How account-based marketing and the B2B buying space are evolving

B2B marketers have employed account-based marketing (ABM) for well over a decade, of course, but the approach has gained momentum over the past few years and that growth is expected to continue

Factors driving changes in ABM strategy include shifts in buyer preferences and pre-purchase behavior, as well as the development of more sophisticated technology and data products that enable marketers to analyze behavior, identify in-market audiences, and craft experiences for a buying group or its individual members.

Additionally, the COVID pandemic accelerated fundamental shifts in the B2B buying cycle by forcing events and in-person meetings to go virtual. A survey by the IT Sales and Marketing Association (ITSMA) found 71% of companies increased ABM , with 50% of those surveyed saying they increased ABM staff.

ABM accounts for 28% of the overall marketing budget for those surveyed.

How B2B buying has changed

For some time, B2B buyers have conducted substantial research online before talking to a salesperson, and the vast amount of information available to buyers has given them an upper hand. The lockdowns, canceled events and work-from-home trends that characterized the pandemic period exaggerated this phenomenon, and, even as in-person opportunities return, the buying cycle has been forever changed.

According to recent research by the Winterberry Group, 58% of marketers said buyers are spending
more time researching online before making purchase decisions, while 44% say peer reviews and user-generated content are playing a greater role in buyers’ decision-making.

A shift from a reactive to a proactive marketing approach is working well for many B2B
companies.

Dig deeper: A deep dive into changes in the ABM space — our new ABM Marketing Intelligence Report

The vendors respond

A great number of ABM vendors provide everything from all-in-one platforms to enable ABM strategies, to adjacent services like data enrichment, identity resolution, analytics, and interaction management/orchestration to B2B marketers ramping up their programs. The more comprehensive platforms come from B2B mainstays such as Dun & Bradstreet, Salesforce and Marketo, which share the space with a growing group of independent ABM platforms including 6Sense, Integrate, Demandbase, Bombora, Jabmo, RollWorks (a division of NextRoll), N. Rich, MRP, Madison Logic, Terminus and more.

Here are seven of the top developments we are monitoring:

1. Platforms, not point solutions

Where the ABM landscape dominated by point solutions offering specific elements of the mix, but now, through partnerships, consolidation and technological development, many vendors offer more comprehensive solutions.

2. Consolidation of ABM and demand gen

Another notable development among ABM vendors is the move to consolidate ABM with demand generation. Many vendors are buying into the vision of eliminating the distinction between these two elements of B2B selling and are developing the tools to enable marketers to carry it out. For example, Demandbase calls this convergence its “Smarter Go-To Market” offering, while Kwanzoo
expects a B2B Go-To Market suite — anchored by its B2B GTM platform — to become standard.
Madison Logic calls its solution “Journey Acceleration,” and Salesforce expects businesses
to align all of their customer-facing activity (marketing, sales and customer service) on the
Salesforce Customer 360 Platform. Meanwhile, Terminus and Dun & Bradstreet are unifying
around a CDP.

3. More M&A

Most vendors we surveyed expect merger and acquisition activity to pick up in the space as the larger players build more comprehensive platforms. Inflation worries, interest rate hikes and general economic uncertainty are also factors here, since they all contribute to a less-attractive IPO market, leading venture-funded companies to seek M&A opportunities.

4. Deeper investments in AI

ABM vendors are also eager to incorporate the latest must-have technology – artificial intelligence. At a recent Forrester B2B Summit event, many booth displays touted the exhibitor’s AI credentials. In these platforms, AI and machine learning are typically used to identify buying groups and find patterns of intent signals that can help marketers better understand prospects. This assists them in improving the targeting and relevance of their marketing execution. More vendors have introduced recommendation engines that analyze multiple data sources to provide next-best actions based on account intent and behavior signals.

5. Help for the sales team

To enhance the alignment between B2B sales and marketing teams, vendors are also adding sales enablement tools that automatically activate sales triggers based on CRM account reporting, and provide lead-to-account mapping, for example. The goal is to streamline the “hand-off” of leads from marketing to sales.

6. Efficiency across channels

Interaction management, or orchestration, is a key feature for many ABM vendors profiled in this report, which are expanding the number of channels that can be managed through their tools. Vendors are building out APIs and increasing the availability of native (outof-the-box) integrations with CRMs, marketing automation systems, digital ad networks and other ABM data providers.

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