Current ABM approaches assume you need to know who the person is to market to them. A core tenant of ABM is that good targeting of accounts is key to the success. This has driven the marketing software industry to solve the problem of anonymous visitors’ identity. The top ABM vendors have invested millions in this.
What if we challenge that assumption?
After all, this is the biggest limiting factor to the size of your “targetable” market. You are probably screaming at the screen: “How can we sell to them if we don’t know who they are?” Of course, you need to know who they are when you get to the sale. But we contend you don’t need to know them until pretty late on in their research. But only if you have a well-constructed buyers’ journey. You don’t need to know who they are until they are ready – when they have qualified themselves – as long as you stay engaged with them on their journey.
With all the recent advances in identifying people and understanding their intent, you still have to take buyers on the journey. The irony is that actually it is the journey, and the right content that supports that journey, that is far more likely to deliver your success.
When you have mapped your buyers’ journey and aligned your content to support the journey, then you will understand their intent/needs by the route they take through your content. When they are ready, you will pass why they got there and what is driving their research to sales, not just their name. With the journey mapped and tracked, you will have full marketing attribution to sales.
You might think, “That’s nice, but what if they don’t follow through on the journey? Or they get stuck?” Good point. This is where the power of mapping your journey gets really interesting. By using a Nudge AI, we can “drive” your buyers through the journey. As your Buyer is researching, it will present them with content that will lead them forward on the journey to purchase. When your Buyer pauses or gets stuck, the Odyssiant AI will “nudge” them in the right direction. The bonus to this is that by using NBC outbound, there is no need for you to build any more multi-staged email sequences.
Identifying all your prospects isn’t as necessary as you may have thought. If you want to make the most out of your ABM programme, then Buyer Journey mapping is essential to enriching your leads and improving your conversion rate.