ABM vs ABX

Many people have heard of Account-Based Marketing, or ABM, but not many are familiar with Account-Based Experience, or ABX. Let’s see if we can help clarify the differences.

What is ABM?

Account-Based Marketing is a GTM strategy for finding the right fit accounts that represent significantly higher expansion or growth opportunities and targeting them with tailored marketing and sales support. There are different flavors of ABM, from 1 to 1 ABM, to 1 to few, to 1 to many. If you want to take a deeper dive, you can learn more about ABM here.

What is ABX?

Over the last 2 years, Demandbase has expanded on ABM to take into account the customer experience and increased sales and marketing alignment — what we call Account-Based Experience. We define ABX as a go-to-market strategy that uses data and insights to orchestrate relevant, trusted marketing and sales actions throughout the B2B customer journey. We like to think of it as a customer-centric approach to ABM, focused on delivering the right message at the right stage in the customer’s journey. In our eyes, it’s not ABM vs. ABX, but rather ABX is an evolution of ABM to consider the whole customer journey. For more on ABX, click here.

What are the main differences between an ABM and ABX approach?

ABX is a customer-focused approach that seamlessly integrates the captivating aspects of inbound marketing with the meticulous precision and targeting of account-based marketing. It makes strategic use of data and insights to help marketers and sales know when to reach out to customers at the point in time when they are ready to have a conversation.

In the traditional ABM approach, the main emphasis was on pinpointing valuable accounts and making efforts to engage them, without necessarily considering whether it was the right time to engage or if they were genuinely interested in receiving communication from your company. ABX, on the other hand, centers around an unwavering dedication to the customer throughout their entire buying journey. This method empowers businesses to identify the opportune moments to engage and communicate with each account and strengthen sales and marketing alignment, ensuring personalized interactions at every step.