Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy that combines evolving technology with strategic planning to identify in-market prospects, craft digital experiences, and move buyers closer to a sale. This strategy should not be confused with lead generation and getting new prospects into the sales pipeline. ABM enables marketers to gain insights about customers based on behaviours and data to make experiences more relevant. It should not be used simply to blast out a higher volume of emails or ads.
Kristina Jaramillo, President of consulting firm Personal ABM at The MarTech Conference, said “Many marketers still view ABM as targeted account-based advertising. Simply having ABM tech doesn’t mean you have a strategy. The strategy comes first and should be supported by the tech. This tech focus makes ABM all about campaigns and touches versus creating differentiated relevant moments, interactions and experiences.”
ABM should be about how organisations can move accounts to revenue. It should be about how leadership, sales, marketing, revenue, sales enablement, customer success, and even product teams work together to hit the number the business needs to get to the next level.
To do this, organisations need to get marketing and sales aligned to determine how to communicate with prospects in a more relevant, account-specific way. They need to think about how to change sales and marketing motions and the experiences that are being delivered across the board.
The strategy should also focus on how to create a buying vision for prospects and how to transition from “one-to-many” messages to personalized, relevant communications that can win over IT teams and the C-suite.
At each interaction, marketers need to uncover why there was intent in the first place and align with those targeted accounts in order to put in place a plan to win the entire team over.
In this way, B2B marketers can ensure that strategy remains a priority and they don't get lost in technology. ABM tech is only a piece of the puzzle and should be the last piece that marketers focus on.
Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/for-abm-marketing-dont-get-lost-in-technology/
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