Marketing and sales don’t always work in harmony. But when they do, there’s revenue to be had. By putting aside misaligned objectives and perspectives, account-based event marketing unites the two departments in pursuit of your most valuable prospects.
This highly targeted strategy engages your key accounts on a deeper level, creates more personalised event experiences, and drives revenue.
Read on to find out how applying an ABM strategy to your events will boost pipeline and customer loyalty.
Contents:
What is account-based marketing?
Account-based marketing (ABM) allows you to target and engage a specific set of high-value accounts or companies.
Instead of casting a wide net to a broad audience, the core idea behind ABM is to treat each targeted account as a market of its own. This means tailoring marketing efforts and messages to address the unique needs and challenges of that specific account.
Here are a few activities commonly used within ABM strategies:
- Customised or personalised content and messaging: Whatever content you produce—whether it be blogs, whitepapers, case studies, or webinars—should be tailored toward a specific account and its decision-makers. The messaging should resonate with their challenges and interests.
- Multi-channel engagement: ABM strategies often involve multiple marketing channels such as email, social media, and direct mail to reach the individuals within your target account.
- Event participation: Events, such as industry conferences, trade shows, webinars, workshops, and seminars, provide an opportunity to engage with multiple stakeholders from the target account in a concentrated setting.
The benefits of account-based event marketing
Account-based event marketing can have several benefits for your organisation. Here are three reasons to apply an ABM strategy to your events:
- Higher conversion rates: Focusing on a select group of high-potential accounts often results in higher conversion rates. This is because your solution or product is more likely to solve their most pressing challenges.
- Marketing and sales alignment: The shared goal of targeting and converting specific accounts encourages these teams to work together closely. This means smoother communication, shared strategies, and a more coordinated approach.
- Long-term growth and loyalty: ABM is not just about immediate wins; it's about nurturing relationships that lead to long-term growth. Satisfied and engaged customers from ABM efforts are more likely to become advocates and provide opportunities for upselling.
💡 Looking for more tips on building a great ABM event strategy? Watch our on-demand webinar, Your ABM Strategy & Event Data A Match Made in Heaven below:
8 steps to a winning account-based event marketing strategy
Simply put, you get out what you put in. Careful planning, personalisation, and knowledge of your key accounts are essential ingredients in an account-based event marketing strategy.
But crafting an ABM event strategy doesn’t have to be difficult. We’ve put together 8 steps to a winning ABM strategy, guaranteed to help you snag the attention of your most valuable prospects and earn their business.
1. Define your ideal customer profile
Your first—and most important—step is to define your ideal customer profile (ICP) and select your target accounts. Choose wisely as you’ll spend a great deal of time and money tailoring your ABM strategy to meet the needs of these accounts.
Start by deciding on a firm list of ICP criteria. The content of this list will depend on the purpose of your ABM campaign but here’s a list of characteristics you could look at:
- Industry and industry subset
- Company size
- Location
- Team size
- Company turnover
2. Identify target accounts
Next, identify your target accounts using this list. This is a job best done alongside sales. They’ll know the ins and outs of each account and they may even know the decision makers personally. This can make a big difference in the success of your ABM event campaign.
3. Segment and prioritise
Once you have your list of target accounts, you need to segment and prioritise them. This will help you focus your efforts and avoid wasting time on accounts least likely to convert.
Segment and prioritise your accounts based on factors like:
- Revenue potential
- Fit with your solutions
- Buying readiness
- Strategic importance
- Likelihood of conversion
4. Develop a relationship
Next, you’ll need to identify the a main point of contact (POC) for each account. These are typically decision-makers in the relevant department or team. And, depending on the size of the company you’re targeting, there could be multiple POCs.
Far ahead of your event, it’s important to begin nurturing a relationship with your POCs. This could be easy if sales are already in touch or friendly with them. Sometimes, however, you may have to initiate the relationship.
Relationships take time and effort. But do this right and you’ll find you’ve already done a lot of the legwork once the event rolls around. So, how do you begin a relationship with these POCs without coming across as pushy? Here are a few ideas:
- Send out thought leadership content through email
- Ask for expertise on a particular topic for an upcoming piece of content
- Ask for a case study (in-person or over video call)
- Offer exclusive content
- Invite them to other events workshops or webinars
- Engage with them over social media
5. Define event objectives
Now it’s time to get your event off the ground. Not so fast, though. You’ll first need to create a list of objectives and understand how these align with your company’s overall growth and revenue strategy. Your objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
For example, are you looking to accelerate deals in the pipeline, nurture existing relationships, or showcase thought leadership?
Analyse where your target accounts are in their buyer's journey. Are they in the awareness, consideration, or decision stage? Your event objectives should align with their current position in the journey.
6. Align between sales and marketing
Marketing and sales must align closely for a seamless and coordinated approach. The best ABM event strategies leverage each team’s skills and resources. This means:
- Shared goals and objectives: Ensure that both marketing and sales teams understand and agree on the desired outcomes.
