Survey: 45% of Marketers “Just Started” to Deploy Account-Based Marketing

Although marketers are aware of account-based marketing (ABM) and its benefits, new research suggests that they are still just beginning to integrate it into their overall strategies.

Engagio recently conducted the “ABM Outlook Survey 2018: An Overview of the State of Account Based Marketing” report and found that about half of respondents (44.95 percent) have “just started” to use an ABM program. About 23.92 percent are “thinking about getting started,” while 19.07 percent are “well underway.”

In terms of what marketers currently use, most respondents (64.85 percent) stated that they use a mix of both demand generation and ABM. Just 8.14 percent solely utilize ABM, while 27 percent use demand generation.

But despite the slow start, marketers are still investing more in ABM this year compared to last. In 2017, only 20 percent of the total marketing budget was dedicated to ABM. This increased to an average of 29 percent for 2018.

Marketers’ Confidence in ABM Tactics

Many of the marketers who have deployed ABM are confident in their strategies, according to previous research.

Openprise surveyed marketing executives for its “2018 Marketing Operations Benchmarking Report,” and respondents were asked to rank their responses on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being considered the best). When asked how confident they felt about ABM, companies with 501 to 1,000 employees showed the highest level of confidence, averaging a 3.73 response.

Companies with more than 5,000 employees were close behind (3.55), followed by those with 251 to 500 employees (3.42) and businesses with 1,001 to 5,000 employees (3.33).

“Surprisingly, respondents had more confidence in their ability to execute their ABM strategy than most other categories, suggesting the coming of age for ABM programs,” wrote the authors of the report.