ABM tech stack: uncovered

Account-based marketing is a powerful technique to target your most desired accounts effectively and on scale. However, a lot of B2B companies are hesitant about it due to the complicated, and often expensive, tech stack needed for ABM. They simply don’t know what to choose and when. We at growth marketing agency 42DM are passionate believers in the power of ABM. Here is our own proven tech stack that will take your B2B marketing to a new level!

Why do you need ABM

There is always pressure out there for tech companies – economic downfall, troubles in the financial market, need to grow faster and show results. Whenever things get hard, focusing on opportunities, not just leads, and working to bring profit is key. Luckily, ABM is a solution!

Profitability over growth

To increase profit, marketing and sales teams should focus on particular customers who need your solution + can afford it + match ICP. 

Up-to-date ABM platforms help identify the intent signals & match accounts with your ICP’s to focus on what matters most in a recession – ready-to-buy leads!

Opportunities for marketing team

When there is no time to nurture leads and you want to sell quickly, getting ready-to-buy opportunities is key. ABM helps to identify them, create interactive content focused on intent and gather more intelligence about a target person for the sales team.

Shorter sales cycle

When sales will have more intelligence about opportunities, they will know how to close customers quicker – marketing the sales cycle shorter.

Core pillars of programmatic ABM

So, how to apply ABM & ABX practices on scale to eliminate the risks of a long cycle and reach goals timely?  Traditionally ABM & ABX practices were applied to very few accounts and were very personalized. But when the economic situation is challenging even accounts with high intent signals are high risk bets, as everything changes too fast.

Here are the core pillars of programmatic ABM:

1.Know your customer

Design ICP, buyer persona 

and Value proposition Canvas (VP) to  build Target Account List (TAM) and craft messages

• Design precise Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and buyer personas portraits
• Identify Pains, Gains & Jobs to be done
• Develop Value Proposition for each of the buyer personas and relevant and engaging messages
• Gather Target account list to engage with
• Gather relevant contacts and enrich data to simplify further targeting

2. Plan personalized experience 

Campaign architecture,  rich content plan for each stage of the customer journey

• Analyse buyer personas digital behavior to define the most efficient channels and content formats to include in ABM program
• Audit existing content and conversion paths to define existing content to include
• Develop campaign architecture to capture the lead and nurture it from TOF to BOF including channels & campaign flows
• Design content plan & generate content accordingly

3. Deliver at scale with ABM Tech

Efficient Tech stack. Focus on intent signals, omnichannel  campaign delivery, analytics

• CRM & marketing automation solution, like Hubspot or Marketo, is a basement for every ABM program
• Setup ABM platform like Triblio or Demandbase that includes Intent signals showing who has interest in your solution
• Add website visitors analytics platform that identifies Accounts visiting your website to match with TAM, like LeadForencics or Leadfeeder
• Launch ABM advertising with ABA tool, like Influ2 or Metadata
• Install holistic Analytics and Reporting system based on CRM, like HubSpot

 ABM | ABX Program high level Roadmap & Tech stack 

Now, let’s get into what steps B2B companies will have to take to execute programmatic ABM and what tools you will need. 

Step 1: Research, Onboarding & Resources Alignment

The first step is to get your company prepared for ABM. Here, a variety of tasks has to be done, including setting goals and budgets, understanding TA, the company needs, and available resources.

The tools we use here help to review resources, research the market and gain a deep understanding of thew current situation.

Step 2: Value proposition canvas development

Here, the goal is to create a value proposition that will serve as a single point of truth during content development. It includes TA segments as well as JTBD, pains and gains for each of them.

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Google, Semrush and OpenAI help to research audience segments, while GetBrew and InfitiGrow

Step 3: Target Audience Collection

Having a super specific and clear target audience list is crucial for ABM to be successful. These are the people you want to become your customers.

To collect TA, we use a variety of tools, combining their effectiveness. Snovio and Triblio are great because they allow finding email, LinkedIn, and domain information of TA in one place.

Step 4: Messages & Campaign Structure Development

When you have an advanced TA list, we move to plan how exactly they will be reached. A content plan and a roadmap are the final product here.

Google Analytics, Hubspot, Marketo, and other tools are helpful here to make sure our plan is data-driven.

Step 5: Content & Assets Development

Here we create all sorts of content to support the ABM program. It includes email templates, LP, blogs, articles, posts and others.

ChatGPT is helpful here for research & proofreading. Peperflite is great for curating and distributing content, while Figma and Adobe are our go-to design tools.

Step 6: Marketing Automation & Development

Now we automate all sales and marketing processes we can, using Hubspot as a CRM; Market for marketing automation; tools like Zapier and Reply for email marketing automation, and Triblio for multi-channel campaigns.

Step 7: Ads Campaigns Setup & Launch

When all the preparatory stages are done, it is time to set up our ABM&ABX campaigns. Here tools play a vital role to ensure that our content is seen by TA.

Triblio and Influ2 help to catch intent signals and run the campaigns, together with multiple other ad apps.

Step 8: Measurement & Perfection

The final step is to measure the results and to twek the campaign to get the most sucess. Here, analytics tools are most useful for audience & messaging analytics.

Use up-to-date martech stack for your ABM campaigns effectively!

To succeed with ABM, there are several factors every B2B company needs. These include clearly identifying the profile of the ideal client, creating a tailored content strategy, and using personalized technology to connect all channels and activities. While we have already presented you with a comprehensive list of martech tools needed, figuring out how each of them works and then combining the tech stack to show results requires deep expertise. Luckily, 42DM is ready to become your ABM leader and help you get through this! Click here to chat with us!