Account Based Marketing Platforms

As many organizations switch to account-based marketing, account-based marketing platforms become more popular. While account-based marketing is a complete strategy and structure, platforms are necessary to facilitate and automate the process. As increased customization and consumer engagement and interaction is desired, the platform has to be designed to track and improve upon the customer relationship.

There are dozens of popular account based marketing platforms, designed to streamline and automate the process of personalizing content and connecting with customers. This list includes Terminus, Demandbase, Rollworks, Jabmo, and Engagio. Even platforms like HubSpot are now in the mix with their HubSpot ABM Beta program. If you want even more platforms to evaluate or consider, check out the Gartner ABM report or ABM platforms Forrester report. Both resources do a good job of outline the best ABM tools available today. And don’t forget about marketing agencies! For an agency like Groove, ABM is a popular topic they help their customers with. This means they have knowledge and experience working with ABM platforms.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant Account-Based marketing is also an excellent resource. Every year, Gartner rates solutions based on a number of metrics, including their leadership within the industry, their innovation, and their ability to support that innovation. The Gartner market guide for account-based marketing platforms will highlight both startups within the space and the most established companies.

For more information, organizations can take a look at the HubSpot account-based marketing beta, backed by HubSpot account-based marketing case study articles. A full market guide for account based marketing platforms will touch upon such things as account based marketing HubSpot and account based marketing LinkedIn.

As with most solutions, companies need to look first toward what they need from their account-based solutions. Do they need it to integrate with their existing customer relationship management suite? Are they going to be using it on LinkedIn, or other customer-focused platforms? How many employees do they need to support, and do they want the solution to be cloud-based or on-premise?

Once organizations have determined the features that they need from their account-based solution, they can test them through demos, and examine popular case studies. Customer reviews and Better Business Bureau reports can also help determine whether a company is reputable or not. In particular, customer reviews and testimonials will give an accurate review of the product’s upsides and downsides, making it easier to compare multiple products.

Even the cost of account-based marketing solutions can vary significantly, depending on the tiers of service needed, and the number of accounts and employees that have to be supported. Some of the popular account-based solutions are tens of thousands of dollars a month. Others are only a few hundred dollars a month, and many of them fall in between.

Account Based Marketing

There are many platforms open for account based marketing. But what does account based marketing mean? What are the benefits of account based marketing? And what are some account based marketing examples?

Account based marketing is a method of super personalized marketing that targets each account and their organization as an independent “market.” Customers are individually marketed towards, rather than being lumped into broader demographics. Like any type of marketing, there’s a buyer persona — but in this case, the buyer persona is the individual.

While many organizations focus on technology and costs, and comparisons between how they did in Q1 and Q2 2018, organizations actually need to focus on having a robust account-based strategy. To transition to account-based processes, companies must first identify the processes that are going to have to change. This involves more than just reading an account based marketing PPT. It requires that organizations be able to isolate the ways that they need to evolve.

The Forrester Infographic: ABM Maturity Corresponds to Better Revenue Results provides some guidance as to the benefits of account-based marketing. Account-based marketing builds stronger relationships with customers, and makes it less likely for them to leave. Forrester ABM 2019 and Forrester ABM Wave 2019 can give businesses more information on why account-based marketing is the way of the future.

Ultimately, ABM is becoming more important to businesses because it builds revenue. Prospective customers are more likely to engage, and current customers are more likely to be retained. But the trade off is that account-based revenue does demand that an organization be able to adopt new processes and train both sales and marketing staff. Entire processes will need to be adjusted to take advantage of account-based marketing strategies, and companies are going to need to enter into a continual process of improvement.

Demandbase

Demandbase is one of many solutions available in the ABM category. According to the Demandbase Glassdoor account, Demandbase is a reputable company that many employees enjoy working for. The Demandbase ABM platform has many competitors, of which these Demandbase competitors offer a similar set of features and functionality. There has not yet been a Demandbase IPO, so Demandbase revenue information is unknown. Founder Chris Golec remains the Demandbase CEO, and there’s a proliferation of Demandbase Asia support, though the headquarters of the company is in San Francisco.

