Useful Tools: The ABM Marketing Template

In this post, I will share the ABM Marketing Templates we use. This collection of ABM tools, abm strategy templates, ABM campaign templates and ABM Planning templates supports our Total Customer Growth ABM process. Account-based marketing is becoming an increasingly important strategy for B2B marketers. We recommend it to all B2B marketers for a wide range of reasons. For many, it is becoming THE way they market. So how do you do it?

The Total Customer Growth ABM Process

This year our book on ABM, Total Customer Growth, was published. This book explains in detail our approach to ABM and ABX. The book details “How To” implement ABM and ABX across your organization. The diagram above depicts the Total Customer Growth Model.

ABM Marketing Template #1 – The Total Customer Growth Framework

This a 100+ question ABM Marketing template for anyone serious about undertaking ABM and looking for a detailed way to self-assess readiness to implement ABM. The Total Customer Growth Framework checklist is great for starting your ABM journey.

ABM Marketing Templates #2 – The ABM Playbook Collection

Next are the ABM Marketing templates we use to create the ABM Playbook. This is our proprietary approach to developing an ABM-based B2B Marketing Strategy. This is part of our ABM Acceleration model.

This diagram depicts the ABM Playbook process.

Here are some of the ABM strategy templates and ABM tools we use in the development of an ABM Playbook:

Goal Setting Template

This is an ABM tool we use to help our clients define short and long-term ABM goals. This workshop includes defining challenges, setting goals, understanding market dynamics, and defining the ICP and buyer circle. Her is the Goal Setting and ICP Workshop template.

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Framework

This spreadsheet, which you can download here, will make it simple to define your ideal customer profiles. This is an important ABM strategy template. It includes a calculator to project the market opportunity of each ICP, including actual numbers for several provider segments. 

Persona and Buyer Journey Framework

There are many ways to do personas. You can download how we do them here. What’s a little different about the way we do it is that we spend less time on creating the persona and more time on the questions they have at different stages of their buyer journey. We have been told by several people that this Buyer Journey Framework is one of the best around. You can read more about this here.

Content Strategy Planning Template

Once you have defined the buyer journey, you can use this to create a content plan. This ABM strategy template is based on the awesome book by Marcus Sheridan, They Ask. You Answer.  Here is our Content Strategy Workshop template.

The ABM Engagement Framework

Our Engagement Strategy is our proprietary ABM campaign template to help plan campaigns. We find it an effective ABM marketing template for creating a detailed map of how we will implement an ABM campaign.

ABM Marketing Template #3 – The ABM KickStart Workshop 

This template is used in a program called ABM Kickstart. This is a 2-hour workshop that is designed to help you create a 90-day ABM Pilot. In these workshops, we help you:

• Define a goal
• Determine who you will target
• Create a persona
• Develop a plan to engage the targets
• Define how you will measure this.

You can watch one of these workshops here. This 35-minute edited video will walk you through the steps you need to take. You can also download the presentation deck from this workshop here. This is a step-by-step presentation on how to design an ABM pilot.

This ABM marketing template is divided into the following sections:

• Goal-setting – We use the SMART framework for this (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound).
• Best-fit account research includes questions that will help you determine the best-fit account definition, what data is needed, and how to determine who is in-market.
• Pilot Design – A simple framework to document:
  • Goals
  • Who will be involved
  • What type of ABM to use
  • How many accounts to target
  • What data and insights are needed
  • Which personas will be targeted
  • What assets already exist to do this
  • What technology will be needed
  • What additional budget is needed
  • How will success be measured
  • Using our ABM campaign template

We hope this gives you the tools to get started with an ABM program or fine-tune what you are doing. 

If you are interested or need help, we can help you on your ABM journey. Here are some ways to get started:

1. Check out the book. Here is our page about our book on ABM, or you can buy it on Amazon. It’s like a giant ABM strategy template.
2. Check out more posts like this in the Healthtech MarketingLearning Center. It is chock-full of articles, ABM tools, use cases, how-to’s, and ideas to get you started on your ABM journey.
3. Follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn. I publish videos and articles on ABM and healthtech marketing.
4. Work with me directly. Let’s book a growth session and we can explore ways you can improve your marketing using the latest techniques in account-based marketing.

Originally posted on LinkedIn.