Report: 34% of Marketers Still Do Not Have an Account-Based Marketing Strategy in Place

Although account-based marketing (ABM) has grown in popularity among marketers, new research suggests that many organizations are still in the early stages of rolling out such programs.

Ascend2 recently published the results of the “Account-Based Marketing Approach” survey, and statistics showed that most marketers (34%) are still planning for ABM in the future, meaning they do not have an existing ABM strategy in place. Just 14% of marketers said they were currently rolling out an ABM pilot program, while 22% said they fully have an ABM strategy in place and it is measurable.

Overall, 65% of marketers say they have only been “somewhat successful” thus far in terms of achieving their primary objectives through ABM.

In terms of challenges to success, most marketers (37%) said they have a lack of budget/resources. This was followed by marketing and sales alignment (32%) and lack of quality data (29%).

Marketers’ Progression into ABM

Some marketers have implemented a form of ABM, but previous research suggests that most are still in the initial stages, while others have not begun to think of doing so at all.

Canam Research conducted “The State of ABM Survey 2020 Trend Report,” and data suggested that most marketers (27.31%) are in the middle of integrating ABM into their overall strategy. However, just 25.21% have an ABM program in place, while 8.82% of marketers are unfamiliar with ABM in its entirety.

In terms of executing ABM programs at scale, most respondents (51.06%) claim that their biggest challenge is creating personalized experiences. Other obstacles include tracking and analyzing campaign performance (38.30%) and buyer persona and messaging development (37.02%).