When Meg Noonan, Senior Marketing Manager of ABM, joined Veracode they had already been using ABM tactics for a few years. 

“We were really pushing for buy-in with sales and as a result, using a lot of accounts or verticals that were brought up as opportunities by the sales team — without backing it up with our own data,” Meg recalls. 

The team needed to take a new approach to ABM that would make a bigger splash and show a positive return on investment. 

Meg wanted the new, improved ABM program to do double-duty: to break into new accounts, and to accelerate deals that were already in the pipeline. Equally important: Any strategies deployed had to be rooted in data.

To start, they’d work on a cluster of industries based on their current bandwidth and prove impact. From there, they could then scale. 

Develop A Pilot Project Framework

Meg set expectations within her company by sharing a framework for running the new improved ABM pilot program. This included the physical resources needed to implement the program, and the amount of time necessary from others on her GTM team including BDRs to successfully implement ABM. 

Next, she completed a full tech and content audit to identify what they already had available and where there were gaps they could immediately address based on their existing bandwidth. 

With those inputs in mind, Meg shared with the team how many target accounts they could realistically target. This number was chosen to balance the available resources and create impactful pipeline.

Compile and Collaborate On A Target Account List

Meg took a holistic look at existing target accounts by meeting with the sales team and reviewing multiple data sources.

“Sales have insights to accounts historical data, that as marketers, we wouldn’t see in a report without speaking with them directly and having them relay those pain points,” says Meg. 

To ensure they make data-driven decisions, they also refer to these sources:

• Historical data from Salesforce

• Buying stage and account score in 6sense

• Intent data that shows what topics and keywords leads research, pulled from multiple data platforms

• ICP and competitor data from HG Insights

To ensure they stay on the same page, Meg reviewed their ideal customer persona and target account list with her regional marketing directors and the sales team.  Then they segmented the list of target accounts based on buying stage, account reach score, ICP fit, and whether an account was new business vs an open deal they wanted to accelerate.

Run Personalized ABM Experiments

Veracode uses Mutiny to deliver personalized microsites for each account within their new and improved ABM program. 

Potential accounts land on personalized pages through ads tailored to that person’s job role or industry.

Veracode also does phone and email outreach for open deals and identified potential new business accounts.  If a lead doesn’t answer their outbound calls, the BDR informs them they’ll be emailing them a webpage made just for them. Each email from a BDR includes variables such as the company’s name along with a link to their custom landing page.

If they find target accounts aren’t engaging with those emails, they use the Mutiny Salesforce integration to pipe landing page link into Marketo. Then send emails containing the personalized landing page that doesn’t come from a specific sales rep. That way, as Meg shares "it doesn't look like it's coming from someone that may call you." 

The landing page includes the target company’s name up top and a personalized CTA based on where they’re at in the funnel.

Plus, customer stories relevant to their industry and resources based on 6sense intent and buying stage data.

Then to continue to hammer home relevance, the page features logos of other companies that trust Veracode in their industry. 

Monitor Success 

To meet the objective of showing a positive ROI, they chose several success indicators that reflect early- and long-term success. Engagement indicators, such as account reach score and buying stage progression, indicate early success of the ABM program. Pipeline indicators, such as meetings booked and sales accepted leads, show the program’s long-term success.