The Four Stages of Account Based Marketing Adoption

Marketers often ask us: what’s so different about Account Based Marketing (ABM)? Whether you call it one-to-one marketing or key account marketing or ABM, doubters point out (correctly) that the tactics differ little from what B2B marketers have been doing for decades.

Yet there are important differences that may not be apparent at first. Primary among them is that ABM is not a tactic or even a set of tactics; it is a strategy for providers to build long-term influence and trusted advisor status with the company’s top accounts. ABM requires a new level of partnership between sales and marketing. ABM also requires marketers to have a broader range of skills to work effectively with these accounts.

To put the misconceptions about ABM to rest, we have been working with ITSMA’s ABM Council member companies as well as ITSMA’s ABM associates and consultants to paint a picture of the journey that most companies take when they adopt ABM.

A Linear Progression through Four Stages

Our research has shown that there is a linear path to follow in ABM. Try to get ahead of yourself by skipping steps or moving too fast, and you jeopardize the program. Go too slowly and you risk losing momentum and support in the company. Here are the four stages of adoption:

• Pilot. Companies select a few top accounts to prove the concept of ABM to the rest of the organization and to begin developing the skills and people needed to sustain a program.
• Build. Using the lessons learned from successful pilots, the company refines selection criteria for accounts and begins defining common metrics and success criteria. An informal alliance of ABM supporters begins advocating for funding and support from senior executives for a more formal program.
• Standardize. A formal project management office (PMO) is established, along with standard metrics and a staffing model so that ABM can be integrated into the standard reward/recognition system.
• Scale. As the program grows, companies begin to reap the rewards of scale, including shared processes, services, and automation. A knowledge management system helps new account teams get up to speed faster and allows ABM practices to spread to other areas of marketing.

To get the full story of the ABM journey, read the ITSMA Update Four Stages to Full ABM Adoption.

How to Sustain the B2B Social Media Conversation

When Larry Weber spoke at ITSMA’s Annual Marketing Conference in October 2011 on his book Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era, one theme came through loud and clear: simply being present in social media is not enough to build customer relationships over the long haul. Actively listening and responding to them is what matters.

Early in Everywhere, Weber offers a four-step approach to creating social engagement as a model all companies can follow. The steps include setting strategic business goals, aligning the program with those goals, activating and sustaining the program, and finally, measuring and analyzing the program. Throughout each of these steps, the level of customer engagement is a key driver in how marketers should leverage social media.

• Step one, social media engagement begins with business goals, is the planning step. Weber urges companies to have goals beyond just setting up their social media channels; he writes, “successful social engagement is rooted in business objectives, not in a desire to ‘be on Twitter’ or to ‘build a microsite.’” Marketers need to be clear and specific when setting goals; Weber includes examples of clear goals, such as increasing awareness, providing industry thought leadership, and improving customer service. They also need to fully understand how each social media activity touches the target audience.
• Step two, align social programs with business objectives, is about designing the social experience. This is where you align your strategy and business objectives with social media tools. Weber emphasizes the need for marketers to understand more than how customers connect emotionally with an offering; they need to know how customers actually behave. The answers to questions such as “what content does my audience want?” and “which channels do they use at each stage of the buying process?” will help determine a social media strategy that, ideally, will engage the customer and influence the purchase decision.
• Step three, activate your program, highlights where many companies fall short: they build the social media tools, but they don’t nurture the community. Activating the program means reaching out to customers, discovering their hot buttons, identifying key influencers, and inviting and encouraging participation. This is not a one-time step; it is an ongoing process that requires constant attention. This is where Weber’s idea of social sustainment comes into play. He defines this as a “daily and weekly review of program results and identification of new ways to improve the experience.” In other words, to engage with customers in social media, you need to create an ongoing presence. Because content is what drives engagement, you need to focus on generating content in all forms (blogs, tweets, SlideShare, contests, white papers, etc.).
• It is during the last step, measurement and analytics, that the focus on the customer really gels. Weber suggests measuring not just reach but also engagement. The difference? Reach looks at the number of clicks, visits, page views, and so forth, but engagement takes a deeper dive and tells you how and where customers engage with your content. Do they comment on a blog? Do they rate, share, or retweet it? This is the information marketers need to truly understand their audience’s behavior so they can create content in the future that is more relevant to the customer.

Larry Weber is chairman of W2 Group, a digital ecosystem of marketing services companies that build brands, deepen customer and partner relationships, and drive demand for products and services. He is also the author of four books, including Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era.

Featured Research: Marketers Must Beat the B2B Brand Titans at Their Own Game

ITSMA’s 2011 Professional Services and Solutions Brand Tracking Study reveals that there are a few market leaders and a large pack of followers; yet the market remains fragmented and opportunities for differentiation abound.

