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Research on adoption of Account-based marketing (ABM)

Author's avatar By Dave Chaffey 16 Apr, 2018
Essential Essential topic

Chart of the Day: How much budget is being allocated to ABM?

This week, I thought I'd take a look at the popularity of ABM since we have been getting a lot of interest in our recent series of articles on how to implement ABM by Daley Robinson.

Most studies on the adoption of ABM relate to larger B2B companies who are the early adopters of ABM which they have historically used as an approach to target their larger clients. This is the case with this research from Sirius Decisions which considers the percent of budget spent on ABM.

You can see that in the two previous years, more budget is being allocated to ABM with over one-third of business categorising their spend on ABM in 2017 as either 11-30% of 32-50% of budget. Nearly a fifth are spending more 50% of their budget on ABM. The report doesn't explain the details of spend, but a follow-up question show budget spend on marketing technology to support these activities:

  • Predictive analytics (42%)
  • Web personalization (39%)
  • Account-based advertising (38%)
  • Account profiling (37%)
  • Intent monitoring (33%)

Separate research by Demandbase looked at agency adoption of ABM for their clients and reported that although all B2B clients are involved in ABM, the understanding of ABM is mixed – 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...

Research source

  • Source: Sirius Decisions: State of ABM research
  • Sample: 200+ account-based marketing leaders from the U.S., EMEA, Canada, APAC and LATAM (mix of SiriusDecisions clients and non-clients), 57%
    had revenues greater than $250 million
  • Recommended resource: Account-based marketing for B2B
Author's avatar

By Dave Chaffey

Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here. Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary. Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question.

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