Account-based marketing (ABM) focuses marketing efforts on a company's key accounts through customized campaigns. It requires collaboration between sales and marketing from the early account planning stages. ABM programs have seen high returns on investment, leading companies to double their ABM spending. Key aspects of successful ABM include gathering customer insights, focusing on high-ROI accounts, and measuring performance over the short, medium, and long term.

1. Meredith Giersch
Director of Channel Optimization, Net-Results
BMA Roundtable
Thursday, April 24th 2014
MEETING CLIENT NEEDS
THROUGH ACCOUNT
BASED MARKETING

2. Specific, account-level focus is what separates
ABM from broad-based marketing. Like most
things that deliver a real competitive advantage,
however, the logic of ABM is simple but the
delivery takes some effort.
- Megan Heuer, VP and Group Director of
Data-Driven Marketing, Sirius Decisions
Source: http://www.siriusdecisions.com/blog/believe-the-hype-you-
should-be-doing-account-based-marketing/

3. ABM Programs have been so successful that marketers
planned to double their spending in 2013

4. Over 80% of marketers that measure ROI say that ABM
outperforms other marketing investments

5. Key takeaways on Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Marketing leads ABM, but the process must be very
collaborative
Collection and sharing of insights – customer pain
points and needs – is the foundation for success
ABM is an investment in time and resources – focus
on accounts with the highest ROI
1
2
3

6. ABM requires a cross-functional, collaborative
approach, and the two functions that need to
align most clearly are sales and marketing.
Marketing must be engaged as early as possible in
the sales account planning process in order to
produce insights, content, programs and
initiatives with precision.
- Matt Senatore, Research Director, Account-
Based Marketing, SiriusDecisions
Source: https://www.siriusdecisions.com/blog/are-you-ready-for-
account-based-marketing/

7. To win group decisions, Marketing boosts individual
purchase intent and Sales facilitates consensus
Marketing has access to insight
before sales “meets” the prospect
• Implicit data (web activity)
• Explicit (form submissions)
Source: 2013 B2B Global Buyer Survey; CEB analysis
Sales Owns Primary Responsibility
0%
Process begins
37%
Group conflict peaks
57%
Sales rep first contacted
100%
Process completed
Marketing Owns Primary Responsibility

8. ABM: the practice of treating individual accounts
as markets in their own right.
It’s a structured approach to developing and
implementing highly customized campaigns to
markets of one: accounts, partners, or prospects,
typically a company’s largest, most strategic
accounts or partners.
- Jeff Sands, VP of Account
Based Marketing, ITSMA
Source: https://www.itsma.com/ezine/abm-as-the-key-to-career-
advancement/

9. The most critical component of ABM is the collection and
sharing of insights
Marketing
Online
personas
Digital
behavior
Web form
submission
Marketing
engagement
history
Sales
Contact
engagement
history
Status of
active deals
Sales goals
Relationship
with decision
makers
Market
Intelligence
Industry
Competitive
market
Industry
needs / pain
points
Average deal
size

10. Limited budget and resource concerns lend
themselves to a renewed focus on account-based
marketing techniques, combining what you know
about the companies most likely to buy with your
tactical campaign selection, lead scoring, lead
nurturing, buyer persona creation and content
strategy.
- Account-Based Marketing in 2013,
A Demandbase, Ziff Davis Survey
Source: http://www.demandbase.com/assets/ResourceDocs/White-
Paper-2013-Account-Based-Marketing-Survey.pdf

11. ABM is an investment in time and resources – focus on
accounts with the highest ROI
Selection
• Chose accounts based on opportunity, potential and ROI
• Start with a pilot with highest tier
Repurposing
• Audit current assets and map to target accounts
• Adapt and expand content to address ABM strategies
Measurement
• Base measurement on revenue and sales goals
• Near term, short term, long term

12. Insights
• Internal
Account Data
• External Data
Selection
• Segmentation
• Assessment
Planning
• Goals (Cross-
sell, Up-sell,
Relationship)
• Targeted
Messaging
• Tactic
Selection
Execution
• Pilot
• Rollout
Measurement
• Short-term
• Medium-term
• Long-term
Communication
Source: Sirius Decisions
Account Based Marketing requires intentional planning
and assessment at each stage

13. Insights
• Alignment of
offerings
• Avg customer
deal
• Contact
engagement
history
Selection
o 1:1
large accounts
1:Few
industry/segment
o 1:Many
customer lifecycle
Planning
• Sales goal:
relationships
• Targeted
Messaging
• Elevate /
build out
content
Execution
• Pilot: 5 of 285
• Rollout: next
tier with
adjustments
Measurement
• Short-term
(Opens, CTR,
conversions)
• Medium-term
(pipeline)
• Long-term
(revenue)
Communication: Sales, Marketing, Product Team
Net-Results example: targeting Eloqua partners

14. Insights
• Internal
Account Data
• External Data
Selection
• Segmentation
• Assessment
Planning
• Goals (Cross-
sell, Up-sell,
Relationship)
• Targeted
Messaging
• Tactic
Selection
Execution
• Pilot
• Rollout
Measurement
• Short-term
• Medium-term
• Long-term
Communication
Source: Sirius Decisions
Strategies? Successes? Challenges?
Failures? Concerns?