Account-based marketing gets boost with vendor alliance

Seven marketing technology vendors have come together to launch the Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Leadership Alliance aimed at helping B2B marketers with their targeted accounts strategy.

The consortium of vendors is being led by ABM platform vendor, Demandbase, and also includes Oracle Marketing Cloud, Bizible, LookBookHQ, Optimizely, Get Smart Content and Radius. The companies have committed to creating content and providing resources around ABM, launching with an e-book outlining the key technologies that make up an ABM stack.

Account-based marketing is about treating an individual client account as a market in its own right, creating a strategic approach that coordinates personalised marketing and sales efforts in order to deepen engagement into a specific account.

While the idea, which was first coined by ISTMA, has been around for 15 years, recent technology advancements around automation, as well as the raft of digitised data now available to marketing functions, has seen interest rise exponentially.

In its newly released 2016 State of Account-based marketing Study, SiriusDecisions found ABM adoption is rapidly accelerating, with more than 70 per cent of companies surveyed having staff that are fully or partially dedicated to driving these types of programs.

In addition, 58 per cent have a pilot or test program in place, while 41 per cent said they had a full program in place. This was up 20 per cent year-on-year. Also up was the percentage of those that believed they had the skills needed to be successful with ABM (from 53 per cent in 2015 to 62 per cent this year).

“The adoption of ABM continues to accelerate across industries. But as more and more companies move from evaluation to implementation, there is ongoing uncertainty about best practices in ABM and how to scale a company’s Account-Based Marketing effort,” said Demandbase CMO, Peter Isaacson, in a statement.

“The sheer volume of marketing technology options available leaves B2B marketers unsure about which steps to take to begin developing an ABM Strategy. This group of experts will provide B2B marketers with guidance and oversight on how to leverage technology to create a high performing ABM plan.”

Key reasons cited in the SiriusDecisions report for an ABM program include increased revenue, increased pipeline and higher quality leads. The report was based on results from more than 200 B2B companies.

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