Marketing

What Is ABM for B2B SaaS and How It’s Different From Inbound Marketing?

ABM stands for Account-Based Marketing, and it offers a unique approach to marketing for B2B SaaS companies

According to Terminus, ABM is a “focused approach to B2B marketing in which marketing and sales teams work together to target best-fit accounts and turn them into customers”. 

In the traditional B2B lead-based Inbound Marketing strategy, over 99% of the target audience – according to Forrester Research – never start the buyer’s journey. However, in an ABM strategy, the marketing outreach is overwhelming. Why is that so?

The core difference is that the Inbound Marketing strategy starts with generating leads that come from marketing channels, whereas the ABM strategy starts with identifying the best-fit accounts that show the highest potential of becoming your company’s customers which can produce the most revenue for your company (i.e., the best ICPs or Ideal Customer Profile). 

Account-Based Marketing is a multichannel strategy. These channels range from ads to direct mail. An ABM strategy allows you to go beyond the contacts in your database and to reach the key ICPs for your business. You also have a greater chance at retaining your target accounts by engaging them with what they need, as you can see the kind of message resonates with them in almost real-time. ABM is done in close alignment between sales, marketing, and customer success teams.

 

Top Benefits of Account-Based Marketing in B2B SaaS:

  • Clear Goals and Analytics. Due to the limited set of targeted accounts, you can set clear goals for each one and then track their fulfilment at some point in time. These analytics will also help in setting further goals for the other period of time.
  • Smarketing. By aligning the sales and marketing teams to identify the ICPs to reach, you can increase your revenue 19% faster (SiriusDecisions). A simple checklist of marketing channels may not reach your target audience. However, a proven engagement record has much bigger chances.
  • Cost-Effective Budgeting. You no longer need to spend a fortune on acquiring leads that turn out to be a poor fit. By initially identifying your best-fit accounts, you use the channels where they are active.
  • Easily Measurable ROI. ABM is called a sniper in marketing as it’s very accurate and precise because of its targeting nature. This also makes ROI easily measurable in comparison with the Inbound strategy.
  • Optimizing Customer Experience. People are not engaged by sales calls or marketing emails on their own. They need solutions to their problems, and they only become engaged if those solutions are effective for them. An ABM strategy makes it easier to find the best personalized solution to your ICP.

 

In summary, the traditional Inbound Marketing approach to marketing is no longer the only way to help grow sales in B2B SaaS. Personalized Account-Based Marketing has proven to be much more effective as it allows to engage and delight the best-fit audience across various channels.

 

P.S. By the way, you may be interested to learn which B2B SaaS Marketing Agency can help you with ABM – and you came to the right place. Check us out at “Revenue, Inc.” 😉