Account-based marketing (ABM) continues to be a top priority in B2B marketing, so it’s no surprise research indicates that ABM is more effective in driving account engagement and conversion to sales accepted lead (SAL) than traditional lead gen methods. But it appears that areas like average deal size, win rates and deal velocity are not experiencing the same boost from ABM efforts. This suggests that tech businesses are producing more marketing activity with ABM but sales reps are not necessarily closing more deals as a result. According to HubSpot, the average sales close rate remains at 29% and has not improved significantly over time. Clearly there’s an opportunity for further innovation when it comes to tapping into ABM for sales acceleration and revenue growth.
When paired with ABM, generative AI (GenAI) has the potential to act like rocket fuel for go-to-market (GTM) efforts and can help fill in gaps where traditional ABM efforts might be falling short. To help revenue teams leverage this powerful combination, we’ve compiled a few tips to keep in mind when incorporating GenAI into an ABM strategy.
Tip #1: Pair ABM and GenAI with reliable data to increase engagement
GenAI can be seen as a valuable tool for a variety of critical business cases but it is only as effective as the data it’s built on. When tapping into GenAI for ABM, inaccurate or incomplete data can lead to targeting the wrong accounts or sending irrelevant messages, which is a waste of both time and resources.
Many traditional ABM lists are focused on selling to companies that match an ideal customer profile (ICP). This often translates to Sales coming to Marketing and saying, “Here’s a list of accounts we really want to sell to – go create demand.” But we know that in a buyer-led research process, demand can’t be created, it needs to be identified. When going after ICP targets that haven’t yet demonstrated an initial need or interest, there’s a high probability that the timing won’t be right, no matter how relevant the sales and marketing outreach is.
Another approach to building ABM lists uses in-market accounts, or accounts indicating intent to purchase. These accounts are either actively researching directly with a business or they’re researching a problem that a business’s product can solve through other channels or networks. With visibility into which accounts are actively conducting research, you can enable your sales reps with context on those in-market accounts to help them determine who, when and how to best engage these accounts and the active buying teams within them.
Tip #2: Prioritize buyer insights to ensure the success of ABM content
High-quality, educational content can help build relationships with target accounts and establish businesses as thought leaders in the industry, which is crucial in a buyer-enabled sales cycle. To create successful content marketing campaigns, it’s important to understand the target audience and their needs. This can be done through market research, customer surveys and visualizing research activity observed from in-market accounts. These buyer insights are key to developing content that will successfully educate the buyer and enable them to purchase your product.
Although the GenAI movement continues to pick up steam, we’re learning a lot about where GenAI can help accelerate or automate content and campaign creation, and where it falls short. It’s important to remember that these tools are focused on scale and automation, but lack the buyer context and insights that can get you ahead of your competition. When tapping into GenAI for content creation, be sure to pair these tools with buyer insights that help drive up the resonance and relevance of your content with your priority buyers.
Tip #3: Shift from a sales-focused to a buyer-focused approach to help buyers buy
Over the years, there’s been much discussion about how new ABM thinking is shifting our traditional view of lead generation. Many are deeming MQLs and lead-centric interactions as flawed, and are shifting to an account and buying team focused approach. For marketing and sales, that first lead interaction can be viewed as the entry point to understanding and engaging the buying group. And yet, we often forget that on the buyer side, that first interaction is the entry point into the consideration of whether to buy a product. Instead of putting the focus on how sales can move leads down the funnel, businesses should direct efforts into buyer enablement that educates and helps buyers buy.
To make this shift, sales teams must be equipped to tailor their messaging to the individual needs of each buyer. TechTarget recently launched IntentMail AI™, a new feature within our Priority Engine platform that drastically reduces the time it takes to personalize sales outreach and follow-up. IntentMail AI™ combines recent, relevant account information with insights on what the specific buying team member is researching on TechTarget’s network of decision-support content, allowing account teams to continue building trust with buyers by educating them on the topics they care about.
Sellers and marketers need to remember that their job is to help buyers buy and when much of buying research is self-guided, they need to do everything they can to supply the right content to continue engaging and enabling buyers.
AI can help supercharge ABM efforts, but only when paired with reliable data
While ABM remains a cornerstone of B2B sales and marketing, its continued success hinges on the integration of advanced technologies like GenAI and the utilization of accurate, actionable data. By shifting the focus from purely selling to actually understanding and addressing the specific needs of buyers, you can enhance engagement with your ABM programs and improve conversion rates. Embracing a buyer-centric approach, enriched with insights from reliable data will allow you to more effectively apply GenAI to your ABM efforts and lead to more successful deals.
For more insights on how to scale your ABM programs using AI, watch ABM Engagement in the Age of AI, a keynote session from TechTarget’s recent Focus: What is the Future of ABM? virtual event.
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