Navigating your ABM journey: Interviews with the experts

How do you ensure you’re covering every issue when pioneering your ABM journey? Molly Raycraft sits down with four ABM experts for their take on achieving account-based marketing success.Robert Norum is in his element when discussing the growth of ABM. “You could call ABM the emperor’s new clothes — if you’re really feeling cynical. But ABM has turned something that was intuitive into a more structured process,” Robert explains. “It’s taking best practice to another level, particularly in the context of personalisation.”Over the last five years, Robert has seen engagement in ABM develop from a few small companies reaping the benefits, to a large number cottoned on and eager to tap into a lucrative ROI driver.“I think aligning sales and marketing is the key and it’s given marketing a better seat at the table,” he argues. “Often marketers are seen as internal support units, particularly for the sales team. ABM puts the marketing team centre-stage. Marketers can conduct brilliant research for sales, understand the market, companies and stakeholders, plus facilitate better efficiency in the sales team.”A common point at which people decide ABM is just good marketing is when it’s rolled out en masse, something Robert calls ‘ABM convergence’. “This enables companies to move from a one-to-one approach to looking at a particular sector, marketing to numerous accounts at any one time. Therefore, there’s an overlap between ABM and what some might call industry marketing, which gives you scale but still maintains the process of managing specific accounts,” he explains.