MRP and Demand Metric survey finds 96% of marketing leaders say COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the ways products are marketed and sold

81% of large enterprises plan to increase ABM investment to meet changes in marketing velocity and marketing mix

Before the pandemic hit, enterprises had started to embrace account based marketing (ABM) to enable sales and marketing success in a highly dynamic and challenging environment. Today, enterprise marketing leaders are navigating a new and drastically different landscape, tasked with forging new connections as companies and their products evolve on both ends of the sales cycle.

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MRP Prelytix™, the only enterprise-class predictive ABM platform, today unveiled the results of a new survey that details the impact of the pandemic on ABM and marketing leaders. The survey finds that ABM investment is increasing as companies respond to significant business challenges brought on by the pandemic, helping marketers rapidly pivot to make new connections between targets, channels and content. Key findings include:

COVID disruption

Over the past year, the amount of change and corresponding agility has dramatically accelerated as sellers and buyers shifted to digital-first business models.

• Nearly all marketing leaders (96%) state that COVID has dramatically or somewhat disrupted the way they market and sell products and services
• This retooling is most evident in the enterprise (defined as more than 150MM in annual revenue). Nearly half of marketers (49%) say that COVID has dramatically disrupted sales and marketing and 48% say it has ‘somewhat’ had an impact.
• Three in 4 (77%) report the pace of marketing efforts are faster than a year ago. This number rises to 83% for enterprise marketers.

ABM takes center stage

In the midst of drastic changes, marketers are turning to ABM solutions to help them reach customers and prospects in an evolving, digital-first world.

• Three of 4 marketing leaders (73%) agree that COVID has impacted their ABM strategy.
• Virtually all (99%) plan to increase or sustain their investment in ABM in the year ahead.
• Large enterprises stand more to gain with 81% saying they will increase their investment in ABM this year.

New challenges emerge

Digital-first and digital transformation initiatives have shifted roles, behaviors and priorities across the purchase process, opening up new opportunities for ABM.

• The number one ABM shift cited by marketers was “our account profiles have changed” (39% of respondents).
• This was even more pronounced in larger companies with 43% of marketing leaders pointing to this challenge.
• Other major trends included “channels we use to reach targets are changing” (28%) and “targets are not responsive to the same content” (20%), indicating that marketers who rethink and transform their approach can gain an advantage and stand out against competitors.

“Enterprise marketers have risen to the challenges of changing products and business tools with new ABM strategies that ensure they remain connected to their target accounts – and to their sales and marketing peers across their own organization,” said Jennifer Golden, Director of Corporate Marketing, MRP. “Looking forward, the key to ABM success is to continue to advance the use of global data, predictive models, and robust collaboration innovated in the pandemic to improve outcomes and drive new value and success.”

Methodology

MRP partnered with global research and advisory firm Demand Metric to complete a survey of more than 400 marketing leaders across the globe. The survey was conducted online in April and May of 2021.

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