• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 24, 2017

According to a report by Senraj Soundar, founder and CEO of Connect, published in Sales & Marketing Management, Account Based Marketing is the most-talked-about strategy right now in the B2B world. According to Forbes, 80% of marketers measuring ROI say that ABM outperforms other marketing investments, and 84% of marketers said that ABM had significant benefits to retaining and expanding existing client relationships.

When ABM has been in use for at least a year, says the report, 60% of users reported a revenue increase of at least 10%, and 19% of users reported a revenue impact of 30% or greater. “… ABM takes an individual prospect or customer account, companies, not individual people, and treats it like… a market of one…” said Amanda Zantal-Wiener of HubSpot.

Technology companies are leading this ABM revolution, says the report, providing valuable information on prospective buyers. It’s a hard reality for sales reps knowing that less than one percent of their sales leads will turn into revenue-generating customers. This is why marketers want to find new ways to locate a greater number of high-quality leads.

ABM aims to personalize the approaches to individual accounts, says the report. 75% of customers prefer personalized offers. With an ABM methodology, personnel in marketing work in tandem with those in sales to identify key prospects, and then together construct personalized programs and messages targeted to specific accounts. This “personalization” (emails, websites, and calls-to-action) enables potential customers to perceive value for your product, as it aligns with their business goals. 

Social media is providing the richest channels for this new lead generation, says the report, as well as the best methods for reducing sales cycles and improving conversion rates. And Noah Elkin, research director at Gartner, says software tools can “manage the leads and relationships, score the leads, provide predictive analysis, and deliver targeted content creation, coupled with programmatic advertising techniques… (to) target identified accounts and individuals at whatever stage of the buying process they're in…"

Jim Williams of Influitive, says ABM is an evolution from account-based selling that now involves marketing, and, “…when ABM is done well, sales and marketing are working in harmony… efficiently, which contributes to larger deal sizes, faster deal cycles, and better win rates… “ The digital transformation has meant the breaking down of the traditional silos between sales, marketing, and other departments, says the report.

 “When you agree on the desired accounts and you get everybody aligned on that focus, you’re ultimately just going be more efficient, which usually makes you more effective,” says Jon Miller, CEO of Engagio. Teamwork aligns dollars and focus behind the accounts that the sales teams care about.

Concluding, the report says that the benefit of having the two departments, sales and marketing, focused on the same list of accounts cannot be underestimated. Inbound marketing primarily focuses on creating content to bring prospects to you, while ABM puts their aim on individual prospects or existing accounts to use them in tandem. Actively go after customers using outbound marketing methods like ABM, instead of waiting for them to come to you through passive inbound marketing efforts.

For additional information from S&M, please visit here.