Hey , today we’ll go over the 4 stages to launching a successful ABM program. 

But before we dive in, here are some job listings that you or someone around you might be interested in.

TRENCHES JOB BOARD

MaxBill is hiring a B2B Demand/Lead Generation Specialist

Responsibilities: 

• Execute data research and contact qualification for outbound/ inbound campaigns.
• Drive lead generation programs, measure, analyze, and optimize lead generation channels.
• Create, manage, and develop email campaigns, landing pages, capture forms, and automation workflows to stimulate interest to MaxBill products and solutions.

Learn more and apply here.

Flashtract is hiring a Head Of Marketing (Remote US, >150k)

Requirements:

• 5+ years of B2B marketing leadership experience ;
• 1+ year of experience in a managerial/leadership role, with the ability to recruit, retain, and motivate both existing and future talent;
• Experience working with marketing and sales automation systems (Outreach, Salesforce, and Pardot experience a plus) ;
• Experience with selecting and managing outside agencies ;
• Construction industry knowledge or experience is a plus

Learn more and apply here.

Now, let’s get to the meat of the matter.

Stage 1: 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲

Before running an execution, make sure you have:

• Defined the market segment you want to focus on.
• Clearly defined your ICP including buying committee structure:

1. Roles
2. KPIs
3. Why they can buy the product
4. Typical concerns and objections, and how to address them

• Alignment with execs and sales on:

1. Goals
2. Leading indicators (how you'll evaluate campaign success)
3. Account qualification and disqualification criteria
4. Budget
5. ABM team structure
6. Value proposition hypotheses tailored to each of the buying committee members of the selected segments

Stage 2: 𝐏𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧

DOs: 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-10 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤

This framework stands for:

- 1 market

- 1 vertical

- 1 SDR

- 1 marketer

- 1 source of intent data

- 1 warm-up tactic

- 1 tier

- 1 goal (expansion, net new revenue, acceleration, renewal)

- 10 accounts (3 buying committee members per account) max

Why?

The Pilot campaign is an experiment. You make hypotheses about your ICP, do preliminary account research and learn a lot about target accounts. 

You need to apply learnings to improve account qualification criteria, account research process, and activation processes.

The goal is to launch a campaign fast with minimum resources to avoid losing momentum and trust from execs and sales.

DON’Ts:

- Including lots of accounts in the pilot program (you won't be able to run ABM properly)

- Adding a wish list of accounts instead of engaged accounts

- Allocating big budget

- Involving the entire sales team. You need 1 SDR who'll be your Champion in the sales team helping to scale the program later.

Stage 3: 𝐀𝐁𝐌 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

DOs:

- Installing new sources of intent data to identify engaged accounts

- Documenting campaign

- Creating marketing and sales playbooks

- Creating ABM tech stack

- Turning pilot campaign into an evergreen process

- Launching a new pilot campaign with a new warm-up tactic

DON’Ts:

- Adding more salespeople to the program

- Investing in expensive ABM software or adding ads as a warm-up tactic

Your goal is to embed ABM into your marketing operations and make it an evergreen process instead of one-time campaigns.

Stage 4: 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐁𝐌

DOs:

- Creating a core ABM team

- Onboarding more SDRs and marketers with documented playbooks

- Including new verticals and markets

- Modifying campaigns for tier 2 and tier 3 accounts

- Embedding ABM into marketing operations and demand generation

Dear , don’t skip these 4 stages and launch mass campaigns right from the bat. If you do, you won’t be able to execute ABM properly and you’ll lose money, trust, and support from sales & execs.

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• Develop a full-funnel marketing plan to create awareness, generate & capture demand, and generate sales opportunities with target accounts
• Define marketing activities & content that can attract the attention of target buyers, educate them, and generate demand for your product
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• Build a unified marketing & sales report to connect all marketing activities to revenue even if your sales cycle is long

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Adechina D. Odjo,

Content Editor @Trenches