Quantcast
MarkLives.com

MarkLives.com

Independent industry news for marketing, advertising & media execs

  • Home
  • Sections
    • Adland
    • #CoronavirusSA
    • Media
    • Marketing
    • S’HOT
    • Tech
    • Archive
  • Columns
    • #AdChamps – Kyle & Morgan
    • #AgencyLeaders – Most Admired Poll
    • Accountant in Adland – Siwe Lawrence
    • Big Q – MarkLives Panel
    • Campaigns – MarkLives
    • Circulation Data – ABC Analysis
    • Clicks ‘n Tricks – Charlie Stewart
    • #CoronavirusSA – Special Section
    • Curiosity – Marguerite Coetzee
    • #CustomerFirst – Craig Hannabus
    • Dear Radio – Paulo Dias
    • Extracts — Books & research
    • Fair Exchange – Erna George
    • Hard Relate – David Alves
    • Herding Words – Wendy Shepherd
    • Hermaneutics – Herman Manson
    • Masterclass Notes – Johanna McDowell
    • Media Redefined – Martin MacGregor
    • Mission – Tom Fels
    • Motive – By Invitation Only
    • #NotSoOrdinary – Taazima Kala-Essack
    • Press Pass – Carey Finn
    • Q5 – Carey Finn
    • SA TV Ratings – MarkLives
    • #TheInterlocker – Emma King
    • The Martini Shot – Bobby Amm
    • The Power Report – Megan Power
    • The Suit – Jason Harrison
    • Thinking B2B – Warren Moss
    • #Transformers Transform 2020
    • Watched – Richard Lord
    • #WritersBlock – Tiffany Markman
    • WTF?! – Leigh Tayler
    • Young, Gifted & Killing It – Veli Ngubane
    • Zeitgeist of Now – Jason Stewart
  • Find an Agency
    • Shortlist & Compare Agencies
    • List your Agency
    • List as Agency Supplier/Service
    • Register as a Marketer
    • Company News Feed
    • Upgrade to Ramify Premium
    • RamifyPRO
    • Add Premium to Cart
  • Data
    • Agency Revenue Rankings 2020
    • Agency Salary Survey
    • Biggest SA consumer magazines
    • Biggest newspapers in SA
    • The 50 most-valuable brands in SA
    • Top 50 SA advertisers 2016
    • SA TV Ratings – MarkLives
  • Careers
    • Advertising
    • Digital
    • Marketing
    • Media
    • Public Relations
    • View All
  • About
    • About & Contact
    • Advertise
    • Business supporters
    • Privacy Policy
    • Readership
    • Submissions
  • Partners
    • Brands & Branding
    • Brands & Branding – Profiles
    • Retailing Africa
    • Retailer/Supplier profiles
    • Ramify.biz
teamwork-team-gear-gears-drive courtesy of Pixabay

Thinking B2B: Things to be careful of when implementing ABM

  •   19 Nov 2019
  •   0
Share

by Warren Moss (@warrenmoss) The South African B2B market has matured a lot when it comes to account-based marketing (ABM), with demand growing as marketers really begin to understand what it’s about and how it may benefit their businesses. B2B CMOs are pushing hard on ABM implementation because it’s something that can really move the needle and show a major return on marketing investment. But it’s only effective when applied properly, and there are plenty of ABM pitfalls to be mindful of.

Long-term play

Many B2B organisations implement ABM too soon; they’re so excited by the potential that they want to start immediately. The problem is that ABM is a strategic and focused programme that requires research, alignment and preparation; it’s not a campaign that can simply be switched on. It’s a long-term play that needs a lot of ducks in a row up before kick-off; if you rush into ABM, you’re wasting your time and money and potentially doing great harm to your brand.

Not having true alignment between the sales and marketing teams is a major challenge. Part of the problem sits in the name: because part of the acronym is “marketing”, many companies assume ownership sits with the marketing team — not sales — but that’s simply not true. Both teams need to be aligned on an ABM programme before it’s implemented. “Alignment” is key to the success of ABM and simple ‘buy-in’ just won’t cut it. There is a difference between alignment and buy-in.