The Demandbase DSP functionality is incorporated in their platform. Their platform includes a targeting solution, engagement solution, and conversion solution. It tracks all levels of the buyer’s journey to attempt to convince them to convert, and automates the process of targeting and customizing to users.

Demandbase has a number of partners: Servicemax, JLL, Optymyze, Autodesk, and more. It’s proven to be popular among a variety of industries. However, as mentioned before, there are quite a few alternatives to Demandbase that have very similar feature sets.

Engagio

Founded in 2015, Engagio is an account based marketing platform targeted towards marketers. Engagio features include: ABM Foundation, Engage Analytics, Engage ABM Automation, Dash Attribution, and Scout Chrome. Together these create a fairly robust platform. Engagio revenue has been growing, and there are numerous Engagio customers throughout many industries.

Engagio certification shows that Engagio leadership is working towards innovation and standardization, and the current Engagio valuation includes both a Series A for $10 million and a Series B for $22 million. Engagio may be a smaller company compared to the competition, but it focuses on boutique businesses that generate a lot of revenue.

Engagio pricing is rather expensive compared to many other options. An Engagio login will cost a business approximately $25,000 a year. This is the base cost of the license, but it’s not the only cost of the license. Total cost of ownership will also include customization and upgrades, which will need to be separately priced.

The Engagio dashboard is clean and relatively easy to use, and the dashboard includes alerts and notifications that make it easier for marketers to track what’s going on. This improves the automation and optimization of the services. Overall, Engagio is one the top four ABM software solutions out there.

Rollworks

Starting at the low cost of $975 a month (though the other three tiers of service require a call for a quote), Rollworks is one of the most affordable options amongst ABM vendors. Rollworks is also a well known name and is considered among the top of the list of ABM software solutions. It’s important to note that RollWorks is a division of NextRoll. Formerly AdRoll Group, NextRoll is a data and marketing tech company with a mission to accelerate growth for small and big companies.

Rollworks reviews are generally middling despite the cost, which means that marketers have to do their due diligence when looking up the platform, its benefits, and its drawbacks. The reports and dashboards are easy to read and consistent, the interface can be used even by those who are not computer savvy, and the customer support is generally solid.

It does, however, require a contract, and the quoted prices for the higher tiers of service can potentially be high. It’s important to decide as a team, what features are important to us and will we utilize certain features offered at a high price? Is an account-based advertising platform enough? Or do we need more to support sales and marketing alignment, reporting, tracking, and account selection?

ABM Company

Terminus is a fully-featured ABM company that provides comprehensive solutions for sales, marketing, and customer success teams. Terminus ABM should not be confused with Terminal, the Terminal Logo, or the Terminal price – this is a movie of similar name. Those who are looking for an account based marketing framework or account based marketing certification may want to take a look at the Terminus ABM platform.

For marketers interested in changing their strategy, a general case study or blueprint may not be enough. The Terminus account based marketing framework applies a strategy to technology. It includes everything from the Terminus Account Hub to Terminus email features, and the Terminus demo will give marketers everything they need to test out the product and determine whether it’s right for them.

Terminus is an ABM company, not just a tool. A software strategy alone often leaves a company adrift. While the company may want to adopt new ABM standards, they may not be able to do so unless they modify their actual strategies. As an ABM company, Terminus works with the business to help them make that transition. Terminus partners with their customers, from onboarding to training, and develops strategy and helps with execution for businesses that are new to account-based marketing.

With the Terminus strategy framework, ABM certification course, and the original Account Based Marketing for Dummies book, Terminus is able to walk any organization through modifying their strategies and moving forward with new marketing discipline. The Terminus account based marketing framework is everything that an organization needs to restructure its marketing from start to finish.

For more information about Terminus, you can message the Terminus address for email, or you can follow Terminus social media. If you’re interested in learning more about the platform, framework, or people behind Terminus support and customer success, schedule a demo with an ABM export today.