Ever feel like your marketing team is being pulled in opposite directions? Do you go all-in on high-value, personalized engagement, or do you automate and scale to maximize reach?
There’s a time and place for both strategies, and knowing when to use them makes all the difference. Whether you’re trying to land big accounts or increase your marketing output, we’re here to help you figure out which type of approach works best for your business.
This article:
- explores the differences between account-based marketing (ABM) vs. marketing automation
- provides advantages and disadvantages for each
- outlines key factors to consider when choosing a strategy
- proposes a solution for combining the two approaches
Account-Based Marketing Explained
Not all prospects offer equal value. Instead of marketing to the masses, an effective account-based marketing strategy zeros in the accounts that will actually move the needle for your business. These are the companies that align with your ideal customer profile (ICP) and are most likely to convert, generate meaningful revenue and become long-term partners.
It’s a great fit for B2B companies that deal with long sales cycles and high-value deals. Unlike traditional lead generation, where you cast a wide net and hope for the best, ABM is highly targeted and strategic.
You deliberately create highly personalized campaigns that speak directly to key decision-makers. This level of personalization makes it easier to cut through the noise and capture the attention of people who actually have buying power.
Marketing Automation Explained
Effective marketing requires speed, adaptability, and personalization—at scale. But manually managing each touchpoint is impossible, even for the most productive of teams. Marketing automation can help you streamline workflows and engage prospects more efficiently.
At its core, marketing automation takes care of repetitive marketing tasks like outbound timing and social media scheduling. Instead of having to handle every interaction manually, automation keeps target accounts engaged without extra effort from your marketing team.
It’s primarily focused on boosting internal efficiency by automating key processes like prospect scoring, CRM data updates and nurturing sequences. The result is a well-organized marketing operation where your team can focus on high-impact strategies rather than getting stuck in tedious admin tasks.
Difference Between Marketing Automation and Account-Based Marketing
Both marketing automation and account-based marketing (ABM) help businesses grow, but they work in very different ways. Here’s how they stack up:
- Customer Focus
- ABM: It’s all about going after the right accounts, so think quality over quantity.
- Marketing automation: Casts a wider net to guide prospects through the funnel.
- Scale & Scope
- ABM: A highly targeted approach that focuses on a handful of high-value accounts.
- Marketing automation: Designed to engage a large audience efficiently through streamlined processes.
- Techniques
- ABM: Uses personalized content, direct outreach, and tailored engagement.
- Marketing automation: Automates emails, scores prospects, and keeps CRM data in check.
- Team Alignment
- ABM: Sales and marketing work hand-in-hand to win big accounts.
- Marketing automation: Marketing leads the way, making sure prospects stay engaged.
Advantages and Disadvantages of ABM and Marketing Automation
Both ABM and marketing automation have their strengths, but neither is a one-size-fits-all solution. While ABM helps businesses build strong, high-value relationships, marketing automation ensures efficiency at scale. Here’s some pros and cons for each.
Pros and cons of ABM
Pros and cons of marketing automation
Account-Based Marketing and Marketing Automation Factors to Consider
Before you decide whether to go all-in on ABM or lean on marketing automation, keep one thing in mind: it’s not an either-or decision.
For B2B companies targeting mid-market and enterprise customers, the best approach isn’t ABM vs. marketing automation, but rather adopting a hybrid approach.
The two tactics serve different purposes and work in different ways, but they complement each other when used strategically. Figuring out how to balance the two is the challenge.
Here are the key factors to consider when deciding how to integrate ABM and marketing automation into your marketing strategy.
Cost
Marketing automation is accessible for small and large teams alike. While you need to allocate resources towards some tools, there’s very little additional cost involved once you have your software set up. Since this approach automates a lot of manual work, it also makes it highly cost-effective, as you save time and can do more with a leaner department.
And while ABM isn’t costly, per-say, it does require you to invest in specialized account-based marketing software. But once you do, you can launch personalized, high-touch campaigns that maximize revenue and ROI to ensure your investment pays itself off.
