5 Takeaways for ABM 2021

What do Birthday party bags and Conferences have in common?

What are your memories of kids Birthday parties? When both of my sons were younger, like any children, they were looking forward to them with lots of build-up and excitement. Collecting a party bag was the climax of any event that I have always been hesitant about. Why? Because we ended up taking home another set of unsustainable plastic items which a) would spread around my house adding to the creative mess and b) are not recyclable and/or environmentally friendly. Once, to my surprise and delight, we discovered that the party bag contained a book and a set of colouring pencils - two things which were actually useful and fun at the same time.

It is the same with conferences: you are investing your time and resources for some of them only to learn that your "party bag" seems to be full of not so useful things. So what is the sign of a good conference? For me, at the end of the good one, I feel like I have to share the takeaways and what I learned with a wider audience as it seems to be almost a crime to keep it to myself.

Just over a week ago, I was fortunate to join the #B2BMarketing conference and have a deep dive into ABM (Account-Based Marketing) puzzles, lessons learnt and best practices. So here there are some thoughts on the subject.

#1 ABM Menu: what is the best recipe?

According to the results of the recent B2BMarketing ABM professionals survey presented by @PeterO’Neill, a Veteran Industry Analyst on B2B Marketing, B2B Marketing there seems to be a trend for ABM moving from 1:1 to 1:Few with 1:1 ABM practised by 20% of surveyed marketing professionals, 1:Few ABM - by 17% and the Hybrid ABM applied by 34%. So does the data illustrate that the Hybrid ABM is the most effective one or as noted by Peter O'Neill: "Is this a lack of focus?"

#2 ABM is not all about ROI

While there is no doubt that the ultimate goal of any Marketing and Sales effort is ROI (Revenue), with ABM the balance seems to be shifting to other 2Rs of 3Rs measure: Relationships and Reputation contributing to Revenue in a longer-term. An afterthought which is coming to mind:

"What if there is another R to add to the mix: Responsibility?"

Shall we as an account team have a Responsibility for a customer to achieve their strategic objectives with our support? That would be the extent of our contribution to and liability for customer success.

#3 Marketing & Sales: bridging the gap

Maybe the "ABM brand" should have never existed as it puts a spotlight on Marketing as an owner of the ABM programme and implies the need for the buy-in from Sales & Technical teams? My favourite suggestion from the conference discussions is ABE (Account-Based Engagement) proposed by @AmieStankiste, Senior Marketing Director, S&P Global Market Intelligence. The ABE approach enables the inclusion of all the account's stakeholders with true collaboration on the account's programme.

#4 Can an ABM Contract be the answer?

Have you ever thought about ABM as a football game which requires for the team to work together passing the ball? This is one of the striking comparisons discussed at the conference. The point is that ABM like football requires all the parties to contribute to make an impact (Sales, Technical, Marketing) and to have joint liability for achieving results. Having an ABM Contract or shall we say an ABE contract in place before the programme launch sets up clear expectations of what each party will deliver.

#5 The value of a personal brand

With relationships being in the core of Account-Based Engagement, the significance of team members' brand can not be overestimated. People buy from people, not accounts buy from suppliers. So we as marketing professionals can make a real difference by supporting our Sales and Technical team members in building and developing their personal brands across multiple engagement platforms.

Thank you to all the conference organisers and presenters for the insightful two days with the wealth of information and knowledge shared. Look forward to another ABM event from the #B2BMarketing team.

#accountbasedmarketing #salesenablement #accountbased engagement #marketingstrategies

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