For any company in the B2B sector, one of the biggest challenges is the ability to find good customers and close deals. And while many companies are already familiar with inbound marketing and, more recently, account-based marketing, the roles of these two strategies —and how they can complement each other to drive business growth—may not be entirely clear.
That’s why, in this article, we’ll review both concepts, understand their differences, and, above all, show that inbound and ABM can be complementary approaches.
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Inbound marketing is a strategy aimed at attracting, converting, and satisfying/delighting customers through high-quality content that is relevant, useful, and tailored to their needs.
Inbound is closely linked tothe consumer’sbuyer’s journey and seeks to address customers’ questions or “pain points” at each specific stage of that journey — awareness, consideration, and decision —by positioning your company as an authority on the subject and the right solution to address those very needs and concerns.
Account-Based Marketing is a highly targeted approach based on alignment between marketing and sales teams with the goal of creating personalized experiences for accounts identified as high-value (rather than individual leads).
ABM has a much narrower “focus” than inbound marketing, in that the customization of content and tactics is tailored to the target accounts’ industry or even to the specific account itself (personalizing content for a specific company).
When implementing an ABM strategy, we already know which target accounts we want to reach, and all efforts are directed toward winning those accounts. In the case of inbound marketing, we don’t know exactly which prospects we’ll reach during the attraction phase, although all actions are aimed at our buyer personas (people who match the profile of our ideal customer).
First and foremost, both inbound marketing and account-based marketing rely on a deep understanding of our target audience. A thorough understanding of who your buyer personas are, what your business’s strategic keywords are, what content topics to develop, and which communication channels to use is essential for either strategy.
Furthermore, in an ABM strategy, you can use the same channels you already use for inbound marketing and capitalize on the content you’ve already produced; you’ll simply need to tailor it even more closely to the reality of your target accounts.
Both approaches focus on delivering a relevant experience throughout the entire buying funnel; in many cases, ABM can help accelerate the purchasing decision process when an inbound strategy is already in place.
In addition, both help promote customer satisfaction and loyalty, and ABM can further enhance this retention by focusing on specific accounts and their unique circumstances.
In short, inbound marketing can help you attract the right customers, and account-based marketing then helps accelerate the purchasing decision process and ensure a relevant, personalized experience.
Ultimately, both strategies will enable you to close deals that are valuable to your business. Using both approaches in a complementary way will allow you to develop a more robust and effective strategy.
Would you like to know how inbound marketing and account-based marketing can be leveraged to support your growth strategy? We’d all be happy to help you!
Content originally published in July 2021.