You might be aware of ABM and how super-effective it is as a B2B strategy, but what are some account-based marketing examples, and why are they so 🔥?
Account-based marketing uses a hyper-focused approach to forge deep and meaningful connections with high-value accounts.
The mantra that rings the most true is “quality over quantity”. So you can flip the traditional marketing funnel on its head and act with surgical precision on a carefully curated list of accounts from the get-go.
A range of tactics can be used in ABM, almost all of which rely on your sales and marketing teams to work hand-in-glove.
With all that said, let’s look at some campaign examples that stand tall in the world of ABM 👇
Example 1: Cognism
Cognism knows all about reaching the right people at the right time.
With its intent data partnership with Bombora and quality-compliant database, the marketing team can easily create and segment prospecting lists to identify the best accounts to reach out to.
And it helps to have an awesome book written by the CMO, Alice de Courcy to send out to potential prospects too.
Sending a gift as part of your strategy is a great example of ABM. Gifts can be highly effective for building rapport and strengthening relationships with key accounts.
However, it’s important to ensure the gift is appropriate, well-timed, and aligned with the recipient’s preferences to maximise its effectiveness.
Example 2: Intridea
(Source: X)
Sometimes, you need to be bold to get your point across.
Take this account-based marketing example from Intridea, a web product and services company, for instance. They wanted to catch Ogilvy’s eye. But how do you command the attention of one of the biggest names in advertising?
With a giant billboard, of course!
The billboard was across the street from their offices in Manhattan, and they weren’t afraid to get loud with a creative message that spoke directly to Ogilvy. The message challenged them to step up and hire Intridea, accompanied by a personalised URL showcasing a collection of funny GIFs - who could say no?
Not Ogilvy.
The CEO called them up to arrange a meeting.
Deciding what to do for your ABM campaigns is all about understanding your audience and choosing the right platforms.
It doesn’t have to be a billboard. You can surprise your target audience anywhere they hang out online or offline. Whether that’s Instagram, LinkedIn, or another lead source.
Example 3: LiveRamp
If you’re in business-to-business marketing, you’ve probably heard of LiveRamp, the identity resolution powerhouse. They’re in the business of helping organisations integrate offline customer data into their online marketing systems.
This gives marketers a more complete picture of their customers and their behaviour for analytics, targeting, and content personalisation.
Using a hyper-targeted account-based marketing (ABM) approach, LiveRamp welcomed a few Fortune 500 companies to their portfolio. They identified and narrowed down 15 top-tier clients that matched their ideal customer profile.
Focusing their efforts and energy on this select group, they achieved a staggering 33% conversion rate in just four weeks. Fast forward two years and their customer lifetime value had skyrocketed a massive 25 times.
What’s the lesson from this B2B account-based marketing example?
Identify your most valuable accounts and tailor your efforts to those select targets.
LiveRamp didn’t stop at hitting their high-value clients; they evolved their approach into ABX, account-based end-to-end experiences.
That evolution demanded a deeper understanding of their audience, a knack for knowing when and how to engage them, and the ability to seamlessly integrate marketing and sales efforts.
By mastering the art of cohesive engagement, combining personalised advertising, strategic email marketing, multi-touch SDR strategies, and good old-fashioned automation. It’s proof that when you combine the right tools with a hyper-focused approach and a dash of creativity, the sky’s the limit.
Example 4: GumGum
(Source: X)
If one of the key tactics of account-based marketing is to cater to a smaller audience and be more personal, GumGum, an expert in computer vision, took it to a whole new level.
They set their sights on T-Mobile as one of the target accounts they wanted to sign. However, instead of talking directly to the company through the normal channels, they reached out directly to the CEO.
How did they do it?
With a comic book!
They learned he was a die-hard Batman fan by going through the Twitter feed of the T-Mobile CEO, John Legere. They created a custom comic book called “T-Man and Gums” using this insight. It featured the CEO as a superhero similar to the caped crusader and a personification of GumGum as his sidekick.
The comic book’s story followed an adventure which weaved in the benefits and skills GumGum could offer T-Mobile. It worked like a charm; the innovative move got them a deal and gave them loads of exposure when the CEO tweeted about it to all his followers.
What does this example of account-based marketing teach us?
When you’re diving into account-based sales strategies, think beyond the basics.
How far can you push the personalisation, especially if you have a very specific target persona in mind?
Slapping a name on an email isn’t enough; it’s about crafting something that resonates deeply with the decision-makers. The power of personalised content is that it doesn’t just grab attention; it builds relationships.
Example 5: Salsify
Another SaaS company, Salsify helps clients to facilitate the digital buying experience of their customers, especially with the shift of consumers purchasing more and more online than from physical stores.
To get sign-ups for an event Salsify was hosting in New York with keynote speakers from Google and Johnson & Johnson, they implemented a focused, coordinated campaign across multiple channels. One which took all of…2 hours.
Using a meticulously curated list of target accounts, Salsify’s marketing and sales teams initially hit their prospects with compelling marketing messages, followed by targeted display ads and personalised emailers. Then, like a well-oiled machine, the sales team swooped in and followed up.
With an initial goal of at least 60 attendees, the team had registered 82. It was a testament to the power of focus, coordination, and, most importantly, collaboration.
