Account based marketing has seemingly sprung into popularity over the course of 2015, and stats, articles, and discussions about the strategy can be found daily across social media.
Interestingly however, account based marketing isn’t a new phenomenon, nor are many of the strategies that make up effective account-based communications.
Today’s article explores the growing popularity of account based marketing, and why interest in the strategy spiked across 2015.
What is Account Based Marketing?
Account Based Marketing (ABM) is an approach to B2B sales and marketing communications that personalize messaging to the needs of one particular account/prospect.
Each account is treated as a market-of-one through a coordinated sales and marketing effort that is both long-term oriented and equipped for fast-acting pivots.
(Insights from: SiriusDecisions, 2016; Direct Marketing News, 2007)
Who Uses Account Based Marketing?
In the past, account based marketing has been used primarily by/for:
- Large corporations;
- Products or services that are an enterprise class solution; and,
- Long and complex sales cycles (Source: Direct Marketing News, 2007).
In these cases, it can take several months and even years to complete a sale. Because of the massive investment of time and relationship building needed to nurture a lead, a dedicated account-based marketing team can be a worthwhile and cost-effective endeavor.
The first documented cases of account based marketing include industry juggernauts like Xerox and HP as early as 1990. Their accounts comprised several actors and a sales process may have included many products and services over a given period. ABM enabled large corporations to focus their sales effort on one account (or, a group of individuals) rather than to one person (Source: Lean Data, 2015).
Today, ABM has become much more attainable for the small and medium size business, and as many as 92% of marketers have stated that they see and recognize the value of account based marketing (Source: PR Newsire, 2015).
The Resurgence of Account Based Marketing
A Boom in 2015,
It’s not the use of ABM that’s worth noting, but rather, the recent volume and velocity of interest from the business community. Consider the Google Trend for ‘Account Based Marketing’
Image - Google Search Term Volume for 'Account Based Marketing'
(Image Source: Google Trends, 2016)
What looked like a steady decline since pre-2005 just spiked in 2015 with no signs of slowing.
As for adoption, consider this:
- Only 20% of businesses state they’ve had an ABM program in place for over one year;
- 52% state that they have a pilot program in place for ABM; and
- 60% are planning to invest in technology for ABM (Source: PR Newswire, 2015).
Pushed by Forces a Long Time Coming,
The surge in ABM interest seems like the coming together of several enabling factors that made the strategy viable for many businesses.
Content Marketing Growth – Adoption of inbound digital content marketing is incredibly high at above 90%. Depending on the industry, several vendors may be struggling to create unique or compelling value to break through the clutter. ABM enables tailored and unique communications.
Empowered Buyers – As more vendors ‘educate’ with content, buyers guide their own decision journey and effective content becomes more difficult to create. Buyers are migrating to alternate sources, such as peer based communities, which may influence their buying criteria with information that is outdated, out of context, or entirely incorrect.
Sales Reps Creating their Own Content – Buyers aren’t the only ones unhappy with the flood of lackluster digital content creation. Today sales reps tend to create their own content for digital sales interactions, and this is negatively impacting time spent selling and the consistency of front line customer communications.
Content Marketing Analytics – Although few are making effective use of predictive analytics for end-to-end sales content analytics, many are now starting to apply marketing efforts further downstream in the sales cycle, and this opens new opportunities for tailored content marketing.
Sales Stack Technology – Successful ABM requires specific account information to be shared across sales and marketing for actionable decision making. Today’s sales and marketing environment suffers from anecdotal insights and siloed interactions. Sales stack technology is breaking down barriers between sales and marketing, and greater sales stack maturity only enhances this collaboration.
Why Use Account Based Marketing
Account based marketing offers exciting new strategies for tailored marketing efforts and stronger collaboration throughout the sales process. Making the most of ABM means understanding why it works to enhance a digital sales process.
In our next article we'll explain why you should use ABM, and how it differs from traditional content marketing. A link to that post can be found here on release.
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