- Regular meetings and check-ins: Discuss event planning progress, share updates on account engagement, and address any challenges or opportunities that arise.
- Joint account selection: Involve both marketing and sales in the process of selecting target accounts for the event.
- Follow-up strategy: Determine how sales will engage with leads generated from the event and how marketing can support the ongoing nurturing process.
- Event participation: Ensure that both teams are aligned on event roles, responsibilities, and engagement strategies with target accounts.
7. Personalise the event experience
Personalising the event experience is a pivotal part of your account-based event marketing strategy. Tailoring your event to the needs and preferences of your target accounts enhances engagement and builds stronger relationships.
But with so many POCs and accounts to consider, it’s not always easy. Here are a few event personalisation ideas for you to put to use:
- Customised invitations: Craft personalised event invitations for each target account. If sales have a close relationship with a POC, have them reach out personally. Invitations should highlight how your event will address specific challenges.
- Tailored content and sessions: Develop event content that directly speaks to the challenges and interests of each account segment. Offer sessions, workshops, or panels. It may be worth sending out a survey before the event to understand what your accounts would be most interested in.
- Personalised event agenda: Create personalised agendas for each account, depending on which sessions align with their industry, challenges, and interests.
- Personalised follow-up: After the event, follow up with personalised messages that reference specific conversations or sessions attended. Provide additional insights and resources related to their interests.
8. Capture insights and feedback
It’s unlikely everything will be perfect—and that’s a good thing! Understanding what you did right and what could be improved will help you take your account-based event marketing campaigns to the next level. It’s all about asking the right questions.
Insights and feedback can be collected in a variety of ways, including:
- Online survey software: Smart online survey software helps you collect feedback throughout the event—and after! Cvent’s event surveys, for example, allow you to track insights and feedback in real-time.
- Live polling: Most mobile event apps allow you to conduct live polling. This is a great way to collect instant feedback.
- Interactive feedback stations: Provide interactive feedback stations throughout your event. This allows guests to provide their insight between sessions.
- Face-to-face interviews: Before your event takes place, organise face-to-face interviews with a select few accounts and ask them about their experience so far. This is a great opportunity to gather video or written content for post-event marketing.
Measuring the success of your ABM event strategy
Measuring the success of your account-based event marketing strategy can be challenging. Traditional metrics, like attendance and lead generation, may not accurately reflect the impact on revenue. So how can you accurately capture the impact of ABM on pipeline and revenue growth?
Engagement
Track engagement metrics to gauge the level of interest and interaction from your target accounts. Metrics include:
- Attendance: The percentage of invited accounts that attended.
- Session attendance: How many representatives from each account attended specific sessions?
Account-level metrics
Measure engagement and progress on an account-by-account basis. Metrics include:
- Number of interactions per account: How many interactions each account had with your event content or representatives?
- Quality of interactions: Assess the depth and quality of interactions through factors like questions asked, polls taken, and content downloaded.
Pipeline and revenue
Assess the impact of your ABM strategy on your sales pipeline and revenue. Metrics include:
- Accelerated deals: How many deals progressed or closed faster as a result of the event?
- Influenced revenue: Calculate the revenue attributed to the event's influence on deals, even if it wasn't the primary touchpoint.
ROI calculation
Calculate the return on investment (ROI) for your ABM strategy by comparing the revenue generated or influenced by the event against the costs of planning and running the event.
Ideas for your account-based marketing events
Deciding on the right type of event requires creativity and an understanding of your key accounts’ challenges, needs, and preferences. Here are a few ABM event ideas:
Executive roundtables
Executive roundtables are a great choice if you want a more intimate, exclusive feel to your event. They allow your key accounts’ executives and key decision-makers to engage in strategic conversations about industry trends, challenges, and opportunities.
This is an opportunity for your accounts to share insights, exchange ideas, and engage in thought-provoking conversations.
Workshops
Workshops, tailored to the specific challenges and goals of your target accounts, are hands-on experiences for your key accounts. They encourage active learning, engagement, and collaboration among attendees.
Hands-on experiences help your audience understand concepts more deeply and retain information better. Workshops often focus on real-world scenarios and offer skills, rather than just information.
Customised experiences
Experiences like private tours, wine tastings, or sporting events, can help you personalise your event for one or multiple accounts. The trick is to pick an activity that you know a particular segment or account would enjoy.
Custom webinars
Custom webinars are online presentations or seminars tailored to the specific needs or interests of your target audience. Develop an engaging webinar script addressing your key accounts’ challenges and offer solutions through interactive presentations.
Product innovation showcases
Product innovation showcases are events or presentations that highlight your company's latest products, services, or solutions to a select audience.
They provide an interactive and personalised platform to demonstrate the value of your offerings. They also allow your accounts to shape your product roadmap through feedback.
Boost event engagement with account-based marketing
Events don’t always form the backbone of account-based marketing strategies. But a well-designed, personalised event—no matter the format you choose—is a great way to form and develop relationships with your most valuable prospects.
For more insights on how to develop a robust ABM strategy, download our State of Account-Based Strategies report.
