How to Prove You Have Reached the People Who Count

David Ogilvy said, “Don’t count the people you reach; reach the people that count.” This is one of my favorite marketing quotes, and one I often refer to when describing the essence of Account-Based Marketing (ABM).

But the quote also neatly introduces one of the main complexities in ABM: measurement.

Through my work with ITSMA, I know that measurement of ABM programs is consistently cited by practitioners as their number one challenge. In ITSMA’s 2019 ABM benchmarking research conducted with the ABM Leadership Alliance, measurement was cited as the second biggest challenge after personalization, with 35% of ABM-ers saying that tracking and measuring ABM results was their biggest issue.

So where is the link between this and Mr. Ogilvy’s quote?

Well, measuring ABM requires a different mindset to measuring demand generation campaigns. The latter are traditionally measured by the volume of qualified leads they generate, whereas ABM-ers typically measure the business outcomes delivered for the accounts in their program. ABM is more about quality than quantity.

In other words, reaching the people that count. Or, as we at ITSMA like to frame it, measuring business outcomes in terms of reputation and relationships and revenue – the three R’s.

But it can be difficult to measure these types of outcomes, and that is why I am delighted to share a link to a recent discussion of these complexities with ABM Rockstar, Andrea Clatworthy (Head of ABM at Fujitsu EMEIA) and Dan Sands of ABM specialists, Agent3, on the webinar How to Measure and Optimize ABM Impact.

Replay this discussion for guidance and practical tips on how to measure and optimize your ABM impact. Sponsored by Agent3, this webinar includes learnings from two decades of working in ABM as well as references to research and insights from our recently-launched guide to measurement.