B2B marketers, think you can ignore the resurgence of account-based marketing (ABM)?
Think again.
In today’s data-driven digital world, it’s essential to integrate marketing and sales functionsOpens a new window in order to drive growth – which means merging traditionally disparate marketing and sales data silos.
That’s where ABM strategiesOpens a new window enter your world.
Marketing operations can no longer sit blithely at the top of the funnel, passing prospective customers over to sales. Instead, they must extend beyond generating qualified leads.
Instead, marketers and sales team together must define a cohesive, data-focused strategy across the customer journey.
Until recently, this has been more trouble than it’s worth. With simply too much data to digest, it’s been easier to maintain the separation of church (sales) and state (marketing).
However, technology has been developed to consolidate and analyze the vast amounts of data gathered by sales and marketing. These automated tools can use that information to find common touchpoints throughout a buyer’s lifecycle, helping companies better serve defined target accounts.
This strategic approach to B2B marketing also helps businesses engage specific prospects or accounts more holistically. It allows for a higher level of personalized engagement with customers throughout their lifecycle, and makes complex sales opportunities far easier to manage.
Most importantly, ABM works.
Studies show that 80-97% of marketers agree that ABM leads to better ROI than other marketing tactics. Meanwhile, various other investigationsOpens a new window have found that B2B organizations with assimilated marketing and sales departments enjoyed 24% faster growth in revenue and 27% faster growth in profit.
What makes ABM so effective? It prioritizes accounts that are most likely to generate revenue and meet other strategic goals. That focus on the bottom line, on quality over quantity, is invaluable in the currently oversaturated marketing environment.
And yet, despite the promise of higher revenue and assured business growth, nearly 70% of companies are either “thinking about getting started†or have “just started†installing ABM programs, according to a 2018 surveyOpens a new window of 1,260 companies conducted by software company Engagio.
The survey revealed that respondents felt the biggest risk to ABM failing at their organization was a “lack of executional ability,†while a “lack of alignment with sales†and “data quality issues†were not far behind.
New ABM technologies and their potential span every element of marketing, from identifying prospective customers, to account selection, intent data and even sales insights – plus it’s never been easier to get started.
“We can now easily scale ABM and find new ways to drive revenue for our companies, says Demandbase CMO Peter IsaacsonOpens a new window . This widespread adoption has resulted in greater resources — both in terms of best practices and technology — and has allowed more and more B2B marketers to make the leap from ‘why ABM?’ to ‘how do I drive success with ABM?’ “
Any marketers on the fence about incorporating ABM strategies should read this Forbes article Opens a new window that summarizes their key benefits, as explained by marketing experts.
For those ready to take the plunge but aren’t sure where to start, here are a few of the top-reviewed ABM softwares available.
Demandbase
Demandbase is a targeting and personalization platform that provides a full suite of solutions. The tool streamlines various key functions, aligning advertising, marketing and sales operations. Among its features, the software offers personalized and targeted site experiences/advertising, account identification, marketing automation and account-based metrics. The company also has a consulting service to help companies create a marketing plan best-suited to their needs.
Engagio
Engagio is an ABM tool focused on automation and analytics. It’s designed especially for B2B businesses to find new clients and build stronger relationships with their largest and most valuable accounts. That’s why the software can connect to a business’s current Salesforce and Marketo accounts, as well as its website to manage relevant leads, marketing programs and site users.
Engagio clients can use lead data from various sources to maximize engagement across multiple channels. That data also can evaluate, track and measure the effectiveness of different ABM tactics. Account-based analytics, lead tracking, data aggregation and attribution reporting are key elements of Engagio’s service offering.
InsideView
InsideView offers several products including software specially made for marketing, sales and account management.
The InsideView platform specializes in helping marketers understand and define key factors for identifying their target market. It’s focused on producing accurate data and high-value, relationship-driven insights in the interest of helping B2B marketers determine their key accounts and make use of real-time analytics.
One of this software’s highly-commended aspects is its native integration capabilities and various B2B marketing tools, among them Salesforce, Marketo, Eloqua and SugarCRM.