Marketing rules have changed a lot during the past years. Brands have changed their strategy, shifting from old school marketing where they would create broad messages for anyone who had ears to listen, to more personalized strategies which proved to be less disturbing and much more effective.
Moreover, this change of perception can also be seen in how marketers categorize the most overrated marketing tactics. 32% of them place outbound marketing practices in the top of those which waste their time and resources.
Source: https://sleeknote.com/blog/account-based-marketing
So, here comes account-based marketing into the scene. The CEO of Pick Writers thinks that “Marketers should forget about concentrating their efforts into reaching masses. We are living times where personalization and targeted messages make the difference. Nowadays it is important to create the right content for the right segment of the audience and deliver it in the right moment. This is what ABM teaches us. We should forget about trying to deliver universal messages and products to everyone. ABM focuses on molding each marketing campaign so that it reaches each and every potential customer”.
But, how do you ensure maximum success for your ABM advertising campaigns? Account-based marketing works best when you want to narrow down your focus to a particular target market. However, you will need localization to transmit the right messages and reach your goals. So, this article is going to walk you through the necessary steps of localizing ABM advertising campaigns for your brand.
The Ultimate Guide to Localizing ABM Advertising Campaigns
1. Identify your target market
Account-based marketing is everything about targeting accounts and personalizing as much as possible. So, the first step you need to follow is identifying your target audience. This involves a deep research exercise which will help you determine where your accounts come from, what is their buying behavior or what is their demographics. However, ABM won’t work if you don’t have sales already going on. Thus, it creates conjunction between marketing and sales, and narrows your target market to such extent so that you focus only on those accounts that matter.
Localization plays a significant role at this stage. Once you have identified your target market, you will need localization to personalize your messages so that your customers get them right. When you have narrowed your target market for ABM, you can’t afford any mistakes.
Localization will help you understand the target audience’s cultural particularities and preferences. You can quickly determine these by getting feedback from locals as much as possible. They will tell you whether your penetration strategy is going in the right direction or not.
2. Develop buyer personas
Once you have identified your target audience, it is time to determine those divisions you should target. You are at the stage where you analyze the challenges your accounts face and try to understand how the management takes the decisions for each department. Localization is critical for an effective ABM advertising campaign.
Before you make your final decision on how to address each accounts’ challenges, you will also need to understand the context in which these challenges appear. There might be both external and internal factors that lead to these situations, and most of them are related to the local community and culture.
Therefore, localization will help you get a clear view on whether you can solve the selected account’s problems, or they are dealing with something which is out of your area of expertise. One good idea to localizing ABM advertising campaigns is to hire localization specialists who have done this job also in the past and can provide professional input on your strategy.
3. Diversify your product
Your customers will engage faster, and it will become more comfortable for them when they receive tailored content which responds to their needs. You will get an immediate response from your prospects when you deliver customized content related to their industries or job functions. After all, this is what ABM is, providing personalized content for your targeted accounts. On the other hand, each industry or job function has its particularities.
You might need to diversify your products or services to be able to respond to your account’s expectations. This is where localization takes place. Just imagine what would be the impact of an advertising campaign created for the automotive industry if you would use it also for a restaurant? This is why localization will help you create a personalized approach for your accounts and interpret their particular needs accordingly.
4. Analyze and optimize
Any marketing initiative needs constant measurement and optimization. Even though ABM focuses on personalization, this doesn’t mean that the strategy you use today will have the same effects tomorrow. Localization works in the same way also. People’s perceptions change from one day to the other as well as their culture.
You will need to permanently analyze your localization performance and be updated continuously with the latest market trends. What is more, localization will also help you to humanize your brand. After all, all your advertising messages are addressed to humans. Therefore, localization will help you transverse language and cultural barriers so that your target accounts will receive the right messages and trust you as their partner.
Conclusion
You should always keep in mind that ABM is highly targeted. Therefore, your focus will be to target accounts instead of markets and deliver your messages to both prospects and customers. If you want to succeed, you will need to have a deep understanding of your accounts. Thus, localization is going to help you create relevant content and optimize your campaigns for your target accounts.
Creating an account-based marketing advertising campaign is not rocket science. The challenging aspect of it is to make your target audience get your message right and trust your brand. So, here is when localization comes into play, helping you translate your messages and create the right circumstances for your target market. Localization needs time and resources. The best way to do it is hiring a local team of professionals who can help you with the market insights and help you understand the cultural trends.
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