eMarketer Webinar: Account-Based Marketing—Beyond the Hype

© 2016 eMarketer Inc.
Presented by
Account-Based Marketing:
Beyond the Hype
Jillian Ryan
Analyst
November 17, 2016

Account-Based Marketing,
Defined

What exactly is ABM?
 Strategic, collaborative approach between marketing
and sales to identify, target and convert accounts
 Target companies are prioritized by lifetime value
 Focuses on key decision-makers within those accounts
 Customized content is required and created through
deep background research
 Emphasizes quality over quantity
 Difficult to scale without the right technology
#eMwebinar

ABM objectives are varied
What are your goals for account-based marketing?
Revenue Generation: 25%
Pipeline Acceleration: 22%
Lead Generation: 20%
Sales and Marketing Alignment: 17%
Source: #FlipMyFunnel, April 2016
#eMwebinar

There are many different types of ABM
Strategic
ABM
ABM Lite
Programmatic ABM
1:1 Accounts
1:Few Accounts
1:Many Accounts
Low
H
igh
Investm
ent
and
R
O
IperA
ccount
Source: ITSMA
#eMwebinar

ABM responsibilities
span across the
organization, but all
focus on building
knowledge around
accounts and
executing a content
and engagement plan
to speak to contacts
within the account
#eMwebinar

Not just for prospecting, ABM is for cross-sell
and upsell too
“At Lionbridge, we are focused on cross selling
and upselling existing accounts. I know a lot
of other companies in this space use ABM as a
prospecting activity, but for us it’s completely a
customer-driven initiative. We pick really
large strategic accounts and customize
every campaigns and communications.”
—Jessica Sousa, Senior Manager, Customer Marketing,
Lionbridge
“At Lionbridge, we are focused on cross selling
and upselling existing accounts. I know a lot
of other companies in this space use ABM as a
prospecting activity, but for us it’s completely a
customer-driven initiative. We pick really
large strategic accounts and customize
every campaigns and communications.”
—Jessica Sousa, Senior Manager, Customer Marketing,
Lionbridge
#eMwebinar

How Hot Is ABM, Really?

ABM adoption hasn’t reached a tipping point
47%
of US B2B marketers
have an ABM strategy
in place
Source: Demand Gen Report, August 2016
33%
of US B2B marketers
are investing in ABM
in 2016
Source: Kapost, May 2016
#eMwebinar

But ABM is still pretty new …
 Nearly 60% of US
B2B marketers have
had their ABM
strategy in place for
a year or less
 Only 25% have been
doing ABM for two or
more years
#eMwebinar

About a third
of US B2B
marketers
aren’t
currently doing
ABM but plan
to launch a
strategy in the
next 18 months
#eMwebinar

ABM only gets a small percentage of marketing
budgets
What percentage of your marketing is ABM?
25% of budget: 35.4%
50% of budget: 18.2%
75% of budget: 9.5%
All of our marketing is ABM: 4.4%
Source: Bizible, Heinz Marketing, Radius, ReachForce and Uberflip, October 2016
#eMwebinar

Still, some are going all-in on ABM
“Our marketing team is dialing up its
account-based marketing. It is our
top priority. We’re pivoting the
entire marketing function to
be aligned to the top 50
accounts we’re prospecting.”
—John Anagnost, Senior Director, Sales
Strategy and Enablement, Rocket Fuel
“Our marketing team is dialing up its
account-based marketing. It is our
top priority. We’re pivoting the
entire marketing function to
be aligned to the top 50
accounts we’re prospecting.”
—John Anagnost, Senior Director, Sales
Strategy and Enablement, Rocket Fuel
#eMwebinar

ABM has always been here, it’s just called
something new
“It’s funny that ABM is a buzzword
all of sudden, but we have been
doing this for years. You just
didn’t call it account-based marketing.
For whatever reason, marketers
have rebranded it as this new
thing.”
—Jessica Sousa, Senior Manager,
Customer Marketing, Lionbridge
“It’s funny that ABM is a buzzword
all of sudden, but we have been
doing this for years. You just
didn’t call it account-based marketing.
For whatever reason, marketers
have rebranded it as this new
thing.”
—Jessica Sousa, Senior Manager,
Customer Marketing, Lionbridge
#eMwebinar

Marketing Automation
and Technology:
The Building Blocks
of ABM at Scale

Marketing automation, defined:
Software platforms and technologies used to
automate numerous steps along the path to conversion,
including campaign management, customer
segmentation, and lead generation, nurturing and
scoring to efficiently market via diverse channels.
Source: eMarketer, April 2016
#eMwebinar

B2B marketers embrace automation
36% 38%
call their marketing
automation usage
advanced
30% say it’s
intermediate
call their CRM/sales
automation usage
advanced
33% say it’s
intermediate
Source: Progress and Dimensional Research, September 2016
#eMwebinar

80% 74%
of B2B marketers
use sales force
automation for
ABM
use marketing
automation
Source: SiriusDecisions, April 2016
Automation is needed for ABM at scale
#eMwebinar