IBM tops the list for the 11th year in a row for unaided awareness, with more than 50% of respondents naming IBM as the company that first comes to mind when thinking about consulting and technology services. This is a significant jump from th e 2010 study.

HP, clearly helped by its acquisition of EDS, has secured its position in the number-two spot for unaided awareness after vaulting ahead of Accenture for the first time in the 2010 study. Interestingly, EDS has just about fallen off the radar one year post-acquisition—a testament to a smooth transition.

“Other” companies, or those named only once, commanded 35% of the unaided awareness, more than any single company, save for IBM.

The India Gap

The data shows that the strong companies are getting even stronger. Based on ITSMA’s Brand Equity Index, IBM’s and HP’s brand equity increased in 2011 while most others’ stagnated. IBM, HP, Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte have the highest brand equity. Global India-based companies continue to lag behind US- and European-based providers. Among these companies, brand equity is highest for Infosys, Cognizant, and Tata Consultancy Services.

In a fragmented market such as this, less well-known players have an opportunity to gain mindshare. However, brand equity cannot be built overnight. It takes consistent and persistent marketing, which means as a marketer, you must:

• Conduct research to find out what is most important to your target market and how clients currently perceive you.
• Promote your areas of strength that align with client and prospect priorities.
• Launch both broad and more targeted marketing campaigns (on- and offline), highlighting thought leadership, not capabilities.
• Market to your current clients as well as your prospects.
• Educate prospective buyers via nurture campaigns that engage clients and prospects on an ongoing basis.
• Substantiate your brand and differentiation with proof points (e.g., case studies, benchmarks, testimonials, simulations, etc.).

ABM: It’s All About the Customer

The market is changing and customers are looking for their solution providers to do some homework. Account Based Marketing (ABM) implies that it’s all about the customer. The more companies can prove themselves to be relevant to the customer, the more accepting customers will be of what companies have to offer. ITSMA’s ABM model can help marketers change the conversation and make it all about the customer and their business.

Hear what Jeff Sands, Vice President and ABM Practice Lead at ITSMA, has to say about how ITSMA works with marketers to implement ABM successfully: http://youtu.be/o-M6tfvPHlw.

Top 10 B2B Marketing Ideas in 2011

By Jeanne Brown, ITSMA

In January, we take a look back so that we can plan the way forward. In 2011, we posted nearly 70 pieces of research, articles, and commentaries on our website. Based on the number of clickthroughs, downloads, retweets, and mentions, the ideas that resonated most with our readers centered on thought leadership, connecting with the buyer, marketing planning and strategy, lead generation, using data, and building brands. You can find all the research in ITSMA’s Online Library. Enjoy!

Read “Top B2B Marketing Ideas from 2011”

Ask ITSMA: How important is it to have research (primary or secondary) as part of your thought leadership?

By Chris Koch, ITSMA Associate VP of Research and Thought Leadership

Each month, ITSMA receives a number of queries through Ask ITSMA, a resource designed to give members a quick and easy way to get insight on important services and solutions marketing questions they face. In this column, we will publish some of our favorite questions, along with excerpts from our replies.

Q: How important is it to have research (primary or secondary) as part of your thought leadership?

A: Strong, original points of view are important to quality thought leadership. But without objective research data to back them up, those points of view are little more than opinions. And we all know that buyers don’t buy opinions; they buy proof.

B2B companies are making research part of their thought leadership programs in three broad ways.

• Secondary research . They are culling research from external sources (e.g., publications and independent research companies) and analyzing it for insight. This is valuable for shoring up thought leadership points of view and is generally fairly easy and inexpensive to do, whether it’s done in-house or by an external contractor.
• Outsourced primary research. Companies hire external research groups to carry out primary research (e.g., surveying customers and prospects directly) on an ad hoc basis so that the research data is exclusive and carries the brand name.
• In-house primary research. Some B2B companies are taking an extra step and building their own in-house research groups to put the proof behind their opinions. IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV) is one of the leading providers of proof in B2B. Other examples include the McKinsey Global Institute and Deloitte Research.

	Do you have a sales or marketing question? Visit Ask ITSMA to access our experience, insight, and research results.

Services Marketing News

A cloud-based gaming company will use the cloud to make Windows desktop available on the iPad.

IBM makes yet another acquisition to build its analytics business—DemandTec.

Can Nokia win its bet on Microsoft’s mobile OS?

AT&T has corporate bloggers promote their stuff through personal social media channels.

SaaS, mobility, big data, and social media drive 2011 B2B acquisitions.

Lawsuit will test who owns Twitter accounts used on company time.

Startup tries to do an end run around big ERP players in big data.

Making the case for real-time web analytics.

Would you consider extending your internal social network to customers?

The biggest tech stories of 2011—and what will happen in 2012. Interesting predictions.

For up-to-the-minute services marketing news, follow ITSMA on Twitter: @itsma_b2b.

