ABM: The Growth Engine

A new report reveals the power of account-based marketing campaigns to drive growth and strengthen customer relationships. JPC’s James Mollard summarises the findings…

With many companies new to account-based marketing or yet to implement it, there remains an air of mystery around the technique. What is it being used for? How effective are businesses finding it? Is it worth the investment? These are just some of the questions on many B2B marketers’ lips. Canvasing the opinion of 100 North American marketers who actively use ABM, the State of ABM 2022 report puts many of these queries to bed, revealing an important marketing tool for attracting, winning and growing business, if applied appropriately. 

With respect to where ABM is being deployed, the study found that the main goals for using the technique were primarily to grow and retain business, and increase customer engagement. As for its effectiveness in meeting these aims and the value generated, nearly three-quarters (73%) of marketers surveyed said they received more than a 10% return on their investment, a third enjoyed 50% or higher, with 12% experiencing an impressive 200% or greater ROI. The report suggests that, although ABM may require significant work and investment upfront, when designed and implemented properly, it can serve as a growth engine.

However, 26% of respondents were unsure of their ABM ROI, indicating that more work must be done to measure campaigns to justify the spend, or a quarter of businesses could miss out on the benefits ABM brings.

ABM was also shown to deliver wider business benefits, both improving customer relationships for over half of marketers surveyed (58%) and increasing sales and marketing alignment for three quarters. Some 53%, meanwhile, reported that it generated more revenue than other marketing techniques.

BARRIERS TO SUCCESS

Despite the generally positive views on ABM, activating it was found to be far from plain sailing. When asked to pinpoint their top challenges to executing successful ABM campaigns, marketers’ main barriers were selecting the right customer or prospect account to pursue (46%), implementing a more targeted strategy (43%), taking a more personalised approach (39%), and choosing the right content and assets (34%). This suggests enlisting expert help could make ABM programmes even more effective. 

Interestingly, other factors holding back around a third of marketers surveyed were aligning sales and marketing, which ABM was shown to improve, and justifying ABM resources, again highlighting the need for effective programme measurement. Despite these challenges, another survey, the State of Demand Gen report 2022, revealed that more marketers plan to increase their use of ABM (46%) than any other marketing strategy, showing the growing recognition of the value it brings.

Overall, the study shows ABM to be a major revenue generator if applied effectively and more than justifying the spend, while strengthening customer relationships, which is vital to forging lucrative long-term partnerships.

At JPC, we’ll help you raise your gaze above the sales and marketing parapet, explode the silos and head towards an altogether more holistic company-wide account-based approach. Get in touch if you would like to know more.