As digital adoption and economic uncertainty continue to grow in 2023, the importance of account-based marketing (ABM) to drive personalized customer experience is soaring. From the booming digital transformation sector to global events shaping consumer behavior, ABM is helping to improve the CXM experience, target key accounts, and go beyond speaking to the decision maker. To assist organizations in selecting the best ABM strategy and creating better alignment between the sales and marketing teams to positively impact customer experiences and revenue, SoftwareReviews has published its latest industry resource, Build Your Account-Based Marketing Strategy.
According to the firm's research, there are over six decision makers on average within the buying committee. SoftwareReviews cautions that it is important to not pass up the opportunity to involve all the decision makers with an intentional ABM strategy. However, many marketers face challenges in developing their ABM strategy, including a lack of core capabilities to support ABM strategies and inadequate tools.
"A successful ABM strategy begins with aligning sales and marketing efforts to create an ideal customer profile (ICP) and develop personalized programs with high-value accounts," says Julie Geller, principal marketing research director at SoftwareReviews. "ABM is typically used in businesses that are ready to mature their inbound marketing programs, looking to enhance their cross-sell and upsell efforts, and needing to alleviate strain on their sales team."
SoftwareReviews' research further explains organizations of all sizes face implementation challenges when adopting ABM. These hurdles include unclear starting points, limited personalized content, insufficient historical data, and inadequate tools and processes. The firm also reveals that, unfortunately, many marketers unintentionally complicate ABM implementation by skipping fundamental steps and focusing on MarTech platforms. However, the research shows that by investing time in building robust foundational capabilities, organizations can significantly improve measurable results from their ABM strategy and achieve comprehensive effectiveness in their ABM initiatives.
By adopting this approach, organizations can effectively target and cultivate relationships with high-opportunity accounts. Organizations that continually enhance their capabilities are able to swiftly identify and address any gaps, resulting in accelerated growth and the generation of invaluable growth insights for sales, customer service, marketing, and the leadership teams.
The firm explains that an effective and impactful ABM strategy can be a powerful asset in managing complex customer relationships, and selecting the appropriate ABM approach that aligns with an organization's unique needs is crucial. SoftwareReviews recommends three types of ABM approaches marketing leaders should consider:
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Foundational ABM: Using programmatic platforms to enable activations like targeted advertising at scale and one-on-one email sequences with minimal personalization.
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Advanced ABM: Moderately customized programs for accounts with similar business challenges and needs by building a customer-centric experience.
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Transformative ABM: Highly customized programs for individual accounts geared to grow relationships through private events, ambassador programs, and one-on-one meetings, etc.
"Many companies feel that ABM requires a high level of complexity and the use of AI platforms to achieve measurable success; however, this is just one approach. The beauty of ABM is that it is a scalable strategy, and if you have a solid enterprise inbound program in place, you should not encounter significant barriers to employing an ABM strategy," explains Geller.
There is a correlation between the success of each level of ABM maturity and various factors, including available resources, business needs, and the presence of foundational elements within the organization. SoftwareReviews advises in the resource that the goal is not to employ a complex program or include all levels of ABM strategy but rather to select the most feasible for an organization.
Blueprints are the firm's proprietary methodology for technology and marketing initiatives. The Build Your Account-Based Marketing Strategy blueprint, available to download, offers marketers and their organizations comprehensive insights into various ABM strategy types, instructions, tools, and project artifacts, as well as an ABM Maturity Diagnostic Assessment, for establishing a solid foundation for ABM.
About SoftwareReviews
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For buyers, SoftwareReviews' proven software selection methodologies, customer insights, and technology advisors help maximize success with technology decisions. For providers, the firm helps build more effective marketing, product, and sales processes with expert analysts, how-to research, customer-centric marketing content, and comprehensive analysis of the buyer landscape.
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