ITSMA and Demandbase Partner to Advance Account-Based Marketing

SAN FRANCISCO and BOSTON – September 6, 2017 – ITSMA, the B2B marketing leadership community that pioneered Account-Based Marketing (ABM) in the early 2000s, and Demandbase, the leader in ABM technology, today announced a new partnership to advance ABM as a comprehensive strategy for all B2B marketers. The two organizations are joining forces to accelerate the next wave of ABM with integrated strategies and programs that span the three established approaches to ABM: one-to-one, one-to-few and one-to-many. This new blended approach will enable all B2B marketers to drive account-based impact with greater speed, efficiency and flexibility.

As part of the partnership, ITSMA and Demandbase, in collaboration with the ABM Leadership Alliance (ABMLA), have released a research study that found that the most successful B2B companies take a comprehensive approach to their ABM program. According to this research, 35 percent of ABM marketers today are implementing more than one type of ABM. But among high performing ABM marketers, 63 percent are implementing at least two types. Moreover, 71 percent of all ABM marketers plan to scale their programs in the next 12 months with 67 percent saying they will adopt a blended approach to do so. The need to understand the requirements of a blended approach underscores the importance of this partnership.

“This partnership with fellow ABM leader Demandbase is a natural step in the evolution of ABM as a strategic discipline for business and marketing leaders,” said ITSMA President and CEO David Munn. “We believe that B2B companies of all shapes and sizes can benefit from an account-based approach, and bringing the expertise of our two organizations together will allow all marketers to understand, implement and ultimately benefit from ABM.”

ITSMA coined the term “Account-Based Marketing” in 2003 and has worked since then to help B2B industry leaders drive growth and innovation with highly customized and targeted one-to-one and one-to-few ABM approaches. As ABM practitioners saw success with their initial programs, they sought scale to cover more accounts. In the 2010s, Demandbase developed the tools and technology to implement ABM at scale.

Today, the two companies bring together a sophisticated set of advisory, education, process, and technology capabilities that provide end-to-end support for sales and marketing teams looking to implement and scale ABM at their organizations. In addition to enabling marketers to better complement and integrate with sales and business leadership, the partnership will help companies design new strategies and programs, train their teams, implement new tools, and provide expert counsel on how best to pilot and grow all types of ABM programs.

“ITSMA started the ABM revolution more than a decade ago, and in the past several years, Demandbase has helped accelerate the adoption of ABM across industries,” said Demandbase Chief Marketing Officer Peter Isaacson. “But there has always been a disconnect in the types of ABM that companies practiced. Our partnership with ITSMA will help more companies adopt ABM by mapping out a comprehensive approach to marketing and selling to target accounts.”

As a follow up to the joint research, ITSMA and Demandbase will release an e-book titled “Accelerating ABM Impact: A Three-Tiered Strategy,” which will launch at the Optimizing ABM Impact forum on Sept. 12, 2017 in New York City. The e-book will highlight the considerations for and steps to getting the most out of an ABM program, with a primary focus on moving to a blended strategy.

Additionally, ITSMA and Demandbase are the only two organizations to offer ABM certification courses. ITSMA’s ABM Certification and Mentoring Program, launched in 2013, provides a comprehensive immersion in the methodology and skills that ABM marketers need to accelerate growth with their most important accounts. The program includes a two-day interactive workshop, four webinars, and on-the-job mentoring and coaching to create a robust ABM plan for a specific key account or cluster of accounts.

Demandbase’s ABM Certification Program offers a full-day “Foundations” course that is available in-person or online, and an “Advanced” course that is available in-person, focused on the fundamentals for scaling your ABM strategy. Demandbase has thus far trained and certified more than 1,200 B2B marketers since it was introduced in April 2016.

“As a client of both ITSMA and Demandbase, and as a participant of both organizations’ ABM certification programs, we are pleased to see these two ABM thought leaders announce this partnership,” said Eric Martin, VP of Customer Experience Marketing at SAP North America. “As we’ve evolved our ABM program to a comprehensive approach, ITSMA’s advisory and Demandbase’s products and services have been instrumental in our ability to drive success at all three levels.”

ITSMA and Demandbase will also present on this new, blended ABM approach at ITSMA’s Annual Marketing Vision Conference in Boston from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2017.

About ITSMA

For more than 20 years, ITSMA has led the way in defining, building, and inspiring B2B marketing excellence. With a dedicated focus on services and solutions for the connected economy, we provide our member community with insight, advice, and hands-on help to strengthen reputation, increase revenue, and deepen customer relationships. ITSMA pioneered Account-Based Marketing in 2003 and today offers a broad portfolio of ABM research, events, consulting, training, and coaching services. In 2017, ITSMA leaders Bev Burgess and Dave Munn co-authored the book, A Practitioner’s Guide to Account-Based Marketing. Learn more at www.itsma.com.