ABM is a strategy in which sales and marketing coordinate efforts on a specific set of target accounts. Together, sales and marketing gather insights and craft individual messages for each account to address their specific needs.

Lead generation is the process of attracting target prospects and nurturing them into qualified sales opportunities with purchase intent.

ABM makes sense when a company has at least one high-involvement, high-touch, high-priced packaged offering—designed for enterprise targets. Lead generation is a better fit for lower touch, lower priced offerings pointed at a broader market.

ABM Requirements:

• Real support and accountability from the C-Suite, Marketing, Marketing Operations, and especially Sales

• Shared, transparent KPIs

• Tools and methods appropriate to your program’s scale. Consider: account selection and targeting, experience platforms, marketing automation, personalization, predictive analytics, CRM and measurement

• An ideal customer profile (ICP) and identification of target accounts

• High value offers and content, designed to be personalized at the account level—and at the individual level for one-to-one ABM

Lead Generation Requirements:

• Similar cross-functional support, accountability and KPI transparency, but without the level of orchestration of an ABM program

• Audience understanding—think personas

• Customer journey mapping

• Lead scoring strategy and clear MQL/SQL definitions that are agreed to by all stakeholders

• Strong offers and content that fit a segment well-designed to personalize at scale

• Lead nurture program to move leads through the funnel

• Tools designed for scale—some are the same categories as ABM, like marketing automation, CRM, and measurement, but the requirements will change