In prior posts, we reviewed why you should consider an ABM platform and what to look for. This is a big investment in money and time. In this post, we will review how you can get started with ABM with a low-cost ABM tech stack.
Can you implement ABM with a low-cost tech stack?
Yes, you can!
Warning: the process is manual and can be a grind. Eventually, you will need to consider an ABM platform, but by then, you should have created a business case to justify the investment. You will also have a much clearer
In an earlier post, we provided examples of ABM pilots. Each one of these was implemented without an ABM platform or a sophisticated marketing automation system.
Here are some examples of low-cost ABM tools that are available for those with limited budgets.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
For about $100 per month per seat, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a valuable and very cost-effective tool for the budget-conscious ABM practitioner. This allows you to create a list of your target accounts, list of contacts by accounts, and lists that allow you to track accounts that are engaging with you. LinkedIn Sales Navigator now includes second-party intent data that will pinpoint which prospects and accounts are engaging with your content and social media posts on LinkedIn.
You can also use Sales Navigator for outreach to prospects using DM and InMail. It can be a simple, effective way to run outreach sequences.
Leadfeeder and LeadLander
One of the biggest challenges is knowing who is engaging with you. These two low-cost tools can help with this. They provide you with insights about which accounts are engaging on your website and what they are looking at. This enhances your first-party intent data. They are not perfect, as they depend heavily on IP addresses for this information, so they provide data on only a partial list of the accounts on your website.
Third-Party Intent Data
You do not have to buy an ABM platform like Demandbase, Terminus, or 6sense to use third-party intent data. You can buy this directly from vendors like Bombora and ZoomInfo and directly see who is showing intent for topics that are relevant to you. This will be a big investment for a small firm. Annual licenses are in the tens of thousands of dollars. However, if you are committed to an ABM strategy, this can be invaluable. You can initially leverage a free (limited) trial of some of these intent solutions, like Bombora, to see the weekly top ten accounts that are showing intent for topics that are relevant to you. If you have not used these tools before, we recommend giving this a try and seeing how this data can provide insights to deliver targeted outreach before you make the investment.
Low-Cost Marketing Automation
You will need a marketing automation system to run automated campaigns. There are many CRM and marketing automation systems to choose from. For example, Ontraport is a simple platform that has many of the features that platforms like HubSpot, Pardot, and Marketo have but at a fraction of the license fee.
In a prior post we showed how you could use Hubspot for ABM. They have significantly improved the marketing automation platform’s ABM capabilities.
NetLine
When it comes to running content marketing campaigns, NetLine is worth considering. This is a syndication network that will generate leads with target accounts using gated content. As you pay only for the leads you get, it can be very cost-efficient.
Low-cost ABM Ads
LinkedIn Ads
We love that LinkedIn lets you run ads to specific titles at a defined set of accounts. And as we describe in the third pilot example in the previous chapter, you can overlay intent data to make your ads work even harder.
B2B Media Companies
Many of the major media firms, for example, HIMSS Media and Techtarget in healthcare technology, now offer ABM programs that include intent data, engagement dashboards, and highly targeted ABM campaigns.
Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer
These freelancer platforms are amazing resources for finding talent who can help you with implementation. We have used these to outsource LinkedIn outreach programs and find brilliant content writers, strategists, and even animators to create videos.
Google Sheets Dashboards
Our final low-cost favorite (or, in this case, free favorite) is Google Sheets. This can be used to create simple, easily shareable, and easy-to-update dashboards. These can be labor-intensive and a pain to keep up to date. You also won’t have the “intelligence” and dynamic predictive benefits of an AI-enabled ABM platform, but then again, this is a free option.
Next week, we will review the other of the spectrum, the full-enabled ABM tech stack.
Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash
Also posted on LinkedIn.