The way the discourse shifts in today’s world can make topics that have only been in the zeitgeist for a little while feel like ancient news. After being discussed passionately and intensely for a period of time, any topic is liable to sound stale and people will naturally move on. A new idea or topic will come to the fore and will be the new hot thing that takes the industry by storm. This cycle is why it feels like we’ve been talking about account based marketing for years now.
ABM quickly gained steam amongst Sales and Marketing teams around the world. Conferences hosted hundreds of sessions devoted to the topic, companies like Engagio have emerged to help organizations in their ABM efforts, and account based marketing frameworks have been developed for implementing an ABM strategy. But enthusiasm for account based marketing seems to have stalled out. It’s human nature to be on the lookout for the next big thing. In today’s fast-paced Sales and Marketing world, people are always seeking out a way to transform the way they work and take their efforts to the next level.
Follow these 4 critical steps to set yourself up for Account Based Marketing Success >>
But, just because an idea has been around for a while and discussed in-depth doesn’t mean it should be abandoned. Account based marketing is still as worthwhile a strategy as ever. The results that organizations see from implementing an ABM strategy prove that it is effective and worth pursuing. The biggest requirement for a successful ABM strategy is commitment. It takes time to shift resource, reconfigure roles, deploy strategies, begin engaging targets, and to see results. So in the end, while it’s great to read about ABM and think about deploying it as a strategy, it really takes a complete organizational effort to be successful – but the rewards make all of the effort worthwhile.
New research from Forrester indicates that account based marketing is still a huge opportunity for many organizations. Despite the proof that ABM improves deal sizes, the strategy is still something that many companies are either not pursuing, or are only doing so on a limited basis.
Forrester surveyed nearly 80 global B2B marketer and asked them “Which statement best describes your current experience level with ABM?” Of the respondents, only 23% indicated that they had established a full account based marketing strategy and were seeing definitive results from those efforts. Conversely, 64% of respondents had either only begun planning for an ABM strategy or had no plans at all for account based marketing.
These results are striking and highlight the huge opportunity that lay at the feet of many organizations. Taking the time and effort to re-calibrate Sales and Marketing resources to focus on an account based marketing strategy is a serious undertaking. But organizations shouldn’t move on from the idea of account based marketing and regard it as a passing phase. ABM is here to stay and those that utilize it will be reaping dividends far into the future.
