The B2B Marketing Conference 2019 – ABM: Align and accelerate
– a round-up

On November 5th, we attended ABM: Align and accelerate, an ABM dedicated conference hosted by B2B Marketing. With back to back keynotes, workshops and presentations, there was a lot of great takeaways and learnings.

For those of you who missed it, we thought we’d do a quick round-up of the key things we found:

1. Collaboration is at the heart of ABM

Across the board, every talk we attended hammered home the importance of collaboration. Particularly between sales and marketing, but also between businesses and their agencies. In order for ABM to work there needs to open dialogue that ensures the right account is targeted, for the correct reasons. 

2. ABM is more than a tactic, it’s a long term strategy

For ABM to truly succeed, it needs to be thought of as a long term strategy that’s backed by data and research. ABM isn’t just targeted online ads – it’s a business initiative. And this means taking a strategic approach to the accounts you choose to target.

3. Don’t just accept any account

It’s easier said than done, but speakers agreed that ABM-ers need to be prepared to say no to accounts that don’t show value. To build a truly great ABM programme, it’s important to qualify the right accounts, by building momentum internally and encouraging sales to get involved. 

4. The missing puzzle piece

There was a lot of great insight regarding how to internally ramp up ABM. However, there was one major talking point we missed. The outputs. What does excellent ABM actually look like? What creative resonates and how do you best engage a target of one?

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We have been mulling over what great ABM looks like at Earnest, and have put some thoughts together on how to make ABM more human and impactful.

Watch this space for our take on how to best beat the humdrum out of ABM.

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