The Difference Between Inbound Marketing and Account-Based Marketing

One of the most challenging components of launching any marketing campaign is deciding which approach to employ. Two predominant strategies exist in the world of digital marketing; Inbound Marketing and Account-Based Marketing. 

There are stark differences between the two. Knowing what those differences are can help you decide which tactic is right for your business or agency. 

THE BASICS OF INBOUND AND ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING

In a nutshell, Account-Based Marketing is an approach to advertising that targets through personalized communication. Inbound Marketing takes on more of a broad consumer attraction method, using content creation to promote products or services. The differences here are quite obvious, and it’s common for most companies to choose one marketing strategy over the other. However, it’s not unheard of for larger businesses and corporations to use both, and yield quite powerful results. 

We’ll talk more about that later. For now, let’s get detailed about the ways that Account-Based Marketing and Inbound Marketing vary. 

ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING

When it comes to using Account-Based Marketing, the targeting method is rather specific. It involves deliberate and carefully planned marketing to certain accounts. 

Account-Based Marketing rarely focuses on smaller clients but instead places fixation on higher-level accounts. This focus gives business owners the ability to reach stakeholders directly. 

Every Account-Based Marketing strategy must include a lot of custom-created content, with a particular audience in mind. The content must be relatable to the group you’re sharing it with since it’s a relatively small pool of accounts and shareholders. 

Using exclusive channels such as email and targeted ads, you can effectively optimize your reach, which works well, especially when your business has a niche market. Once you’ve established your ideal brand voice or persona, it’s a bit easier to define the accounts you want to address. 

Companies that choose Account-Based Marketing often find that it’s a wonderful way of retaining current business relationships while expanding upon them as well. It will attract new accounts, as long as the ad targeting is correct, and eventually increase lead generation. 

EXAMPLES OF IMPLEMENTING ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING

There are plenty of ways to execute Account-Based Marketing other than utilizing your business email account, and a fair amount of well-known businesses who do just that. 

• Host events (Virtual included) for your targeted accounts.
• Ask your targeted accounts to engage with you via educational content.
• Put together a smart, account-based, valuable direct mail campaign.
• Compile the contacts for your target accounts, and create an appropriately personalized email for each of them.
• Further, engage your desired accounts by enlisting the help of partners.
• Make use of your social media presence to engage the accounts you want to target tactfully while focusing on delivering relevant content at the right time.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your Account-Based Marketing methods. As long as you stay professional while remaining unintrusive, you’ll see great results. 

EXAMPLES OF COMPANIES THAT SUCCEED WITH ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING

Many established companies have seen fantastic results using Account-Based Marketing, including:

• Charles Schwab
• Century Link
• Panasonic
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Roche
• Fujitsu

INBOUND MARKETING

Inbound Marketing is different from Account-Based Marketing in that it focuses on a much more comprehensive range of customers. By creating high-quality, relevant content, along with special offers tailored to readers, a broad audience reach is possible.

Inbound Marketing has an established process, and most teams and marketing agencies in Asheville follow it. With Inbound, you’ll want your content to attract the right attention, followed by converting those potential customers into clients, followed by closing the sale. 

When all is said and done and the sale has come to fruition, inbound marketers need to release some killer customer service, following up, and ensuring that the customer has had an exceptional experience. 

Inbound Marketing has everything to do with delivering the right content at the right time. There is a method to what seems like targeting madness. Contrary to what many think, Inbound Marketing is not haphazard, but instead, incredibly focused. 

It qualifies leads through repeated offers, contact forms, emails, and relevant content that moves them down the sales funnel. Inbound Marketing is the right choice for businesses with a widespread audience and a vast range of products and services. 

Inbound Marketing allows for the generation of new interest on a massive scale. 

EXAMPLES OF INBOUND MARKETING

There are many beneficial ways to put Inbound Marketing to use, and it comes in many forms, making it even more accessible. It encompasses a wide variety of marketing tactics, including the following.

• You can apply search engine optimization to your website and entire ad campaign. 
• Publish quality, relevant blog content at least sixteen times per month. 
• Create video content and a series is even better. 
• Put together an infographic for your potential clients, based on whatever you want to show them, whether it be the way your product works or your sales over the last month.
• Start a podcast and find a broad reach across many platforms. Podcasts are a great way to appeal to clients that you may not have reached otherwise. 
• Write a whitepaper that looks great and presents your product or service in an in-depth, professional way. Customers that qualify for your services will greatly appreciate this. 

No matter which path you choose to take concerning your Inbound Marketing, be sure to try more than one tactic. The great thing about this marketing strategy is that many can be employed at once, creating a robust digital marketing campaign.

EXAMPLES OF COMPANIES THAT SUCCEED WITH INBOUND MARKETING

It’s not uncommon for businesses with great success with Inbound Marketing to be on a larger scale. Smaller companies can excel with it too, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a business with an online presence that doesn’t utilize SEO. It’s a great strategy to have in your marketing toolbox. 

• Starbucks
• Dunkin’ Donuts
• Salesforce
• GM
• Target
• Pink Lily Boutique

COMBINING INBOUND AND ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING

It’s common for most companies to choose one marketing strategy over another, which often has much to do with the type of business model they’ve developed. However, Inbound and Account-Based Marketing tactics do not have to be exclusive. Marketing teams can easily combine them.

The primary purpose of both Inbound and Account-Based Marketing is to target specific audiences by using valuable content that converts. When they’re combined, they offer a powerful advertising punch packed with influence. There is plenty of opportunities that come with mixing these two advertising methods. 

An effective way to combine IM and ABM is to generate new leads using Inbound Marketing, and then picking those leads apart to identify a few key accounts to market your Account-Based content. This unstoppable blend allows for expanding new leads and pulling accounts that seem like a good fit. 

For success, using these methods together, it’s vital to make sure that all content produced is above and beyond when it comes to quality. 

FINDING PROGRESS WITH YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

No matter which type of strategy you choose to employ for your advertising campaign, ensure that you and your team are putting as much effort as possible into helping it to succeed. Whether you decide on Inbound Marketing or select Account-Based Marketing, you’ll have a great chance of success, as long as you implement correctly and evolve when necessary. Share