Account-based marketing (or ABM) methods drive real growth for manufacturing businesses. How? By using a highly focused and personalised strategy that leverages the power of sales and marketing to feed the opportunity pipeline. 

Like many B2B industries, manufacturers typically have a strong understanding of who their customers are. If their products are niche enough, there might only be a small cluster of companies they would consider to be within their target market. In this instance, an account-based marketing method is the most effective strategy to drive sales. 

Using HubSpot to power the ABM process provides the necessary clarity and connectivity for implementing a successful ABM strategy, from targeting and campaign delivery to sales enablement and measuring success.

WHAT IS ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING?

Account-based marketing (or ABM) is a highly focused and personalised strategy which requires sales and marketing to work together to nurture specific high-value accounts based on the company’s target market. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING IN MANUFACTURING?

Account-based marketing is particularly useful for manufacturing companies because the products or services offered by manufacturers and engineers are highly specialised. 

For example, if you manufacture aerospace components, you’ll have a very unique audience to sell your products to. This is where account-based marketing strategies thrive: by helping you get your foot in the door at the right companies.

There are many benefits to implementing an ABM strategy in your manufacturing business, including:

• Aligning your sales and marketing teams
• Personalised communications to your customers
• More clarity on your ROI

HOW TO USE HUBSPOT TO SUPPORT YOUR ABM STRATEGY

HubSpot supports at every stage when building a successful ABM strategy, from creating account-based lists, personalising communications, smart content features, tracking customer engagement, and the all-important reporting dashboard for measuring success. 

Getting started with account-based marketing in HubSpot

To implement an account-based marketing strategy in HubSpot, you’ll need to start by identifying your high-value accounts. These are the accounts that have the most potential for high sales volume. They may also be a brand or company that would strengthen your business’ reputation in the industry by association.

In HubSpot, under ‘Contacts’, you’ll find the ‘Target Accounts’ section. This is where you can build your list of high-value accounts. All the activity from these companies' contacts will appear here, including their last engagement with an email or marketing campaign.

When you have shortlisted your high-value accounts, your marketing team can create highly targeted inbound marketing campaigns designed to move contacts at these companies through the buyer journey with targeted ads and personalised content. 

By monitoring the engagement with the campaigns, sales can step in and help nurture the leads through the pipeline.

Personalising communications in an ABM strategy 

Once you know exactly who you want to target, you can begin to personalise your communications and create targeted content that resonates with this specific audience. It might help at this stage to create buyer personas for your target audience. 

In HubSpot, you can use the personalisation function to insert the company or contact name into your communications. You can also use smart content to show specific and relevant case studies to their industry or pain points that you know they have. You can even target your audience with different content, depending on where they are in their individual buyer journey. 

Account-specific messaging and communications increases the conversion rate by improving the prospects' experience with your business, providing them with relevant and useful content catered to their specific pain points and challenges.

Align sales and marketing with ABM in HubSpot

One of the first benefits we highlighted is that account-based marketing helps to bridge the gap between sales and marketing. These teams are often siloed in manufacturing companies, where sales teams are typically more heavily invested in. 

An account-based marketing strategy requires sales and marketing to work together, and this collaboration helps to create a consistent customer experience. The two teams can work from the same target account list and have complete transparency and visibility on the customer's interaction and engagement with marketing activity. In turn, this can guide the sales team during meetings or suggest relevant content they know they might be interested in.

More clarity on your ROI

Another benefit of using HubSpot to guide your ABM strategy is the comprehensive reporting and analytics function which helps measure the success of your marketing efforts. 

Previously, you might be looking into muddy waters when it comes to attributing marketing to any kind of return on investment; with HubSpot, you can clearly see which campaign activity directly correlates with closed deals and open opportunities in the pipeline. 

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So, if you’re a manufacturing company and you haven’t yet implemented an account-based marketing strategy, what are you waiting for? You don’t need HubSpot or a CRM to get started, but as outlined in this blog, a CRM like HubSpot is extremely useful for managing the intricacies of an account-based marketing campaign.

To find out more about how ABM strategies and HubSpot can boost your marketing efforts, get in touch with us today.