Some are under the impression that account-based marketing (ABM) is a fairly new development. In fact, ABM has been around for nearly 20 years but is only now truly coming into its own. It is particularly significant for practioners of B-to-B marketing at large corporations, whose most important customers are often equally large and, whom in the case of both sellers and buyers, occasionally have annual revenues in excess of the GNP (gross national product) of many small to mid-size developing countries. This staggering scale, coupled with the 80-20 rule, whereby 80% of a company’s business appears to stem from 20% of its customers, in part explains the increasing adoption of ABM in the rarefied sphere of the Fortune 500. Another major reason is that, even for more run-of-the mill companies, it is often less expensive to sell more to an existing customer than it is to acquire and develop a new one. And what’s the easiest way to turn a past customer into a steadily recurring one? By studying the customer intently and formulating solutions that meet the customer’s, and have value propositions that have been proven to resonate with the customer.
Easier said than done, you might be thinking and, if so, you’re right. However, the good news is that it is much easier to pull off now than it was 10 or even 5 years ago. This is in part because of improved customer relationship management (CRM) systems and web- and e-mail based lead tracking and nurturing systems.
The greater level of integration that has been achieved between the two is even more important. This has enabled B-to-B marketers to create scores of on-demand iterations of their websites to enable customers from a particular key account to experience content particularly geared toward them. For example, when visiting the site of a seller whom employs ABMs, a customer from a key account such as John Deere or IBM will see something markedly different from what the general public sees. Based on target market coding, past site purchases, and ISP (Internet service provider) information, the key account customer will see banners and home pages replete with information designed to appeal specifically to his or her account. Such personalization can extend to showcased products, varying value propositions, available collateral, and, when account-specific purchasing terms have been negotiated, unique pricing.
All this functionality is impressive and has been available for a number of years, but the ABM customer’s tailor-made experience no longer ends there. Advances in digital ad purchasing now make it possible for third-party media to serve up ads that have been designed specifically for customers with a particular ISP address, significantly extending the reach of the seller’s message. Many of us have had comparable experiences on FaceBook or Amazon, but in the both cases, the targeted advertising that we encounter has been driven by cookies or account registration data. In the case of Facebook, the driving factor consists of pages that we have previously visited or posts that we have “liked”; in Amazon’s case, the personalized merchandising is driven by Amazon pages that we’ve previously visited, items that we’ve purchased, and products that we’ve added to our “Wish Lists.”
Greater Promise
Compared to Facebook’s or Amazon’s personalization, the greater promise of ABM-based “personalization” is its ability to identify new site visitors without a history of previous site visits. Fortune 500 B-to-B sellers value this capability because of their customers’ group-centric selling models. B-to-B customers seldom make a significant purchasing decision based on the input of a single employee. In the B-to-B world, capital equipment purchases and bulk buys are made by committee or by less formal groups of influencers, each of whose opinion has a bearing on the solution that is eventually purchased. ABM permits the B-t-B seller to address this group of influencers with content and messages based on their IP address and, just as significantly, often appended with data from the sales organization and marketing resources. This is the crucial distinction between the ABM approach to B-to-B marketing and the more widespread personae-based approach.
ABM or Personae-based Marketing? Which is Better? It Depends
The analysis of response data to ABM marketing can give the B-to-B seller a greater understanding of a key customer’s interest in its solutions. In the view of many, this ABM generated data provides a defined and concrete data set on which to base further sales and marketing actions.
In contrast, on some level, personae are intrinsically fictional; they are models intended to represent an ideal buyer model at which to aim one’s selling efforts. To be sure, personae are informed and shaped by narrative data, so to some degree they are based on fact. But it is an extrapolated version of the facts and, as such, arguably no more real than a character in a play. Both the playwright’s characters and the marketers invented personae can ring true, but, however realistic they might seem, they remain works of fiction.
Proponents of ABM believe that it provides the B-to-B seller with insight into the real—rather than the aspirational—situation at an account, and that because this information is based on fact, it obviates the need for the creation of fanciful personae (a word whose very definition means a social or assumed personality). According to some, with ABM the numbers, i.e., the account metrics, speak for themselves.
The Truth is in Between
As is almost always the case, the truth lies somewhere in between. ABM is invaluable to the B-to-B seller in situations where the customer is big enough to have its own ISP (or several ISPs) and where its unique characteristics are well-documented in the press and through other sources of business intelligence.
When a customer account is smaller, the best available information is typically about a market segment not a particular account, so the creation of personae based on generalizations and extrapolations is necessary for the seller to envision the buyer’s motivating factors.
Finally, to cast the subject in a different and perhaps clearer light, ABM is “micro” marketing (i.e., an approach geared to a specific account) and personae-based marketing is macro-marketing (i.e., an approach that targets a market sub-segment or a whole market). Each is appropriate under different circumstances. Personae come in handy when you can’t form a definite, factually supported portrait of your buyers and their purchasing needs; ABM is best when, on an account basis, you can create such a portrait. The first casts a wide net and the second a deeper one. So both are good for different purposes.
Of the two, however, ABM better approximates an experience with a live salesperson. As such, it approaches the personal connection of the “One to One” marketing strategy widely promoted by Peppers and Rogers since the early 90s. Even if a true personal connection with the buyer only arises when the salesperson comes to call, when that call finally occurs, the ABM enabled salesperson will be armed with better and, very likely, more accurate information. And, as Peppers and Rogers themselves once said, all else being equal, the salesperson with the most information has the advantage. In other words, he or she wins—which is what every salesperson and his or her organization ultimately wants. For more information about account-based marketing, contact solutions@globalmarcomm.com. To add your own perspectives and thoughts on this topic, please comment below.
Ronald Stéphane Gilbért, M.Sc., principal global consultant, Gilbért, Flossmann & Zhang Worldwide.
B-to-B customers seldom make a significant purchasing decision based on the input of a single employee. In the B-to-B world, capital equipment purchases and bulk buys are made by committee or by less formal groups of influencers, each of whose opinion has a bearing on the solution that is eventually purchased. ABM permits the B-t-B seller to address this group of influencers with content and messages based on their IP address and, just as significantly, often appended with data from the sales organization and marketing resources. This is the crucial distinction between the ABM approach to B-to-B marketing and the more widespread personae-based approach.
In contrast, on some level, personae are intrinsically fictional; they are models intended to represent an ideal buyer model at which to aim one’s selling efforts. To be sure, personae are informed and shaped by narrative data, so to some degree they are based on fact. But it is an extrapolated version of the facts and, as such, arguably no more real than a character in a play. Both the playwright’s characters and the marketers invented personae can ring true, but, however realistic they might seem, they remain works of fiction.
characteristics are well-documented in the press and through other sources of business intelligence.
Of the two, however, ABM better approximates an experience with a live salesperson. As such, it approaches the personal connection of the “One to One” marketing strategy widely promoted by Peppers and Rogers since the early 90s. Even if a true personal connection with the buyer only arises when the salesperson comes to call, when that call finally occurs, the ABM enabled salesperson will be armed with better and, very likely, more accurate information. And, as Peppers and Rogers themselves once said, all else being equal, the salesperson with the most information has the advantage. In other words, he or she wins—which is what every salesperson and his or her organization ultimately wants. For more information about account-based marketing, contact solutions@globalmarcomm.com. To add your own perspectives and thoughts on this topic, please comment below.