What is Account-Based Marketing?

 

Imagine yourself in charge of a multi-million dollar business, negotiating contracts with multiple vendors for supplies, computer hardware, and software.

One of your favorite vendors introduces you to several additional services that can update your existing systems and provide you with equipment and software specifically tailored to your planned expansion. As these goods and services match your exact business needs, you choose to enter into a contract with that vendor. 

Instead of targeting the largest group of customers possible, account-based marketing targets a single major customer (usually an existing customer, but sometimes a new prospect), treating a single “key account” as a complete market to conduct market research and developing sales strategies with. When account-based marketing strategies are enacted effectively, they can result in huge contracts—as it did with Northrop Grumman, which landed a $2 billion contract with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency in.

Account-based marketing (ABM) is the strategic approach marketers use to support a defined universe of accounts, including strategic accounts and named accounts. It also includes support for the post-sale customer lifecycle using marketing’s toolkit to contribute to the overall customer experience. ABM provides guidance on how to deliver the insights, goal setting, strategy and planning, integrated marketing execution, and sales alignment required to support growth, retention, and loyalty objectives. It also provides guidance on how to measure marketing’s impact beyond demand creation within defined groups of prospect and customer accounts. ABM helps to evolve the role of marketing to reflect a stronger alignment with sales objectives and customer needs to deliver better execution and revenue outcomes.

Account-based marketing theory is based on the collective decision-making process. It takes into account that most B2B buying decisions are not made by a single person, but rather by a collective group of people. If you are only looking at an individual, you may only get a part of the picture; seeing the collective acting together helps you to truly understand how interested an account is in your solution. 

Targeting the collective with your ad messaging requires you to have a way to group people together, even without having prior engagements. This is where account-based marketing’s IP-based targeting comes in handy. Since each company has its own dedicated IP address (or many), it is easy to identify the collective by looking at IP addresses. So if you want to target an account (or a number of accounts), you can target those IP addresses specifically, ensuring you are marketing to the correct group of people in the most efficient way possible.

Well Explained by All Experts.

The good news for any marketer wanting to try an ABM approach is that the tools and tactics aren’t strange and new; they’re based on the proven methods B2B marketers have used for years:

1) Outbound Prospecting.

2) Inbound Marketing.

3) Digital Tactics.

4) Events.

Thanks for the invitation ....

I agree with answers given previously . 

Account Based Marketing provides a vital strategy for companies that want to create sustainable growth and profitability within their most important client accounts. ABM focuses explicitly on individual client accounts and their needs. More importantly, it is a collaborative approach that engages sales, marketing, delivery, and key executives toward achieving the client’s business goals.

 

AGREE WITH EXPERTS ANSWER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Thanks Mr. Ashraf for the invitation , I agree with the experts answers especially yours and Ms. Ghada's.  and here is the definition as mentioned by International Marketing Pros. 

Marketing Experts Define Account Based Marketing Account based marketing is more targeted and personalized versus spray and pray, where you’re just trying to capture anyone in your net. You’re being very specific about who you want to talk with, and it’s a way for sales and marketing to align on the target.

                            -- Meagen Eisenberg, CMO, MongoDB

In its purest form, account based marketing has been around forever. Account based marketing is simply instead of fishing with nets, we’re fishing with spears. You identify exactly the prospects you want to do business with and then you market very precisely and narrowly to them directly. I think we have a renewed interest in ABM now, because there’s an advancement in tools and technology that make it a little easier to execute – but the idea of doing target account selling and target account marketing is not new.

                            -- Matt Heinz, President, Heinz Marketing

Our definition of account-based marketing is just good marketing. If you only had one prospect to sell and market to, you would treat them with the same principles as outlined in ABM. It’s just aiming at a more well-defined area of that funnel, and treating your best buyers in a much more personal way. And we’re focusing on not only the lead but the account as a whole.

                            -- Justin Gray, CMO, LeadMD

To break down walls between sales and marketing, ABM is pretty close to a silver bullet in that it aligns programs’ dollars and focus behind the accounts that the sales teams cares about. So there's inherent buy-in. That said, ABM is only as good as your visibility into your highest potential accounts and best-fit customer segments, which gets clearer over time. So it’s most effective when deployed as part of a comprehensive set of targeting strategies.

                            -- Dave Karel, Head of B2B Marketing, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions

Account-based marketing is thinking of the account as a market of one. It’s about being laser-focused on their needs and deploying the most effective marketing tactics available to nurture value-added, pervasive conversations with key stakeholders. This is the place where marketing and sales are at their closest, brought together by common goals and a crystal clear understanding of what success looks like.

                            -- Nick Panayi, Head of Digital Marketing and Global Brand, CSC

I define account-based marketing as total marketing and sales alignment around who are target customers and the efforts to go get them. They align with the same outcome in mind: to get a specific account as a customer.

                            -- Dave Rigotti, Head of Marketing, Bizible

ABM to me and to CSC is treating a single account as a market of one, and within that marketing of one we’re looking to customize our marketing activities and message in close collaboration with our sales team – and not just down to a buying center or persona but right down to the individual.

            -- Dorothea Gosling, ABM and Pursuit Marketing Center of Excellence Leader, CSC

Account Based Marketing is a strategic approach that coordinates personalized marketing and sales efforts to open doors and deepen engagement at specific accounts.

                            -- Jon Miller, CEO and Co-Founder, Engagio

Instead of leveraging a set of broad-reaching programs designed to touch the largest possible number of prospective customers, an ABM strategy focuses marketing and sales resources on a defined set of targeted accounts and employs personalized campaigns designed to resonate with each individual account. With ABM, your marketing message is based on the attributes and needs of the account you’re targeting.

                            -- David Cain, GVP, Global Marketing, Marketo

Account based marketing is focused B2B Smarketing. I say “Smarketing” because ABM is all about focusing on the right accounts in collaboration with sales. ABM is not a solo activity. It's the combination and range of activities from advertising, direct mail, calls, emails, content — all centered around the ideal set of accounts that you believe has the need for your solution. It's quality over quantity in its most basic form.

                            -- Sangram Vajre, Co-Founder and CMO, Terminus

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