There are a lot of different things that can happen in business, but every company wants to make more money. Most businesses use some kind of marketing to make more money. Over the years, marketing has become a very diverse field where different businesses use a wide range of strategies and methods through their marketing.
Recently, the marketing world has been buzzing about a new player: account-based marketing, which is becoming more and more popular. As is often the case, people have very different opinions. Some say it’s the best thing ever, while others say it’s just another clever marketing trick.
As is so often the case, things are not that simple in real life.
How account-based marketing works: the basics
This is a type of business-to-business marketing called account-based marketing (ABM). It’s used to get a very specific type of customer, usually just one. People who work for a company that uses account-based marketing pick a small group of very important accounts and only market to those accounts. This very specific marketing comes in many forms, but they are all meant to get that one (or a few) accounts that will bring in enough money for the business to break even.
The most well-known ABM account ever
Maybe the best way to get someone who has never heard of ABM interested is to talk about the most well-known example of this type of marketing. In other words, Northrop Grumman’s IT department began an ABM journey in 2003 to show the Commonwealth of Virginia why they were the best choice for a new project. All of the state’s IT services were put under one body as part of this project.
That point, Norhtrop Grumman was well-known as a military contractor, best known for making the B-2 strategic bomber, among other things. Northrop Grumman worked hard for two years to get the $2 billion contract. They did a lot of study, repositioned a part of their brand, and used direct account-based marketing.
What Makes ABM Unique
Finding out if account-based marketing is right for you and something you should start doing can be hard. The first thing you need to know is that it only makes sense for a few companies.
ABM isn’t something you should ever be interested in unless you’re a business-to-business (B2B) company. A B2C business can’t depend on just one or a few customers to stay in business. This is not how B2C works.
It won’t make much sense for most B2B businesses to use the ABM method. For most B2B companies, getting as many users and accounts as possible is still what makes them money. As an example, a business that makes financial software can’t expect to charge a single customer enough to keep them going for a long time.
Because of this, ABM only works for certain types of businesses and accounts that are big enough for those businesses to run without having to go after more accounts. Now is a good time to note that some businesses that use ABM will go after more than one account, but it will always be a very small group.