There’s often a level of mistrust between the sales and marketing functions — not in the human sense but rather in terms of delivery. Sales says marketing isn’t generating enough leads/awareness/interest/[add business objective here] and marketing believes that sales doesn’t work hard enough to convert/educate/secure/[add business objective here] the leads that are generated. Since ABM demands mutual trust and cooperation, it’s important that each understands the other’s functions and processes before attempting to implement it.

No space for ‘gut-feel’

Selecting the wrong accounts may see ABM fail, easily. Its success is driven by research into target accounts and choosing the right tactics to pursue the right accounts. A common error sees sales give marketing five accounts it’d like to target with ABM, simply because it’s having problems with those accounts or it ‘feels’ that they’re high-growth accounts. There needs to be an understanding of what the problems are, first; hoping ABM will fix problem accounts isn’t the right way to go about targeting. They should be selected against predefined data to make selection objective and measured. There’s no space for ‘gut feel’ in successful ABM.

Selecting too many accounts is also problematic. There could potentially be many accounts where the application of ABM would make sense — but it’s not feasible to roll it out across a broad spectrum. Our experience is that 1:1 ABM programmes shouldn’t be applied to more than four or five accounts to start with, while 1:few programmes should target small clusters of 10 accounts, in order to have a fair chance of being successful.

The defining principle of ABM is putting the target account at the centre of the ABM programme: making the messaging relevant to the target account, rather than just talking about what you want to sell them. When companies cut corners on research into target accounts, they may get the messaging wrong and the system fails. The right amount of research applied in the right way allows us to add value to messaging that delivers truly effective ABM.

Bespoke content

Similarly, not creating bespoke content to target defined accounts may see ABM fail. Falling back on generic content just isn’t good enough; when you’re targeting specific accounts, the magic of ABM lies in that those accounts feel as if you’re only speaking to them, in their language.

Possibly most importantly, setting the wrong KPIs for ABM may make it look like it’s failed before its even begun. Most marketers allocate typical KPIs — leads, deals etc — to every campaign, but ABM is different. For ABM, the true KPIs are around the problems you’re trying to solve by implementing it. If you have an account which sees you as a provider of a specific type of service it doesn’t believe it needs, you need to change that. If your client spends R100 000 with you and you want it to spend R200 000 with you, that’s an ABM KPI. The KPIs applied to ABM accounts need to be fit for purpose — and specific to individual accounts.

See also

  • Thinking B2B: Account-based marketing making comeback
  • Account-based marketing — the future of B2B sales?
  • Thinking B2B: Mapping out ABM frameworks

 

Warren MossWarren Moss (@warrenmoss) is the CEO and founder of Demographica, a multi-award winning full service agency that specialises in the B2B category. He has been chair of both the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA) and the Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards (Assegais), as well as the only African to judge the B2 Awards, which recognise the top performing B2B marketers in the world. Warren contributes the monthly “Thinking B2B” column, which looks at the latest trends in B2B communications and explains why it is fundamentally different from B2C comms.

— Sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify.biz headlines, emailed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!

