ABM Strategy: Credit Unions & Community Banks — AviaryAI

Overview

AviaryAI's account-based marketing strategy focuses exclusively on two verticals — Credit Unions and Community Banks — chosen as the highest-priority segments given AviaryAI's CUSO backing, existing relationships, and "people helping people" brand alignment. The full strategy document runs approximately 16 pages and covers research methodology, asset creation, and multi-channel outreach sequencing.

This article captures the strategy as aligned in the weekly call and serves as a reference for ongoing execution. See also: ^[1] and ^[2].

Strategic Rationale

The team evaluated adding insurance (life, health, auto) as a third vertical but decided to stay focused. Justin Dwyer's guidance: insurance is "further away from where we're thinking our target is" and would dilute effort without proportional return. Credit unions and community banks remain the bullseye.

AviaryAI's differentiators in this space:
- CUSO investor backing (credibility signal for credit unions)
- "People helping people" brand ethos aligns with credit union culture
- Proven collections use case with measurable ROI
- Existing client relationships that can anchor social proof

Target Account Tiers

The Tier 2 list of 100 accounts is the primary execution focus. Aaron Grossman holds the source list in HubSpot (closed-won and closed-lost pipeline deals provide a baseline; additional prospecting fills the remainder).

Research & Enrichment Process

For each target account, the team runs a three-source enrichment workflow:

1. Website scrape — Python script crawls the target's public site to extract messaging, products, leadership, and pain signals.
2. LinkedIn scrape — Pulls company page data, employee count, recent posts, and key decision-maker profiles.
3. Clay enrichment — Augments with firmographic data, technographic signals, and contact details for decision-makers.

The goal is to know enough about each account to craft messaging that feels written specifically for them — not a vertical template, but a genuine signal that Asymmetric has done its homework.

"The essence of ABM is you pick a company and you learn everything you can about it… I want to catch that fish." — Mark Hope

Asset Strategy

Vertical Landing Pages

• One landing page per vertical (Credit Unions, Community Banks)
• Messaging anchors: CUSO backing, collections ROI, member/customer experience improvement
• These are distinct from PPC landing pages (see ^[2])

Account-Specific Landing Pages (Tier 1)

• Built for the top ~10 accounts
• Personalized to the account's brand, stated priorities, and known pain points
• Not explicitly labeled as account-specific externally, but designed to resonate precisely with that audience

HubSpot Infrastructure

• Mark Hope is adding required custom fields to HubSpot to support ABM tracking
• Draft automations will be built and shared with Aaron Grossman for review before activation
• Aaron to create two HubSpot lists: "Current Clients" and "Closed Lost Deals" — these feed lookalike prospecting and exclusion logic

Outreach Channels

The strategy uses a three-channel sequence for Tier 1 and Tier 2 accounts:

1. LinkedIn

• Personalized connection requests and messages to decision-makers identified in research
• Messaging references specific signals found during enrichment (recent posts, initiatives, pain points)

2. Email

• Sequenced outreach tied to HubSpot automations
• Copy references vertical-specific value props and, for Tier 1, account-specific details

3. Handwritten Direct Mail

• Physical notes sent to top-priority contacts
• Intentionally brief: acknowledges a specific observation, proposes a connection
• Rationale: handwritten outreach is rare enough to generate outsized attention and goodwill

Messaging Guardrails

A key brand sensitivity surfaced during the PPC review applies equally to ABM copy: avoid language that implies workforce replacement.

• ❌ "Collections without hiring" — implies replacing staff
• ✅ "Scale your capability without scaling your cost" — focuses on efficiency, not elimination

This framing is especially important for credit unions, where the "people helping people" ethos makes job-replacement messaging actively off-brand and potentially damaging to trust.

Open Items & Action Items

• [ ] Mark Hope — Finalize and distribute the 16-page ABM strategy document to Justin Dwyer and Aaron Grossman
• [ ] Mark Hope — Add required HubSpot fields and draft automations; share with Aaron for review
• [ ] Aaron Grossman — Create HubSpot lists: "Current Clients" and "Closed Lost Deals"; notify Mark when ready
• [ ] Sebastian Gant — Build vertical landing pages (collections + credit unions) for PPC; coordinate with ABM LP needs to avoid duplication

Related

• ^[1]
• ^[2]
• ^[3]
• ^[4]