Now, we have to work with data in order to really gain insight into customer behaviour. It’s also necessary to understand and work with social media and all manner of other cross-channel platforms. Whilst we’re doing all of this, we’re also required to keep up with the latest innovations taking place within the industry in order to stay on top of the game.
2016 – The Year of ABM?
As mentioned previously, ABM could be seen as something of a buzzword due to for the most part a renewed interest in it. A quick look at Google Trends reveals that in 2105 we’ve seen ABM entered as a search term when it’s barely registered before.
Whilst this shows a renewed interest in ABM, the discipline has actually been around since around the mid-1990s, at least as “a demonstration of the trend away from mass marketing towards more targeted approaches.”
According to Wikipedia, ABM can help businesses to:
“Increase account relevance”
“Engage earlier and higher with deals”
“Align marketing activity with account strategies”
“Get the best out of marketing”
“Inspire customers with compelling content”
ABM is more concerned with selling to customers on a one-to-one basis, or targeting the individual group, rather than a mass group.
B2B Marketing
ABM is currently best applied in B2B marketing and a recent report found that “92% of companies recognise (sic) the value in ABM, going as far as to call it a B2B marketing must have.”
However, the study also found that a mere 20% of those B2B companies interested in ABM had programs in place for more than a year. Further to this, just 60% were planning to invest in the necessary technology to help leverage ABM.
“B2B marketers are realising that marketing to large quantities of individuals doesn’t result in quality sales opportunities,” said Peter Isaacson, chief marketing officer at Demandbase.
“ABM is fast becoming the B2B strategy of choice because it truly aligns sales and marketing while focusing their teams on the highest value accounts. I expect adoption to grow rapidly as companies that have made this switch have seen tremendous results by focusing their efforts on attracting, engaging, converting and measuring the accounts that are most likely to buy.”
Further findings in the study included:
A strong alignment with sales, with 34% of respondents saying that sales and marketing were tightly aligned.
52% of companies had ABM pilot programs in place
74% of marketers worked closely with sales to define plans and goals
47% of respondents felt that a skills gap existed when it came to succeeding at ABM
According to Megan Heuer, ABM represents an important shift in how B2B marketers go about “delivering their revenue goals”.
“What makes ABM so attractive right now is the way it combines insights for strategy and technology for execution. Marketing teams who understand ABM are in a powerful position to better align to what sales needs, and to make smart choices about the right actions to take and the right time to take them to grow high-potential accounts. What we’ll see in the year ahead is whether marketers acquire the skills and resources they need to fully realise the promise of ABM.”
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