Account Based Marketing, the art of using big budgets and laser focused targeting (hence my use of the term ‘Shock and Awe’) has always existed. Now, it’s hailed as the number one B2B emerging marketing tactic to land giant new contracts. Here are the steps I take my clients through to plan out a Shock and Awe campaign.

Pick Industry

The first step of any firepower action is to figure out where to target it. Picking an industry simplifies the message and even the medium, which I’ll explain in later steps. For now, pick an industry where you know a lot of people, or where you’ve had a lot of clients or where you have had a recent big win. Always also consider their Dollar potential to pay you for what you do and make sure that since this is a long-term project, to pick a bigger fish than your normal target.

Pick The Company

Once you’ve done your work picking a few industries, think of what companies you know of within those groups. Who is the most reachable, who has more public info available, which company is growing fastest, which have you had past dealings with and even think about which companies are in your immediate geography.

Find The Pain

The next step is to find the company, industry or target buyer’s personal pain. What challenge are they dealing with? Research this online and through interviews with other vendors, clients in the same industry, annual reports, press releases and new legislation that can affect them.

Craft The Message

Remember to make the message pain based because 70% of humans decide to buy something to solve a problem. Also important is the length of the message as this will vary based on the vehicle of the message. For example, pick one line for a billboard vs a huge presentation disguised as a magazine, which one of my clever clients did to woo a new account.

Decide on The Vehicle

Will you get your target’s attention through lawn signs or billboards? Does your product lend itself to a product unboxing on a View-Finder, will you wrap a truck in your message and park it in front of your buyer’s head office? Think of the strategy, the industry and the message before picking the method of delivery.

Devise Drip Funnel

Make a flow chart of how to keep hitting your whale target if there’s no response. Decide on how long and at what frequency you will hit your messages at them. Will you vary your vehicles? Your messages? This is a long journey, map it out according to the ROI you expect.

Plan Timing

Will you be seeing your prospect at a big event or an industry conference? Will you reach out during their quiet season so you can get a bigger share of their attention? Make a minimum one year plan to hit them at every turn that will have the biggest impact. Plan the cadence of hits and see your prey fall.

If you can master the creative and awesome art of the Shock and Awe ABM marketing, you will have the next decade of sales growth cornered.

Want to reposition your messaging to grow your leads? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, watch my Podcast on YouTube or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk.