Account based marketing(ABM) strategies are one of the hottest trends in sales and marketing. This strategy usually involves targeted emails, unique website pages, pay-per-click ad campaigns, and social media. But there is one complementary strategy to ABM that cannot be ignored: calling your prospects.

“Don’t count the people you reach; reach the people that count.” ~ David Ogilvy

PART ONE: What is Account Based Marketing(ABM)?

“ABM!” … “Account Based Marketing” is the most talked about thing right now in the B2B world. Yet, ABM has been around forever. “I was using basic ABM principles at Dell 25 years ago,” said John Ellett, CEO nFusion. So, what changed? What’s making the old ways the innovations of today?

In 2004, ITSMA coined the phrase “Account Based Marketing” (ABM) and defined it as “treating individual accounts as a market in their own right.” It’s a structured approach for developing and implementing highly-customized marketing campaigns to markets of one, i.e., accounts, partners, or prospects. This approach, typically employed in enterprise-level sales organizations, involves marketing and sales taking a close look at key business issues facing the target, mapping them to individuals, and tailoring campaigns to address those issues.

A recent SiriusDecisions State of Account-Based Marketing survey showed that over 90% of marketers recognize the value of ABM. Companies utilizing ABM practices have reported better alignment with sales, increased abilities to close bigger deals with target accounts, while also increasing pipeline velocity.