/IT: While sales and marketing may have important
✔ Operations/IT knowledge on leads and accounts, ABM is only possible with a
well-functioning tech stack. That means that your IT team will
Because you will want input from group’s leadership as well as prove invaluable. In order to succeed, you will need to ensure
those in the field, consider sourcing two to three members that your data is clean and updating correctly, that your various
from each of those groups. applications are running smoothly and syncing as expected,
Here is how each group will be contribute to the task force. and that you can access the proper reports and dashboards
when it comes time to measure performance.

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Clean Your Data

You have executive buy-in and you've built your team of Pardot’s Prospect Database Cleaning Guide outlines fast,
experts. Now you need to make sure that the data with free methods for decluttering your prospect database.
which you are working is current and accurate.
The screenshot below shows one possible option — using
This is an essential step in getting your ABM strategy up an automation rule to add all prospects to a list if they
and running because data is what will drive all future have been inactive for more than a year. You can then use
decisions, from finding target accounts to reporting on a table action on the list to move all prospects to the
your efforts. recycle bin.

First and foremost, your data must be clean. There are

several ways to accomplish this in Pardot and Salesforce.

✔ Create an automated process of deleting inactive

or disengaged prospects

✔ Use a data cleaning service

✔ Use a deduplication tool from the AppExchange

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Enrich Your Data

Beyond cleaning, it may make sense to enrich your data. After You may find, however, that first-party data is not enough. In
all, the more information you have to work with, the better and that case, there are several excellent tools that can help you
more precise your results. collect relevant information from third-parties.

You already have a great way of enriching your first-party data: Demandbase: Automates the identification of companies that
use forms. If there is specific information that you think will be are likely to buy, including those that are already in-market for
helpful in developing an ABM strategy, consider including form a company’s products and services. It then determines the
fields to source that information from your prospects. right buyers within those accounts and uncovers buyer-specific
insights to recommend personalized messages for sales teams
For example, if your strategy will focus on a specific industry, to use.
you will want to require a value for the Industry field on your
prospect and lead records. Thus, you will want to include the Bombora: Places specific tags on publisher websites and notes
Industry field on your Pardot forms and make it a required when there are spikes in interest on those topics, helping you
field. spot potential opportunities.

Beyond gathering this necessary information from net-new D&B Hoovers: Fills in account and company information, such
prospects, you can also implement progressive profiling on as number of employees, industry, and contact details.
your forms to keep learning from your existing prospects.

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 Engage Alerts Notify Sales Reps of Lead Activity
Align Sales and Marketing

One of the key assumptions of ABM is that your sales and

marketing teams are collaborating closely on a consistent
basis. To achieve this alignment, ensure that both teams:

✔ Have equal say in decisions and strategy

✔ Have access to the same data
✔ Work toward the same KPIs
✔ Use consistent messaging
✔ Understand the other team’s pain points

The key to alignment is visibility. With Salesforce and Add to Engagement Studio Program from Lead Record
Pardot, you already have your data, content, and metrics
in the same place. If you’re not already there, alignment
should be within easy reach!

Considering utilizing Salesforce Engage to streamline how

sales and marketing work together. With this tool, your
sales reps can receive alerts anytime their lead engages
with marketing assets, like emails, forms or landing pages.
Additionally, Salesforce Engage allows sales teams to
warm up cold leads by adding them to nurture programs.

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Agree on Key Qualifiers Customize Scoring in Pardot to Qualify Accounts
Once your data is current and clean, you can determine which
accounts are a good fit for your ABM strategy.

Your CRM is a goldmine when it comes to determining what

makes an account a good fit. Use Pardot and Salesforce data to
identify accounts. Consider starting with these qualifiers:

Top performing accounts: Look at your largest deals in the last

sales cycle and identify any common factors among them. Are
they in a particular geographic location? Are they in a specific
industry or sector?

Most engaged accounts: Use Pardot score* to identify the most Identify Top Accounts with B2B Marketing Analytics
engaged accounts. Look for common factors. For example, is
there a specific contact role that is engages more than others? Is
there a trend in which content works best?

The bulk of your strategy should be built on existing CRM data.

However, additional considerations will likely arise from your ABM
task force. For example, your executive sponsor may want to focus
on an industry not previously on the Sales team's radar. Your Sales
manager may attend a trade show and discover an untapped
market in California.

*Note: Learn more about developing a Pardot scoring model here. 11

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Identify Target Accounts
The qualifications that you have identified using your CRM data
Segment Accounts in Pardot
will now help you identify target accounts. Here are a few things
to keep in mind while finalizing your short list of accounts.

