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Is account-based marketing here to stay?

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Account-based marketing (ABM) has been around in the B2B space for decades - but in Asia, it is still a relatively new concept. During a recent B2B Asia conference, we found out that many companies in the region are still figuring out if they should actually apply ABM as part of their B2B digital transformation journey.In short, ABM focuses on specific clients, as opposed to marketing in a generic manner. It also includes support for the post-sale customer life cycle to contribute to the overall customer experience.Speaking at Marketing's annual B2B Asia conference last week, Nishi Seth, senior marketing manager, FX international payments at American Express said ABM is all about working with the a sales mindset and personalising your communication with each prospect using technology. According to her, ABM can be used for three areas, primarily attaining new prospects; nurturing prospects in the funnel; and existing clients.“If you have the resources, you can launch ABM for all three areas simultaneously,” said Seth. But marketing budgets are tight and not always is a company is not always able to execute all three areas at the same time. For those keen on trying out ABM but lack resources to invest in new technology, a “pilot” route, using existing CRM platform and a mix of offline and online channels may be the way to go, said Seth.“First, identify your target account list, then start refining them, and then develop a series of targeted messages before marketing to the companies on that list,” said Seth. She suggests companies can run a pilot program on ABM using both online and offline channels to see the results before launching it into full scale.“Speak to agency experts and evaluate whether ABM meets your marketing objectives. Check whether you have the resources and the budgets to embark on ABM. Engage with your sales team and ensure they are aligned before rolling out the functions,” she said. All in all, she added:Prepare a plan before deep diving into ABM.Also present on the panel was Varun Rai, regional marketing manager of Asia, Commercial Fleet, Retail (B2B) at Shell who said that it’s important that a company invests in key account management discipline especially for large enterprise accounts. He added that though strategic or key account development has been around for decades, ABM should not be viewed as "old wine in new bottle" as the technology underlying ABM enables a highly dynamic and personalised experience.Rai stressed the importance of using ABM to personalise the engagement with your customers.“Nothing is as personal as face to face conversation with the sales person. But if you talk about the digital channel, ABM will be a key enabler in driving richer personalised conversations and will help you target a group of decision makers in the buyer’s organization much more effectively. Ultimately good marketing is about delivering an engaging experience for your customers, and technology enablers like ABM will help marketers make that happen.”, he added.“At Shell, in my business unit, I can already see potential for ABM to be used with targeted key accounts to leapfrog our current digital practices. This is something I am planning for my team to venture into in the coming 12-18 months”.Seth added that while ABM is seeing more adaptation, it is not the only key area B2B marketers will be focusing on.“We still need to try and prove the effectiveness of the channel and see more and more firms trying ABM out,” she said adding:There is still a lot of room for other technologies and channels to co-exist with ABM. 

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