ABM has skyrocketed to becoming a mainstream strategy deployed by companies large and small — and for good reason. A new benchmark study from the ITSMA and ABM Leadership Alliance, titled: Driving Growth With Three Types Of ABM, found that 87% of marketers implementing ABM see higher ROI from it than any other type of marketing.
To continue that growth in ROI, practitioners are expanding their strategies to follow a blended approach to the three common types of ABM practiced within the marketplace: One-to-One, One-to-Few and One-to-Many.
Per the research, more than half of marketers surveyed have implemented One-to-One ABM (54%) and One-to-Few ABM (51%), while a little less than half (42%) have implemented a One-to-Many strategy. While most companies are tuned into one of these types, a growing number are beginning to experiment with a couple (23%). Some even have all their bases covered with a blended strategy of all three types (12%).
The ITSMA emphasized that high-performing ABM marketing organizations are more likely to follow a blended approach.
“Companies are looking to not only implement ABM, but move toward a blended approach so they have more breadth and depth of coverage with their accounts,” said Rob Leavitt, SVP of the ITSMA. “The basic idea is to build a highly customized, one-to-one approach with your key accounts, and then more lightly customized approaches for second and third-tier customers and prospects. This means deeper investment in the accounts that matter most while still providing personalized and segmented targeting for a broader range of accounts. It helps marketing align with sales more completely, and enables scale without breaking the bank.”
ABM Delivers Strong Reputations, Relationships & Revenues
In addition to the three types of ABM, the study also found that ABM has improved the three Rs of strategic marketing:
- 84% of respondents said that ABM has improved their reputation (brand perception, awareness and knowledge);
- 74% said it has improved relationships (number of relationships across accounts); and
- 69% said ABM has improved revenue (annual revenue per account).
“ABM is a long-term strategy, and good marketers understand the value of building reputation, as well as broadening and deepening relationships with clients, prospects, partners and other influencers to ensure long-term success and short-term revenue,” said Leavitt. “We already see that the most effective ABM programs are driving great results with all three Rs; the key is to define clear objectives and metrics for each area, not just opportunities and deals.”
