“Customer acquisition is like discovering a diamond ore”.
Account Based Marketing (ABM) & Key Account management (KAM) are the two sides of the same coin, but they are different, one precedes the other. They both focus on targeting and nurturing high value accounts, but they differ in their goals, scope, and tactics.
Account based marketing is approaching a specific company it identifies and targets high value potential accounts for high revenue generation. Practice of an ABM involves both marketing and sales team working closely together to create personalised campaigns that resonates the potential customers, even exceeding the expected needs of these target accounts. Primarily, ABM aims to create one-to-one relationship with each targeted account with specific marketing, sales and promotional strategies.
| Key characteristics of ABM: | Focuses on a specific list of high value-target accounts.Personalised and targeted marketing effortsAims to align marketing and sales efforts for better engagement.Utilises various marketing channels (like email, social media, events) to engage with decision makers.measured by metrics such as engagement levels, account growth and revenue generated from targeted accounts. | |
Key Account Management: KAM is a strategic approach in sales and business management, where a company dedicates specialised Account Managers to manage and nurture relationships with key or high value accounts. The aim of KAM is to create long term partnership and provide exceptional value to these accounts, ultimately leading to customer retention growth and increased customer satisfaction. KAM involves a deep understanding of the client’s business, needs and goals.
| Key characteristics of KAM | Focuses on building and maintaining strong relationships with Key Accounts.Dedicated account managers act as primary points of contact.Involves understanding the client’s business challenges and industry trends.Aims to identify opportunities for upselling, and long-term account growth.Often involves regular in person meetings, consultations, and strategic discussions. | |
Account Based Marketing (ABM) Practices:
Key Account Management (KAM) Practices:
A Quick Comparison between ABM & KAM:
| Account Based Marketing | Key Account Management | |
| Upstream Vs Downstream | Upstream activity: the focus is on marketing to entirely new customers who may or may not know anything about the customer yet. It takes place at the beginning of the chain for B2B customer acquisition. | Downstream activity: KAM starts after the customer has onboarded and has ordered from you. Focus is on demonstrating the long-term value your company can provide to your customer, further, have potential to grow in the future by forging stronger B2B relationship |
| Account Management approach is into the marketing process focussing on specific leads and targeting high value accounts from the start | ||
| Winning Accounts Vs Keeping Accounts | Dedicated to winning over new customers. Make a great first impression with an account specific personalised approach to draw new customers. ABM is about understanding, targeting, and onboarding new customers | KAM focus is on customer growth and retention. High potential and high value customers are your accounts, anchor them with a highly personalised account management strategy that seeks to turn specific customers into partners |
| Hunting Whales but in different oceans | ABM looks for large clients that aren’t already on board with your company. ABM brings new, high value customers into a company’s sights to make a sale | KAM is looking to make your current accounts turn into larger accounts. KAM seeks to make that account larger over the long term |
| Primary contacts | Small | Small |
| Complement each other | ABM need to compliment KAM | KAM need to compliment ABM and help in providing seamless information to KAM of their existing clients and expectations, so that they can better the strategy at the upstream level of customer acquisition |
Source: Kapta.com
Conclusion:
When we summarise, both ABM & KAM target high-value accounts. Primarily, ABM is a marketing driven approach that customise campaigns to engage and attract specific accounts, while KAM approach focuses on building and maintaining relationships with the key accounts over the long term. These strategies can often complement each other, with ABM helping to attract and initiate engagement and target accounts and KAM ensuring the ongoing success and growth of those relationships. In nutshell:
- Emphasise the synergy between ABM & KAM
- Highlight the benefits of a holistic approach to high-value account management.
Further Readings:
- Key Account Management-The Definitive Guide by Malcom Mc Donald and Diana Woodburn,
- Key Account Management- The Definitive Guide by Malcom Mc Donald and Beth Rogers
- Practitioners Guide to Account Based marketing by Bev Burgess.
- Managing Major Accounts: Strategies and Tools for Achieving Success by Neil Rackham
- https://kapta.com/resources/key-account-management-blog/key-account-management/account-based-marketing-and-key-account-management?cv=1 by Alex Raymond
