Person-based advertising vs Account-Based Marketing

Person-based advertising and Account-Based Marketing (ABM) are both strategies that focus on targeting specific audiences, but they differ in their approach and scope. Here’s a comparison of the two:

Person-Based Advertising:

1. Focus: Person-based advertising targets individual consumers or users. It aims to deliver personalized content and advertisements to specific individuals based on their behaviour, preferences, and demographics.
2. Data Utilization: It heavily relies on collecting and analysing individual customer data. This data is used to create detailed customer profiles, enabling personalized advertising campaigns. Person-Based Advertising Platforms such as Influ2 can help with this by pulling data from multiple sources and presenting in easy to read dashboards.
3. Channels: Person-based advertising can be executed across various channels, including social media, email, websites, mobile apps, and more. The goal is to engage individuals wherever they interact with the brand.
4. Personalization: The emphasis is on creating highly personalized content and experiences for individual users. The messaging is tailored to address the specific needs and interests of each person.
5. Use Cases: Person-based advertising is commonly used in B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing where the target audience is individual consumers.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM):

1. Focus: ABM targets entire companies or organizations rather than individual persons. It involves creating customised marketing strategies for specific target accounts or high-value clients.
2. Data Utilization: While individual data might still be used within an organization, the primary focus is on understanding the needs and characteristics of the targeted businesses or accounts. A CRM with account-based structure is essential – such as HubSpot or Salesforce. Popular analysis tools for this include 6Sense, DemandbaseOne, and LeanData.
3. Channels: ABM campaigns are typically executed across various channels, including personalized emails, targeted social media ads, direct mail, and events. The goal is to engage the entire decision-making unit within the targeted accounts.
4. Personalization: ABM campaigns are highly personalized but at the company level. Content and messaging are tailored to address the challenges and objectives of the target accounts.
5. Use Cases: ABM is commonly used in B2B (business-to-business) marketing, especially in industries where the sales cycle is long and involves multiple decision-makers within a company.

Key Differences:

• Scope: Person-based advertising focuses on individuals, while ABM targets entire organizations or accounts.
• Personalization Level: Person-based advertising achieves high personalization at the individual level, whereas ABM achieves personalization at the company or account level.
• Target Audience: Person-based advertising is suitable for businesses targeting a broad consumer audience, while ABM is ideal for businesses with a select group of high-value clients or target accounts.
• Data Usage: While both strategies utilize data, person-based advertising relies on individual customer data, while ABM focuses on understanding the business needs of specific companies.

In practice, some businesses might employ a combination of both strategies based on their target audience and marketing objectives.

For instance, when ExtraDigital sets up campaigns for a B2B company we might recommend ABM to target specific businesses while also suggesting person-based advertising to engage with individual decision-makers within those organizations.

So it is possible and often best to use both ABM (Account Based Marketing) and Person-based advertising with one business.