ABM is considered an “effective” use of
marketing technology and data
31%
of US B2B marketers
said ABM is the
most effective use of
marketing data
Source: Openprise, June 2016
31%
of marketers worldwide
said ABM is a martech
tactic their company
uses effectively
Source: Ascend2, October 2016
#eMwebinar

Continued scale will take more than technology
developments
 While 69% of B2B
marketers said adding
tech to automate ABM
will help scale, 77%
believed that
developing tools and
templates to facilitate
reuse and best
practicing sharing
is also critical
#eMwebinar

Tech is a barrier to ABM, but not the biggest one
Reasons B2B marketers do not use ABM
Other initiatives have higher priority: 45%
Don’t have necessary skills/expertise: 36%
Cost/budget constraints: 34%
Don’t have necessary technology: 23%
Source: Account-Based Marketing Consortium and Demand Metric, December 2016
#eMwebinar

Some experts say ABM can’t be automated
 How can you automate
something that requires a
personal engagement to
understand the
relationship and plan
communications?
#eMwebinar

Working with Sales and
Data Sources for Account
Identification

ABM should enable marketing to work more
closely with sales
 83% said sales helped
determine the list of
target accounts in 2016,
up from 75% YOY
 Fewer respondents
reported sales providing
feedback on ABM plans
and using marketing
support to do their own
account outreach in 2016
#eMwebinar

Account-based lead scoring is becoming
commonplace
 More than four in 10 US
B2B enterprise marketers
score leads with
account-based criteria,
such as:
– revenues
– employee count
– industry
#eMwebinar

Account-based indicators are used to determine
best customers
 There are many
account-based indicators
used by US B2B
marketing/sales
professionals to define their
best customers
 The two most common are:
– annual spend (61%)
– length of relationship (52%)
#eMwebinar

Account scoring is based on attributes of
current best accounts
“We work with sales to understand the attributes of accounts
that are converting the best. That’s a mix of firmographics
and demographics, and we do account scoring based
on 20 different attributes—things like company
size, industry, revenue, employees and what
other technologies they currently use.”
—Tyler Lessard, CMO, Vidyard
“We work with sales to understand the attributes of accounts
that are converting the best. That’s a mix of firmographics
and demographics, and we do account scoring based
on 20 different attributes—things like company
size, industry, revenue, employees and what
other technologies they currently use.”
#eMwebinar

B2Bs use multiple data sources to learn about
accounts
 In 2015, noncustom
third-party account and
contact information
sources were the
primary ways B2B
marketers worldwide
got data for ABM
 Predictive analytics was
used by only 21%
#eMwebinar

And in 2016, B2Bs are working toward more
sophisticated approaches to data for ABM
44%of B2B marketers
worldwide are using
custom third-party
account info sources
30%
are using predictive
analytics services for
ABM
#eMwebinar

Predictive analytics helps assess and prioritize
accounts
“With a predictive score, we
know which accounts and
which decision-makers within
that account to target. Then we
execute our marketing against those
accounts to drive pipeline.”
—Rishi Dave, CMO, Dun & Bradstreet
“With a predictive score, we
know which accounts and
which decision-makers within
that account to target. Then we
execute our marketing against those
accounts to drive pipeline.”
—Rishi Dave, CMO, Dun & Bradstreet
#eMwebinar

Still, having the right data remains a challenge
for many companies
 Only 31% of B2B sales
professionals have
access to the right data
for ABM; 24% of
marketers said the same
 The majority of
marketers and sellers
said they are building
toward having access
to the right data
#eMwebinar

Personalized Communication
with Accounts
(and Decision-Makers)

Content delivered within ABM is targeted and
personalized
 Targeted content is
tailored by specific
industry (75%) and role
(51%)
 49% delivered ABM
content that is
personalized/custom to
each account
#eMwebinar

Constructing messages based on relevance
“ABM is a different lens for targeting
accounts and building a
holistic content strategy, as
opposed to just one-off tactics.
We do direct communications,
personalized messaging and
even create a custom video
for each account.”
“ABM is a different lens for targeting
accounts and building a
holistic content strategy, as
opposed to just one-off tactics.
We do direct communications,
personalized messaging and
even create a custom video
for each account.”
#eMwebinar

Customers appreciate more tailored messages,
and in turn can be better internal advocates
“A lot of times B2B marketers are too generic. And the
receiver of that content doesn’t feel like it fits them or it
doesn’t help them make the leap to action. But very
tailored assets within ABM makes the intended
recipient more comfortable because it’s very
customized. This enables that person to further influence
within their own organization because it’s easier to push
that information forward.”
—Danny Nail, Senior Director, Global Account Based Marketing, SAP
“A lot of times B2B marketers are too generic. And the
receiver of that content doesn’t feel like it fits them or it
doesn’t help them make the leap to action. But very
tailored assets within ABM makes the intended
recipient more comfortable because it’s very
customized. This enables that person to further influence
within their own organization because it’s easier to push
that information forward.”
—Danny Nail, Senior Director, Global Account Based Marketing, SAP
#eMwebinar

