Account-Based Marketing vs. Lead Generation: Key Differences and Strategies for Success

The two BIG B2B marketing strategies that always round the conversation are Account Marketing(ABM) and Lead generation. Although they are focused on generating revenue, ABM and lead generation adopt two completely different means. The key takeaway businesses need to know when it comes to understanding ABM vs lead generation.

In this article, we will dissect the differences, advantages, and application routes for each strategy to help you decide which is most suited for you, and your brand.

Account-based Marketing (ABM)

Account-Based Marketing: This is an aggressive approach, where the marketing and sales teams work together and focus on single, high-value accounts. Rather than the shotgun approach, ABM approaches each account as though it were one market and serves individual customers with tailored campaigns that cover the decision-maker’s pain points within the target account.

Features Of ABM

• Content and messaging hyper personalize.
• High-value accounts or companies — (F)
• Marketing & sales alignment
• More time on the sales cycle, but higher ROI.

When to Use ABM:

• Enterprise Level Client Targeting
• Industries with long cycle times (SaaS, manufacturing)
• ICP Defined Businesses

Also Read: Best Lead Generation Strategies for Video Production Company 

Lead Generation

Lead Generation is more broadly a marketing strategy used in trying to bring in potential customers that result in leads. However, the objectives are simply to generate a pipeline of prospects with tactics such as content marketing and SEO, PPC, and email. After that, these leads are encouraged to buy via nurturing.

Key Features of Lead Generation:

• Casts a wide net to attract a large volume of leads.
• Relies on inbound and outbound marketing tactics.
• Shorter sales cycles but lower conversion rates.
• Focuses on individual leads rather than entire accounts.

When to Use Lead Generation:

• Businesses targeting a large audience (e.g., SMBs).
• Industries with shorter sales cycles (e.g., e-commerce, retail).
• Companies looking to build brand awareness and grow their customer base.

Account-Based Marketing vs. Lead Generation: Key Differences

Aspect	Account-Based Marketing (ABM)	Lead Generation
Target Audience	Specific high-value accounts	Broad audience of potential leads
Approach	Personalized and tailored	Generalized and scalable
Sales Cycle	Longer	Shorter
ROI	Higher ROI per account	Lower ROI per lead
Effort	High-touch, resource-intensive	Low-touch, cost-effective

Lead Generation Key Features

• Wide Net to Catch the Bulk of Leads
• Depends on both inbound and outbound marketing.
• Fewer sales lead to fewer conversions.
• Leads to per account focus instead of leveraging accurate lead intelligence with the entire leads.
• Leads Generation When to employ
• Businesses interested in a mass market (think SMBs)
• Industries (e.g., e-commerce, retail) with shorter sales cycles.
• Want to promote their business and increase their customer base.

Which to opt:

There is no one answer to whether ABM or lead generation should drive the ideal customer.

Pick ABM if:

• You are hitting just a handful of high-value accounts.
• You are in a long and hard sales cycle.
• Do you have the budget (or will you develop the skills) for campaign-based scaling
• Choose Lead Generation for:
• More Sales but less $ in your pipeline
• Short and Sweet sales cycle
• Need to grow fast with cheaper tactics

Also Read: 08 Best Marketing Automation Tools for B2B Lead Generation

Can Lead Generation and ABM Work Together?

Completely! A lot of the time, businesses use it in conjunction (lead generation called a broad shot and ABM for precision). For example, you can use lead generation to find those high-value accounts and transition to ABM for these same accounts, but as you move them further along in the stack, you change out your campaigns to personalized.

ABM and lead generation: What key metrics should you be tracking to measure success

To continually boost effectiveness and ROI in advertising, you must measure the results of your marketing. With ABM or lead generation, however, the metrics that you choose to measure will be different.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Metrics

Account Engagement: A comparative of the engagement your focus accounts have with your content and campaign(s).

Velocity of the Pipeline: Measures how quickly accounts qualify through the sales pipeline.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Measure the account value acquired via ABM with your long-term spending.

Win Rate: The portion of target accounts that turn into paying customers.

Account Coverage: The people and voices you have engaged in the target account.

Metrics to Measure the Success of Your Lead Generation

The First Sign Of Success: Number of Leads: The actual volume of leads that have been generated by your campaigns.

Cost Per Lead (CPL): How much it costs to get one lead

Conversion Rate: The ratio of leads who become paying customers

The Cost Per Acquisition (ROAS): The revenue so far you are getting for every single $ spent on advertising.

Lead Quality Score: A good proxy of how closely leads match your ideal customer profile (ICP)

Why Metrics Are Important

• Speeding up the right metrics to your dashboard then:
• Find out what works and what does not work
• Maximizes Resource Allocation
• Show proof of the Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) you are generating for your stakeholders.

Also Read: The impact of digital marketing on e-commerce

Tools and Technologies for ABM and Lead Generation

Whether ABM and lead-gen have succeeded depends on what tools/tech you are using to do it. So here are the top of most popular options for each strategy broken down:

Tools for Account-Based Marketing ( ABM )

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools: this is Amazon, Salesforce Hubspot, etc. to handle and track your communications with target accounts

Account-based Advertising: Demandbase / Terminus: The Personalized Ads for Specific Accounts

Intent Data Providers: Companies like Bombora and 6sense assist you with identifying accounts that are in the research stage of sourcing businesses similar to yours.

Tailored content and experience (personalization) tools: These include Dynamic Yield, OneSpot creates unique offers with your shoppers in mind.

Sales Enablement Tools: Tools and applications that support sales rep ( like Outreach, and SalesLoft) in their account engagements.

LEAD GENERATION TOOLS

Email Marketing Tools: Email Marketing Tools such as Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign to nurture them into leads via email campaigns.

Op-Conv Tools: Tools like OptinMonster, and Unbounce reduce friction in your landing pages and forms, so you can capture more leads.

Marketing & SEO (relevant) Tools: Use sites like SEMrush or Ahrefs to enhance your content for search.

LinkedIn Advertising / Facebook Advertising: Tools to reach a wide audience

Analytics: Platforms like Google Analytics and Hotjar that measure and prioritize your campaigns.

Make The Best Pick Of Tools

What you need to consider with tools is

• Your budget.
• Team size
• The unique requirements of your campaigns

The Future of ABM and Lead Generation

And as technology evolves so do the B2B marketing strategies and tactics. So, what does the future have in store for ABM and lead generation?

Emerging trends in ABM

Personalization using AI: With artificial intelligence and Generative ai development services, marketers will be able to deliver more personalized experiences for everyone.

Predictive Analytics tools are better at forecasting which accounts are most likely to close.

Enhancement of ABM with Sales Enablement: Greater opportunities for real-time visibility & recommendations from sales/buyer persona tools.

Also Read: Top 10 eCommerce Marketing Agencies to Watch Out for in 2023

Conclusion

Account-based marketing as well as Lead Gen are both great strategies, they just do different things. ABM is ideal for high-value accounts with personalized campaigns, lead gen is better for achieving a large-sized prospect pipeline. 

By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, you can choose the right strategy—or a combination of both—to drive growth and achieve your business goals.