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Optimize Your Growth-Stage ABM with AI: Effective Strategies for Lean Teams and Tight Budgets

10 July 2024

Account-Based Marketing works, but implementing it at the early stage of growth is often a challenge. Here we outline a number of AI tools and other tech platforms that are changing the game in ABM.

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Written by Rachael Shayne

In 2024, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) remains a crucial strategy for B2B companies looking to engage with high-value clients. By leveraging detailed psychographic data, ABM enables marketers to deliver highly personalized experiences that cut through the noise of the nearly 10,000 ad messages we see every day. However, most marketing teams are lean, and so are their budgets. Implementing ABM isn’t simple, but it’s doable with a lean team and lean budget, especially by adding in a dose of AI. Here are some practical strategies and insights you can swipe to execute effective ABM without a large team or substantial martech budget.

Understanding ABM

ABM identifies and targets key accounts with personalized marketing strategies. Simple. You’re creating more relevance versus relying on one way to sell to many different people. Said another way, your target/s should feel “seen” versus “targeted.”

Core principles include narrowing your focus to high-value accounts, customized messaging, and (crucially) sales and marketing alignment.

Benefits of ABM:

Common Misconceptions:

Essential Elements of a Successful ABM Strategy

Identifying High-Value Target Accounts: Focus on quality over quantity. Select accounts that align with your business objectives and show high revenue potential. Go back through your history of deals, looking at total revenue over a specific period. In a growth-stage company, this often means sitting down with the CEO and the original head of sales and extracting deal-flow information. Who are your best accounts, and why? How and when did they buy? Catalog the information. This gives you clues to find look-alikes. Determine the 5-7 things that made your best customers pop to the top. Timing/Seasonality? Public or Private? Size of Company? Type of Investors and/or Board pressure? Market Dynamics? AI can help you find the patterns, but you need to build out the base of knowledge – for yourself and the company – before you plumb for insights. If you just brought on Hubspot or similar, get the data logged.

Developing Personalized Plans including Content and Messaging: Now, thinking about the high-value accounts and the types of people/roles you’re targeting at those accounts – how can you reach them in multiple ways that feel sticky and actionable? Don’t immediately just run targeted ads and email campaigns. I have tapped into billboards, old school direct mail, event intercepts, Board of Directors “top to top” outreach via CxOs, LinkedIn content plus email and targeted ads. Be interesting and be seen. That’s the real nature of ABM.

Now, create content that speaks directly to your target accounts’ needs and pain points that align with your brand’s personality. Here’s an example: when building the Project Canary brand and continuous emissions monitoring market, we ran billboards near key locations that said, “Give Emissions the Bird.” – edgy, memorable, nailed the sentiment. The entire campaign zigged while the rest of the market was still zagging. Your target needs to see actionable, concise, and memorable messaging many, many times before they will engage.

Leverage AI-driven content platforms like Phrasee or Persado to create personalized messages that resonate with your target accounts. These tools analyze language patterns and customer behavior to generate content that speaks directly to your prospect’s pain points and needs.

This simple form of personalization applied to 1:1 and 1:many emails results in a double-digit increase in open rates and click-throughs.  

Aligning Sales and Marketing Teams: It’s essential to gain the trust of your sales leaders, working alongside them to show them how to use the tools and demonstrate that you’re a commercially oriented marketer. Regular communication and joint planning are crucial to success.

Measuring Success and Iterating Strategies: Track key performance metrics and be ready to adjust strategies based on data insights and market changes. Continuous improvement is crucial. ABM is not “set it and forget it.” It’s a high-touch strategy.  

Implementing ABM with Limited Resources

 No matter which tools you rely on, I have learned one key thing about making AI work hard for you: the prompt matters. Bad prompts get you bad results. It’s not the AI; it’s you.

Here’s a “bad” prompt for help determining personas for your ABM campaign:

Bad Prompt: Find out what people care about the most so I can write them a good sales email.

Great Prompt: You specialize in assisting the sales team to prepare for calls with clients or prospects by providing persona-based research on . When I provide the job title and industry, you will conduct online research to compile persona-based information. This includes information such as job responsibilities, core metrics their role is measured by, pain points, motivations, priorities, and challenges.
##
Rule #1: ALWAYS provide your answer in this format:
“Overview
Job Title:
Industry:
Job Responsibilities:
Key partners in their business:
Core metrics:
Pain Points:
Motivations:
Priorities:
Challenges:”

Rule #2: ALWAYS ask the user for the job title and industry before conducting your research.

Rule #3: Think step by step.

Other good AI assistants:

AI for Data Analysis and Insights. AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and trends, helping to refine target account lists and engagement strategies.

Predictive Analytics for Targeted Account Selection. Use predictive analytics to forecast which accounts will most likely convert, allowing for more strategic resource allocation.

AI for Personalized Content Creation. AI-powered tools can generate personalized content at scale, ensuring each target account receives relevant and engaging material.

Practical Tips and Actionable Steps

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Identify and prioritize high-value target accounts.
  2. Develop personalized content that is memorable and actionable
  3. Align sales and marketing efforts.
  4. Leverage existing tools and integrate AI for data analysis and content creation.
  5. Continuously measure performance and iterate strategies.

Recommendations for Integrating AI Tools: Start small with AI tools that offer trial versions or low-cost options. Gradually integrate more advanced tools as you scale your ABM efforts. Become a prompt engineer. Seriously.

Continuous Improvement: Regularly review your ABM strategy and adjust based on performance data and market changes.

ABM is a powerful strategy for B2B marketing, even for small teams with limited budgets. Businesses can implement effective ABM campaigns by leveraging AI and focusing on strategic planning. Start small, iterate, and scale as you gain insights and resources.

We’d love for you to share your experiences and questions with us. And for further support, you can engage with our team of experts to implement some of these strategies in your own company.

About the Author
Rachael Shayne is an Executive Marketing Leader with expertise in climate technology, sustainability, and consumer goods. She is known for driving revenue-focused marketing strategies and building brands for growth-stage companies. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaelsd

About RevelOne
RevelOne is a leading go-to-market advisory and recruiting firm. We help hundreds of VC/PE-backed companies each year leverage the right resources to achieve more profitable growth. We do 250+ retained searches a year in Marketing and Sales roles from C-level on down for some of the most recognized names in tech. In addition to our Search Practice, our Interim Expert Network includes 200+ vetted expert contractors – executive-level leaders and head-of/director-level functional experts – available for interim or fractional engagements. For help in any of these areas, contact us.

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