The pros and cons of ABM - is it right for you?
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a marketing strategy that focuses on specific, high-value accounts rather than targeting individual B2B buyers within an account more broadly. ABM is not new. In fact, B2B companies have been trying to crack the C-suite and identify and build out their ideal accounts for decades!
Technology and Personalisation
However, ABM as a marketing strategy, has gained more prominence in the past 10 or so years. This has coincided with the availability of technologies such as Digital Profiling and Intent Data from providers like Zoominfo, Cognism, Sixth Sense that support the accurate personalisation of content served to buying groups within key accounts. For example when they land on your website your ABM targets can be served content relevant to their interests and their specific stage in the buyer journey. These hyper personalised approaches help manage the increasing number of decision makers in the complex B2B sales process.
Changes in Buyer Behaviour
We see companies have more stakeholders involved in the buying process and they undertake more self-directed research and evaluation of products and services ahead of getting into direct contact with the vendor. According to Gartner, there are typically between six and ten decision makers involved in B2B sales cycles. The ticket value of the sales is usually high and the sales cycles are lengthy and complex as a result of there being so many participants.
ROI and Attribution
Technology has certainly expedited the use of ABM, enabling B2B tech companies align their sales and marketing teams around their most profitable target accounts, to engage more effectively and affordably with multiple decision makers within the accounts, increasing the likelihood of closing high value deals sooner. And best of all, new measurement tools enable marketers to accurately attribute revenue to campaigns, both digital and non-digital so they can get valuable insights on performance/ ROI.
However, as with any marketing strategy, ABM is not the golden chalice to sales and marketing success. ABM is not a fast track to filling your funnel with leads. But it is an excellent way to nurture relationships over the medium to long term with a select group of your highest potential targets. Based on our experience with numerous enterprise tech companies and scale-ups, here are some pros and cons for you to consider before you run headlong into investing in your ABM programme
Pros:
Increased engagement: ABM allows companies to focus their efforts on high-value accounts, which should translate into more personalised content and relevant marketing campaigns. This can increase engagement and ultimately lead to more conversions. E.g. When targeting a large enterprise account you can look to create strategic insight reports for key stakeholders and set up personalised landing pages on your website so that every visitor from your target account will receive a series of messages and content downloads that directly relate to their business and/or industry.
Better ROI: Because ABM focuses on high-value accounts, it can be more cost-effective than traditional marketing strategies. By targeting specific accounts, companies can reduce waste and maximise their return on investment(ROI). In these high value enterprise accounts which often have revenue potential in the millions of £/€/$ per annum, the early budget investment can pay handsome rewards when the target prospects convert to become your customers!
Alignment with sales: ABM aligns marketing and sales teams to work together more closely. This can improve communication and leads to better results , as both teams are working towards the same goals i.e. converting target prospects to customers and
Stronger customer relationships: By focusing on specific target accounts ABM enables you to build trust and stronger relationships with their customers. This can lead to increased loyalty and advocacy, which can drive greater customer lifetime value (LTV).
Cons:
Time-consuming: ABM requires a significant amount of research and planning behind the scenes to get off the ground. Companies must identify their target accounts, having the technologies needed to support the creation of personalised campaigns, and the tools to measure their results. This can be time-consuming and may require additional buy-in from across the organisation as well as additional resources. Companies and sales leaders need to be patient as it takes time to build authentic and meaningful dialogue with target prospects who you would like to make your customers!
Limited reach: Because ABM focuses on specific accounts, it may not be effective for companies with a large target audience. This can limit the potential reach of marketing campaigns and may not be the best strategy for companies with a broad customer base.
Expensive: ABM can be more expensive than traditional marketing strategies, especially if companies are targeting a small number of high-value accounts. The tools to help enable ABM can also be expensive – as well as complicated – for many organisations. This can make it difficult for smaller companies to implement ABM effectively.
Difficult to measure: ABM can be difficult to measure for companies without the necessary tools or established processes, as it requires companies to track engagement and conversions at the account level over extended periods of time. This can make it challenging to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns and optimise for better results.
Overall ABM is an highly effective strategy for B2B tech companies that have a clear understanding of their high-value accounts and are willing to invest the time and resources required to execute a successful ABM programme. However, it requires both careful planning and patience to realise the optimum results. So, it may not be suitable nor appealing to all B2B tech companies, particularly those with limited budgets or tech stacks, acute time pressure to generate revenue or a wide range of products and services.
For more information on our ABM offering please reach out to Lynda Greeves or Catherine Stenson here.
