There’s no need to say it again. (But we will.) The COVID-19 pandemic changed the rules of B2B marketing forever. And while account-based marketing (ABM) has gained traction over the past five-plus years, B2B marketers are finding ABM alone isn’t the future. The reasons why vary. For one thing, most companies find ABM difficult to implement and, frankly, they’re having a tough time implementing and scaling it correctly. For another, ABM can’t deliver results for every market segment, so it rarely works as a standalone strategy. While ABM can be an efficient way to prioritize resources, it isn’t a replacement for existing demand generation strategies. What’s more––and this is critical in today’s buyer-centric world––ABM doesn’t account for an always-on approach that proactively identifies, targets, and activates conversations with in-market buyers and buying groups. This includes both account-based companies and personas you’ve already identified, but also those that aren’t part of your strategy yet. ABM ignores a whole swath of buyers who may be in-market for your product or service, and then tries to force your potential buyers to do the one thing they now resist: travel down a pre-determined funnel.
ABM engagement just isn’t the answer.
Today’s buyers are following their own paths to purchase. They’re online, performing research and weighing options. That means buyer-first digital experiences are the keys to connecting with and engaging the right buying committees at the right times.
While some companies are offering new paradigms for account-based engagement, they’re missing the mark. Engagement just shifts marketers’ focus to top-of-funnel wins as bottom-of-funnel closed accounts get shoved under the rug.
It’s time for B2B marketers to focus on precision, accuracy, and an omnichannel, silo-free approach.
Seize the moment with Precision Demand Marketing.
At Integrate, the number one issue we see with Integrated B2B campaigns today is that they aren’t as integrated as marketers think they are. That’s because everyone is still working in silos. Even if you have the data right, walls between teams make it difficult to get a clear picture of the buyer.
Just remember. Accounts don’t buy. People do. And increasingly, those people are moving from channel to channel, charting journeys that are unique and unpredictable.
Rather than trying to create an engagement-based model on top of an already broken account-based marketing strategy, Precision Demand Marketing solutions help keep marketing teams’ eyes on efficiently driving results.
Precision Demand Marketing tears down the walls, enabling teams to orchestrate intelligently so that data insights are easier, quicker, and more complete.
Get the B2B marketing blueprints that drive demand generation.
The results speak for themselves. With Integrate’s PDM solution, Marketo reduced by 57% the amount of money it was wasting on duplicate leads and Rackspace Technologies boosted lead quality by 103%.
To learn more, follow our blueprint for marketing success in today’s buyer-centric world. Read our Precision Demand Marketing campaign guide. It offers 10 essentials for building a successful B2B marketing campaign using the precision demand marketing framework. Then start driving demand generation that brings true business results.