What Is ABM Account-Based Marketing? Definition & ROI Data

What is Account Based Marketing? – An Ultimate Guide

what is an abm

This plan focused on elevating the client and team member experiences through innovative offerings, enhanced talent management, and advanced use of technology and data. ABM makes several acquisitions, including GBM Support Services Group Limited, Airco Commercial Services, and Alpha Mechanical Service. The ABM Agency designs, builds, and manages full-funnel ABM programs for enterprise and mid-market B2B companies. A small team can run an effective ABM pilot with 20 to 30 target accounts using LinkedIn, email, and basic content personalization.

To scale, you will eventually add a dedicated ABM platform (Demandbase, 6sense, or Terminus) for programmatic advertising, account-level analytics, and sales alerts. Enterprise buyers were not engaging with traditional marketing content, and the sales team did not trust the leads marketing was generating. The following four case studies are drawn from documented ABM programs and illustrate how different B2B companies applied ABM to solve distinct business problems.

what is an abm

An ABM strategy supports the natural behavior of B2B buyers, who are spending more time than ever self-nurturing before contacting a salesperson. Over time, these insights allow you to optimize your content and programs around the most effective tactics to generate demand. As marketing and sales teams try new tactics with their audience, they collect data on what works and continue to refine their approach. Focusing on a small group of target accounts allows teams to curate content experiences and sales outreach that speaks to the unique pain points of each account or buyer.

In-person events like sponsored booths at conferences or festivals and VIP dinners can be valuable opportunities to meet face-to-face with stakeholders from high-value accounts. Webinars can nurture relationships by speaking directly to high-quality buyers’ specific needs and concerns. With ABM, you have the opportunity to speak directly to your target accounts about why they should choose your product. After identifying key internal players, marketing and sales teams should work together to craft a strategy that focuses on building long-term, authentic relationships with key players.

Step 6: Measure Your Success

208% revenue growth reported by companies with mature ABM programs 87% of B2B marketers say ABM outperforms all other marketing investments for ROI Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy in which marketing and sales teams coordinate personalized campaigns targeting specific, pre-selected high-value accounts rather than broad audiences. Because 87% of B2B marketers report ABM outperforms all other marketing investments for ROI, it has become the dominant strategy for enterprise B2B revenue teams. Get the latest research, industry insights and product news delivered straight to your inbox.

What does ABM's latest quarter show?

When you’re thinking about personalization, you want to consider not only who you’re speaking to, but where they’re at in their journey. If you want to target specific buyers, you have to create messaging that speaks directly to them and their pain points. Marketers then use personalization technology to target outreach that feels personal to a large number of accounts, without having to put in the manual effort to individually tailor it for each buyer or audience.

Account-based marketing tools and software empower sales and marketing teams to collaborate seamlessly and execute personalised campaigns tailored to individual accounts. Now, what is an abm you can use the data in your CRM to personalise your cross-channel messaging to these accounts, including direct mail campaigns, ads, social media, and the web. It is a personalized approach to marketing that focuses on targeting a specific set of accounts that are identified as high-value prospects.

what is an abm

Shorter sales cycle

what is an abm

With AI-powered insights about its top donors, the charity is adding increased personalisation to its ABM fundraising efforts. ABM tools and software empower sales and marketing teams to collaborate seamlessly and execute personalised campaigns tailored to individual accounts. In the ASEAN context, this involves creating highly relevant, data-driven content that addresses specific pain points and demonstrates deep industry expertise. It's about using data and AI-powered insights to deliver true value. B2B buyers in the region are younger, digital-first, and increasingly leveraging technology in their purchasing journey. Through a focus on building stronger relationships with high-value accounts, ABM can help B2B marketers who need to increase pipeline quality, retain top accounts for longer, and boost the revenue those accounts bring in.

  • You track activity at the account level, not just the individual-contact level, and you connect that activity to pipeline, opportunities, revenue, retention, and expansion.
  • Account-based marketing might be most effective for enterprise clients, but the goal remains to build personal relationships with key stakeholders and the people who make decisions.
  • Look for tools that help you identify and prioritize target accounts, enable collaboration between marketing and sales teams, and collect engagement data to track campaign performance.
  • "The most effective ABM programs do not necessarily have more tools and technology, but they do get better use out of what they have."

ABM requires marketing and sales teams to work together from the very beginning. For businesses looking to see the greatest return on investment (ROI), account-based marketing offers a way to focus sales and marketing efforts on high value accounts from the very beginning of the sales cycle. Once you know who your buyers are, you can get to work designing messaging and campaigns that will speak directly to them. If marketing and sales have been siloed at your company for a long time, you may need to do some work to build up that relationship before embarking on an ABM program (or perhaps just try a small ABM experiment to start).

ABM success metrics

“You need to commit to gathering the necessary insights, because insights are what fuel our ability to learn more about targeted accounts, enabling customization and personalization. Large-account marketing – the variation that most often first comes to mind when people think of ABM – requires dedicating marketing resources to the largest current customers or high-value strategic prospects. To help you launch a great account-based marketing strategy – or improve and expand your existing ABM programs – we’ve condensed a wealth of SiriusDecisions knowledge on ABM into this blog post.

A phase-by-phase guide to semiconductor readiness

As a collaborative effort between marketing and sales, ABM involves the coordination of content, sales outreach, targeted ads, and more to engage and ultimately convert buyers In ABM, marketing and sales teams focus on a select few accounts, chosen based on how well they fit their ideal customer persona (ICP). Once internal champions are engaged, your sales and marketing teams can help equip them with the tools they need to influence decision-makers to approve a purchase. Marketing and sales teams were often siloed, with marketing “throwing leads over the wall” to sales, without really thinking about what would happen next. Account-based marketing, or ABM for short, is a popular B2B growth strategy that helps teams improve collaboration between marketing and sales, convert more leads, and ultimately earn more revenue. Yet many B2B marketers still treat them as standalone broadcasts, focusing on delivery while underinvesting in audience development, follow-up, and content activation.

ABM was named to Selling Power’s 2022 ‘50 Best Companies to Sell For’ list, recognized for its commitment to team member development and creating a supportive sales culture. President and CEO Scott Salmirs recognized long-term team members and announced a donation to the Rainforest Fund, founded by Sting in 1989, as part of ABM’s commitment to support Indigenous Peoples and environmental protection. Over 6,000 ABM team members, management, and clients joined a live-stream Sting concert celebrating ABM's 50th anniversary on the New York Stock Exchange.

Webinars are one of the most effective ways to engage audiences at scale and should be a critical component of an integrated event strategy. One in Seven ABM Programs Is Doomed Because of This Single Factor (and What You Can Do About It) Together, these steps are not a one-and-done process; they must be repeated and adjusted as necessary to support the growth and evolution of each organization’s ABM strategy.