B2B Marketers Look to Further Align Sales and Marketing in 2018

B2B marketers continue to show an interest in account-based marketing (ABM), and they are looking forward to aligning sales and marketing to achieve their objectives in 2018.

Ascend2 recently conducted the “Account-Based Marketing Strategy Report” to hone in on the growing trends among B2B marketers who utilize ABM. The research showed that for half of marketers (50 percent), the top goal in 2018 will be to align sales and marketing initiatives. This is followed by attributing marketing efforts to revenue (41 percent), scoring and targeting ideal accounts (41 percent), and mapping account plans and insights (38 percent).

Thus far, most respondents (55 percent) claim that their ABM strategy has been “somewhat successful” at achieving top priorities. Forty percent of best-in-class B2B marketers stated that it has been “very successful.”

When it comes to challenges, 39 percent state that their biggest obstacle has been attributing marketing efforts to revenue. At 38 percent, alignment of sales and marketing (38 percent) followed closely behind.

The Benefits of Sales and Marketing Alignment

Previous research suggests that marketers were already attempting to align themselves with sales in order to achieving their primary objectives.

The “State of Inbound” report from Hubspot found that 44 percent of marketers are aligned with sales, and 22 percent are tightly aligned. In addition, 61 percent of respondents believe that their organization’s marketing strategy is effective, highlighting the significance of the sales/marketing relationship.

Approximately 81 percent of respondents whose sales and marketing teams are tightly aligned believe that their marketing strategy is effective.