The line between account-based marketing (ABM) and demand generation is blurrier than ever, leaving marketers wading through murky waters to delineate between the two strategies. While ABM was once seen as a hyper-targeted, sales-driven strategy while demand generation was the broader awareness builder, the two have started to intermingle to the point where it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
It’s no longer about choosing between the two — instead, it’s about integrating them into a cohesive approach. During a panel at the B2B Marketing Exchange, Versique’s Wes Lieser moderated a discussion between Blue Yonder’s Sam Nohava, Grubhub’s Madeline Maguire and Lumen Technologies’ Annie Chamberlain where the trio explored the overlapping and distinct components of ABM and demand gen strategies. Here’s the low down:
Clearing Up ABM & Demand Generation Misconceptions
The first step in delineating between ABM and demand generation is to outline their functions and key objectives clearly — but if you ask 10 people for their take on the two strategies, you’ll receive just as many answers. To bring everyone on the same page, the panel shared the four biggest misconceptions:
ABM & Demand Gen Should Exist Outside Each Other
Many companies operate ABM and demand generation separately — but Nohava suggested that leaders should encourage open communication and collaboration, as well as help build partnerships between the two teams. She continued that developing goals and outlining a channel strategy is a “critical” piece of achieving organizational buy-in from stakeholders.
ABM Is Marketing’s Responsibility
It has marketing in the name, so it must fall in the laps of marketers, right? Wrong! According to Maguire, ABM requires tremendous buy-in from every level of the organization, particularly with the sales team. She continued that successful ABM strategies require a “tremendous” amount of communication and feedback.
“Sellers are on the front lines, directly interacting with customers,” noted Maguire. “If sales reps aren’t sharing their conversations with marketing to help marketers tailor their messaging, then the content won’t be relevant or resonate with buyers.”
Demand Gen Is ‘Spray & Pray’ & Doesn’t Leverage ABM Technologies
Many folks still revert to the old school, ‘spray and pray’ demand generation tactics, which typically dropped 5,000 accounts into a system to see what stuck. According to Nohava, her team at Blue Yonder leverages ABM technologies and practices to engage their enterprise B2B accounts.
ABM Is A Silver Bullet
Nohava noted that ABM is a strategy, not a tactic, and should be treated as such. She explained that marketers and salespeople need to ensure they’re engaging on account plans and strategically planning their business. She continued that sales and marketing are in the driver’s seat of effective ABM deployment across accounts and target markets, and it’s not a silver bullet; instead, “it requires teamwork, and active seller/business development/marketing engagement.”
Maintaining Alignment For Successful ABM & Demand Generation
It’s a well-known colloquialism that the squeaky wheels get the oil, and in the business world, Lieser said that the loudest voice in the room is usually sales. He continued that as someone who had his feet in both camps, sales traditionally felt that marketing should act as a support mechanism, which (predictably) negatively impacted the relationship. To help maintain alignment between sales and marketing, the panel advised practitioners to:
Be Intentional About Relationships
Maguire noted the first step toward alignment is for leaders to state their intentions, as their respective teams will follow the leaders’ cues and react accordingly. She noted that businesses must be “extremely intentional” about how they approach that and ensure they’re setting the example.
Establish Shared Objectives & Key Results
The best way to eliminate competition — according to Maguire — is to establish shared key objectives and results. At Grubhub, she explained that this takes the form of having a revenue team present reviews to both sales and marketing concurrently to show what actions drove the business forward. Additionally, she noted that she has a marketing captain on the sales team and a sales captain on the marketing team.
For Lumen, Chamberlain explained that the company has a corporate narrative that the entire company rallies around, and they’re currently developing commercial plays across sales, marketing and customer success to ensure a cohesive go-to-market (GTM) execution. She noted that includes involving marketers in developing sales presentations, outreach messaging and sequences, while generating tasks for salespeople around contact engagement, event invitations and gifting.
Looking Ahead To Propel ABM & Demand Gen
It’s no secret that the past four years have brought major turmoil and transformation to all industries across the board, and tactics that worked one year won’t necessarily work the next. Before the panel wrapped up, Lieser posed one final question to the group: What are some key initiatives and objectives marketers should put forth to propel ABM and demand gen?
Shift Messaging & Reframe GTM
Hearkening back to Lumen’s corporate transformation, Chamberlain noted that she’s working to shift from product marketing to customer outcome-based messaging. She explained that this requires extensive market research and includes reshaping the entire GTM function. Additionally, Chamberlain said she’s also prioritizing bringing all of Lumen’s ABM functions in-house and “hitting hard” on campaign operations and internal discipline around data.
Leverage New Technology To Assist With ABM & Demand Generation Endeavors
For Macguire, it’s all about leveraging technology to accelerate pipeline velocity. She said that while the company is focused on sifting through tech options, it’s also prioritizing ensuring that all content is relevant, helpful and adds value for recipients.
Conclusion
As noted previously, demand generation and ABM are strategies — not tactics. The distinction between the two is less about drawing firm lines and more about blending their strengths into a unified strategy. As we’ve seen from the panel discussion, success in modern marketing doesn’t come from treating these approaches as mutually exclusive but from fostering collaboration between sales, marketing and leadership.
