The Use of AI
From Amazon to Gmail, AI is all around us, and there are many opportunities for B2B marketers. Over one in three B2B marketers use artificial intelligence (AI), so it’s not just a fad. However, this technology’s vast amount of data makes it challenging to realize its business impact. But for AI to be correct, you need to have all your data in one place. AI works on your behalf to provide information, and for key accounts, it assigns a higher-rated lead score, revealing next-step actions and how to engage the prospect.
Account Based Marketing is nothing new, and conversational ABM is a proven method that increases engagement with your target accounts. It also creates additional opportunities for your sales team. If you don’t have experience using chat or setting up integrated campaigns, reliable approaches exist to help get you started. Plus, today’s tools and AI can perform many manual and time-consuming tasks for you. Below are five steps to get conversational ABM started at your organization.
1. Identify your target accounts using 1st and 3rd party data.
2. Divide your target account list into meaningful, addressable segments.
3. Create personalized ads for your segments.
4. Mirror the personalized language of your ads on your homepage.
5. Proactively start chat conversations using personalized welcome messages.
The Use of Chatbots
Now that stakeholders from your target accounts are on your website, in-market, and ready to make a purchase decision, it is time to be proactive, reach out, and initiate them. Provide them with a direct line to your sales team and avoid making them wait when they visit your site. Use a conversational marketing solution so your sales team can receive push notifications the very moment stakeholders from your target accounts reach your site. Then, the owners of those accounts can offer immediate assistance and see where those stakeholders are coming from, along with the interacted content. In turn, account owners have a plethora of context going into those conversations.
Account owners are only human and can’t reach out every time. Thus, it is imperative to set up personalized welcome messages for each of your account segments. By using vocabulary in your welcome messages that contests with what stakeholders have previously seen in your ads and homepage, you’ll create an organized campaign line that runs from beginning to end. The buying experience will be cohesive and streamlined for your target accounts.
Meanwhile, life has become easier for your account owners. You can identify website visitors in real-time (including those you don’t have email addresses for) and use bots to schedule meetings, giving 24/7 content recommendations for your target accounts. When turning campaigns into actual pipeline for your sales team, bots can help ensure that no target accounts are lost and that all potential sales conversations are had. Don’t replace your human sales reps; give them the tools they need to do the best job possible.
The Need for an Omni Channel Strategy
While all marketers can implement AI, it can be challenging to get it to work for your business because of niche vendors who aren’t using an omni channel marketing strategy to comprehend buyer needs. Marketing data doesn’t match sales data. For most B2B companies, the sales team sells to an account, not one individual. Plus, organizations are not aligned around a committee of buyers but instead around one person to do a task. If you have a clear view across the marketing and sales accounts you’re prospecting, along with the people you need to engage, your business could start to see an impact. The results in ABM are game-changing when you put sales and tech together with AI at the very center. The challenge is combining it all to find the truth around the data that powers the AI initiative. While customers keep buying technology to solve specific problems, they need to ensure that their overall marketing process connects to that technology to drive business results.
Evolution of Remote Teamwork
This approach involves collaboration, especially among customer facing teams like sales, marketing, and client success. There must be a joint conversation with client accounts across stakeholders to achieve their goals and meet their needs. 78% of organizations saw revenue growth, and 58% reported pipeline growth when sales and marketing collaborated. ABM blurs the boundaries between traditional roles and responsibilities within an organization and internal teams, creating an ongoing shared learning experience. Implementing an ABM strategy requires a change in work practices, outlook, and philosophy, but the rewards are significant. ABM provides benefits to maintain and develop client relationships and has a higher ROI than other marketing activities. More and more business departments are run in a remote environment, and more than one person makes decisions. Projects and initiatives are now managed and led by committees consisting of representatives from different functions. Many of these committees are virtual and come together informally to advise and make a specific decision. Thus, the individual focus of ABM is as important as the account.
While the future is unknown and the possibilities are difficult to imagine, organizations out front of the AI and ABM trends will ultimately change their business for the better. Contact our experts at DemandWorks Media to learn more about implementing intent data with AI powered analytics into your ABM campaigns.