Share

Columns

  • #AdChamps, #AdOfTheWeek & #AdOfTheYear
    #AdChamps, #AdOfTheWeek & #AdOfTheYear
  • #AgencyLeaders – Most Admired Poll
    #AgencyLeaders – Most Admired Poll
  • #CoronavirusSA – Special Section
    #CoronavirusSA – Special Section
  • #CustomerFirst – Craig Hannabus
    #CustomerFirst – Craig Hannabus
  • #NotSoOrdinary – Taazima Kala-Essack
    #NotSoOrdinary – Taazima Kala-Essack
  • #TheInterlocker – Emma King
    #TheInterlocker – Emma King
  • #Transformers Transform 2020
    #Transformers Transform 2020
  • #WritersBlock – Tiffany Markman
    #WritersBlock – Tiffany Markman
  • An Accountant in Adland – Siwe Lawrence
    An Accountant in Adland – Siwe Lawrence
  • Big Q – MarkLives Panel
    Big Q – MarkLives Panel
  • Big Reads on MarkLives
    Big Reads on MarkLives
  • By Invitation Only – Motive
    By Invitation Only – Motive
  • Campaigns – MarkLives
    Campaigns – MarkLives
  • Circulation Data – ABC Analysis
    Circulation Data – ABC Analysis
  • Clicks ’n Tricks – Charlie Stewart
    Clicks ’n Tricks – Charlie Stewart
  • Curiosity – Marguerite Coetzee
    Curiosity – Marguerite Coetzee
  • Dear Radio – Paulo Dias
    Dear Radio – Paulo Dias
  • Extracts — Books & Research
    Extracts — Books & Research
  • Fair Exchange – Erna George
    Fair Exchange – Erna George
  • Hard Relate – David Alves
    Hard Relate – David Alves
  • Herding Words – Wendy Shepherd
    Herding Words – Wendy Shepherd
  • Hermaneutics – Herman Manson
    Hermaneutics – Herman Manson
  • Masterclass Notes – Johanna McDowell
    Masterclass Notes – Johanna McDowell
  • Media Redefined – Martin MacGregor
    Media Redefined – Martin MacGregor
  • Mission – Tom Fels
    Mission – Tom Fels
  • Press Pass – Carey Finn
    Press Pass – Carey Finn
  • Q5 – Carey Finn
    Q5 – Carey Finn
  • SA TV Ratings – MarkLives
    SA TV Ratings – MarkLives
  • Spotlight – MarkLives
    Spotlight – MarkLives
  • The Martini Shot – Bobby Amm
    The Martini Shot – Bobby Amm
  • The Power Report – Megan Power
    The Power Report – Megan Power
  • The Suit – Jason Harrison
    The Suit – Jason Harrison
  • Thinking B2B – Warren Moss
    Thinking B2B – Warren Moss
  • Watched – Richard Lord
    Watched – Richard Lord
  • WTF?! – Leigh Tayler
    WTF?! – Leigh Tayler
  • Young, Gifted & Killing It – Veli Ngubane
    Young, Gifted & Killing It – Veli Ngubane
  • Zeitgeist of Now – Jason Stewart
    Zeitgeist of Now – Jason Stewart
  • View All
  • Freelance Integrated Account Director: Top Full-Service Ad Agency
    25 May 2022
  • Head of Video & Design: Sports Entertainment Platform
    25 May 2022
  • Head of SEO & Analytics: Full-Service Digital & PR Agency
    25 May 2022
  • Copywriter: TTL Creative Agency
    24 May 2022
  • Account Manager: Global Content Marketing Agency
    24 May 2022
  • Mid-Senior Digital Designer: Digital Agency
    23 May 2022
  • Motion Graphics Designer: Creative Advertising Agency
    20 May 2022
  • Integrated Retail Graphic Designer: Fashion
    19 May 2022
  • Head of Communications: Global Sports & Culture FMCG Brand
    19 May 2022
  • Digital Designer: Financial Services Sector
    18 May 2022
  • Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply.

    No comments yet.

    Related News

    #CoronavirusSA, Columns, Featured, Marketing, Thinking B2B – Warren Moss online-learning-e-learning by Tumisu courtesy of Pixabay with SA covid-19 stats 4 Aug 2020 - Media Hack Collective

    Thinking B2B: The future of B2B events

    6 Aug 2020
    #CoronavirusSA, Columns, Featured, Marketing, Thinking B2B – Warren Moss business-success-winning-chart by PublicDomainPictures courtesy of Pixabay with SA covid-18 stats 12 Jul 2020 - Media Hack Collective

    Thinking B2B: B2B marketing in a recession

    13 Jul 2020
    Columns, Featured, Marketing, Thinking B2B – Warren Moss feedback-satisfaction-customer courtesy of Pixabay

    Thinking B2B: B2B marketers are getting CX all wrong

    2 Jun 2020
    Facebook
    Like us on Facebook
    Twitter
    Follow us on Twitter
    Google Plus
    Add us on Google Plus
    YouTube
    Join us on YouTube
    Pinterest
    Follow us on Pinterest
    Subscribe Newsletter

    Get our round-up of top ad and media industry news every Monday and Thursday.

    Online CPD Courses Psychology Online CPD Courses Marketing analytics software Marketing analytics software for small business Business management software Business accounting software Gearbox repair company Makeup artist