What’s So New About ABM?

My name’s Ceri Jones and I’m the Founder of B2B TechMarketing Solutions.

Thanks for joining me for this brief introduction to my new blog –

What’s So New About ABM?

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has received a significant amount of attention from B2B companies in the last 7-8 years, with most people using the term to signify a switch away from a focus on the generation of individual leads (enquiries) to a focus on Accounts – or companies.

But how new is the idea of marketing and selling to individual, or a small number of, target accounts? How is this different from what used to be known as a ‘named account’ strategy or from a ‘Key Account’ strategy. Most important for Marketing, what do we need to know to execute a successful ABM strategy and how much of our resources and effort in demand generation should be focused on ABM rather than on broader market segments?

It seems to me that ABM has become the new ‘silver bullet’ in B2B Marketing – an area that has been a major focus for Martech companies – and that it has lost its focus.

Bev Burgess of ITSMA, who coined the term ABM in the early 2000s, said back in 2017:

‘Today, based on the great success of early adopters, as well as changes in the broader marketing and technology environment, ABM is suddenly being hyped as the next great revolution in B2B marketing. Vendors and pundits are making great claims about ABM transforming all of marketing.’

I invite you to draw your own conclusions by reading this blog. Please leave a comment on your own experiences. Thanks for your time.