Survey: Account-Based Marketing Is a Growing Focus for Agencies

Marketers with agencies are showing a growing interest toward account-based marketing (ABM), but research shows there are still hurdles preventing them from maximizing their ROI.

Recently, Demandbase surveyed 400 agency-based professionals to gauge how their companies are using ABM. The results revealed that 66 percent of respondents are already deploying ABM. Out of those who have yet to utilize this tactic, 70 percent intend to do so in the near future for their customer work. In addition, 81 percent of respondents feel as if their agency is poised to hire a professional with ABM experience within the next year.

In terms of their customers, 100 percent of marketers who responded to the survey said they work with businesses that use ABM. However, it is not always a seamless process. Forty-five percent stated that their customers do not fully understand ABM. In fact, nearly one-third of respondents said their clients think they are leveraging ABM, but they are not in actuality. Additionally, agency marketers reported 38 percent of clients are not utilizing the tools they have to monitor and improve ROI.

“Developing ABM tools that are easy-to-use and address team alignment and measurement will be an important part of advancing ABM even further in the years to come,” said Kent Ragen, vice president of Channel Sales at Demandbase.

B2B Marketers Find Success with ABM Tactics

Despite the struggles that can come with utilizing ABM, B2B marketers, in particular, are finding success with these tactics.

According to the “2017 ABM Benchmark Survey Report” from Demand Gen Report, 54 percent of B2B marketers claim that their ABM efforts are meeting organizational expectations, while 20 percent said they are exceeding expectations.

To achieve their ABM objectives, B2B marketers are turning to web personalization (42 percent) and account-based advertising tools (41 percent).