Collaboration Provides Research, Education, and Advisory Support to Accelerate Adoption of ABM

Two titans of Account-based Marketing have joined forces to catalyze the next wave of ABM integrations into established MarTech systems.  ITSMA, the B2B marketing leadership community that pioneered Account-Based Marketing (ABM) in the early 2000s, and Demandbase, the leader in ABM technology, announced a new partnership to advance ABM as a comprehensive strategy for all B2B marketers. The news comes on the heels of Demandbase’s recent $65 Million funding round.

Read More: Demandbase Unveils “Real-Time Intent” to Transform B2B and Account-Based Marketing

Peter Isaacson, Chief Marketing Officer, Demandbase said, “ITSMA started the ABM revolution more than a decade ago, and in the past several years, Demandbase has helped accelerate the adoption of ABM across industries. But, there has always been a disconnect in the types of ABM that companies practiced. Our partnership with ITSMA will help more companies adopt ABM by mapping out a comprehensive approach to marketing and selling to target accounts.”

Recommended Read: Interview with Peter Isaacson, Chief Marketing Officer at Demandbase

New Approach to Address Gaps in ABM Efficiency

 ITSMA said that the objective of the partnership was to accelerate ABM adoption with integrated strategies and programs that span the three established approaches to ABM –

• one-to-one,
• one-to-few
• one-to-many

This new blended approach will enable all B2B marketers to drive account-based impact with greater speed, efficiency and flexibility.

Read Also: Demandbase Expands Online ABM Certification Program for B2B Marketers

As part of the partnership, ITSMA and Demandbase, in collaboration with the ABM Leadership Alliance (ABMLA), have released a research study that found that the most successful B2B companies take a comprehensive approach to their ABM program.

Partnership a Natural Step towards ABM Promotion

According to this research, 35 per cent of ABM marketers today are implementing more than one type of ABM. Among high performing ABM marketers, 63 per cent are implementing at least two types.

Read Also: Demandbase Launches Partner Program to Grow ABM Adoption

Moreover, 71 per cent of all ABM marketers plan to scale their programs in the next 12 months with 67 per cent saying they will adopt a blended approach to do so. The need to understand the requirements of a blended approach underscores the importance of this partnership.

David Munn, President and CEO, ITSMA, said, “This partnership with fellow ABM leader Demandbase is a natural step in the evolution of ABM as a strategic discipline for business and marketing leaders. We believe that B2B companies of all shapes and sizes can benefit from an account-based approach, and bringing the expertise of our two organizations together will allow all marketers to understand, implement and ultimately benefit from ABM.”

ITSMA coined the term “Account-Based Marketing” in 2003 and has worked since then to help B2B industry leaders drive growth and innovation with highly customized and targeted one-to-one and one-to-few ABM approaches. As ABM practitioners saw success with their initial programs, they sought scale to cover more accounts.

ABM Certification and Coaching

In the 2010s, Demandbase developed the tools and technology to implement ABM at scale.

Today, the two companies bring together a sophisticated set of advisory, education, process, and technology capabilities that provide end-to-end support for sales and marketing teams looking to implement and scale ABM at their organizations.

Read Also: Demandbase Raises $65 Million to Prove ABM Technology is a ‘Funding Magnet’

In addition to enabling marketers to better complement and integrate with sales and business leadership, the partnership will help companies design new strategies and programs, train their teams, implement new tools, and provide expert counsel on how best to pilot and grow all types of ABM programs.

As a follow up to the joint research, ITSMA and Demandbase will release an e-book titled “Accelerating ABM Impact: A Three-Tiered Strategy,” which would be launched at the Optimizing ABM Impact forum on September 12, 2017 in New York City. The e-book will highlight the considerations for and steps to getting the most out of an ABM program, with a primary focus on moving to a blended strategy.

Additionally, ITSMA and Demandbase are the only two organizations to offer ABM certification courses. ITSMA’s ABM Certification and Mentoring Program, launched in 2013, includes the comprehensive methodology that ABM marketers need.

The program includes a two-day interactive workshop, four webinars, and on-the-job mentoring and coaching to create a robust ABM plan for a specific key account or cluster of accounts.

Demandbase’s ABM Certification Program offers a full-day “Foundations” course that is available in-person or online, and an “Advanced” course that is available in-person, focused on the fundamentals for scaling your ABM strategy. Demandbase has thus far trained and certified more than 1,200 B2B marketers since it was introduced in April 2016.

Eric Martin, VP, Customer Experience Marketing, SAP North America, said, “As a client of both ITSMA and Demandbase, and as a participant of both organizations’ ABM certification programs, we are pleased to see these two ABM leaders announce this partnership. As we’ve evolved our ABM program to a comprehensive approach, ITSMA’s advisory and Demandbase’s products and services have been instrumental in our ability to drive success at all three levels.”

ITSMA and Demandbase will also present this new, blended ABM approach at ITSMA’s Annual Marketing Vision Conference in Boston from October 31 to November 2, 2017.