ABM - A brief history and glimpse into how videos are powering its future

The ABM of Yesterday

The early 90’s saw the birth of the internet as we know it today. It was also during this time – between ‘Got Milk’ and the email marketing boom – that B2B businesses decided to borrow a page from the B2C communication playbook.

The chapter – Personalization.

B2C companies were providing powerful and personalized brand experiences to their audiences. This thought gave rise to what we know as Account-Based Marketing, today. The actual phrase ‘Account-Based Marketing’ (ABM) was coined in 2004 by ITSMA. Although many companies had already been implementing the strategies in one capacity or another for years – they just called it Integrated Marketing, or Relationship Marketing.

Global interest in Account-based marketing has been on the rise for the last decade or so. Funnily enough, around the time ABM picked up momentum on Google Trends, the keyword ‘Lead Generation’ hit an all-time low.

Coincidence?

I don’t think so.?Around 85% of marketers that included an ABM strategy in their marketing mix reported positive ROI. ?Unlike inbound marketing, the focal point of ABM is to create awareness and engagement with a segment of future customers and work closely with sales teams to create opportunities. Sure, that results in lead generation but only as a bi-product. The funnels are exactly the opposite inversions.

The ABM of Today

If you’re a B2B marketer, there’s a good chance you’re already engaging in some sort of ABM. Creating an ABM program takes time and requires coordination with your sales team to identify the most important accounts and unify strategy.

ABM strategies are most often classified into three categories, with distinct approaches associated with each:

Targeted?One-to-one marketing?is the practice of developing highly customized marketing programs for?individual accounts?with high perceived value.

Marketing to small groups of target accounts that have similar requirements, pain issues, or values is known as?one-to-few marketing.

From?One to Many: This method, also known as programmatic ABM, focuses on engaging prospects from particular identified accounts at scale.

?The Future?

As things evolve within the ABM landscape, one constant will always govern the metamorphosis – Personalization.?

Personalization is the lifeblood of every successful ABM strategy and with good reason. Personalized content may assist in enhancing engagement. In fact, Statista’s 2021 survey on ‘Personalization Impact On Worldwide Revenue’ found that?93 percent of B2B marketers from around the world found personalization efforts on their websites translating into direct revenue growth .

Video is an excellent medium for developing a successful ABM campaign since it is naturally engaging, simple to recycle, and can be used to interact with clients at any point of the buyer’s journey. And they are great for personalization. We combed the internet for some of the most innovative video ideas available in the public domain for you to use into your ABM strategy. While B2C firms have dominated the adoption of these videos on a wide scale, the ideas apply equally well to any B2B organization. Here are a few examples:

?Personalized Video In ABM Emails

Email is an essential tool for interacting with clients and prospects and video should absolutely guide portions of your outreach. In fact, Campaign Monitor’s study on effective email marketing noticed a?50% increase in clickthrough rates with enhanced open rates and subscriber retention when videos were used within email marketing campaigns . Recording customized greetings sent particularly to the email recipient is a terrific approach for the Sales team to make an introduction while standing out from the crowd. To create a more engaging and informative experience, marketing teams on the other hand can include intro films, explainers, and product videos into tailored email nurturing campaigns.?

?Dynamic Videos On Landing Pages and Programmatic Platforms

When creating videos for ABM, it’s important to consider pain points unique to your account segments, user journey, and user behavior. Dynamic videos change the narrative from a broadcast to a conversation. These videos are highly personalized and make your audience feel like the content they engage with was specifically made for them. Take the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 launch for example – Samsung used?YouTube’s Director Mix platform ?to deliver customized Ad messages to key user segments. By creating multi-layered assets with personalized messages, Samsung achieved a 27% increase in switch consideration and 557% increase in overall purchase consideration in a market dominated by the iPhone.

Direct Mail Campaigns Led By Video

ABM programs, with their emphasis on one-on-one communication, have given a significant boost to direct mail because of the personal connection they provide. Direct video mailers might help you pack a bigger impact.?Case in point – MVF achieving 2196% ROI with its video box direct mail . So, what is a video-led direct mailer? These direct mail pieces have an LCD screen on which you can display a customized film – front and center. While unit economics may indicate that this is one of the more expensive approaches to brand recall, it is a one-of-a-kind technique to surprise and excite prospects while standing out from the crowd.

Video experts at?Red Bangle ?work at the cutting edge of technology and creativity to craft videos that entertain, engage, and convert your audience. Bring your ABM strategy to life with tailored and personalized videos. Write to us with your briefs at?[email protected] .