Start small: When it comes to ABM, it is important to start small

and build your way up. Your strategy is new and untested; your
target accounts and metrics don't yet have data to back them
up; and it's likely that there is still more room for alignment
among your sales and marketing teams. Start with a small
number of target accounts, pilot your strategy with them, and
then regroup to discuss how it worked.

Verify your contacts: Even though you are targeting accounts,

identifying the right individuals is a key component of ABM Create List Views in Salesforce
success. Ensure that you have at least one dependable contact
for each target account identified. Remember, in ABM, it's not
uncommon to have a buyer group instead of a buyer persona,
so make sure you do your research accordingly and build as
many useful contacts as necessary for success.

Update CRM with new accounts: In your identification process,

you may decide on accounts that are not currently in your CRM.
This could be the result of using tools Salesforce DMP or
Demandbase to find lookalike accounts. Ensure that any new
account records are created and populated fully in your CRM.

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Formulate metrics
Whether you are just starting out with ABM or you’re looking Utilize B2B Marketing Analytics
to expand your existing strategy, setting measurable goals is
key to your success.

Once you have identified your target accounts, work with

your ABM team to agree on your metrics. How will you
measure success?

Here are some factors you might consider:

✔ Close rate
✔ Funnel velocity
✔ Pipeline value
✔ Opportunities Created
✔ Opportunities Closed Build Relevant Dashboards in Salesforce
Set realistic goals by focusing on three or four key metrics
instead of a long list. Include a few bullet points for each
metric, describing how you will achieve each goal.

The most important aspect of this exercise is to ensure that

everyone, from sales to marketing to IT, is on the same page
when it comes to expectations and results. Setting goals
together means that everyone is working toward the same
goal, aligning tasks accordingly, and celebrating the same
milestones.
*Note: Learn more about building Dashboards here.
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Use the worksheet below to outline your goals, ownership, due dates and next steps.

Goal Owner Due Date Next Steps

● Build nurture track

Example: 10 new Leila, Marketing
Q4 ● Plan webinar
opportunities created Director
● Call engaged contacts

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Develop and Repurpose Content Personalize with Variable Tags in Pardot

How will your content strategy change now that you are
working with accounts instead of individuals? In many ways, it
may not. There is still going to be a person on the other end of
your email, which means you still need to maintain many
broad-based marketing best practices.

Personalize: Use dynamic content and variable tags in email

and on landing pages to ensure that your content is always
relevant. For example, if you are focusing on a specific industry
or a region, make sure that your content reflects that focus.
Audit your existing content and look for opportunities to Be Relevant with Dynamic Content
personalize. This is also a good time to build new content if you
notice gaps in resources.

Be Timely: Pay attention to the messages that you get from

your contacts. If they registered for a topical webinar, follow up
soon after with a related blog post, then send an attendance
reminder a week before the webinar. Use Engagement Studio
to automate this process.

Keep Gathering Information: Even with great existing data, it

always helps to learn more about your target accounts. Build
content that is geared at boosting their engagement. Gate your
most valuable resources behind personalized landing pages
and use progressive profiling to build your relationship.
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Content Consideration for ABM Customize Engagement Studio Programs

One important distinction between account-based and

broad-based marketing is that instead of one contact, you may
have several individuals at one company with whom you
interact.

While all of the aforementioned content considerations remain

the same, you may need to build out multiple content tracks
for each type of contact.

For example, you may have a short Engagement Studio

program geared toward a C-level executive that introduces your
organization and keeps it top of mind. You may have another,
more in-depth program geared toward the expected end user.
For that contact, you may want to emphasize areas like ease of
use and relevant functionality.

Think about the role each of these contacts may play in a deal
and the role they’ll play in a long-term relationship. This is your
opportunity to anticipate the questions each role may have
and answer them through your content.

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Launch and Learn

It's the moment you’ve been waiting for! After cleaning data,
identifying accounts, setting goals, and building content, your Build
first ABM campaign is finally here. Strategy

Here are some final tasks to check off your list:

✔ Set up a check-in cadence with your ABM team to

keep everyone on the same page

✔ Review metrics periodically and make small

Repeat ABM Launch
adjustments where needed

✔ Create a Chatter group, Google form, or another

option for sharing task force feedback

✔ Schedule a final review to discuss successes and

Review
identify improvements

✔ Do it all over again with the new changes!

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Additional Resources
Pardot Blog Posts on ABM
Trailhead Module: Account-Based Marketing
Marketing Cloud’s ABM Tips
Pardot Landing Page: What is ABM?
Salesforce Blog: Four Ways to do ABM using Salesforce
Salesforce Landing Page on ABM
Camp ABM Webinar Series: Blaze a Trail with ABM

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