Buzzwords in Marketing Automation: Account-Based Marketing

Account-based Marketing: its meaning and how it relates to marketing automation. A part of the series Buzzwords in Marketing Automation.

If you’ve spent any time in the marketing world, you have likely heard people throw around this common phrase. But, what is account-based marketing? In conversations, you might have nodded your head and acted like you knew what they were talking about, even if the term was foreign to you. It’s time to learn what account-based marketing (ABM) is and how it relates to marketing automaton. Then, instead of nodding your head, you can lead the conversation.

A Simple Definition

People often give complex answers when asked about ABM. In reality, it’s a pretty simple concept. Instead of casting a wide net in order to appeal to all kinds of companies, those who use account-based marketing define a set of target accounts and then concentrate on those accounts. In other words, they create a marketing message and sales strategy based around a single account instead of around a multitude of accounts. Each account is treated like its own market. You don’t look at the market as a whole. You look at the market on an account-by-account basis.

Once marketers land the accounts, they create personalized campaigns for each account.

How Marketing Automation Fits In

Now that you know the simple definition for ABM, it’s time to look at the complex nature of the strategy. ABM is all about personalization, and that is difficult to incorporate without marketing automation. Marketing automation allows you to personalize sales-enablement content, create personalized offers, and personalize experiences for web visitors.

Marketing automation lets you run various personalized ABM campaigns at once, and your target accounts will only see the messages that are intended for them. They don’t have to wade through one marketing message after the next looking for the one meant for them. Instead, your marketing automation software will clean out the noise, and only show them what they need (or want) to see. You can go after several accounts at once, and each account will never be the wiser.

Account-based marketing is necessary if you want to land the big fish in your market. The big fish never swim toward the wide net. Instead, they expect a targeted effort, and you can deliver that with ABM. If you are ready to land big clients, it’s time to use ABM.