What are the most effective ways to create targeted content for ABM?

The term ABM encompasses too many different notions nowadays. First, define what you mean by ABM: - 1 to 3 accounts? - Or a named account list? - Or a whole industry? This will lead to very different content goals, formats, and personalization. For example, when targeting an individual account you can put their logo in your ad creative to improve CTR. When targeting an industry, you can customize your messaging to reflect the unique problems of the industry that your product solves.

Don't create content (yet)... You cannot create content in a vacuum. Do the hard ground work first. Let's take it as read you've done your ICP and Account Selection work and have a data-led list of tiered accounts that you want to target. These can be existing customers, prospects or a mix. You'll have your reasons for your choices. Equally, you'll have your objectives sorted - grow, retain, advocacy, win, etc. So let's say you have all that in place... Then you need to do your insights work. Get deep into the industry, account, and people. These insights will shine a light on how to unlock the industry, unlock the account, and unlock the key people in each account. This will inform your content strategy.

3. Leverage account-specific data: Use account-specific data to further personalize your content strategy. Analyze data from CRM systems, marketing automation tools, or customer interactions to identify patterns and preferences within each account. This will enable you to create highly targeted content that addresses the specific needs of each individual account. By conducting thorough research, personalizing messaging, and leveraging account-specific data, you can create highly targeted content for ABM that resonates with your target accounts and drives engagement and conversions.

Knowing the buyer journey and understanding the buyer across that journey is key to craft various content across it. You need to create content which fits all stages and creates a storyline which "simply makes sense at the end" to buy. Attention > Consideration > Decision making > Buying

I always start an account- or industry-based marketing campaign by thorough research on "Key campaign messages and offers" How are we trying to position our company, products, and services? What messages will engage and convert our audience? What are the specific issues of this account or industry? Which of those are solved by your product? Are there any regulations, recent events, or trends that you may use?

The insights work will unveil much of what you need to understand your audience journey and buying habits. Remember that 70%+ of the B2B buying process is done before they even contact you - so... ...This means you need to be where your B2B buyers are. - Research this. - Talk to clients in the same industry. - Talk to partners who work with this industry. - Conduct 1:1 interviews with customers and key prospects to learn where and how they learn more about solutions This information will help inform your channel strategy.

Let's make "understanding your audience and their buyer's journey" simple. 1. When + why do people look for find your product - this is where you want to put your branding and first HELLO! 2. What is the give - if you are a unique product like a water pump, simply showing you exist may be enough. If you are saas or traditional service with a lot of competitors you need a "HEY LOOK AT ME" moment. 3. Once you have their attention, what does adding value look like? Focus on doing that in the form of content or traditional promotion. 4. With an action taken on #3 they are likely able to be sold to ... what factors are a part of their decision-making process.. who is involved... workshop this w/ your sales and service teams for insights

To create targeted content for Account-Based Marketing (ABM), it is crucial to have a deep understanding of your target accounts and their specific needs. Here are some effective ways to create targeted content for ABM: 1. Conduct thorough research: Start by researching your target accounts, their industries, pain points, and challenges. This will help you understand their unique requirements and tailor your content accordingly. Utilize various resources to gather insights. 2. Personalize messaging: Once you have gathered information about your target accounts, personalize your messaging to address their specific pain points and offer solutions that resonate with them. Customize the content based on the target accounts.

The only way to do true ABM is via social and display channels, as ABM data providers can plug straight in for tight targeting. Search just doesn’t work as well.

Doing some research on what type of media the buyers consume and where can really help to support the process here. Depending on the case some buyer groups might have some common "outside of work" interests (e.g. companies dealing with sustainability) > you could use that as an attention grabber.

Your Account Experience will create a unique journey for your target accounts to engage with. This Account Experience will dictate the channel strategies, formats, etc. The Account Experience will no doubt be a mix of online and offline experiences. Think of what channels will help you to reach your target audience, engage your target audience, educate your target audience, influence your target audience, and make your target audience commit.

Know your customer! The big 3 for B2B are LinkedIn, Google, and your trade publications. Leverage tools like Rollworks to push ads to specific people - rather than leveraging traditional ad spend. I recommend creating several designs, each unique. This gives you the chance to easily A/B test (especially if you are leveraging HubSpot Marketing Hub). ?? Pro Tip: There is almost always a "treasure box" ad platform that is underutilized - give yourself the space to find it. Carve out a small budget in $ + time to experiment.