Audience Focus
Audience focus is where ABM and marketing automation really show their differences. ABM is centered on targeting specific, high-value accounts. With this approach, you zero in on key decision-makers within these businesses and craft highly personalized campaigns that speak directly to their needs.
Account-based marketing experiences are all about forging authentic connections to generate better prospects and form lasting partnerships. It's a strategy designed for quality over quantity.
Marketing automation, on the other hand, casts a wider net. It's built to reach a larger audience with less customization. So while marketing automation allows you to send out automated emails, share social posts and publish ads at scale, ABM is all about making sure the right accounts get your undivided attention.
For example, using ABM on LinkedIn enables organizations to easily reach their ICPs through highly targeted and personalized content. Check out the video below to see how you can do it for your own organization!
Relationship Building
ABM is about making real, personal connections. It's like meeting a potential client for coffee and discussing their specific challenges and goals. By focusing on a few key accounts and tailoring your messaging to directly address their needs, you can build relationships that turn into long-term partnerships.
On the other hand, marketing automation helps you stay in touch with a broad range of prospects quickly and easily. It’s less about the personal touch and more about getting your message out at scale. While marketing automation has a different impact than ABM, it’s still important for building and nurturing your brand presence.
Automating Workflows vs Automating Personalization
Marketing automation streamlines activities by reducing time-intensive tasks such as audience segmentation and social media management. By automating workflows, you set things in motion and let technology do the heavy lifting, thereby improving efficiency. However, this comes at the cost of personalization.
ABM takes a different route by automating personalization. AI-powered tools enable you to craft tailored, one-on-one campaigns for specific accounts to make every interaction feel custom. Ultimately, marketing automation gives you speed and scale, but ABM offers a more meaningful and personalized experience for businesses with complex and long sales processes.
Choosing Marketing Automation Tools
There’s no shortage of marketing automation tools – over the past decade, the solution landscape has saturated significantly. Fortunately, because competition is so rife amongst the leaders, newcomers, and innovators, platforms are routinely updated and enhanced, giving you (the end user) the best value for money. Here are just a few of the top platforms at the moment:
HubSpot
One of the premier marketing automation platforms, HubSpot empowers marketing and sales teams to automate repetitive marketing tasks, and streamline customer relationship management through one of the most intuitive systems yet.
But HubSpot is more than just a combination of marketing automation tools – it’s an all-in-one platform for Inbound Marketing, designed to attract, engage, and convert interested parties. It achieves this through content management, lead nurturing tools, email automation, customer relationship management, AI agents and much more.
Omnisend
Omnisend is an e-commerce-focused marketing automation platform that integrates email, SMS, and other channels to streamline customer communication and boost sales.
Pros:
- Seamlessly integrates with popular e-commerce platforms, enhancing marketing efforts.
- Known for its easy setup and intuitive interface, allowing quick implementation.
- Offers competitive pricing plans suitable for various business sizes.
Cons:
- Some users may find customization options limited compared to other platforms.
- Lacks some advanced features that larger enterprises might require.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a robust marketing automation platform offering tools for email marketing, social media engagement, advertising, and data analytics. It's designed to provide personalized customer journeys and integrate seamlessly with Salesforce's CRM.
Pros:
- Offers a wide range of marketing tools suitable for large-scale campaigns.
- Deep integration with Salesforce CRM enhances data synchronization and customer management.
- Designed to handle the needs of large enterprises with complex marketing requirements.
Cons:
- Pricing may be prohibitive for small to medium-sized businesses.
- Requires significant time and resources to implement and manage effectively.
Deployteq is a marketing automation platform that focuses on personalized customer journeys, offering tools for email marketing, data management, and multi-channel campaigns.
Pros:
- Provides advanced tools for creating personalized customer experiences.
- Supports various channels, including email, SMS, and social media, for cohesive campaigns.
- Offers robust data management features, allowing for detailed customer segmentation.
