Maximise your ABM results with an effective data exchange
For your ABM efforts to be successful, you need a well-planned, well-implemented data exchange process. One where all systems, from every location, are working to the same core objectives.
After all, your sales and marketing teams both rely on high-quality data to generate targeted content and maximise opportunities.
This data, when properly organised and analysed, will provide you with unique insight and a solid foundation for more tactical activity. It will help you rationalise and focus your approach to content creation, activation, channel targeting and the personas that you’re trying to influence.
However, all too often, this invaluable data is siloed, stuck within an unsuitable software platform or held by teams who can’t really do much with it. Or worse still, data is not controlled at all, instead managed within the realm of shadow IT.
That’s why we advocate for a formalised data exchange process that is supportive of your business objectives. It’s the best way to get data moving, increasing its value to your organisation and helping you deliver the best ABM possible.
What does the data exchange look like?
You can gather an incredible amount of data through inbound marketing analytics and other touchpoints. But not all data is equal.
Behavioural data – that which reveals how your prospects are acting at any given moment – can be fed into the marketing department to provide timely guidance on the direction of marketing activity. This insight helps you build more engaging content for your key audiences.
In ABM, data needs to be refined much further and utilised in a more targeted manner. As in any marketing or sales activity, it’s vital that data being fed into the exchange is carefully curated and aligned to business objectives.
Focus on relevancy and quality, not quantity
For example, if your business is selling mobile devices to enterprise customers and you’re finding that interest is waning (perhaps based on CRM data, or the data you hold at an account level) then you have an issue to solve. But where do you start?
It could be that the content your team is creating is simply not hitting the mark – in our example, your content isn’t convincing a business to invest in a mobile fleet. This will likely be revealed by a lack of engagement, indicated by low open rates for email or below average CTR from paid media, high on-page bounce rates and low volumes of content downloads.
If you’re seeing a drop in conversions, it could be that the accounts you are targeting are not aligned with your overarching proposition. You might be unwittingly offering your mobile device to businesses that just don’t need them. In this case, your ideal customer profile (ICP) and the intent of your target accounts do not align.
ABM should be focused on quality, not just quantity, so be sure to take a more intelligent, data-driven approach to your segmented audience lists. It might be that you have to remove some prospects that aren’t the right fit to focus on those that are.
A strong data exchange between the systems used by marketing and sales will help you focus your efforts on your ideal customers. This will also have the knock-on effect of delivering cleaner, more targeted behavioural data back into the marketing department.
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Ensure data is actually exchanged
Building an effective data exchange is just as much about changing culture as it is changing technology. You could have all the platforms and tools in place, but you will struggle if sales and marketing remain siloed.
To ensure the data exchange works, you need to:
The secret is in the CRM
Your CRM plays a central role in this data exchange.
Your sales team, in conversation with customers, is feeding insights into it and building profiles, helping to further segment and target your audience. Your marketing team will then use this knowledge to improve future campaigns and – if needed – shift focus.
Your CRM should reveal how effective your campaigns are, and how the activities are leading to increased engagement and sales, so you know what’s working and what could do with a tweak. It should also build a picture of customer intent – that critical piece of data that reveals what customers and opportunities are really thinking. You may need to utilise a mix of first- and third-party data to build that picture. Be sure to act quickly on any red flags or golden opportunities.
Data paves the way to ABM success
Once your customer has entered the pipeline, your next steps will be nurturing them and continuously learning from insights.
Use data to segment accounts into different personas, at relevant stages of their buying cycle, so you’re not bombarding loyal accounts with overly general, sales-led content. Instead, focus this content where it is needed and use intent insight to really drive home targeted messages to your most valuable accounts.
The key to successful ABM is ensuring that data exchange is cyclical and well aligned with your business objectives. There needs to be clear responsibilities throughout the data exchange processes. This way, any poor fits (for example, the wrong customer, content or timing) can be quickly addressed. ?
If your CRM reveals that your most valued accounts are highly engaged, concentrate your efforts in their direction. And if the data reveals a drop off in interest, review third-party intent data and the alignment with your business objectives to optimise your ABM activities.
Keep the exchange of data between your sales and marketing team flowing smoothly, and consistently, and you’ll have all the insight you need – at all stages of a customer’s lifecycle – to really make an impact with your ABM activity.
Looking to take account-based marketing to the next level? Be sure to read our guide to ABM success.
Revere’s ABM strategy team would love to discuss your plans and help you reach your goals. Get in touch with our Client Services Director, Fiona McKenzie, to get started.