B2B brands have embraced account-based marketing (ABM), to the extent that ABM now draws 29% of the average marketing budget, according to Moving to ABM Maturity: 2019 ABM Benchmark Study, a paper
by ITSMA, a marketing services company, and ABM Leadership Alliance.
Moreover, they are planning an average increase of 21.3% in ABM spend and a 19.3% increase in staff in 2020.
Companies rate themselves in one of the following stages of ABM adoption:
- Exploring — 10%
- Experimenting — 43%
- Expanding —
30%
- Embedded — 17%
Email ranks with websites, CRM and social, a group of channels utilized by 70%. And email marketing/e-newsletters are first among the top
one-to-many B2B tactics.
However, they are second among one-to-few tactics, falling behind in-person events.
And email is sixth in the list of one-to-one ABM tactics. They are behind
account-specific custom content and thought leadership, executive-to-executive relationship programs, in-person events, direct mail and paid social media.
Of the companies polled, 63%
pursue only one of the above types of programs — 18% practice one-to-one ABM, 25% practice one-to-few and 19% pursue one-to-many. Only 15% utilize all three types, and 22% use two.
Of
the most experienced ABM users, 71% say their ROI is significantly higher compared to that from traditional marketing initiatives.
The study also found that 69% of the most effective ABM
practitioners use analytics and 67% use account insights.
Here are their objectives, rated on a scale of one to five:
- Growing business with existing accounts —
4.1
- Selling to new accounts – 4.0
- Supporting specific major opportunities or deals — 3.7
- Changing perception/strengthening reputation with targeted
accounts — 3.7
- Entering new markets/selling to new types of buyers — 2.9
But they face tough challenges, including:
- Personalizing and
tailoring marketing to the key contacts at each account — 36%
- Tracking and measuring ABM results — 35%
- Getting adequate budget to support programs and resources —
30%
- Developing campaign assets that are mass customizable at scale — 29%
- Educating sales on the process and value of ABM (e.g., ABM marketers are not event
planners) — 27%
- Hiring ABM marketers with the right experience, skills, and talent — 22%
- Standardizing the approach to ABM across the company (e.g., divisions,
BUs, geos) — 22%
- Agreeing on the selection of accounts for the program — 15%
- Managing an increasingly complex ABM ecosystem (e.g., multiple partners,
agencies)—15%
- Justifying the program costs/proving ROI — 14%
- Selecting and integrating the martech tools that will best support our ABM programs —
13%
- Differentiating ourselves from the competition at the account level — 11%
- Keeping up with the demand from the sales team requesting ABM for their accounts —
11%
- Getting buy-in from sales account teams — 6%
- Retaining ABM marketers in the ABM program — 1%
- Other — 4%
Another issue is
aligning sales and marketing. The respondents agree with the following statements on a scale one to five as follows:
- Our ABM programs are closely aligned with our sales coverage
model — 4.1
- ABM marketers at our company work hand-in-hand with the inside sales reps — 3.8
- We are completely satisfied with the degree of collaboration between
marketing and sales when it comes to ABM — 3.2
ITSMA and ABM Leadership Alliance surveyed 196 marketers at B2B technology and business services companies.