Gartner defines account-based marketing (ABM) platforms as software that enables B2B marketing and sales teams to run ABM programs at scale, including account discovery and selection, planning, engagement and reporting. ABM platforms enable the creation of target account lists by unifying first- and third-party data. In addition, they may engage audiences by activating channels such as display advertising, social advertising, email and sales engagement using a mix of native capabilities and integrations.
Gartner defines customer data platforms (CDPs) as software applications that support marketing and customer experience use cases by unifying a company’s customer data from marketing and other channels. CDPs optimize the timing and targeting of messages, offers and customer engagement activities, and enable the analysis of individual-level customer behavior over time.
Sales engagement applications (SEAs) streamline how sellers execute sales activities and deal workflows at scale. They optimize seller productivity by combining three key capabilities into a single interface: multichannel engagement (e.g., email, voice, SMS, video, social media), outbound workflow execution and time-saving AI/automation. Sellers rely on SEAs to streamline guidance into whom to engage and when, and what messaging to use, while capturing sales activities back into sales force automation (SFA) platforms.