The deal is worth six figures
At that size the buying group is five to ten people and the cycle runs for months. Volume lead generation aims at the wrong thing.
Account-based marketing
A named list, worked properly.
When fifty accounts matter more than five thousand leads, the job changes. Map the buying group, aim the content at it, and get sales and marketing running the same plan.
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When it applies
Signs you need ABM.
Sales already has the list
They know the accounts. What they do not have is anything landing in those accounts between calls.
Marketing and sales disagree about leads
A classic symptom. It usually means nobody has written down what a qualified account looks like.
The market is small and known
In some categories the entire addressable market is a few hundred companies. Broad reach is mostly waste.
What the work includes.
01
Mapping
The accounts, the roles inside them, who has budget, who blocks, and what each of them reads.
02
Research
Trigger events, hiring, funding, technology changes and public statements that give a campaign a reason to exist.
03
Content
Material aimed at a buying group rather than a persona, including pieces written for one account where the deal justifies it.
04
Delivery
Sequenced email, paid social to named lists, direct outreach support and landing pages built per campaign.
05
Alignment
Shared definitions, shared dashboards and a weekly rhythm so sales and marketing are working the same accounts.
06
Reporting
Account engagement rather than lead volume, tracked in HubSpot and read at account level.
How we run it
Three tiers.
Most programmes use more than one at the same time, sized to the value of the account.
One to one
A handful of accounts, each with material written for that company. Reserved for the deals that justify it.
One to few
Clusters of ten to thirty accounts that share a problem, worked with content built for that cluster.
One to many
The wider list, reached programmatically with content aimed at the segment and scored for engagement.
Part of Resonance
Proof a named account will recognise.
Target accounts respond to evidence sooner than they respond to campaigns. A feature in the trade title their team actually reads. An analyst who already knows your name. A story about a company like theirs.
Resonance builds that on the PR side, and the campaigns here draw on it. Client stories and the sector pages show the kind of work behind it.
- 27
- client stories published by the group
- 2011
- Resonance has traded since
- UK
- with programmes into Europe and the US
Questions
Common questions.
How many accounts should be on the list?
Between thirty and two hundred for most UK B2B programmes. Fewer than thirty and it is really sales with support. More than two hundred and it stops being account-based.
Do we need extra tools?
Usually not at the start. HubSpot with target account settings and good list hygiene covers the first year for most teams. Intent data and ad platforms are worth adding once the basics are running.
How does this fit with inbound?
Inbound catches the accounts you did not know about. ABM works the ones you did. The content library serves both, which is why most clients run them together.
What does success look like in month three?
More of the named accounts engaging, more contacts known per account, and meetings that sales did not have to cold-source. Revenue follows the cycle length, which in this kind of sale is rarely under six months.
Next step
Bring us the account list.
We will tell you what we can find out about the buying groups inside it, and what it would take to reach them.
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