Author Archives: Dave Vranicar

From ABM ad strategy to execution: Preparing the handoff to your creative team

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In display advertising for account-based marketing (or ABM), the results you achieve will depend mainly on the quality of thought and insight that goes into your planning process.

Consistently solid thought processes produce consistently better ads.

This article is about bringing the elements of your thought process together for handoff to the creative team that writes, designs, and executes your ads.

You read several tips for planning your ABM ad campaigns.

You’ll also find links where you can download templates for your two creative briefs. One brief is for use with individual ads, and the second is for use with landing pages that link to your ads.   Continue reading →

20 Tips for Creating Effective ABM Display Ads (Part 2 of 2)

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This post tries to answer the question, “How do I create effective display ads for account-based marketing (or ABM)?”

It’s the second of a two-part series that aims to help you avoid mistakes others have made in setting up their ABM display campaigns. It identifies important steps others have missed along the way.  

The first article provided 10 tips to help you evaluate your capabilities before you set your strategy.   

This article offers 10 tips related to your your target audiences, your goals for your ads, and how you’ll measure success:

11. Clarify your purpose and goals.

12. Define your target audiences.

13. Check the number of targets available in each segment.

14. Consider which ad formats you’ll use.

15. Think what you want people to do when they see your ad.

16. Think how you will measure the success of your ads.

17. Check how much you can learn about who visits your web pages.

18. See if your ad platform can compare click-through performance across ads.

19. See if you can do split testing.

20. Strategize appealing offers.

The common point of both articles is simple: It pays to think ahead. Continue reading →

20 Tips for Creating Effective ABM Display Ads (Part 1 of 2)

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This post is the first in a two-part series that tries to answer the question, “How do I create effective display ads for account-based marketing (or ABM)?”

In these articles, I will help you avoid common mistakes that others have made. I also identify important steps others have missed.

In this first of two articles, I focus on 10 tips to help you prepare to develop your ad strategy:

  1. Understand what your ad platform can and can’t do
  2. Assess the experience and capabilities of your creative team
  3. Recognize that digital agencies don’t have all the answers
  4. Understand your review and approval process for ads
  5. Think how you will create and manage landing pages
  6. Know what it takes to create new pages on your company website
  7. Understand what help you can expect from the team that runs your website
  8. Coordinate with whoever runs your marketing automation system
  9. Understand how you can track responses to your ads
  10. Learn about new visitor-tracking technologies

The second in the series shares 10 more tips for creating effective ABM display ads.

An earlier article addressed the topic of how to get your display ads produced.

I assume here that you’re a marketer responsible for creating a program of effective display ads. Because ABM display advertising is new to most companies, I also assume that you’re just getting started with your program.  

So how will you go about it? What should you do first?

Continue reading →

Marketing Leader’s Dilemma: When to Invest in Display Advertising for ABM (Part 2 of 2)

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For a marketing leader whose team participates in account-based marketing (or ABM), when does it make sense to get started with online display advertising?

This article tries to answer that important question.

It’s the second in a two-part series. The first article considered the investment dilemma of a chief executive officer (or CEO).

In that scenario, the CEO faced an either-or decision: Should he approve his sales leader’s recommendation to hire new inbound sales reps? Or should he back the bid of his marketing leader to spend roughly the same money on display advertising?

In today’s scenario, we focus on a marketing leader whose company is piloting a new ABM program.

In setting marketing priorities and budgets, when should she consider investing in online display advertising versus other programs and initiatives that support ABM?    

Continue reading →

CEO’s Dilemma: When to Invest in Display Advertising for ABM (Part 1 of 2)

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Why​ ​should​ ​your​ ​company​ ​invest​ ​in​ ​online​ ​display​ ​advertising​ ​for​ ​account-based marketing (ABM)?​ ​Couldn’t​ ​you​ ​make​ ​other​ ​investments​ ​that​ ​would​ ​produce​ ​better​ ​results?

These​ ​are​ ​key​ ​questions​ ​for​ ​leaders​ ​in​ ​companies​ ​that​ ​commit​ ​to​ ​ABM.

As​ ​you​ ​identify​ ​your​ ​target​ ​accounts,​ ​you​ ​find​ ​you​ ​have​ ​many​ ​competing​ ​priorities.​ ​You always have​ ​limited​ ​time,​ ​attention,​ ​money,​ ​and​ ​resources.

Compared​ ​to​ ​display​ ​advertising,​ ​some​ ​alternative​ ​investments​ ​may​ ​seem​ ​less​ ​expensive,​ ​less risky,​ ​easier​ ​to​ ​execute,​ ​and​ ​faster​ ​to​ ​produce​ ​results.​ ​But​ ​is​ ​that​ ​really​ ​the​ ​case? Continue reading →