Why Snapchat could be the next big ABM channel

I’m curious to see if other marketers have looked into using Snapchat as a potential account-based marketing solution. Having received a number of 5 to 6 figure quotes from ABM ad vendors over the years, the idea of using Snapchat’s geofilter product to reach prospects at the office and on their smartphones for $40–80/week is pretty enticing. Here’s how it might work:

1. Design a filter

If you head to Snapchat’s on-demand geofilter page, and click “Create now” you’ll be directed to the design page. They’ve even got their own drag-and-drop editor, so less design-oriented folks can work off a series of pre-built templates.

2. Choose dates

Once you’ve got a design you like (perhaps including something clever about the company you’re trying to reach), Snapchat has you select the dates during which the filter will be visible to your recipient. I’ve decided to run it for a week — I want my prospect to see it, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome.

3. Geofilter the company you’d like to target

Now for the cool part. Snapchat gives you the ability to enclose a very specific location and display your filter only to Snapchat users in that area. In this case my prospect is Quora, so I’ve surrounded their HQ building in San Francisco.

Notice that it only costs me $69.11 to display this filter to every Snapchat user inside Quora for a whole week. This means I could market to 28 similar-sized companies in a creative, hyper-targeted way for <$2,000 a month.

I could see this tactic being particularly effective for the bottom-up sale. I’d recommend trying it out on large groups of sales reps, recruiters, engineers, designers— essentially any persona that would be considered a millennial :).

Thoughts on ABM

Okay, bad to ABM for a hot second… for all the innovation and hype surrounding this movement, I’ve been somewhat disappointed by the lack of interest in using account-based tactics to open up new marketing channels. ABM has certainly changed the game, but it hasn’t really affected the field in which we operate. Same old same old:

• Email marketing: Mass blast → personalized sequences
• Advertising: Broad display → company-based targeting
• Direct: Huge mailers → CXO gift boxes
• Content: SEO blogging → sales collateral
• Events: Branding sponsorships → executive lunches

I hope this post drives a few curious marketers to check out Snapchat for their next ABM campaign. I’d love to hear how it goes.

Let’s go ruin things :).