Account-Based Marketing: 26 Useful Resources
What is account-based marketing? ABM has been generating quite a bit of buzz in the B2B marketing community over the last couple years—and for good reason. ABM increases marketing and sales alignment and leads to closing bigger deals with individual customers, by rejecting the wide-net strategy of broadcasting messages to huge audiences in favor of targeting individual customer accounts on a 1:1 basis.
According to a recent survey, 92% of B2B marketers now recognize the value of account-based marketing. But there’s a major gap between perceived value and implementation; only 20% of the same survey pool had full ABM plans in place. In other words, marketers love the concept, but have not yet implemented it themselves. Fortunately for them, new tools like Terminus, DemandBase, and Lean Data have made it easy for business of all sizes to utilize and scale the strategy. Plus, the recent resurgence of ABM has created a wave of information on the subject.
Whether you’re a B2B or B2C marketer, it’s worth learning more about how you can implement ABM tactics. We’ve compiled 26 useful resources.
1) Infographic: Account-Based Marketing
This graphic from Marketo provides a perfect overview of the ABM concept. Take a look at their overview and the 5 quick steps they recommend to get started, in order to optimize your marketing and sales processes.
2) Video: Why is Everyone Talking About Account-Based Marketing?
This animated explainer offers a simple, 2-minute introduction to ABM. It’s a great piece to share with colleagues and other stakeholders who you’d like to educate on the subject.
3) Blog Post: The Difference Between Account-Based Marketing and Outbound Sales
Most B2B companies come to account-based marketing through outbound sales. This blog post helpfully distinguishes between the 2 concepts by outlining 4 major differences, including a look at the core principle of account-specific, customized programs.
4) Webinar: The ABCs of Account-Based Marketing
For a more in-depth discussion of the benefits of ABM, we recommend this webinar recording from Engagio. CEO Jon Miller and Mintigo CPO Atul Kumar discuss how to determine the accounts you should target, to switch your current customers to an ABM-focused approach, and to measure your efforts.
5) Survey: The 2015 State of Account-Based Marketing
We quoted this survey above; conducted by B2B consulting firm SiriusDecisions, it’s full of valuable insights and worth a read for anyone considering ABM.
6) Blog Post: What’s Behind the Resurgence of Account-Based Marketing?
LeanData’s blog post brings up a valuable point, right in its headline: ABM is not a new concept. It originated in the 1990s; part of its recent resurgence is due to new technology to help businesses optimize their practice. The post also outlines two industry hurdles that need to be overcome for ABM to be successful.
7) White Paper: The New State of Account-Based Marketing
This white paper is a more in-depth discussion of the blog post above. Aiming to help companies determine whether ABM is right for them, it dives into the concept and its origins. If you’re looking for a more in-depth discussion of the strategic approach and requirements of ABM, this resource is for you.
8) Video: Why Is Account-Based Marketing Right for B2B?
In this 25 minute interview, DemandBase CEO Chris Golec and BusinessOnline CEO Thad Kahlow explain the tenets of account-based marketing and its emergence as a winning strategy for B2B marketers. Good news: if you don’t have the time to sit through the entire interview, the above link also includes short highlights of important sections.
9) White Paper: Where Does Account-Based Marketing Fit in Your Demand Gen Strategy?
This resource will appeal especially to marketers who put major emphasis on analytics. Learn from three experts on how to support your ABM with predictive analytics, and define KPIs to help you measure progress and success.
10) Blog Post: 5 Reasons Account-Based Marketing Can Fail
An important point that this post makes: ABM is not a magic bullet. It has the potential to be immensely successful for your business, but if you don’t approach it correctly, it of course can fail. Learn how ownership, simplification, and measurability should be crucial part of your ABM strategy.
11) Blog Post: 5 Steps to An Account-Based Marketing Champ
What do you need to do to help your company succeed in ABM? This blog post simplifies the process for you. It’s a written expansion in the infographic above, going into more depth about how you can discover and define your high-value accounts, determine optimal channels, and more.
12) Blog Post and eBook: 5 Ways AdTech Can Scale Account-Based Marketing
If you are looking to successfully integrate an ABM model, advertising technology will be a crucial ally. From this post and the attached eBook, learn how CRM platforms and email marketing tools can help you achieve success, regardless of the size of your business.
13) eBook: Account-Based Marketing: The Key to B2B Success
This eBook can serve both as an introductory resource and a starting point for your ABM strategy. It outlines the ABM philosophy and goes in-depth on how business can generate leads, turn those leads into 1:1 relationships, and increase both up-sell and renewal processes.
