Yesterday, we held the first FINITE event of 2022, and it was a winner! We heard from experienced ABM practitioners on the what, why, who and how of account-based experience.
We’ve been hearing about ABX for a while now, with some touting its success as a hyper-mature ABM model that can be a next step for those perfecting ABM within their tech organisations.
That’s why Chris Burke, Associate Director, Account Based Marketing Solutions at The Marketing Practice, and Amy Heidersbach, CMO, gave us their experience-backed perspective on ABX and what it means to B2B tech marketers this year.
We started with an introduction from FINITE Founder Alex Price, who welcomed our guests and the topic, before an outline of…
The agenda:
- Why the success of ABM could also be what brings its demise
- Less revolution, more evolution: a view on how ABX is different than ABM
- Are enterprise organisations ready for ABX? A CMO’s points of view
- 3 ways you can start to embed an ABX mindset in your go-to-market strategy
- Final remarks: why it’s not quite time to throw out the ABM playbook
Why the success of ABM could also be what brings its demise…
Did you know that 70% of marketers stated they were using ABM in 2021? This sweeping majority comes as a result of successful ABM programmes which have delivered tangible results for B2B tech marketers, and have enabled them to link their efforts directly to revenue and business growth.
Now, ABM, for some experts, is starting to become a little too samey; same tools, channels and strategies, for varying stakeholders and an exhausted audience. This poses a challenge for B2B tech marketers around personalisation.
We need to figure out how to stay ahead and stand out, while also responding to a changing buying landscape.
With the advent of ABM, we’re gradually thinking about buyers as leads rather than buying groups. We need to understand how a buying group works as a whole and how each individual’s experience changes as they move through to make a purchase decision.
So, what exactly is ABX?
ABX can be defined as a data-driven approach to the creation of more relevant account-centric experiences, based on their account status, engagement and buying needs, delivered at scale across every channel.
It takes into account the position of an account on their buying journey, and what they would need at that exact point, while paying attention to the shifts as they move along.
Why is ABX more effective?
ABX promises:
- Greater precision
- Better use of data
- Improved reach/salience
For CMOs, ABX promises to help respond to the pressure for more marketing spend efficiency, as it “it allows us to have more of an account ROI.”
If you do ABX right, you are looking at higher acquisition cost BUT you’re likely to land bigger deals and longer ones, as accounts are looked after pre and post-sale.
Is there a need to retool the team for ABX?
We’re seeing a rise of truly integrated demand managers, with account based competencies meaning multichannel understanding. Teams require specific skill sets that diminish siloes, and they need people who think in integrated, experience oriented ways.
New skills: We’re all becoming data-workers. We need to ensure creative and growth marketing teams have an understanding of data analysis, that they’re rooted in data and know how to translate it into strategy while understanding the ‘why’ of the results.
Great, you’re sold on ABX! Should you be the one to implement it in your organisation?
Teams need to join together. ABX and ABM are currently being brought into organisations by marketing, but it impacts on the entire business. Marketing alone can’t and should not do it all themselves.
Three ways you can embed ABX into your GTM strategy:
- Use accounts as the organising factor – Put the customer first across the customer lifecycle
- Better connect your communications from pre-sale all the way through to post-sale – Match your outbound activity with your inbound through customer journey mapping
- Build enhanced digital experiences for customers – When you can’t be different, be distinctive. Homogenous solutions can stand out with ABX
Lastly, has ABM peaked?
No! We are reaching a level of maturity as a lot has been achieved as recognition of ABM is throughout the organisation rather than just a marketing initiative. For orgs who are ticking all of these boxes, ABX offers a ‘next step’ and something they can work towards.
If you missed the event, FINITE members have access to the on-demand recording. So, if you’re a B2B marketer in a tech or SaaS business, apply for a free membership here and join over 2000 global peers.
