Account Based Marketing (ABM) is becoming adopted at a far larger scale than it has ever been before.

ABM is a strategic approach to marketing that has attracted loyal followers, particularly in the B2B marketing landscape, along with claims of big successes.

ABM is a shift away from the typical inbound marketing funnel towards an alignment of sales and marketing that works to focus on one account, or a small select group of accounts. For many B2B companies this makes sense:

• ITSMA published a report, showing that over 80% of marketers that measure ROI say that ABM initiatives outperform other marketing investments.
• According to the Alterra Group, 84% of marketers said that ABM had significant benefits to retaining and expanding existing customer relationships.

Evolving marketing technology has made it possible for companies to take this approach – an approach that is about delivering a relevant message to the most relevant people within an organization. In other words, no more devising campaigns that target a large audience – the focus now shifts to one customer.

ABM is an Integrated Approach

B2B Strategies often employ the use of customer personas, and use marketing content as a wide net to catch as many of the right kind of fish as possible. With ABM, we’re using a spear instead, targeting just the one big fish.

It’s a strategy that pays off for many companies. According to Harvard Business Review “Individual customer stakeholders who perceived supplier content to be tailored to their specific needs were 40% more willing to buy from that supplier than stakeholders who didn’t. ”

Sales and Marketing Teams are Better Aligned

“All companies practicing ABM claim to be at least somewhat aligned with sales, with 34 percent saying they were tightly aligned.” – source: Newswire.

One of the greatest advantages of adopting ABM is that it forces our sales and marketing teams to align. Since the target is set more clearly, the individual team goals naturally fall into place. With an ABM strategy, your metrics are aligned to one account – and so must inevitably become less contradictory and misaligned. Instead of operating in a silo, sales and marketing teams work together.

It’s More Personalized

Personalized messages are more effective than generic ones. The Aberdeen group reports on the preferences of online buyers: “75% say they prefer personalized offers, and 61% say they’re even willing to give up a degree of privacy to enable personalization.”

When your marketing messages speak directly to your target’s core business, address their biggest problems, and is tailored to their specific need, it becomes that much more effective.

Perhaps ABM is a natural step for your marketing process. Is focusing on one account instead of a number of prospects at the same time something worth spending time on? ABM may be the answer to increasing close rates – one customer at a time.