If your company hasn’t yet embraced account-based marketing (ABM), it’s a good idea to get up to speed now, as the chances of this change taking place are more than likely. In June of 2016, SiriusDecisions revealed a 21% increase in the number of companies that have a full account-based marketing program in place. In this two-part blog series, we’ll walk you through the basic concepts of account-based marketing, as well as how to begin implementing ABM in your business. Spoiler alert: it aligns marketing with sales.

Okay, you say. But what does that mean?

ABM is a marketing strategy that concentrates sales and marketing resources on specific target accounts within a market and creates highly personalized campaigns directed to reach those accounts. So, one company becomes its very own market. Alone. A market of one.

“Account-based marketing is particularly well suited for the acquisition of high-value customers and traditionally costs more to implement than traditional marketing programs.”

Who uses account-based marketing?

Currently, it’s most often used by large sales organizations for their B2B clients because those companies typically have many buyers (or decision makers), and the goal, according to Sam Balter of HubSpot is “to address the needs of organizations by connecting with all of the stakeholders within it. That’s one reason why it works so well in B2B – oftentimes you have to work with five or more stakeholders in a given sale.”

Account-based marketing is particularly well suited for the acquisition of high-value customers and traditionally costs more to implement than traditional marketing programs. But, with advancements in marketing technology, a wider range of businesses can employ ABM at a lower cost.

And, of course, there must be benefits to ABM – there are!

If done right, account-based marketing can bring about great results (think ROI).

  • In a 2014 study by the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA), ABM was reported to deliver the highest return on investment of any B2B marketing strategy or tactic.
  • And because ABM is so targeted, it can reduce resource waste, as it only delivers specific programs to targeted accounts. This can also make it easier to track effectiveness of campaigns because you have a smaller set of accounts to review.
  • And, of course, as it aligns directly with sales, marketers using the ABM approach switch to a mindset more in tune with those in the sales department by thinking of accounts, how to target them, and then bring them in to close. Revenue generation through marketing!

Ready to give account-based marketing a try?

Don’t get overwhelmed even before you start. In our next post, we’ll provide a step-by-step process for implementing account-based marketing in your organization. Think of it as changing your approach from one-to-many to one-to-one. You’ll start by building your account list and go from there. Stay tuned!

READ PART TWO >