We have talked at length about the importance of data analytics in the field of marketing. Data analytics offers many useful insights for companies striving to boost their market share.
One of the best applications of data analytics is through enhanced account-based marketing. There are a lot of ways to use big data to get a better understanding of a target customer group, which is a vital part of any marketing strategy.
The Essence of Merging Account-Based Marketing with Data-Driven Marketing
Account-Based Marketing is a powerful tool to have when you know how to use it properly. In order to master ABM, you need to know how to handle all of its components. One of the biggest components of ABM’s success is the account selection process. This process is a lot easier when you lean on a sound data analytics platform.
Finding the right accounts crucial to your overall strategy success. Not convinced? Just ask marketers. A recent survey of experienced marketers revealed that more than two-thirds of them plan on using big data technology solutions to make their account selection process smoother.
Nailing the account selection process matters. But how can you get it right? Do you need to spend a fortune on the right big data solution for marketing? Today, we’re going to answer all of those questions for you and introduce you to the concept of an ideal customer profile.
Without further ado, let’s start…
What’s an ICP and Why Does It Matter?
As we mentioned in the opening, ICP stands for Ideal Customer Profile. It refers to companies, rather than individuals. That means, this marketing tactic is mainly used by B2B organizations. The twist here is, it gives you an opportunity to approach business like individuals.
Let’s explain further.
Companies have their own understanding who their customers are, what their desires and needs are, and how to fulfill them. However, while the leader of the organization knows how the ideal customer looks, the rest of the staff doesn’t. ICP helps you define your customers.
Some companies also have Minimum Customer Profiles to help them define the minimum criteria for acceptable customers. Are MCP and ICP one and the same? Not quite. ICP helps you define the type of customer you should be after. MCP defines the bare minimum.
In which should you invest more? In ICP of course.
It doesn’t make any sense investing in going after customers that are barely interested in your offer. You go after them too, but you should invest more effort, energy, and money into catering to ideal customers. Content creation, remarketing, and persona development aren’t cheap.
How to Develop an Ideal Customer Profile with Data Analytics?
New data analytics solutions enable you to have a full grasp of who your ideal customers are. You can use it to define the ICP and see which market segments in your white space are best suited for your product or service. Without the proper BI solution, your ICP would lack proper detail.
That doesn’t mean that there won’t be any on hand work. Creating an ICP requires a bit of both – manual and automated work – here’s how to do it:
- Sit down with your staff members, describe your ideal customer, and write all of the important characteristics down
- Reach out to some of your long-lasting customers, conduct an interview or have them fill out a survey on what they like about your business
- Pinpoint the exact characteristics of your ideal customer and use them to create a profile of what a perfect customer would look like for your business
- Input all of that data in your data-driven BI solution and start working on ways to utilize the information you have to guide your marketing efforts.
With an ICP as a foundation, you can use your BI solution to build account scoring models that will allow you to see which customers are more valuable to your business than others. In turn, you’ll know what customers you need to market to first…
What About Account-Based Marketing?
Now that you know that account types have the highest chance of converting and buying your product, you can better address some of their problems and targeting them with catered sales. BI solutions can help you recognize who should you go after first.
Some customers are willing to spend more money on your product/service than others. Using BI tools, you should get valuable clues to what type of messaging will resonate with these customers the most. These clues can help you customize your outreach campaign.
With a customized outreach campaign, you’re much more likely to grab the attention of companies that are in the need of your offering. Here are a couple of ways you can use BI tools to improve your Account-Based Marketing results:
- Target Competitors’ Clients
You need to target accounts that are using the services of your competitors. If you have a superior product, you can easily overtake your competitors’ customers, you just need to take a proactive approach to targeting them with your marketing. You should reach out to them with specific messages and show them how they can get more value out of your offering.
- Focus on the Revenue Potential
Why go for companies that aren’t willing to spend? You need to find clients that want to use your product/service for a long time and remain loyal to your company. Use your BI solution to make sure that your marketing efforts are strictly focused on accounts with a large revenue potential. Identify the customers with the largest white spaces and focus on cross-selling and upselling.
- Try the Strategic Incentive Approach
You can’t just sit back and wait for the customers to come to you. That way, you’ll be out of business in less in just a few years. Instead, you need to take a proactive approach. No matter how many customers you already have, focus on acquiring more. Look at your competitors. Analyze their tactics, learn from their mistakes, and make tweaks to your ABM strategy.
Big Data is Key to Developing a Successful Account-Based Marketing Strategy
By using the right big data solutions, you’ll be able to define your Ideal Customer Profiles much more accurately. Conversely, once you do that, you’ll have the ability to polish your Account-Based Marketing strategy and cater to your B2B customers more closely.
By handling the ICB portion of your strategy properly with optimal data analytics tools, you’ll identify and subsequently, prioritize the best targets and opportunities for your ABM program. With that, crafting relevant, relatable customer messages will be a breeze. Good luck with your ACB efforts.