ChatGPT is super useful for 1:1 ABM campaigns to public companies. Have it read your prospect's latest annual report and pull out specific challenges, for example, related to cyber security risks. That makes it easy to create specific content that maps what you do exactly to their most important issues.

You have to decide on the type of ABM you’re doing. 1:1 1:few 1:many The more accounts you use, the less targeted the message can be. But the more targeted you are, the less the program can scale.

Depending on your approach (1:1, 1:few, 1:many) you might have to adapt based on your audience size. The more specific (and therefore smaller) the audience is, the easier it is to speak about their specific pain points and your solutions. Industry specific content can be a good way for a 1:many approach.

1. One-to-one (Full personalization) Personalized at...: Account + individual contact Here’s it all about the account + the unique challenges they face or strategic objectives they are looking to achieve. Insights play a crucial role here to uncover specific strategies, e.g. competitor battlecards, unique hero assets or specific messaging that resonates with the buying committee. 2. One-to-few (Medium personalization) Personalized at...: Industry with some ‘light touch’ personalization at account-level. Campaign assets are created at Industry or sub-industry level (think Retail and then say DIY). The messaging can be personalized to talk to how you specifically help industry or how your solution is ‘better’ than known competitors.

Personalized content at a stakeholder level, not at just the account level for B2B ABM. Ultimately in large clients there are only a handful of decision makers for a particular initiative. Personalized content targeting these individuals is what you should be working towards.

?? Choose a platform/tool that builds testing and optimizing content into the system - I strongly recommend Apoll.io. When A/B testing, start with broad strokes. Example w/ ads: Perhaps one is very loud and the other more traditional. Perhaps you have 2 versions of each - essentially color swapping to keep the options differentiated without adding too much workload. With copy - try two very different focuses on pain points and asks. Iteration is the key to a growth mindset. Let go of perfection paralysis and enjoy the journey.

Subject matter experts (SMEs) are probably the best way to produce the sort of highly-specific content you want in ABM. But you want to make sure their content is performing on par with what you're paying them. Because there are plenty of SMEs out of there just publishing bland crap because undemanding B2B marketers will pay them. Salespeople are also a good way to get closer to the customer. But salespeople tend to be salesy. You've got to watch the numbers to determine how much salesyness can be tolerated.

?? Food for thought #1 ABM is a proven strategy - provided you have the resources to stick with it. #2 Remember you are engaging with real humans - be considerate, kind, and genuine. If your product/ service helps, keep the conversation natural. There is no need to cram everything into one email because the real goal should be to create a connection. (Hopefully) you are a real human too - the more we lean into humanity the more frequently we are able to drive real connection.

Talk to sales and customer success, no one knows those accounts/individuals better in your organisation. Talk about the behavioral aspects they have observed in their interactions. What gets them talking - That's what will get them buying too.

Focus on the now rather than the future. Many content pieces try and predict the future challenges of decision-makers but data shows decision makers want content that solves their current challenges instead. The best way to get their attention is by producing content that speaks to them now.

The thing not enough ABMers are talking about is that there really is a lot of really poor content out there. A focus on lead quotas, short-term goals and a reliance on?tech and paid to hit the numbers have distracted marketers.??Creativity, quality and storytelling have suffered. Marketers need to ask themselves: - Is this eBook really that interesting? Or are we regurgitating common knowledge and insight that can be found easily via Forbes? - Are we really communicating a solution here? - Is our landing page and hero film really all that special/engaging? This year's Thought Leadership Impact Report by Edelman & LinkedIn highlighted just how damaging poor quality content can be. It can actually close doors!

Creating targeted content for ABM involves deep research on specific accounts. Analyze their pain points, industry trends, and challenges. Craft personalized messages addressing their unique needs. Use case studies, testimonials, and industry-specific data to showcase relevance. Align content with each account's position in the buyer's journey. Utilize various formats like whitepapers, webinars, or personalized emails. Regularly track and analyze content performance, adjusting strategies based on data insights for continual improvement.