Adoption of Account-Based Marketing Expands to Agencies

New Research from Demandbase Reports Two-Thirds of Marketing Agencies Surveyed use ABM to Provide Better Results for Clients

SAN FRANCISCO – October 25, 2017 – Demandbase, the leader in Account-Based Marketing (ABM), today revealed the results of a survey run in conjunction with Wakefield Research that looks into how interactive, digital, marketing and advertising agencies are using ABM. The survey included responses from 400 advertising professionals and found that 66 percent of respondents say their agency uses ABM, and for those that don’t, nearly 70 percent plan to integrate it into their client work in the future. Additionally, 81 percent of respondents feel it’s likely their agency will only hire someone with ABM experience in the next year.

When it comes to agencies’ clients, a whopping 100 percent of all agency respondents report that they have clients who use ABM. Of these respondents, 91 percent agree that clients who have adopted ABM have improved alignment between their sales and marketing teams.

“Over the past year, we’ve partnered more and more with agencies to support the needs of companies adopting ABM. It’s exciting to see ABM move beyond in-house marketing teams and into the agency world,” said Kent Ragen, Vice President of Channel Sales at Demandbase. “These survey results underscore the rising importance of ABM and demonstrate the need for agencies to add ABM to their skillset so that they can provide better service and counsel to their clients.”

However, despite the majority of agencies reporting that their clients use ABM, survey respondents identified clients’ lack of education on ABM as a big hurdle to ABM adoption. When asked which factors prevent more of their clients from implementing ABM, respondents cite a lack of understanding around the strategy – 45 percent say their clients don’t understand what ABM is, and 32 percent say their clients think they’re currently using it, but in fact are not.

Additionally, agencies report that the greatest challenges for addressing clients’ marketing needs include:

  • Clients are not fully utilizing the tools they have to improve and monitor ROI (38 percent)
  • Clients are unaware of which technique can best meet their needs (24 percent)
  • Clients haven’t allocated enough resources for modernizing their marketing campaigns (22 percent)
  • Clients are not willing to invest in new technologies (13 percent)

“Though ABM adoption is growing rapidly, it’s clear that ABM implementation and measurement can be a daunting prospect,” Ragen said. “Developing ABM tools that are easy-to-use and address team alignment and measurement will be an important part of advancing ABM even further in the years to come.”

For more information on Demandbase’s new survey of advertising agency attitudes toward ABM visit the Demandbase blog.

Methodology

This survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 400 advertising professionals with titles or title equivalents of vice president or higher at interactive, digital, marketing and advertising agencies between September 27 and October 10, 2017, using an email invitation and an online survey. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation.

@Demandbase & @WakefieldStats research finds two-thirds of Ad Agencies are using #ABM for better results #AgencyABM http://demandb.se/2z3yYSf

Click to Tweet

About Demandbase
Demandbase is the leader in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and an indispensable part of the B2B tech stack. The company offers the only end-to-end ABM platform that helps B2B marketers identify, win and grow the accounts that matter most. The biggest and fastest-growing companies in the world, such as Accenture, Adobe, DocuSign, GE, Salesforce, and others, rely on Demandbase to drive their ABM strategy and maximize their marketing performance. The company has been named to the JMP Securities list “The Hot 100: The Best Privately Held Software Companies,” the Deloitte Fast 500, and named a Gartner Cool Vendor for Tech Go-To-Market. In 2019, Demandbase executives authored the definitive book on ABM, Account-Based Marketing: How to Target and Engage the Companies That Will Grow Your Revenue. For more information, please visit www.demandbase.com or follow the company on Twitter @Demandbase.

Media Contact
Margo Mendez-Penate
mmendezpenate@demandbase.com
415.228.3758