Account-Based Marketing Strategy for B2B Company in Indonesia

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INTRODUCTION
Since 2018, there has been a digital transformation of taxation in Indonesia [1].This explains the increasing number of people using tax software or application.Based on Directorate General Tax (DGT), since 2017 until 2021 the number of taxpayers that moved from manual taxation into digital taxation significantly increased [2].However, this opportunity has not been utilized optimally by one of the tax application providers.These tax application providers in this research focuses on business-to-business (B2B) segmentation.Constraints in the lead generation process caused the company to not have the number of clients and revenues that were in line with the target.Moreover, all client providers only come from the SOE sector (State-Owned Enterprises) and are not diversified from various industrial sectors.One reason is because the sales cycle exceeds the time limit.As a result, the author wishes to delve deeper into customer behavior in the B2B segment when selecting a supplier.Then, from the results of the analysis, the authors provide recommendations on the right strategy and adjust it to meet customer expectations.To do so, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies are studied as a field of study.ABM can shorten the sales cycle.Funnel acceleration campaigns help sales teams engage more influencers and decision makers in target accounts and quickly move them to the next positive stage of the buying cycle.Companies can reach more stakeholders, helping build consensus on company target accounts and moving them through the pipeline more quickly [3].For now, the research that author did is the only study that analyzes ABM strategy, especially for the B2B segment in Indonesia.It is hoped that this ABM strategy can become a new formula that can be used by all B2B companies in Indonesia to overcome problems related to marketing activities.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused approach to B2B marketing in which marketing and sales teams work together to target best-fit accounts and turn them into customers.ABM is nothing new, identifying and targeting key customers has always been a best practice for B2B marketing and sales teams [3].Besides, technology is key in executing the ABM program.Most importantly, it plays a crucial role in enabling sales and marketing alignment around the goals of the ABM program.It enables the teams to; identify target accounts and key contacts within the accounts, understand and create audience segments, execute content and web personalization, manage multi-channel engagement, perform sales and marketing analytics, measure results against a set of key performance indicators and align sales and marketing strategically [4].Important for a company to have people with the required set of skills and knowledge to take on the strategy so as to ensure that it is successful.Getting all the relevant internal stakeholders within the company behind the ABM strategy is also important as doing so makes it seamless to create consistent experiences for the priority accounts [4].Based on surveys conducted by marketers around the world and various recent studies, ABM appears to be more effective in providing a better return on investment.The results showed that 97% of respondents were more likely to adopt her ABM, yielding slightly higher returns than other similar marketing campaigns [5].Account-Based Marketing have 3 types such as (a) Strategic ABM which is the share of future revenue is important enough to dictate the future of the business.In strategic ABM, account-based marketers are an integral part of the account team.(b) ABM lite which is the most common type of ABM.In ABM Lite.Technology becomes increasingly important, helping to automate account and stakeholder insight processes, campaign execution, and measurement.(c) ABM programmatic primarily used for new accounts to generate leads within targeted named accounts, whether or not they have indicated intent to buy [6].

RESEARCH METHOD
The methodology used in this research is Qualitative Research, which focuses on obtaining in-depth and detailed data.The interactions between researchers and respondents were carried out through the in-depth interview method.Interview is a way of gathering qualitative data by asking respondent specific questions concerning social processes of behaviors of interest.An interview is an open-ended approach where the respondents is free to answer the question in his/her own words.Although the rese-archer would have worked out in advance the particular topics that will be raised in the questions, the questions themselves are not written down in a formal questionnaire [7].A good interview (both through telephone and face-to-face) is very important in B2B research because respondents are also important to the company, must be handled with care, and feel that the interview is useful [8].  1. explains the list of respondents in conducting In-depth Interview.In this research, interview is conducted in various ways, such as face-to-face and online interviews via online meeting platforms.This is adjusted to the conditions of the respondent (both of existing customers and potential customers).

ANALYSIS
The author conducted in-depth interviews for approximately two weeks, both face-to-face and through online meeting platforms.
Based on the results of these interviews, the following analysis results were obtained:

SOE in Railway Transportation
Existing Customers 1. Want a specific proposal that related to the industry 2. Brand is easy to find on search engine.

2.
SOE in Toll Road Management Existing Customers 1. Brand is easy to find on search engine.SOE in Oil and Gas Industry Potential Customers 1. Need a guideline that related to the industry 2. Brand is easy to find on search engine.

4.
Private Company in Coal and Mining Industry Potential Customers 1. Want a specific proposal that related to the industry.2. Brand is easy to find on search engine and at the top of search engine result page.

Private Company in Power Plant Producer Industry
Potential Customers 1. Want a content of proposals that related to the industry.2. Brand is easy to fine on search engine.Source: Author, 2023 From the results of the analysis conducted by the author, there are two expectations with high intensity that customers have when they search for suppliers, especially providers of tax application services.Customers expect potential suppliers to provide specific proposals or instructions regarding tax information, according to the industry they are involved in.In addition, the initial stage when they search for suppliers is to do an online search through search engines.Some customers believe that the credibility of a brand is also influenced by its online presence.Moreover, if the brand's or supplier's website is ranked at the top of the search page, the level of trust will be even higher.From some of these expectations, the author recommended a solution for all of the B2B companies in Indonesia to maximize their marketing activities through Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy.An organization uses Account-Based Marketing to get a high response rate [9].In carrying out the ABM strategy, the objective to be achieved is targeting a strategically named account so it can be acquired to become a new customer.Apart from that, specifically, the type of ABM strategy that will be used is ABM Lite.This type of ABM is Targeting 10-100 accounts that share similar characteristics, challenges, and initiatives [3].Also, ABM Lite is used for accounts that are still strategic but unable to be addressed with full ABM due to resource constraints, or are second tier.These accounts could still be important but do not call for the investment of the top tier [10].To carry out the ABM strategy with the type of ABM Lite, the author uses ABM Funnel that adopted from #FlipMyFunnel model by Sangram Vajre in 2016.

Table 1 .
List of Respondents

Table 2 .
Results of In-depth Interview