Zooming in on the mechanics behind this triumph revealed the secret sauce: teamwork. Salsify’s marketing and sales teams didn’t just coexist; they thrived together. Seamlessly rolling out a multichannel marketing approach built on the back of a highly collaborative effort.
Salsify proved that when sales and marketing stand shoulder to shoulder, it’s all gravy, baby!
Example 6: Metrikus
When it comes to making buildings more efficient, Metrikus is a respected brand. Their market-leading software platform transforms how businesses optimise their building environments.
Their client roster includes the likes of GSK, the NHS, and the Met Office and utilises data and sensors to empower workplace managers to make better decisions to improve the sustainability of buildings.
But data from buildings wasn’t what they needed to find new clients. It was ABM data focused on target accounts and set to specific parameters that would make them more green.
In the past, Metrikus relied on referrals, word-of-mouth, and website traffic to drive new business. However, a partnership with Cognism changed the game for them.
They considerably enhanced their lead generation efforts by leveraging close collaboration between the demand generation and sales teams and specific data triggers.
Focusing on sustainability, workplace, and property managers in key regions, they used buyer-led intent data to identify which of their targets showed the most promise and followed up with personalised outreach.
Hiring triggers tracked organisations looking to fill roles in the sustainability space, and topic triggers around smart buildings helped to pinpoint ideal accounts.
They also refreshed their database regularly and streamlined lead generation forms to ensure easier and more efficient prospect engagement. Keeping the data lean and fighting fit.
Paid ads on LinkedIn further bolstered their outreach efforts and continued to drive positive results.
This is an excellent ABM example of how making a concerted effort to improve and add better data points lays a strong foundation for a sales strategy.
If you’d like to see how you can use Cognism to build targeted lead lists in 15 minutes or less, watch this video 👇
Example 7: Comply Advantage
Our next account-based marketing strategy example is from ComplyAdvantage, a UK firm revolutionising financial crime risk management using AI-driven technology. They’ve partnered with major players like Santander, Affirm, and Gemini.
They have a clear message they want to convey to businesses: compliance doesn’t have to be a headache. They rely on real-time insights and a risk database that sifts through millions of data points every day to pinpoint potential risks from individuals and companies.
Safe to say, they’re no strangers to data!
The Comply Advantage team’s mission was to broaden and deepen the reach among target accounts. Their ideal client persona was a mid-market Fintech organisation, particularly a medium to large challenger bank, blockchain, trading, payment, or cryptocurrency businesses in EMEA or the USA.
Ensuring they had the right contact information for decision-makers in these areas was paramount. So, they collaborated with multiple B2B data providers, particularly Cognism, to improve the data quality, feeding their lead generation efforts.
By implementing rigorous testing and analysis, they identified gaps in data quality and found solutions to address them.
The results with Cognism B2B data have included a 15% increase in conversion rate, an email bounce rate of only 6%, and 10% of all new meetings being booked!
Real improvements and seamless integration of technology were made possible through a collaboration between sales, marketing, and revenue operations.
This allowed all the databases to be interconnected, the processes streamlined, and the data quality constantly improved.
So, when implementing your strategy for ABM engagement, it’s key to put into place systems that will help ensure you’re working with the best contact data possible.
Example 8: DocuSign
(Source: Forbes)
Next, let’s talk about DocuSign. An electronic signature solution company that uses secure technology to control the signing and management of documents electronically.
They have a broad client base that spans six diverse industries, which makes managing their leads a lot more difficult. This is where account-based selling becomes the pen that’s mightier than the sword.
By building personas, DocuSign was able to target more than 450 enterprise-level accounts with targeted ads featuring specific messages and visuals.
This included customer testimonials, white papers, and case studies that spoke specifically to targets across different industries.
By creating dynamic content and optimising it according to personas, they saw fantastic results, including a million impressions, a 300% increase in page views, a 60% improvement in their engagement rate and a whopping 22% increase in sales.
The key to this success was creating content tailored for different industries and contextualised for specific buying stages.
Everything was tailored, from their digital ads to their website, to suit the exact needs of their clients. All of these were powered by web analytics and content optimisation to ensure the right message was getting to the right target when it needed to.
So, when combining account-based marketing with your inbound strategy, remember that dynamic content is king.
Now, that’s a solid example of an ABM strategy - signed, sealed, and delivered.
💡Need more help? Try using our account based marketing template.
Account-based marketing examples: key takeaways
To fully maximise the power of account-based marketing, it’s best to look at it not just as a strategy to adopt but rather as a mindset to embrace.
It’s like having a finely tuned radar guiding you to the exact coordinates of your most valuable clients.
But when you get there, you best be prepared with something that resonates, captivates, and, most importantly, says, “I know you. I understand you. I’m here to help.”
So, here’s wishing you the best of luck on your ABM journey - hopefully, these account-based marketing campaign examples have given you all the inspiration you need.
May the precision be with you!
Better ABM with Cognism
Looking at these account-based marketing examples, you might be wondering:
Where do I start?
The answer:
With Cognism - the leader in international sales intelligence.
Its GDPR-compliant data allows you to:
- Calculate TAM and explore your ICP.
- Access ABM data such as accurate business emails, mobile numbers, and social handles.
Plus, a whole lot more!
Click to book a demo today 👇
