What is ABM?
ABM has been around for decades and many companies say that ABM is an important part of their company strategy. However ABM has been so far used only by large organisations with very large and structured sales team. But an ABM strategy can benefit organisations of all sizes. So what is ABM and how I can use it?
ABM stands for Account Based Marketing. It’s a B2B marketing strategy that focuses only on the activation of high-value customers and requires strong collaboration among the marketing and sales departments.
In ABM, the priority isn’t to generate a quantity of leads, but to identify those accounts who not only meet the demographic criteria for prospecting but also meet your “Ideal Customer Profile”.
At its heart, ABM is about delivering highly personalised content at the right time to your key accounts to position your business as the best solution in the market.
While this requires sales alignment and the time, energy and resources needed for in-depth research, it does yield terrific results. LinkedIn conducted a survey and found that 87% of marketers see higher ROI with ABM than any other type of marketing investment. What’s more, 91% of respondents reported that their ABM accounts have a bigger deal size.
Read this article to find out why ABM could be the right strategy for you.
Which ABM strategy is right for you?
1 to 1 ABM
Also known as Strategic ABM, traditionally this approach involves targeting only a small number of strategic accounts, often in specific industry sectors.
These accounts are typically identified by the sales department and You must have deep and relevant insights into each account—their strategic objectives, pain points and decision-makers. This information is vital to informing outreach and delivering deeply meaningful account engagement that demonstrates an understanding of their business.
For this reason, 1 to 1 ABM requires a great amount of investment however, it also offers great ROI, since each account comes with high-value contracts.
1 to Few ABM
Also known as ABM Lite, this approach involves targeting small groups of accounts typically divided by sector, a common size or location, or similar pain points and needs.
In 1 to Few ABM each group of accounts is treated separately. So, for example, if a group of accounts belongs to a specific sector (such as Financial Services), then you can create sector- or sub-sector specific content which touches upon trends and challenges (such as embedded innovation or protecting banking financial strength) and resonates with accounts in that group.
1 to Many ABM
Also known as Programmatic ABM, this is a scalable approach to sales and marketing efforts which involves targeting “many” accounts—the number is up to you and can go into the hundreds or even the thousands depending on the value of the accounts and the resources available to your business.
1 to Many ABM targets accounts which share a common factor within segments—horizontal or vertical. While this approach might appear to be less targeted than the other two, it’s still possible for marketing teams to accomplish personalised outreach through the use of sophisticated technologies and martech.
In comparison to traditional lead generation activities, 1 to Many ABM requires fewer marketing resources to result in better win rates.
Is ABM Marketing or Sales?
Account-based marketing is both a B2B sales and marketing strategy. It requires both teams to collectively engage specific target accounts that are considered a top priority for the company.
Traditionally, marketing focuses on inbound marketing strategies, such as content marketing and lead-generation marketing. You target large lists of prospects hoping to generate interests.
With account-based marketing, you try to target specific individuals within an account and coordinate your marketing efforts with the sales team.With the right ABM strategy, you will see greater ROI and boost customer loyalty.
Why is ABM important?
ABM is strategically important, it is the key to reaching new target accounts, but it can also be a critical piece in engaging current customers. Your ABM strategy should include upselling, cross-selling, and retention activities that are essential to any business. and ABM , which is why 74% of our clients’ ABM spend was on current customers. On top of that, our clients are now reaching those customers on a global scale–increasing international ad delivery by 30-76%.
Bottom line, with the right ABM strategy, you will shorten your customer lifecycles and accelerate sales cycles, increasing ROI.
What is an ABM platform?
Gartner defines account-based marketing (ABM) platforms as software that enables B2B marketing and sales teams to run ABM programs at scale, including account selection, planning, engagement and reporting.
Typically and ABM platform will include the following functionalities:
- creation of target account lists using multiple filtering options such as industry type and size, technographic, location, etc.
- Integration with third party intent data
- Integration with a web traffic identification system
- Integration with display advertising and social advertising platforms.
- Integration with a marketing automation platform.
- Comprehensive reporting functionalities.
Check out Jabmo ABM platform functionalities.
Is ABM only a strategy for large enterprises?
Originally ABM was born as a corporate strategy to target corporate accounts.
According to Gartner, by the end of 2020, more than 70% of B2B marketers at midsize to large organisations will either pilot or launch full-scale ABM programs to target and engage buyers.
However, thanks to MarTech technology such as ABM platforms, ABM is becoming a viable strategy also for smaller organisations that need to target SMB and Mid-Market companies.
These companies will use ABM MarTech technology to focus on One-to-Few and One-to-Many ABM programs. This way they will be able to select effectively account to target, send personalised messages while optimising resources and costs.