August in Europe is usually synonymous with one thing – vacation time. During summer’s peak, many B2B marketers in the region see their workloads lighten as colleagues and customers take time off for well-deserved holidays. This quieter time of year provides the perfect opportunity to take a step back from our day-to-day tasks and spend some time catching up on best practices and new theories. The August slowdown is also a great time to look closely at the results of H1 campaigns and ensure all strategies are sound as the second half of the year gets underway.
If account-based marketing is on your radar for the coming months and you’d like to brush up on your expertise, we’ve compiled a list of resources that are sure to take your ABM knowledge to the next level. Whether you’re spending August in the office or are looking for something compelling to read while lying on the beach or waiting in a busy airport, the ABM-focused content below will ensure that you can hit the ground running when business picks back up in September.
High-Level ABM Concepts and Strategies
ABM means many different things to different people, and from a conceptual perspective, it can be hard to wrap your head around. If you’re looking for some high-level reading on ABM, here are some great resources to get started:
- Forrester – Forrester is often considered THE industry expert on B2B marketing. In fact, everything you know about demand generation probably originated with their B2B Revenue Waterfall. You may think first of expensive analyst reports when you hear the name, but Forrester actually offers plenty of free content full of powerful insights as well. We found this blog (and corresponding free webinar!) particularly helpful for understanding concepts like Buying Groups and Personas, which are key to ABM success.
- Demandbase – Account intelligence and customer engagement platform provider Demandbase wrote the book (literally!) on Account-Based Experiences, or ABX. But they’ve also broken down the key concepts of ABX into an easily digestible infographic, because it is summer, after all. When you’ve mastered the high-level concepts of ABM and are ready to get to work building a strategy, Demandbase is also a great source for interactive resources with more practical applications – for example, use their ROI calculator to demonstrate how big of an impact an effective ABM program could have, or prove you’re ready to launch your program with their ABM Maturity Assessment.
- ABMonday – We don’t want to toot our own horn, but if you’re looking for easily digestible breakdowns of hot topics in ABM like the phase-out of third-party cookies or the death of the MQL, LeadFabric has got you covered. If you’re feeling confused about what ABM really means or how your business should approach it, we break it down in simple terms here (and to make life even easier, we’ve also translated the article into French and Dutch!).
Intent Data and Account Selection
The foundation for a successful ABM program being able to select and target the right accounts, a task that can feel high-stakes and overwhelming. Luckily, some of the top solution providers for this area also publish excellent content to help guide you on your way.
- 6sense – 6sense is one of the top-rated ABM enablement platforms on the market, and they are keen to share their expertise. 6sense’s Resource section is packed with informative content in all forms, including e-books, blog posts, webinars and podcasts. 6sense is an excellent tool for identifying in-market accounts, and they explain the science and data behind it in their essential e-book, “A Deep Dive into the Dark Funnel”, which we highly recommend.
- Bombora – If you’re trying to wrap your head around what intent data is or why it’s important for ABM success, Bombora can tell you everything you need to know. Their Essential Intent Data Guide is a great place to start.
Personalized Customer Experiences
Once you’ve got your target account list sorted out, the next step is to deliver customized, relevant content to those accounts at scale. That’s not always an easy task, but there are plenty of tools and resources available to help you create tailored customer experiences as quickly and easily as possible.
- Turtl - Turtl enables the creation of engaging longform content, and offers loads of options for scalable personalization. They’ve put together an essential how-to guide called “How to Personalize Your Content at Scale” to walk you through the process step by step. At LeadFabric, we are big fans of Turtl, and even used the platform to create our Fundamentals of Account-Based Marketing e-book.
- Überflip - Überflip makes creating customized content repositories a breeze, and this comes very much in handy when developing ABM campaigns. As a provider, Uberflip is in a unique position to understand the challenges of publishing personalized content for ABM, so their article “3 content experience challenges every ABM manager must overcome” really hits home. (By the way, did you know that we created our ABMonday page using Überflip?)
- Drift – Personalized customer experiences can also happen right on your website - has your organization considered using conversational marketing to provide tailored content to your target accounts when they visit your site? Check out Drift’s Account-Based Personalization Playbook to learn how improve the buyer experience at every stage of the buying process via conversational marketing, which can increase pipeline and accelerate revenue.
Ready to put your ABM expertise to work?
If these great resources inspire you and you can’t wait to get started on your ABM journey, or if it all feels overwhelming, LeadFabric is here to help you put the pieces together and get an effective ABM program up and running. Contact us today – we’re working throughout the season!
