When does ABM just become M?

By Nancy Harlan

A 2022 study by Momentum ITSMA* found that Account Based Marketing (ABM) continues to be a top B2B priority with substantial commitment and investment. B2B marketers continue to prioritize ABM as a key marketing strategy with ABM on the priority list for the fourth year in a row.

This is exciting and relevant for me as I am a dedicated, passionate Account Based Marketing visionary, program designer and leader. I’ve had the joy of building from scratch two best-in-class ABM programs at high tech software companies including the martech stack, program components, processes, messaging, measurement, and the team. Both programs focus on driving the greatest share of wallet from Fortune 500 customers.

As a seller and sales manager turned marketer, ABM, in my perspective, is the marketing function that is the closest to the sales organization and customer. It is where marketing and sales intersect. ABM enables sales and marketing to be 100% aligned on the account strategy and go-to-market approach. True 1:1 ABM creates unique value propositions, messaging, and content that is packaged and leveraged in integrated digital/social/email campaigns and events designed to drive awareness, demand, and engagement in specific accounts. The ABMer is part of the sales team, and in many cases, collaborating directly with the customer. When hiring Account Based Marketers, I focus on established field marketers with sales experience. I teach them what it's like to live in a world obsessed by quotas and help build their confidence in being customer-facing.?These are two key skills to help them be successful in their role.

The definition of ABM seems to be evolving these days.?The term “ABM@Scale” is used regularly when my peers in the ABM world present at conferences or write blogs. With the recent layoffs and budget reductions that are commonplace in the high-tech industry, doing more with less has become the theme in marketing organizations. Creating programs that scale means?finding new ways of working that will enable you to meet the increasing challenges and demands placed on your business. I completely understand the need to do this, every day, in every business.

I also believe when you have an ABM program that has proven (through data) that it is supporting sales in driving new revenue streams, you want to do more. Why wouldn’t you? But with 1:1 ABM programs, you need resources to execute—both human and program dollars. In the programs I’ve designed, the Account Based Marketer can effectively manage 15 accounts.?At companies like ServiceNow and Microsoft, I understand that ABMers have no more than 3 accounts.?The number of accounts managed is directly proportional to the revenue opportunity from the focused account list. In today’s “do more with less” tech world, adding human and program dollar resources is difficult. Why not just scale what you already do? Why not just add more accounts to your program using the same amount of resources to execute?

Ergo the concept of ABM@Scale--grow the existing 1:1 ABM program to affect more accounts but do it with the same resources you have today. My approach to scaling ABM is to deploy the “lighthouse” concept which consolidates the existing 1:1 ABM accounts—your lighthouse accounts—and rationalizes their unique value prop and messaging to make that messaging relevant to similar types of accounts. For example, take the unique messaging and content you’ve created for Bank of America and neutralize it to work for Citibank and JPMorgan Chase.?In many cases, these institutions are facing similar business challenges and opportunities that your solution can help solve for and accelerate.

But is this approach ABM or is it industry marketing? Has ABM just become M at this point? With technologies like 6Sense, DemandBase, Folloze and Uberflip, marketers have the tools to design and execute highly targeted, personalized (by company and role) campaigns to a wide variety of audiences. But, no question, you are a step or two away from the intimacy with sales and customers that a 1:1 ABM program thrives upon. ABM@Scale is a solid strategy to deliver a relevant experience for your audience. But let’s be honest.?It’s not account based.?Its industry based or role based or geography-based marketing. Isn’t that simply good targeted Marketing??Hasn’t ABM just become M at this point?

Nancy Harlan is a marketing expert with extensive sales experience. She is a visionary with a passion for building revenue generating programs and teams and has a proven history in Account Based Marketing (ABM), Executive & Customer Marketing, Sales, Sales Management and Sales Enablement. Always engaged with the customer and in the revenue cycle, Nancy is a trusted partner by Sales. She’s a high energy and respected team leader with a focus on mentoring. ?Nancy is currently the Vice President of Global Account Based Marketing at UiPath, an automation company.

*Elevating ABM: Building Blocks for Long term Growth by Rob Leavitt, SVP, Advisory Julie Schwartz, SVP, Research, Momentum ITSMA 2022.