WILL ALL the hype around account-based marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the buzz of fancy technology and transformational strategy. However, some companies such as Ghostery, have gained value from ABM in the short-term by testing it conservatively and adapting content messaging.
“One of the key goals of rolling out ABM at Ghostery this year was to determine which segment of our business it worked for and figure out how to execute on it successfully without disrupting our traditional inbound marketing efforts,” Yee said. “Since we’re brand new at this, we opted to use an agile working methodology to quickly test and learn how to best apply ABM tools and tactics to avoid over-investing our efforts on a sub-optimal campaign.”
“It’s not just about doing 100% email or 100% physical. A mix of those efforts together is what ABM is all about.” Jeffrey Yee, Ghostery
As a company that helps its users improve their web experiences, Ghostery is practicing what it preaches when it comes to ABM content. “Right now, we’re in the process of looking at all of our assets — content we have, events we go to, webinars we host — to see how we can ‘ABM-ize’ it,” said Yee. “We’re currently doing that with some custom white papers.”
LEVERAGING PERSONALIZATION FOR CONSISTENT MESSAGING
Ghostery began its ABM program by providing its Tier 1 and Tier 2 accounts with a highly personalized web experience using Triblio, an ABM software provider. With help from Triblio’s web personalization solution, the company can identify the target accounts on their web page and emphasize a call to action for them to download a custom white paper, which also includes a custom analysis of their website.
“If [a website visitor] is from one of our Tier 1 or Tier 2 accounts, they would see their website URL and name in our homepage banner with a call to action,” said Yee. “We then lead them to a custom landing page, where they can request a personalized white paper that we will email them within 24 hours.”
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Analyze what your strengths are as a business.” Jeffrey Yee, Ghostery
Email is a pivotal channel for Ghostery, but Yee stressed that figuring out a healthy mix of channels and tactics is critical to its ABM success. “It’s not just about doing 100% email or 100% physical,” said Yee. “A mix of those efforts together is what ABM is all about: sales and marketing coming together using their strong skill sets — whether its email, phone calls, retargeting or web personalization — and combining it all together to hit these top accounts.”
TAKING A STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH TOWARD ABM SUCCESS
Ghostery has already seen significant month-over-month increases in conversion and engagement rates, including:
- A 30% lift in unique website visits from Tier 1 and Tier 2 accounts;
- A 70% lift in conversion rates;
- 25% of Q4 marketing-sourced pipeline coming from ABM-specific efforts; and
- 44% of Q4 target net new accounts coming from ABM.
Despite these significant results, Yee said that it’s important to take it one step at a time when implementing an ABM strategy.
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew,” he advised. “Analyze what your strengths are as a business. Our website traffic and business development team is very strong, and we wanted to start by enhancing those pieces within the ABM technology and focusing on those strategic accounts before we did new things.”
Editor’s note: At press time, DGR learned that Jeffrey Yee was no longer working at Ghostery.