14) Blog Post: 11 Tactics to Drive Your ABM Process
We love actionable advice. While most of the resources here will introduce you to the concept, this post outlines the specifics of optimizing ABM. Helpful tips range from developing prospect-specific offers to personalizing the account’s experience on your website, with many more in between.
15) Blog Post: Creating Targeted B2B Content with Account-Based Marketing
This resource marries two concepts that have arisen together: content marketing and ABM. Valuable content plays a crucial role in the B2B buying experience; that importance is amplified in the ABM philosophy. How can the two philosophies thrive together? Read the post to find out.
16) Infographic: #FlipMyFunnel Account-Based Marketing Stack
For those ready to get familiar with the available tools for a executing a comprehensive ABM strategy, the folks at #FlipMyFunnel have put together a nifty infographic. Have at it.
17) Blog Post: How to Choose the Right Tools for Account-Based Marketing
Learning how to align your account-based marketing with technology is simply a must, but there has yet to be a full-stacked ABM technology software. Thus the importance of this guest post from Technology Advice, which outlines and details the best ABM automated tools that can help you at each stage of ABM marketing. If you’re looking for the best automation software, this post is a great place to get started with your research.
18) Whitepaper: Guide To Removing Obstacles For Account-Based Marketing
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. There’s also an obstacle of some kind. Account-based marketing is no exception, but luckily this whitepaper details exactly what kind of obstacles can stop you in your tracks—and how to avoid and fix them. It’s a good read to remind you to mediate your expectations, experiment with ABM tactics and clean your strategy of any blockers.
19) Infographic: Account-Based Marketing—What You Need to Know 2016
In response to the #FlipMyFunnel Roadshow kickoff, Integrate created this handy, stat-friendly infographic that acts as a primer for ABM newbies, but also a great collection of stats for marketing managers. It outlines the current state of ABM, the impact it can have on businesses and marketing as well as a simple, eight-step solution for ABM strategy.
20) Blog Post: The 2016 TOPO Account-Based Marketing Framework
As more and more B2B brands move toward ABM, there’s a strong learning curve for these brands to properly place processes and frameworks for ABM. TOPO collected and compiled organizations that are succeeding at, or struggling with, their ABM programs to create a strategic framework for brands who can’t afford the try-and-fail option.
21) Interview: Best vs. Next Practices: Account-Based Marketing
The interview is a mix of how ABM and martech can identify weak points in your marketing plan, the resistance to adopting ABM and what’s next for ABM. Essentially, if you want to learn the best practices in ABM by the CEO of DemandBase, this interview with the American Marketing Association will do. If you want to learn the near future’s next best practices, this read is a must.
22) Blog Post: The One Thing Your Account-Based Marketing Strategy Is Missing
Spoiler alert: the one thing your account-based marketing strategy is missing is a partnership with advocate marketing. According to Google, 60 percent of business technology customers search for peer testimonials during the decision-making process. Presumably, these peers work for a company your brand is targeting. Pair advocacy marketing and ABM and you get powerful complementary strategies that benefit your business.
23) Webinar: Optimize Your Funnel with Account-Based Marketing
Marketing funnels are essential to any business trying to attract customers, engage with key targets and convert decision-makers into buyers. This webinar from Marketo details how you can implement an ABM strategy within the marketing sales funnel. Come for the webinar, stay for the slideshare that accompanies it.
24) Webinar: Data-Driven Account-Based Marketing Activates Revenue
Data is there to help you identify key targets, potential opportunities and tactics, and ways to drive revenue. It’s also at the heart of any good ABM strategy. In this webinar from the leaders of ABM-firms like Terminus, DiscoverOrg and Lean Data, you’ll find plenty of useful, actionable information about how data, content and advertising can help you launch your account-based marketing at scale. It’s definitely worth the hour it takes to watch it.
25) Podcast: How Predictive Analytics Impacts Your Account-Based Marketing Strategy
If you are the type who learns best by listening, then podcasts are probably for you. If you want to learn about predictive analytics and account-based marketing, then this episode of the B2B Growth Show is for you. Though the hosts could be a little more interesting, the subject matter they cover—why predictive analytics can benefit your account-based marketing strategy—makes up for it.
26) Whitepaper: Effectively Transform Your Leads from Contact to Account-Based
If B2B buying decisions are made by teams and not people, how can you effectively target and reach out to teams? In case you didn’t guess, the answer is account-based marketing. This whitepaper from Oppsource argues why you should switch to ABM. It’s a good whitepaper to forward around to the office and to the other decision-makers on your team.
These 26 resources will give you a great overview into account-based marketing, and how to use it within your B2B business. Contact us to discuss how we can implement ABM tactics, and follow us on Twitter to discover more useful resources in the future.