Account-Based Marketing For Dummies

Chapter 8

Reaching the Right People in Target Accounts

IN THIS CHAPTER

Drafting your plan to connect with prospects

Applying technology to expand your reach

Identifying individual buying centers

The second stage in account-based marketing (ABM) is Expand. It’s absolutely critical for B2B marketers to think of the Expand stage as the reason why ABM exists. The decision process in most B2B companies is done by more than just one person. That’s why B2B stands for “business-to-business.” The purchase decision won’t come from just a single lead who completed a form on your website. It’s a group decision.

This chapter tells you how to connect with more people in the opportunity account. I discuss the types of contacts in your target accounts involved in the purchase decision, and how to use an organizational chart to recognize all of the relevant stakeholders. I also tell you how to look for potential buying centers across the organization.

Preparing Your Account-Specific Plan

To progress the opportunity into a Closed/Won deal, you need an account-specific plan. An account plan is the strategy and tactics for targeting a contact. Your opportunity accounts may require tailoring your ABM efforts to multiple contacts. These contacts should align with your personas (as shown in Chapter 5).

Because you’ve done the leg work to identify your personas, you know the contacts in the account have different roles. You need a plan to engage all of those contacts according to their responsibilities; ...