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Did you know that one of the surefire ways of generating revenue from your ABM (Account-Based Marketing) campaigns is through the research cascade method?

In today’s newsletter, I’ll show you why and how.

Let’s start first with the common mistakes most B2B marketers make with ABM.

ABM mistakes B2B marketers make

ABM is all about providing tailored solutions to companies with a specific need or challenge that your product can solve. In other words, it's highly personalized marketing for (individual) accounts.

Yet, many ABM agencies and B2B marketers set up their campaigns including thousands of target accounts from different verticals. And to top it all off, they use the exact same messaging and content.

As a result, their campaigns flop.

Moral lesson: never introduce an ABM motion without market segmentation and without creating an ICP for each segment. Speaking of ICP, you must make sure it includes the buying committee structure for each account tier.

Start with a list of engaged accounts that fit your ICP and passed through qualification criteria.

Next, leverage the research cascade method.

Here’s how.

1. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

Gim Gilkey put it well when he said: “with only 5% of your TAM in market this quarter, it is too risky to reach out without doing your research first.”

The underlying message is crystal clear: do your homework.

"𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞" is that necessary level of personalization to cuts through the noise in this world of feature-first, spray-and-pray marketing.

When you opt for ABM, you should never adopt a throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks sort of approach. While it’s worthwhile to have some information templated, you should also leave room for high personalization to really start building relationships from the very first interaction.

How do you do that? Collect and analyze all publicly available information about target accounts' key initiatives and strategies.

Here are the main sources:

• press releases

• interviews with chief executives

• roadmaps

• corporate reports

• earning calls

2. 𝐁𝐮𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

Do your due diligence by researching the buying committee and collecting insights about how they might be involved in key initiatives.

Here is a couple of things you need to pay attention to:

• What's their role and area of responsibility in the stated key initiative or strategy?

• What KPIs or OKRs have they defined?

• What challenges are they facing?

• What are their goals?

3. 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠

Start mapping your value proposition with the identified KPIs, goals, and challenges of every buying committee member.

Fullfunnel.io example from selling ABM sprints:

• Marketing: get a proven process to collaborate with sales and increase marketing-sourced revenue;

• Sales: hit revenue targets faster by winning deals with enterprise accounts.

4. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Write down short (I recommend a one-page doc) personalized solutions for every buying committee member.

This can include:

• The context;

• An explanation of how your product helps them achieve their goals or solve the challenges they’re facing;

• Relevant social proof

5. 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦-𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧)

You can create a multichannel warm-up and activation program with the sales team.

You might want to include:

• Social engagement and selling

• Personalized ads

• Content hubs

• Content collaboration

• Direct mail swags

• Micro-events

Keep this in mind, dear . ABM is not about volume. Instead, you should identify the right accounts that need your product and market to them personally.

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