One of the most intriguing trends in services marketing today is the rise of account-based marketing. As marketers emphasize smaller and more targeted campaigns, account-based marketing goes all the way to individualized programs for specific accounts. Far beyond the basics of personalized messaging and segmented offers, true account-based marketing offers the promise of creating deep and trusted relationships with key accounts, and the potential of substantially improved results compared with more traditional approaches.

This ITSMA Update defines account-based marketing and reveals how high performance technology services firms are implementing the practice. The Update presents a framework for using account-based marketing in four different approaches: bid support, account penetration, relationship development, and strategic positioning. The Update also explains how to align marketing and sales resources and skills for maximum impact within each approach.