picture of the abm playbook

Full-Service or Self-Service ABM: How to Decide What's Best for Your Business

When it comes to implementing account-based marketing, you need to make a choice on how to make it effective for your business. Because ABM targets specific high-value accounts with personalized messaging and tailored content, it’s highly effective in generating revenue and increasing ROI for B2B companies. 

To make the most of ABM, B2B businesses have two options: selecting full-service ABM or self-service ABM. Oftentimes, ABM vendors will only operate in one of these lanes, specializing in full-service ABM or self-service ABM. Here’s what you need to know about your choices, and why it may be beneficial to your business to work with a company that can do both. 

What is full-service ABM?

Selecting an ABM provider can be stressful, especially if you don’t know much about how to do ABM yourself. Full-service ABM is a comprehensive solution delivered by an ABM provider or a dedicated ABM team within a marketing agency. Platforms like Propensity offer a full-service ABM option. Choosing full-service ABM affords B2B companies all aspects of the ABM process, from strategy and planning to execution and analysis. 

Ultimately, full-service ABM delegates tasks to ABM experts who are then responsible for creating and executing the ABM strategy, helping to identify best-fit target accounts, develop the messaging and content, launch the campaigns and measure each campaign’s success. With full-service ABM, the provider supplies ongoing support and analysis to ensure campaigns follow best practices and achieve success customers expect. 

The benefits of full-service ABM

Leverage experts for better results

ABM relies on a team of experts who specialize in creating and executing ABM strategies. You’ll have experience on your side — with a dedicated team used to working with diverse industries and target markets able to help address the needs of your unique ABM campaign.

Saves weeks of time

Full-service ABM also takes the burden of creating and executing the ABM strategy off your business's shoulders, allowing a team of dedicated ABM experts to focus their core competencies on helping your campaign achieve success.

Scales your business

Employing full-service ABM gives your business the resources to scale campaigns as needed, whether adding new target accounts or expanding the campaign to other regions.

What is self-service ABM?

If you’re experienced with ABM, self-service ABM offers a fantastic do-it-yourself option that allows your business to create and execute ABM campaigns on-the-fly. You’ll work in tandem with an ABM company like Propensity, but you’ll completely own the end-to-end ABM strategy and orchestration. 

All the while, you’ll use Propensity’s proprietary ABM tools to activate list-building, contact enrichment and outreach. Self-service ABM gives you the ability, tools and resources to help create and execute campaigns at a pace that works for you. 

The benefits of self-service ABM

It gives you control

Businesses have complete control over the ABM strategy, including the messaging, content, and target accounts. They can make changes and adjustments as needed without going through an agency.

You can stay flexible

Self-service ABM platforms offer flexibility in terms of campaign management, allowing businesses to launch campaigns on their own timeline and adjust them as needed.

In conclusion…

If you’re new to ABM, selecting a full-service solution may be the right choice for you. Afterall, many B2B companies will begin with a full-service option before moving on to self-service once they gain the proper experience. Unfortunately, most ABM vendors only specialize in either full-service ABM or self-service ABM. Propensity can help your business with full-service and self-service ABM, so you can meet your business’s needs without having to learn an entirely new process after you run your first campaign. 

Reap the benefits of full-service ABM by adopting a comprehensive solution with proven results. Once you’re confident that your business has the expertise and resources to execute its own ABM campaigns, or ready to move onto self-service, Propensity can help make the transition easy, so you have the best resources for ABM already at your fingertips.