Why Marketers Should Think Beyond MQL with Their Account-Based Marketing Efforts

As we know, for any B2B brand trying to reach prospects, Account-based marketing (ABM) has been the most effective strategy. With ABM, you flip the funnel by targeting high-value accounts first and then trying to build engagement and personalize efforts to increase relevant conversions. However, one of the major struggles I have encountered is when stakeholders ask me to first provide them with Marketing Generated Leads (MGLs) that may or may not be Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). But my question is, do we need to run behind these MQLs to spam the customers/clients by making calls or sending emails? To answer that, how about you asking the same question to yourself? How often have you responded to a form filled with your work ID just to read the information that is already available out there? How many times have you read the entire email that has an offer, but you are not ready for that as you either don't know the brand at all or don't know it enough?

Have you ever discussed with your stakeholders how we can unlock the true potential of high-value accounts by thinking beyond MQLs? Have you ever asked them if they want you to provide great customer experiences or make them fill out a form? Have you asked them why, in the middle funnel, you would gate the content that is helping prospects learn about your brand?

In this article, I want to discuss how and why marketers should think beyond MQLs for long-term success with ABM efforts.

Gated Content's Fallacy: How It Hinders Relationship Building in Account-Based Marketing

When we want to show an ad, we use gated content, such as whitepapers, case studies, or webinars, to capture leads. It has always been a go-to tactic to drive MGLs. But, in my opinion, content that provides information and knowledge about your brand should not be gated. It should be open, free, and accessible. Having to fill out a form to access informational content is like giving a conditional experience to your prospects. If you want to read this, we want you to share your details. But they wouldn't do that because they don't want to be spammed when they fill out some form. Instead, provide them with more un-gated and informational content to let them know more about your brand. If won't do it, competitors surely will.

By providing an un-gated content experience, you are educating and guiding them about your brand, and that, in turn, will maximize the engagement in your accounts. As a marketer, you need to foster trust, build credibility, and position your brand to provide value instead of just being a gatekeeper (with all the gated content, of course).

Provide Funnel-Based Content:

Irrespective of traditional or account-based, marketing works on different funnels. What does a traditional funnel look like:

Brand Awareness > Consideration: MGL > Decision/Purchase MQLs.

Why not create a funnel like this :

Brand Awareness : Know/Thought Leadership > Consideration : Educate/Learn & Engage > Decision : Contact/Demos

A traditional funnel for account-based marketing is about creating awareness, generating leads, and then MQLs. But, the ideal approach would be to have the right content for each funnel. You need a funnel-based content strategy tailor-made for your highly engaged accounts. Let me break it down for you:

1. Top-of-Funnel (TOFU) Content: In this phase, you need to focus on thought leadership and educational content that discusses the industry, trends, or challenges your target accounts may be facing. This content can be in the form of articles, videos, reports, infographics, etc. The idea is to provide value without asking them to fill out a form. This will help attract the attention of potential accounts and let them explore their options.
2. Middle-of-Funnel (MOFU) Content: By now, your prospects have explored the content in the top funnel. You can now move them deeper into the funnel by providing content that addresses their specific pain points. The other way to decide what content you should show in this phase is by looking at the keywords these accounts have been researching. The content in this funnel can be in the form of ebooks/guides, case studies, success stories, webinars, and more. All you need to do is to create tailor-made content based on the analysis that you get from the top funnel campaigns. This will help the accounts to get higher-level information based on what they are researching and it will bring them closer to the buying process.
3. Bottom-of-Funnel (BOFU) Content: Congrats, if you see a good number of engagements by this phase because your prospects are now ready to interact with your brand or make a purchase. You can now provide them with content that helps them decide their options. Here you can use content like product demos, free trials, discounts, offers, or consultations. This can help them in the decision-making process.

Empowering the Buying Process:

Now all you need to do is to ensure the potential accounts that have gone through various funnels, successfully make a purchase. Marketers need to focus on empowering and supporting their decision-making process by taking the following steps:

1. Personalized Experiences: Leverage the insights gained from the above steps to provide personalized experiences to your accounts. This will help you tailor the messaging suitable for each account. Personalization will also help you research and get a deeper level of information that you can use as a communication strategy. This helps prospects feel the connection.
2. Consistent Communication: When you know your customers are ready to purchase, you must offer them seamless communication by maintaining regular and relevant dialogues throughout their buying journey. You need to ensure you timely engage, address their concerns, and provide regular support. I have seen some brands installing their landing page with chatbots with the most commonly asked questions that are created for each account, based on the research. This helps in closing deals faster.
3. Retention: Once you successfully make a deal, you must consistently nurture the accounts for any after-sales support. This can be any training source, concerns, additional content that can add value to their investment, etc. This will help in customer retention. They will also feel connected to your brand emotionally as you successfully gave them a great experience throughout their journey (Awareness To Purchase).

Bonus: Maintaining relationships even after the sale helps you get more referrals.

Conclusion:

We all know that ABM has been a key strategy for many businesses. There are immense opportunities for B2B marketers if they know how to leverage Account-based marketing effectively. They will be able to see a surge in conversion rates as ABM helps in increasing meaningful engagement in the accounts that matter. However, modern marketers must switch from traditional methods of generating MQLs to incorporating a funnel-based content strategy that provides value to their accounts. This can create exceptional customer experiences throughout the buyer's journey. To summarize it all, try removing gated content, work on creating valuable resources, keep analyzing the efforts by understanding what drives an account, and add a unique personalization layer that provides solutions that the prospects are looking for. If done right, ABM helps to foster trust, build relationships, and lead to successful conversions. If marketers can start embracing this holistic approach, I can ensure they will make the most of their account-based marketing efforts and achieve long-term success.

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