It’s a cliche to say “content is king” without putting it into proper context. However, it remains true that without content to engage your potential customers, you’re drifting down the marketing creek without a paddle. Your account-based marketing (ABM) content efforts are what propel people to consider your product or service from interest through to conversion.
“It’s easy to think that the most important parts of the funnel are the top (attraction) and the bottom (conversion) as they’re the most obvious touchpoints for attracting a new buyer. But that’s an erroneous assumption that leads to lost opportunities.”
Here are a few key pointers you need to keep in mind while working on your company’s content marketing strategy to help your ABM efforts:
Review Your Assumptions
Many marketers fall into the trap of assuming that all potential customers follow the same template: uninterested to interested, then straight to purchase. But there are more levels to the buyer’s journey than this, and not everyone is swayed by the same arguments. You need to look at your assumptions regarding the marketing funnel, especially in terms of content.
Obviously, your customer data should be the first guideline regarding the content you create for ABM. Learn from past successes and failures to craft messaging that attracts new customers. This kind of content can be an e-book, video, blog post, webinar or even a direct newsletter. But even at this early stage, consider the wide range of buyers that you’d like to attract; you may know what your existing audience likes, but what about those who lie just outside of that circle? Can you create content that will pull them in?
Don’t Neglect the Middle of the Funnel
This is where many marketers fail, and it’s easy to see why. The assumption here is that once attracted by your content and ABM strategies, the attention of the potential customer is enough to drive them through to purchase. However, many buyers need more convincing than a simple introduction to your product or service. Remember that you are likely competing with a whole host of other companies, so your content at this stage should reflect that.
Create compelling reasons for the buyer to continue their journey. Hold them by the hand just a bit, and don’t worry about them feeling like you’re overdoing it; if they feel they don’t need the extra effort, then they’ll just move on to the next step on their own. However, they’ll probably appreciate being able to absorb more information on exactly what you offer that differentiates your solution from those of other businesses. Good collateral at this stage of the content marketing funnel includes data sheets, how-tos, frameworks, demo videos and tip sheets.
Finish Strong
The bottom of the funnel also sees an assumption: that once here, the prospects are so ready to order that they’ll ignore the content you’ve created. This is a costly mistake to make. Sometimes people need that last push, a final reminder that they’ve made the right decision.
“A powerful way to sway undecided prospects is to reassure them that they’re not alone in their choice; they’re part of a large cohort of satisfied customers.”
To this effect, case studies, reviews and testimonials can have a massive impact on potential buyers.
Your assumptions at different stages of the content marketing funnel in your ABM campaign need to be revised. Only you can fill the gaps by providing the necessary data that can influence your customers at every stage.
