Why you should use ABM for B2B SaaS event marketing campaigns

I’ve been an ABM manager for over five years. I’ve tried every possible campaign and tested every channel I came across. While there are many ways you can ensure that you get the best results out of your ABM campaigns, in terms of pipeline generation speed and rapid ROI, the most successful ABM campaign I’ve ever run for an enterprise B2B SaaS company in a mature market was through an event campaign. 

We had just started working with a client, and one of the things we were doing was planning an event for them. Our inbound team was working on booth collateral, backdrops, building strategic relationships at the event, and booking demos for when we were there.

To support our inbound efforts and get the most out of the event, we decided to run a very personalized ABM campaign. We pulled a list of event attendees off of LinkedIn and started researching every single company we thought would be a good partner for us. We would then write personalized messages to those companies’ representatives that would be attending the event to book meetings. We had our highest connection rates from that campaign. It was a huge success. You’ve got to try it out for yourself.

To take a step back, ABM, or Account-Based Marketing, is a tactical approach focusing on targeting particular companies and personas with customized content and messages to increase engagement, leads, and conversions. Considering this, ABM can help you reach out to the ideal prospects and ensure the highest attendance for event invites. 

In this blog, we will dive into how an ABM campaign might function for an event invitation and other issues to consider.

Why is an ABM strategy vital for your events strategy?

ABM enables you to go after your target accounts properly.

By identifying and concentrating on a limited number of high-value accounts, you can give your attendees a more personalized and interesting experience, resulting in more successful events and a higher return on investment.

ABM's advantages for events

1. ROI: ABM is a highly focused strategy prioritizing quality over quantity. You are more likely to see a higher return on investment from your marketing efforts if you target specific accounts.
2. Personalization: ABM lets you tailor your messaging and content depending to each account's interests, using detailed information from the booth, speakers, and more. As a result of your messages' personalization, conversion rates are higher and it’s easier to develop a strong relationship with prospects.
3. Sales & marketing alignment: by focusing on accounts that have attended the event in the past or are attending now, ABM helps to align the marketing and sales teams. This coordination ensures that both teams are working toward the same objective: getting everyone to enroll on your event focus.
4. Effective follow-up: ABM concentrates on a smaller number of accounts, making it simpler to follow up with attendees after the event. Personalize your follow-up messages to strengthen further the connections made at the event.
5. Data-driven decision-making: ABM uses data to pinpoint the accounts most likely to generate revenue for your business. You can ensure that your events are more effective and focused by using data to make informed decisions regarding your event strategy.

Divide and conquer: pre-event, and post-event phases of the ABM campaign

Pre-event and post-event phases of an ABM strategy for an event campaign are preferable because they allow for a more strategic and focused approach to each phase. Planning, engagement, follow-up, and measurement are all impacted by each step individually.

To make sure that your campaign is successful and provides the intended results, focus on each of the following phases:

• Pre-event phase: Concentrate on raising knowledge of the event and igniting excitement among your target accounts during the pre-event phase.

Use personalized messaging and materials unique to you and your booth/seminar to persuade potential attendees to sign up for the event.

• Post-event phase: Contact your participants after the event to express gratitude for their attendance and get their comments. If they didn’t attend, use this opportunity to provide them with the material share during the event and start a conversation about what was learned during the seminar.

Use this input to enhance the event and strengthen the bond with your prospects.

Further alignment between the marketing and sales teams is also made possible by separating the ABM campaign into pre-event and post-event steps. By dividing the campaign into these two phases, each team can concentrate on certain goals while collaborating to achieve the campaign's overall purpose of maximizing attendance and cultivating connections with target accounts.

Checklist of what you need to prepare for your ABM event campaign

To help you organize a successful ABM event campaign, here is a checklist of items & actions you should consider for pre-event and post-event strategies. 

You can download the checklist here for future reference.

Pre-event checklist:

• Attendee list - old, new, or cold contacts from target companies.
• Outreach channels (email, social & phone calls)
• Complete outreach messaging sequence - focus the messaging on the event, invite them to your booth or your speaker sessions, and try to detail what you will be showing or presenting to make it more appealing to the audience
• Design Digital invitations
• Scheduling link (HubSpot, Calendly, etc.)
• Landing page for the event registration
• [Optional] Raffle - For third-party events, invite people to your booth or speaker session by presenting them with a raffle opportunity or with some extra material to attend, focusing on their pain points, interests, and preferences

Post-event checklist:

• Booth attendee list - coordinate with the sales team to get the information about who attended the booth/event
• Post-event messaging focused on:
• “Thank you for attending…”
• “Sorry, we missed you…”

The perfect complement to your next event marketing campaign

ABM is a strong tool for any event approach. Your event will be more meaningful and interesting if you use ABM to offer prospects customized material that speaks directly to the needs and problems of your target accounts.

Also, you can develop deeper and more lasting connections with your attendees, which may result in long-term business collaborations and continuous development for your company.

By incorporating ABM into your events strategy, you can organize more effective events and forge closer ties with your most important accounts by utilizing the power of data-driven decision-making, customized content, and targeted outreach.

So, if you want to achieve the best outcome possible, don’t waste time and implement your ABM event strategy today! To learn more about crafting a successful B2B SaaS ABM strategy, check out these other articles from the Kalungi blog:

• The importance of the ABM tiered approach
• 5 steps to create great ABM messaging
• B2B SaaS ABM strategy: 5 steps to personalization
• How to execute an effective B2B SaaS account-based marketing campaign