Small business marketing generally starts off as a bootstrapped resource and almost always comes second to sales, which leaves business owners to run marketing campaigns themselves (with little time or money). Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a strategy many large businesses employ to help them get the most ROI from their marketing campaigns, but you can also use the method to “hack” the marketing for your small or medium-sized business.
ABM for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
ABM is the practice of selecting key accounts (or key prospects) and marketing to them in a highly personalized, effective way. You may have heard the axiom that says 80 percent of revenue comes from 20 percent of customers, and ABM is built around this concept. For business-to-business companies, this means doing less – but more strategic – marketing while reaping huge benefits.
Successful ABM is fueled by strong targeting capabilities and a deep understanding of the accounts being targeted. This means having access to advanced data that is well-maintained and updated often – something small and midsize business owners often struggle to find. Many SMBs resort to buying one-off marketing and mailing lists to help them target prospects, but these lists become outdated quickly and are often short on quality contacts. This is why ABM can be a viable strategy for SMBs, especially business-to-business companies. However, since ABM is fueled by quality data and insights, it’s imperative that any company employing this strategy have access to in-depth business information. Enter the Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S® Number. With the D-U-N-S Number, businesses can find, study, and monitor companies and can rest assured that the data they’re viewing is being constantly updated for the most accurate information.
How the D-U-N-S Number Enables Better Business Data
The D-U-N-S Number – a unique, nine-digit identifier for businesses – differentiates a company from any other in the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud. It ties data to a company and provides a clear, uniform way to manage business attributes and information. You can think of the D-U-N-S Number as a fingerprint for a business. All the information tied to a company via the D-U-N-S Number is known as a company’s Live Business Identity.
Without a D-U-N-S Number, keeping up with changes in addresses, telephone numbers, executives, and more becomes burdensome and nearly impossible. Companies are ever-changing (in the next 60 minutes, 182 CEO or business owner changes will occur), and having a universal system for identifying businesses makes it possible to track updates and monitor information. With the D-U-N-S Number, companies and stakeholders have access to in-depth information about their prospects, customers, and competition, helping them truly get to know other companies and market to them more effectively.
All of this can make a simple number sound overly powerful, but being able to rein in enormous amounts of data and accurately match it to business entities is truly significant, especially when you’re putting the bulk of your marketing dollars into a few key accounts.
Fuel Account-Based Marketing Campaigns with the D-U-N-S Number
Using the D-U-N-S Number and Dun & Bradstreet’s best-in-class data, B2B companies of every size can leverage account-based marketing. The D-U-N-S Number is at the heart of business data and enables you to find your ideal prospects, target them effectively, send them meaningful messages, and therefore help increase your ROI. Without it, your efforts could be in vain, and you likely can’t afford for that to happen. If your company is hung up on tired, low-grade email lists, you may want to consider getting better data and insights to fuel your marketing.
If your company doesn’t have its own D-U-N-S Number, you can get one for free. (Your D-U-N-S Number can also be used to build your business credit and help you get contracts and business loans.)
Once you’re all set up, get started using the D-U-N-S Number to enhance your ABM.