Laura Holmes is a technology marketing specialist with experience developing and delivering complex sales engagement strategies for global businesses. Here she explains why establishing an Account-based Marketing (ABM) Centre of Excellence can be a game-changer for driving sustainable growth.
Setting up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) can revolutionise the impact of your ABM programme. By adhering to an agreed strategy, ensuring consistency, harnessing the collective expertise of your ABM-ers and fostering seamless collaboration, a CoE can dramatically improve the effectiveness of your ABM efforts.
Here’s what you stand to gain:
- Integrated expertise and best practices
A CoE serves as the heartbeat of ABM excellence, uniting the best practices and deep expertise in the field. By pooling insights from successful ABM initiatives and experienced professionals, a CoE becomes your go-to source for guidance. This collective expertise supports the development of more sophisticated ABM plans, ensures consistent high-value propositions and drives the seamless execution of integrated marketing campaigns.
- Flexibility and scalability
Whether you’re targeting a global corporation or multiple accounts in a region, a CoE provides the guidance needed to scale your ABM efforts. With a well-structured approach—from onboarding accounts to discovering, designing, developing, and delivering ABM strategies—a CoE can help teams to adapt to local requirements and provide the tools and templates needed for the right type of ABM. This ensures ABM initiatives are always aligned with your programme objectives, no matter the size or complexity of each account.
- Streamlined processes and consistent execution
In ABM, consistency is key, and a CoE is your secret weapon for maintaining consistency across all campaigns. By establishing clear, streamlined procedures—from defining needs and evaluating and sharing current assets, to prioritising and creating new ones—a CoE ensures every initiative stays on-brand and aligned with your overarching goals. This streamlined approach not only conserves time but also enhances the quality and effectiveness of your ABM initiatives.
- Enhanced collaboration and communication
An ABM CoE can be a catalyst for improved collaboration between marketing and sales teams. By bringing both departments into the defined ABM process—from initial onboarding to final delivery and evaluation stages—the CoE ensures seamless communication as each function understands the role it plays. This synergy not only fosters more collaboration but also drives better outcomes.
- Data-driven decision making
A CoE puts data at the centre of your ABM plan development. By leveraging discovery interviews, social listening, and detailed customer insights in each plan, the CoE ensures every decision is grounded in robust data. This data-driven approach also defines your programme strategy and account coverage models and is used to sharpen targeting accuracy, fuelling the ongoing refinement and optimisation of your ABM approach.
By constantly reviewing and refining strategies, adopting new tools and techniques, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, a CoE keeps your ABM efforts fresh and impactful. This relentless pursuit of innovation ensures your ABM strategies are always at the forefront, delivering maximum value to your organisation.
For organisations serious about advancing their ABM programme, creating a CoE isn’t just an option—it’s a strategic priority. If you would like to discuss developing an ABM Centre of Excellence with Laura or anyone else from the Inflexion Group team, please contact us: info@inflexiongroup.com
