This year, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is all the buzz in the marketing world. In fact, today SiriusDecisions released their 2016 State of ABM Study and now more than 70 percent of B2B companies are focused on driving ABM programs. On top of that, 87 percent of companies say ABM is “extremely” or “very important” to overall marketing efforts!
This ABM acceleration and adoption is seen not just in survey results showing an increase in ABM usage (which they do) or in the number of customers utilizing and finding success with ABM (which they are), but it’s also obvious in smaller but highly relevant indicators. Pointing to ABM’s popularity are measurements such as: the explosion in the quantity of Google searches; the number of marketing professionals adding ABM to their skill sets on LinkedIn; and the enormous audiences drawn to premiere events, such as those attending the Marketing Innovation Summit for B2B that kicks off today in San Francisco.
While ABM is the growth strategy of choice, this methodology has been around for a couple of decades.
Yes, decades.
As a quick refresher or lesson, ABM is a strategic approach to B2B marketing where Sales and Marketing work together to identify target accounts that have the biggest impact on revenue, and then they go out and engage them.
Adopting this account-specific approach and working hand-in-hand allows Marketing to align with Sales—a collaboration that sets everyone up for success.
This idea isn’t new. A lot of companies used an ABM-like approach in the mid-1990s. But they probably called it something slightly different—like account marketing or Targeted Account Selling. Sales worked in partnership with marketing teams to go deep into organizations and utilize specific account messaging in order to win sales. While these high-touch techniques proved to be extremely effective, the obvious challenge was that they didn’t scale.
What’s changed today is that companies have introduced technology that helps you implement Account- Based Marketing at scale.
Imagine the power of scalable individualized B2B marketing. That’s what ABM in 2016 brings to the table. Technology has finally caught up and now supports account-level marketing as an alternative to broad-based campaigns, all without breaking the back of marketing team.
Still skeptical? Those leading the ABM charge are aware of the uncertainty that can accompany implementation. It’s all fine and good to talk about it, but when the rubber hits the road, what are the best practices and technology solutions to ensure success?
Today, we are launching The ABM Leadership Alliance to answer that exact question. B2B marketing leaders and innovators including, Oracle Marketing Cloud, Optimizely, Bizible, Radius, Get Smart Content and LookBook HQ have joined Demandbase in an effort to educate B2B marketers and provide clarity around the details of deploying ABM within their organizations.
We’re also releasing a new e-book, Building an Account-Based Marketing Technology Stack, to accompany the launch of our new Alliance. The eBook will highlight a sample ABM technology stack, discuss how each one fits into an ABM strategy and provide a blueprint of what technology to consider.
The reticence to try something new and different is becoming a moot point as companies see the shift towards ABM and the lucrative outcomes. With successful executions happening across companies and industries, the playbook for success exists. There has never been a better time to join the movement that is truly revolutionizing B2B marketing.