Cons:
- Custom pricing may be less transparent, requiring direct consultation for accurate cost assessment.
- Advanced features may require training to utilize fully.
Each of these platforms offers unique features and capabilities. The best choice depends on your business's specific needs, budget, and marketing objectives.
Adobe Marketing Engage (formerly Adobe Campaign) is a powerful enterprise-grade marketing automation solution that enables businesses to create, automate, and measure personalized campaigns across multiple channels.
Pros:
- Advanced AI-driven personalization and customer insights
- Omnichannel marketing support, including email, web, mobile, and offline channels
- Seamless integration with Adobe Experience Cloud and other Adobe products
Cons:
- Steep learning curve due to its complexity
- High cost, making it more suitable for large enterprises rather than small businesses
Combining the Power of ABM and Marketing Automation
Combining ABM and marketing automation allows you to personalize your approach while maximizing efficiently. Here’s how to make the most of both techniques to build a scalable marketing strategy that drives results.
Pair Targeting with Personalization
Marketing automation is your secret weapon for targeting high-intent prospects fast. But once you’ve got the right people on your radar, ABM lets you dive in and build stronger, more personal connections. The key to combining the two strategies is finding the right tools.
Userled, for example, automates intent scoring to give you real-time insights into prospect behavior and engagement. The tool then enables you to create personalized experiences for your high-value accounts most likely to convert with AI-powered content generation.
Combine and Optimize Resources
Marketing budgets can quickly run dry if you’re using multiple tools to handle different tasks, and constantly jumping between platforms eats into your team’s productivity. Make the most of your resources by finding a platform that provides both marketing automation and ABM features, or use specialized tools that integrate seamlessly.
By using software that covers both ABM and marketing automation, you’ll have everything in one place so you can target key accounts and personalise content while reducing manual tasks. And when looking at integrations, prioritize solutions with straightforward integrations to your CRM, ad campaign platforms, and other essential tools.
Bring Sales and Marketing Teams Together
Marketing automation provides the insights and data that help guide ABM efforts. But for ABM to truly thrive, you need synergy between sales and marketing. A cohesive go-to-market (GTM) team ensures marketing’s messaging is spot-on and sales knows exactly when and how to reach out.
That way, marketing can focus on nurturing prospects with tailored content and engagement, while sales can act quickly and decisively with the right information at their fingertips. When both teams work in sync, they focus their efforts on targeting the same high-value accounts and making sure every interaction is personalized and timely—leading to a smoother handoff between marketing and sales and improved conversion rates.
Level up your account based marketing strategy with these top tips
Userled: Discover a Tool That Can Do Both
Bridging the gap between account-based marketing and marketing automation requires a powerful tool. Whether you’re looking to engage key accounts with personalized campaigns or scale your efforts with automated workflows, Userled has you covered.
Powerful targeting features enable you to identify high-value accounts and create tailored content that speaks directly to decision-makers. At the same time, analytics dashboard features provide deep insights into account performance, campaign success, and other key ABM metrics. This makes it easy to measure results and adjust strategies in real-time.
Workflow automation streamlines repetitive tasks to optimize your team’s efficiency, and integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Webflow, and more keep all your processes connected. Harness the combined power of ABM and marketing automation with Userled, and watch your marketing campaigns drive real, measurable success.
Wrapping Up Account-Based Marketing vs Marketing Automation
For B2B marketing efforts to outperform expectations, you need to leverage marketing automation and ABM. Marketing automation works behind the scenes to keep your efforts efficient and scalable, while ABM helps you focus on high-value accounts and craft tailored strategies for each.
Combine ABM’s account-specific focus with marketing automation for the best of both worlds: deep, meaningful engagement with the right accounts, plus the ability to scale efforts while upholding quality. It’s a no-brainer for B2B companies who want to drive growth without having to grow their team.
Author
Generated £1.3M pipeline by focusing on UTM parameters personalisation.
Generated £1.3M pipeline by focusing on UTM parameters personalisation.