Upcoming ITSMA Events

Please download ITSMA’s 2012 agenda highlights here PDF (145KB)

Recent ITSMA Thought Leadership

Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study

Strong brands are getting stronger; the rest are stagnating. Yet, there remains plenty of opportunity for services and solutions providers in the middle of the pack to gain ground in terms of brand equity and market positioning. It just takes consistent and persistent marketing. ITSMA’s Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study helps services providers understand buyer attitudes and beliefs, their company’s brand equity, current and/or aspired market positions, and buyers’ perceptions of performance. ITSMA has been of conducting the Professional Services Brand Tracking study for more than a decade, and continues to see strong brands get stronger. While the 2011 study results reinforced the dominance of a few leading brands, it also revealed plenty of opportunities in the market.

Read “Professional Services and Solutions, 2011 Brand Tracking Study.”

IBM’s Institute for Business Value: How to Convert Thought Leadership Research Into Revenue

Thought leadership marketing strategy must be built around research. Without it, thought leadership is little more than opinions. IBM’s Global Business Services division has created the Institute for Business Value (IBV), an in-house research group that gathers the data proof for IBM’s thought leadership assertions. However, success in thought leadership requires more than experienced researchers. You must involve the rest of the organization—especially salespeople. How do you get them to support your thought leadership research efforts? In this ITSMA Case Study, we look at 10 ways that the IBV makes thought leadership research come alive for customers—and for employees.

Read “IBM’s Institute for Business Value: How to Convert Thought Leadership Research Into Revenue.”

Four Stages to Full ABM Adoption

Buyers want solution providers to do one thing above all else: Know me. Know my industry, my business, my role, my situation. Marketers have segmented their most important accounts and begun creating highly targeted marketing programs that demonstrate a full understanding of those select customers’ business and technology issues. We call this approach Account Based Marketing (ABM), also known as key account marketing or one-to-one marketing. In this ITSMA Update, we identify four steps for ABM adoption, based on ITSMA research and consulting and the experience of ITSMA’s ABM Council, a best-practices sharing group of some of B2B’s top ABM practitioner companies.

Read “Four Stages to Full ABM Adoption.”

How to Successfully Navigate the Four Stages of Lead Management Maturity

In this web briefing, ITSMA’s Dave Munn and Senior Associate Kathy Macchi discuss ITSMA’s new Lead Management Roadmap, which outlines best practices through four stages of lead management:

• Defining the process
• Building the infrastructure
• Transforming marketing lead management
• Optimizing lead management processes

We go into details for each of these phases and highlight examples at each stage. Results from ITSMA’s latest survey, B2B Services and Solutions Lead Management Benchmarks, which include insights on the fundamental lead management practices underpinning the most successful providers, are also shared.

Watch “How to Successfully Navigate the Four Stages of Lead Management Maturity.”

The Rise of the B2B Social Buyer:

Results from the ITSMA How Buyers Consume Information Survey, 2011

Where do buyers of large B2B solutions get information on solution providers? Read this report to find out how to most effectively reach and engage with today’s buyer. ITSMA conducted the 2011 version of its acclaimed How Customers Choose research across four continents. Specifically, the study answers questions such as:

• How are buyers using social media during the purchase process?
• When creating a short list of providers, what sources of information do they use?
• What is the most important criteria used to select solution providers?

Read “The Rise of the B2B Social Buyer: Results from the ITSMA How Buyers Consume Information Survey, 2011.”

Subscription Information

ITSMA Marketing Strategist is a monthly email newsletter that provides highlights of new ITSMA research, analysis, ideas, tools, and events relating to marketing and selling technology services and solutions. ITSMA Marketing Strategist is available without charge and is sent only to opt-in subscribers.

Subscriptions are available in text and HTML versions. To SUBSCRIBE or to change the format of your subscription, visit http://www.itsma.com/aspfiles/press/ezine.asp.

To UNSUBSCRIBE from the Marketing Strategist, please email us at unsubscribe@itsma.com or mail us at ITSMA Subscriptions, 91 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington, MA 02421, USA.

Branch information for recipients located in Europe: ITSMA Europe, Atlantic House, Imperial Way, Reading RG2 0TD, United Kingdom. Company No: FC023364 Branch No: BR006173. Branch registered in England and Wales. VAT Number GB 840 4681 32.

Back issues of ITSMA Marketing Strategist are available at http://www.itsma.com/ezine/archive/

(c) Copyright 2012, ITSMA.

Please forward this newsletter, but only in its entirety.

Public citation or publication of any information herein is encouraged but subject to U.S. and international copyright law and conventions. Any citation must include full attribution to ITSMA. Individual graphics or paragraphs can be published without permission as long as attribution to ITSMA is included. Publication of longer selections or complete articles requires ITSMA permission. For permission or more information, contact pr@itsma.com.