5 Key Steps to Build Your First ABM Program

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Discover effective ABM strategies to expand into new markets and reach your target audience successfully.

Understanding the ABM mindset and its Benefits

Before diving into ABM strategy for new market expansion, it's essential to have a solid understanding of what ABM is and the benefits it offers. ABM is a targeted marketing approach that focuses on personalised outreach to specific accounts, rather than mass marketing to a broad audience. It's a new-age marketing mindset. 

The key benefits of ABM include higher conversion rates, improved customer engagement, and better alignment between marketing and sales teams. By tailoring your marketing efforts to each target account's needs and preferences, you can create more meaningful and personalised interactions that are more likely to resonate with your audience and drive results.

ABM also promotes closer collaboration between marketing and sales teams, as both departments work together to identify, engage, and nurture target accounts. This alignment improves communication, increases efficiency, and improves business outcomes.

1. Identifying Target Accounts in the New Market

Identifying the right target accounts is crucial when expanding into a new market using Account-Based Marketing (ABM). Start by conducting thorough market research to understand the demographics, needs, and preferences of your target audience in the new market. This will help you identify the specific accounts that are most likely to be interested in your products or services.

Consider factors such as company size, industry, location, and previous purchasing behaviour and the most important is to create a list of potential target accounts based on data (not opinion or personal preference). Collaborate with your sales team or key stakeholders to gather insights and identify key decision-makers within these accounts. By focusing your efforts on the most promising accounts, you can maximise the effectiveness of your ABM strategy and increase your chances of success in the new market. 

2. Know About Your Target Accounts

Once we've selected the accounts, we need to do detective work and gain insights into them. The crucial thing is to collect information regarding their tech stack, who is on the buying committee, what they are researching, and where they are in their buying journey. All this data you can pull together into an account plan and make it visible to your team to get aligned and synched with the further action plan. 

3. Engage The Right Way for Maximum Impact

Personalisation is a critical component of successful ABM strategies for new market expansion. By tailoring your campaigns to each target account's specific needs and pain points, you can make a more substantial impact and increase the likelihood of conversion.

Start by gathering as much information as possible about your target accounts, including their industry, challenges, goals, and preferences. Use this data to create personalised messages, content, and offers that address their unique needs and position your products or services as the ideal solution.

Incorporate personalisation throughout your marketing efforts, including email campaigns, website content, social media interactions, and targeted advertising. By delivering relevant and valuable content to each target account, you can establish trust, build relationships, and ultimately drive conversions in the new market.

4. Leveraging Data and Analytics for Targeted Outreach

Data and analytics play a crucial role in successful ABM strategies for new market expansion. By leveraging data, you can gain valuable insights into your target accounts and optimise your outreach efforts.

Start by collecting and analysing data from various sources, such as CRM systems, website analytics, and social media platforms. This data can provide valuable information about the behaviour, preferences, and engagement levels of your target accounts.

Use this data to segment your target accounts into specific groups based on their characteristics and behaviours. This will allow you to create highly targeted and personalised outreach campaigns that are more likely to resonate with each group. Monitor the performance of your campaigns using analytics tools and make data-driven adjustments to optimise your results in the new market.

5. Measuring Success and Iterating for Continuous Improvement

Measuring the success of your ABM strategies is essential for continuous improvement and achieving your goals in the new market. By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and analysing the results, you can identify what's working and what needs adjustments. Marketing teams typically have the MQL, but it provides zero insights at the account level regarding intent, engagement, or where they are in their buying journey. 

Instead, the most essential metrics to track are:

• meeting booked;

• new accounts engaged;

• new personas engaged;

• opportunity rate;

• account win rates. 

ABM as an orchestrated journey toward Revenue Growth

Iterate on your strategies based on the insights gained from your measurements. Test different approaches, messages, and channels to find the most effective combination for reaching and engaging your target accounts in the new market. By continuously evaluating and refining your ABM strategies, you can optimise your results and drive long-term success in the new market. Leveraging a modern marketing tech stack to align on the best accounts to target and then seamlessly deliver engaging experiences throughout the customer journey. 

If you'd like to start Your B2B Martech & CRM enhancement and accelerate your ABM learning, please book a 30-minute discovery call or DM on LinkedIn.