Introduction

Our world is becoming increasingly connected. Today, the modern marketer is an innovator, creating new ways to connect with potential customers that defy the status quo. Technology has given a platform for business-to-business (B2B) marketers to reach customers, but it's a blessing and a curse, because buyers are inundated with thousands of messages every day. This is why it's essential for marketers to identify their best-fit customers before ever creating that first message. By targeting your ideal customers and determining how to engage them on digital channels such as mobile, social media, display advertising, and video, you can connect with your buyers on their own terms. This is called account-based marketing (ABM).

B2B marketing and sales teams have been doing ABM as a side project for years, but now it's time to take ABM mainstream by making it a core part of your company's go-to-market strategy. ABM is a program of various marketing activities, not using a particular software product. There are many elements to engaging individual accounts on their terms that go beyond just online or offline conversations. The question to ask is "Are you a B2B company that knows which accounts you want to target?" Focusing your marketing efforts on the best-fit accounts will allow your team to become more efficient and grow sales revenue faster.

In this book, I tell you all about account-based marketing: how it has evolved from traditional lead generation and why you should strongly consider using ABM in your B2B marketing and sales efforts. I show you how to use marketing technology (MarTech) and software to target your best-fit prospects, create contacts that expand into accounts, and engage them through content and marketing activities generating sales velocity to drive new revenue for your company. I discuss how to retain your accounts through customer advocacy, continuously engaging your clients throughout the customer lifecycle (and reducing churn). I will walk through a game plan with real-life examples based on my experience in seeing how more than 100 companies implemented ABM in their go-to-market strategies.

About This Book

This book exists to help you understand this new trend called account-based marketing. Whether you are new to the world of B2B marketing, work as a salesperson for a B2B organization, or you're an experienced CMO, having a strong understanding of account-based marketing is a must. The reason account-based marketing has become such a buzzword in the B2B marketing world is because it solves an issue of how to target and engage your best-fit prospects and customers at scale.

I will give you an overview and blueprint of how to do account-based marketing unlike any other publication available on the market. I've laid out this book to give you a foundation of B2B marketing, how account-based marketing takes your efforts to the next level utilizing readily available MarTech solutions, and increase new and existing revenue for your company.

Here are some terms used in this book that you should know:

• ABM is the abbreviation of account-based marketing. I interchange with this across the start of each chapter.
• When possible, I've included the Twitter handles of key people, companies, or technology solutions when possible so you can follow them on social media. Using social media is an essential part of ABM.
• Web addresses and programming code appear in monofont. If you're reading a digital version of this book on a device connected to the internet, you can click the web address to visit that website.

Foolish Assumptions

The most foolish assumption you can make about this book is that you already know all the intricacies about B2B marketing and therefore can do account-based marketing. The basic concepts for account-based marketing are different than the traditional lead-based marketing techniques used in B2B marketing, especially for the sales funnel. With account-based marketing, I literally flip the funnel on its head so B2B marketing teams are no longer concerned with generating tons of leads to pour into the top of the funnel. I show you how to think correctly about account-based marketing so you identify your best-fit contacts, expand those contacts into accounts, and engage them on their terms through digital channels to accelerate pipeline velocity and close deals faster.

If you're a beginner in the field of B2B marketing, I want to encourage you to start reading from the beginning of this book to understand the basics of our industry. The world of B2B marketing is different from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, or the world of mass consumer advertising. B2B marketing is about selling your company's products and services to companies who can and want to use what you're selling successfully. B2B and B2C marketing require different activities and tactics, and account-based marketing adds another layer of complexity. However, if you're new to the world of B2B marketing, starting your experience with account-based marketing early will help put you ahead of the curve. Because you aren't used to the old ways of lead-based marketing, you can start your career in B2B marketing as an innovator who already understands the principles of ABM.

If you've already established a career and are experienced in the world of B2B marketing, you can skip around the different chapters of this book. Make use of the information you want to learn to help improve your existing marketing and sales techniques. If you're doing traditional lead-based marketing, which most B2B marketers are, then approach this book as a new way of taking the good data you already have about your customers and prospects and make it work even better using targeted account-based marketing strategies.

Lastly, if you work for a B2B organization that's using a customer relationship management (CRM) software (such as Salesforce), plus a marketing automation tool (such as Marketo, HubSpot, Eloqua, or Pardot), and you have a website and social media, then you must read this book. You already have all the tools to do account-based marketing. I will show you how to use these technologies to impact your marketing efforts for increased sales revenue.

If you approach account-based marketing without having an appreciation and understanding of marketing technology solutions such as a CRM, marketing automation system, and digital presence on the web then you will not accomplish your goal as a B2B marketer, which is to help drive business for sales. In the end, you will end up having to hire a consultant who can set up your CRM and create a process for your marketing and sales teams to do account-based marketing, which could potentially cost tens of thousands of dollars. Reading this book will save you time and resources as it will give you the steps to implement account-based marketing strategies: the basic elements of identifying accounts, targeting them using technology, and how to improve your marketing campaigns over time.

The B2B marketing industry has new buzzwords every day. Account-based marketing is more than just a buzzword because it's a proven strategy to make more money for your business. ABM is laser-focused B2B marketing.

Icons Used in This Book

The Tip icon marks tips and tricks which you can use to make account-based marketing even more successful.

The Remember icon notes the pieces of information which are especially important to keep in mind. You'll need this information while you read this book, and as you go beyond this book to implement your own account-based marketing campaigns.

The Warning icon tells you what not to do (like wasting time in a Dummies book explaining a Warning icon). Seriously though, you should keep an eye out for the Warning icons because I give you useful information which can help you from making mistakes as you do account-based marketing.

The Technical Stuff icon notes where I call out certain technology providers which you will need for ABM. It is also an icon to note where I tell you how to set up data in your CRM, create workflows, and segment lists.

Beyond the Book

I have written extra articles you won't find in the book itself. Go online to find the following

• Online articles covering additional topics: www.dummies.com/extras/account-based-marketing

  Here you'll find resources such as the ten ways to get started with account-based marketing, building a game plan for your company to switch from lead-based marketing to ABM, and much more.

• The Cheat Sheet for this book at

  www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/account-based-marketing

  Here you'll find additional articles about the stages of account-based marketing, including how to identify, engage, and accelerate your accounts across all stages of the buyer's journey, creating customer advocates.

Where to Go from Here

I wrote this book with the goal of having you read modularly. You can jump between different parts of this book to find the information you need to be successful with account-based marketing. Use it as a guide to start doing B2B marketing campaigns from scratch, or to take the contacts you already have in your CRM to create accounts and segment into lists to tailor your messaging based on the particular needs of your best-fit customers or...