Is there any relationship between ABM (Account-Based Marketing) and Inbound Marketing? What a question! The answer is a resounding yes.
If you have an idea of how account-based marketing and inbound marketing work, you might just dismiss this relationship as an impossibility. How can they be a match made in Heaven when they're two entirely different marketing strategies?
On the one hand, account-based marketing allows you to target specific accounts within an organisation through direct and personalised communication. This, in a way, shares some similarities with outbound marketing which takes on a more aggressive approach to marketing.
Inbound Marketing, on the other hand, is a broad approach to attracting consumers via creating valuable content and experiences tailored to a non-specific audience. So, instead of addressing your target audience and consumers with direct messaging (as with outbound marketing), inbound marketing allows you to present your audience with the information they want when they want it in a more natural, indirect way.
To understand where inbound and ABM meet, we must look at both marketing techniques from the perspective of complementing each other.
"How exactly does this partnership work?" you might wonder.
This article will help you understand how to implement both ABM and inbound marketing side by side to create powerful marketing campaigns.
3 Reasons why Account-Based Marketing and Inbound Marketing fit perfectly
Let's look at some reasons to implement both ABM and inbound marketing alongside each other.
1. Inbound marketing lays the foundation
ABM builds off of inbound marketing by taking the ready made resources and refining them through efficient resource allocation of high-value accounts. In other words, you attract your ideal customers with inbound marketing, then target them with account-based marketing.
It's like casting a wide net in the sea with inbound marketing, and once you've caught a handful of fish, you can use your ABM hook to handpick out the ones that look the most appealing to you. You may then create personalised marketing content for specific accounts on their team.
2. Personalised customer experience
Inbound marketing provides consumers with a better experience by providing relevant, data-driven content. As a result, businesses may gain a deeper understanding of their customers and deliver personalised content that is valuable, relevant, and timely to them.
However, ABM takes personalisation a step further by creating highly targeted, personalised campaigns to win over specific accounts. Therefore, starting with inbound and finishing off with ABM seems like a solid plan. It helps you create content that your target market can resonate with, thus helping you generate a clientele base of high-value, long-term customers.
3. Two-in-one value
This mutual relationship between ABM and inbound marketing allows you to create content that serves both audiences. So, for example, you could create a personalised case study for a target account that you also share on your website for your inbound audience to attract more clients with a similar profile.
Using this combined approach, you can reach a more significant number of readers than if you focused on creating one type of content. Remember, the goal is to maximise your results while doing less.
Conclusion
As the world gradually tilts towards a more personalised marketing approach, B2B companies are now paying more attention to account-based marketing. A Hubspot survey shows that 70% of marketers report using ABM in 2021, up 15% from 2020.
However, focusing on ABM alone is leaving money on the table. Instead, you should combine it with inbound marketing which feeds directly into your ABM funnel. At the end of the day, if an inbound lead becomes a part of your target accounts, ABM can pick up right where inbound leaves off and finish off the conversion.
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