Gartner Analysts Explore the Steps B2B Marketers Can Take to Focus Personalization Efforts on the Highest-Impact Opportunities at the Virtual Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo, December 1-3
To overcome the complexities of personalization, B2B marketing leaders must leverage account-based marketing (ABM) to improve their ability to execute personalization at scale, according to Gartner, Inc.
Gartner defines ABM as a go-to-market strategy in which a supplier targets a set of named contacts and accounts, representing significantly higher expansion or growth opportunities, to receive tailored marketing and sales support.
During the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo, taking place virtually in the Americas December 1-3, Gartner analysts said today that 79% of marketers believe the best way to engage B2B buyers is to deliver personally relevant communications. This level of personalization requires more from marketers – more customer insights, more content and more resources. However, this is a luxury many B2B marketers can’t afford right now, with 44% of B2B marketers expecting moderate to significant decreases in their budgets due to COVID-19.
“The concept of personalization holds tremendous promise for B2B marketers, especially in today’s environment where delivering hyper relevant content is of utmost importance,” said Rick LaFond, senior principal in the Gartner Marketing practice. “An effective execution of an ABM strategy can help lead to better spend efficiency, and allows marketers to focus personalization efforts on the highest-impact, highest-return opportunities.”
“One of the main reasons ABM has become so widely adopted by B2B brands is that it is specifically designed to help address the need for customer relevance,” Mr. LaFond added. “If leveraged correctly, ABM can bring focus to personalization efforts by ensuring that those efforts are targeted toward the right customers using the right kind of engagement.”
B2B marketing leaders looking to better scale their personalization efforts should consider the following four steps:
Establish Target Accounts
Instead of personalizing for the brand’s total addressable market, B2B marketers should focus personalization on a discrete set of high-priority accounts or segments. One of the first steps of ABM is to select accounts to include in the program, using an Ideal Customer Profile. This helps to identify the specific characteristics of the ideal target customer.
