The ABM Voice

You have had a long and successful career as a Marketer; Take us through your journey. I graduated in engineering and after working in this field realized its not my cup of tea. Then did my MBA and started working in services on the technical side and finally moved to marketing.

How do you define Account-Based Marketing? Account Based Marketing is a marketing method focusing on personalizing campaign designs and communication with individual prospects through better understanding. It helps to try out different strategies desired by different accounts and work out the best way to engage different prospects. ABM provides an overall view on how to engage with a customer.

• Recently Aspire won the ITSMA award in their ABM leadgen category.
• I have a dual role in my company as the CMO of Aspire Systems, a leading IT services firm and am also the head of marketing at Synergita, a product brand. 
• As a CMO of Aspire, we serve various industry verticals - Banking, Retail, Software etc. And each of these verticals has unique market attributes. So obviously, one size fits all is out of the question. 

We can’t talk ABM without talking Sales - Marketing alignment. What were the challenges you had to face when you proposed or even after you introduced ABM in your organization? ABM can help to make sales easier by opening doors and branding. Also by engaging prospects in different ways and providing intelligence to ensure better sales. Marketing can aid in sales growth strategies, to meet required targets and increase familiarity with accounts even though it isn’t necessary for sales to understand the working of ABM.

From our previous conversations, I gather, you are a proponent of culturing Buying intent through campaigns vs sourcing 3rd party Buyer Intent. Could you elaborate for us on why you think this way? 

Let’s talk about the people aspect a bit. How should one imbibe the culture of ABM to the team members? Personalizing the message, difference in culture and brand new ways of marketing were required due to the pandemic. ABM provides step by step campaigning by first setting the awareness and building slowly. Better options to engage with the audience and finer user journey are also noticed.

How do you think ABM would shape up in the next two years? ABM to ABX, the future of ABM leads to Account Based Experience where the foundation is similar but provides multiple ways to engage the audience. Micro-segments, internal enhancement of companies, how to target customers and so on will be given importance. AMB organic strategies are becoming familiar in the executive community.

What advice would you give to an aspiring ABM practitioner? The knowledge of traditional marketing is important. One has to be open-minded to understand the difference in culture. Patience and sustaining effort is necessary as the time period for success may vary. AMB is for everyone, be it a leader, an individual or a team as long as one keeps trying.

What does ABM actually mean? We all have our own definitions of ABM and how we utilize it. Let's see what it means to our guests who are ABM industry experts.

In our 1st episode, our host Arun Gopalaswamy (Recotap's Head Honcho) is talking to Lubaina Rangwala, Thoughtworks Global ABM Lead. You can see the main points of the conversation below.

• Please tell us a bit about yourself

A member of Global ABM Lead, Thoughtworks. Started working in 3D animation and sound, to managing client relations, to business analyst, to product marketing and finally ABM.

• How do you define ABM?

It is a strategic way of thinking about B2B marketing. ABM deals with bringing sales and marketing together. The goal is to personalize customer experience in a way that is relevant to them.

• How did you end up being an ABM practitioner? And how has your ABM journey been?

The journey started with an interest in the go-to market which gravitated toward product marketing. Incidentally, an opportunity in Thoughtworks opened up to create something new in marketing, ABM. Even after one and a half years since ABM, the learning process still continues as different organizations use ABM in different ways. Going from 9 accounts to 30 in this period, it is constantly changing.

• What do you do with ABM currently?

It largely depends on how we are and what we do. There are two teams, The Global Center of Excellence and the Regional. The regional teams are aligned to different accounts, by discovering the best way to work with the region in a non-hostile way by understanding and communicating on what best works for them. Also, by learning from our counterparts all around the world and using this information to develop the foundation elements for ABM. The global team assists by giving support, measurement, training and other required elements. ABM was started by setting up a pilot program to measure the effectiveness of it and to allow buy-in from larger groups.

• How did you identify the need for ABM ?

Marketing and commercial leadership brought up the need for ABM. For the past two years, due to the pandemic, most organizations focused on retention and expansion rather than building new businesses. Both regionally and globally, ABM had an impact which was challenging. The leadership was very helpful to articulate it and align the rest of the process.

• What are the challenges in implementing ABM in your organization?

Since ABM is a new process, to get the message across is vital for it to work regardless of all the hassles one has to face. Bringing sales and marketing together is very important as well. Prioritizing ABM has proven to be beneficial and is required to build awareness. Moreover, one has to get accustomed to a new way of working. Exchanging ideas and feedback between sales and marketing, as well as partnership is a necessity.

• What advice would you give to an aspiring ABM practitioner?

Regardless of the background, anyone can practice ABM. Do not stick to the dogmatic aspects of ABM. Always do what works best for the client. Remember to share one's experience by writing blogs or attending talk shows as it builds literacy between marketers.

How can people reach out to you?

Twitter : @lubaina