Third-party content support on the rise for ABM
37% 28%
plan to use an agency
for ABM support
on content and
messaging in 2016
23% did so in 2015
plan to use
third-party content
development in 2016
3% did so in 2015

Targeted offers are most commonly delivered to
an ABM list via email
 96% currently use email to
deliver targeted offers to
their ABM list
 Other delivery methods:
– account-based nurture
– teleprospecting
– automated sales enablement
platform
– personalized website content
#eMwebinar

Reverse IP lookup helps with web and content
personalization
Reverse IP technology,
which can detect the
company (account)
a website visitor
works for, is a
common ABM tool
WebWeb
PersonalizationPersonalization
52%52%
#eMwebinar

Account-based advertising is also on the rise
B2B marketers using
account-based advertising:
Planning to invest: 70.0%
2016: 66.4%
2015: 62.7%
Source: SiriusDecision, April 2016
#eMwebinar

What About
Return on Investment?

ABM is a mixed bag when it comes to
effectiveness
 On a scale of 1 to 5,
nearly 40% of US
B2B marketers—the
largest share—rated
their ABM efforts’
effectiveness a 3
 Only 5.7% called
their efforts
“extremely effective”
#eMwebinar

ABM is considered an important strategy for
generating revenue
 Seven in 10 B2B marketers
in North America said ABM
was one of the most
important strategies for
generating revenue
compared to other options
 Only 10% said it was the
most important
#eMwebinar

But how does ABM translate to real revenue?
 Half said their change
in revenue due to
ABM was “favorable,
but not measured”
 Only 7% said they saw
revenues increase at
least 25%
 Another 22% didn’t
know if revenues
changed due to ABM
#eMwebinar

ABM metrics are still subjective
 In 2016, the most common
metric used to measure
ABM success is feedback
from internal
stakeholders, used by 76%
 The number of closed
deals, number of leads
touched by marketing, and
new contacts identified
for ABM accounts were
KPIs used by six in 10
#eMwebinar

B2Bs can benchmark ABM conversion rates vs.
traditional efforts for measurement
“We look at conversion rates on
accounts targeted with ABM
practices as opposed to more
traditional marketing. And we
look at speed and starting to see
good patterns in velocity of
those deals moving forward.”
“We look at conversion rates on
accounts targeted with ABM
practices as opposed to more
traditional marketing. And we
look at speed and starting to see
good patterns in velocity of
those deals moving forward.”
#eMwebinar

Companies with larger contract values have
most success with ABM
“ABM really makes sense for the
companies that have larger
contract values that are
focusing on a few thousand
companies.”
—Phil Hollrah, Vice President, Product
Marketing, Demandbase
“ABM really makes sense for the
companies that have larger
contract values that are
focusing on a few thousand
companies.”
—Phil Hollrah, Vice President, Product
Marketing, Demandbase
#eMwebinar

Beyond the hype, recapped:
 ABM, the practice of identifying, targeting and marketing
to accounts, is hot, but adoption is still pretty limited.
 Marketing automation, technology and data are critical
components needed in place for B2Bs doing ABM at scale.
 A strategic collaboration with sales teams allows for
marketers to determine the best target accounts.
 Delivering customized content to decision-makers within
target accounts means messages are based on research
and relevance.
 Measuring return on ABM is still a work in progress, but
many call the results favorable.
#eMwebinar

Anastasia Pavlova,
Sr. Director of Marketing, Marketo, @digijinni

Marketo Solves the ABM Dilemma
Multiple Point SolutionsMarketo: ABM Essentials,
Single Platform
vs.
Error-prone account list syncing
Central account targeting &
management
Different apps for each ABM channel
Cross-channel campaign
orchestration
Data stitched together across
systems
Consolidated ABM analytics

MARKETO ENGAGEMENT MARKETING PLATFORM
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BASED
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DIRECT
TARGET ENGAGE MEASURE
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BASED
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DIRECT
A Single, Unified Platform
for Lead Management + ABM

1. All of the essential ABM capabilities
2. A single, unified platform for ABM &
Lead Management
3. Supported by an ecosystem of ABM
partners
Result: Shorter learning curve, faster
time to value and stronger marketing
Why Marketo ABM?

Anastasia Pavlova
@digijinni @marketo #MKTGNation

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Jillian Ryan
Analyst
Account-Based Marketing:
Beyond the Hype
 At B2Bs, Account-Based Marketing Trends Upward as
Technology Plays Bigger Role
 B2B Sales Enablement: Driving Strategic Efficiencies Along
the Path to Purchase
 Predictive Analytics in B2B Marketing: Using Data Decisively,
at Every Stage of the Funnel
 Marketing Technology: The Six Developments That Matter the
Most in 2016

eMarketer Webinar: Account-Based Marketing—Beyond the Hype

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